Life Sign

I'm so sorry folks! Tokyo seems like the most hilarious place to be suffering technical difficulties, huh?

(well, technical difficulties of sorts ...)

Still alive an' kicking, thriving here in pretty much central Tokyo, blogs are still being written up, just posting them that's the issue. But mark my words, I will be back to update you on the rest of the travelling and current life in the capital as soon as I can!

Until I'm back, be excellent to eachother!

- 88

Kamakura

Kamakura has been referred to as one of the most culutarlly rewarding daytrips from Tokyo that you can make, and it lived up to its reputation. Follow thin, criss-crossing residential roads until the houses begin to become increasingly interspersed with gift shops and food stalls, and you realise that you're heading in the right direction.

The Daibutsu is another one of those sights that everyone knows, that is on every other postcard of Japan, that you can never really appreciate until you see it up close and in person. The words at the gate read:

STRANGER WHOSOEVER THOU ART and whatstoever
be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary
remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages.
This is the Temple of BHUDDA and the gate of the
Eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence.



Made of bronze way back in 1252, this statue was originally housed in a massive temple. However two hundred years after its building it was struck with a tidal wave that destroyed the temple but left the Buddha intact. Even the earthquake of 1923 didn't damage it, although its base has had to be repaired on occassion. Standing at 13.35m, you really can't tell how impressive this is until you stand before it.

But that wasn't all. We moved beyond the Daibutsu to the most stunningly beautiful temples and scenes I have seen on this trip so far, or perhaps ever.







These were the grounds, which could only be even more amazing in full bloom in Spring. I will definitely return to see that if I can.

Unable to resist high places yet again, we took a bit of a climb up a path above the grounds which let us look over the areas we had just walked through. Even when climbing up, there were little things hidden away left and right if you just took your eyes from the beaten track ahead.







But possibly th most overwhelming sight was that of the hase-dera, a corner of the area that featured rows upon rows of tiny little white statues (in my companion's awe-struck words: "There's hundreds of them."). It is quite a breathtaking sight, which slips slowly into a most poignant and lasting sensation when you realise what they all represent. This shrine is dedicated to the souls not only of lost travellers, but to unborn children.





It was really something to leave a lasting impression. After being sad to leave Hiroshima for Tokyo, and then being sad to leave Shinjuku for Yokohama, I have a memory that will really make me sad to leave this place too.

Next stop team, Kyoto!

- 88

(and let me assure you, cranes are still being launched daily! But that will be updated next time ^-~)

To Yokohama!

Hardly keen to repeat the epic journey that was Hiroshima > Tokyo, our next journey was set to be much shorter. Thirty minutes down the road we most recently hopped to Yokohama, home of a very evasive guitarist belonging to a band who mean an immense amount to me (not that that was the sole reason for visiting, not at all). Once again faced with the dilemma of extensive time left between arrival and hotel-check-in we did the one thing we do best, and hit up a fun looking café!





Which WAS fun until my travelling buddy turned around to discover this in the bathroom:



Personally I think he's quite grand, and it's a pity we never named him. I summoned the courage to stroke him and I'm pretty damn sure he's not real, thank every god in existence. Fetching tie, that.
In case the name didn't give it away this was indeed a rather nice and laid back rock café, complete with nifty candelabras, multiple little crucifix statues, and some brilliant chilled out New Weird American tunes courtesy of Devendra Banhart et al (hit up YouTube for the song "Chinese Children" and you'll get a feel for the place in an instant!)

After checking in we spent the evening exploring Yokohama's China Town (yes, we came to Japan to explore China Town, shh).





Unfortunately the pictures don't show how the lights actually glitter and sparkle on the buildings. Not far from here we managed to narrowly avoid eating shark fin, which - needless to say - shook the rubbish out of me o.o

Sleeping off the trauma that was almost Shark Fin Dumpling we woke up for another day trip, this time out to a place another half-hour from Yokohama, Kamakura.

Now THIS was a place. So much so that I'm going to split it into two posts, because really, I don't want to have to cut down posted photos so much.

Having grown up next to the sea it has to be said that in only this week I've been missing the presence of the ocean, and Kamakura has quite a wonderful beach to wander (although if you ask me, any beach is a wonderful beach).

I see your seagulls and raise you:



No, really.



It was a really relaxing afternoon stroll.









And then we happened upon the Hase-Dera and Daibutsu ...

Zoos and high places

I mentioned daytrips in and around Tokyo, and one of those trips was a very interesting trip out to Ueno Zoo! Unfortunately it was a very rainy day, and also the afternoon before a live, so we were both soaked through and a little pressed for time on this day, but we still saw some very exciting things!

As someone who had never been to a zoo before, I was overwhelmed to say the least at all of the displays scattered around (far too overwhelmed to be taking photos, let me add!). The walk started off with Lily and Shinshin, two giant pandas at feeding time, and from there we walked along to meet some beautiful pacing tigers and ambling lionesses in seperate enclosures. Those of you who know me will know the, um, problems I have with cats, and their fluffiness, and their tails and their paws and goodness gracious me I didn't care that it was raining I just didn't want to leave them! But alas after being successfully dragged away it was into a darkened bat cave (♬♫♬) and out to a bird sanctuary and ... oh goodness me, everything was so brightly coloured and flamboyant! Before realising we had about half an hour to get to our livehouse we had a chance to say hello to an absolutely massive polar bear wandering around an even more massive cliff of fake ice above some sea lions (yes, it is roughly as brain screwy as it sounds) (tigers, lions, bats and polar bears) (in one zoo) (is this normal? Please educate me!)

Another one of our trips out took us over the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba, an area of reclaimed land in the Tokyo Bay area featuring all sorts of clustered-together tourist spots. Thankfully the sun had decided to come out for us again, and we spent a really enjoyable day exploring the area! Part of this exploration featured a ride on the Odaiba Sky Wheel, the world's tallest ferris wheel, turning its patrons a whole 118m into the air at its peak.





On our last morning in Tokyo we made sure to visit Sunshine City in Shinbashi. With our trips to Tokyo Tower and the Sky Wheel it seems that we've gained a fancy for tall places, so how could we resist a building that brags a 60th floor observatory?





Looking over what is soon to become my city ❤

After this we visited a place called Asakusa, when unfortunately yours truly forgot to bring her camera along. However it led to a wonderful Crane Day, so be sure to check that out when it (finally) gets updated!

- 88



(yes, Statue of Liberty. In Odaiba.)

Arrival in Tokyo!

All apologies for the lack of updates folks, some hardware difficulties right here! I'll see how much catching up we can do while things still want to work ^-^;

As someone who gets motion sick on twenty-minute journies into town, it was the most amazing experience travelling the 2x7-hour trips between Hiroshima and Tokyo without so much as a hiccup, but it happened, and our journey was safe and smooth and actually quite entertaining! We arrived into a heavily snowing Shinjuku around 7am and, realising that we couldn't check into our hotel until 2pm, we gave in for the first time to a familiar indulgence:



(L-R: tall iced vanilla latte, skinny and sugarfree +1espresso as per the mantra - tall orange latte, Japan's new seasonal special) (... not recommended)

It has to be said that Shinjuku is a truly magical area, quite the hub of Tokyo, that changes dramatically between day and night. By day we found our hotel, crashed and regrouped, by night after meeting up with a friend I was almost hopelessly lost. Grey streets and bicycles gives way to flashing signs and massive advertisments on buildings, and you're filled with the sudden suspicion that the buildings themselves actually shift around when you're not looking.

As we spent a lot of our time in Tokyo doing little daytrips it's a little tricky finding much in particular to say. It's just very disconcerting how - even despite being told that Shinjuku is a bit of a sketchy place to stay in - I've never felt so safe in the middle of a city. I felt more comfortable traversing Shinjuku by night than I ever have anywhere in England by midday. Whether this says more for Tokyo or my neuroses I'll never know.

Early in our stay we hit up the famous Tokyo Tower, checking in at 333m tall (13m taller than the Eiffel Tower!). We travelled up to 150m, just under the halfway mark, to see the city we were staying in by night.





While in Tokyo we also got to drop in on two absolutely amazing live shows by artists we've always wanted to see. Hilarity ensued - more than ever expected! - and hearing was rather damaged for two and a half days afterwards. I'm not sure if I need to go into that here and now, but just know that Japan has a very interesting way of doing shows ^-^;

- 88

願った

(please excuse the sudden serious nature of this post!)

願 - wish

Nearly six years ago was the last time I went to Japan, and obviously it left a pretty hefty impression. The awe that is so many stereotypes coming to life before your eyes, so many quirks that should be ridiculous but that soon become nearly essential features of daily life, these are the kind of things that stay with you even when you go without them for so very long. But in returning to Tokyo there was something on our itinerary that I knew would bring everything back in one moment, that I knew would mean more to me than I could ever hope to explain to anyone else, words failing me when normally they're the closest friends I could ever have.

As someone with a definite and possibly surprising sense of spirituality, I really enjoy visiting shrines and temples. Sometimes you can take long enough to read the inscriptions and you realise why the shrine was built, you like the person it was dedicated to, sometimes it works the other way and you're filled with the sudden urge to turn your back and leave. Sometimes you don't read their stories and you just feel the atmosphere of a nation who, regardless of glowing skyscrapers and heated toilet seats, are inherently spiritual themselves. A sense of reverence and respect, or a thousand glittering prayers in the air, apparent to the most insensitive.

Meiji shrine is arguably the most famous shrine in Tokyo, if not all of Japan, and is therefore teeming with visitors at all hours. In addition to this it is a mere five-ten minute walk from Harajuku, Tokyo's capital of bright colours and youth culture (and teams of dancing Elvises every Sunday). It seems unfathomable that a place of calm and serenity can exist in such an environment. But it does.



The sounds of traffic and neon advertistments are soon replaced with footsteps on thin gravel and streams running under bridges, the lights and flashing signs making way for much more peaceful rows of trees which I have best heard described as somewhat solemn. It's true, there is solemnity in the air, and I remembered it so well.

On this trip so far I have been to new places, and of course I have returned to Tokyo, but this was the first time I have returned to one specific place. Leaving Harajuku station it was like muscle memory, following long-known unchanging paths that run through a city that never stays still. Maybe ten minutes but a pilgrimage nonetheless, and with every step I made a silent apology or a silent thank you for everything good and bad since the last time I had been there. We walked through the same gates, across the same gravel, over the same bridge. I washed my hands and drank from the same water stand, and walked through to the shrine itself. Taking as much time as I could to take the whole experience in I took a deep breath and stepped forward, cast in coins and asked to be heard. I clapped twice and voiced my prayers, stood long enough to feel it echo around with those around me.

I walked away, feeling like I'm ready to start this whole ridiculous journey as a new person. It felt good.

The last time I went there was 2172 days ago. On that day I spoke a prayer for Japan to stay gold, and I tied up a wish that I would someday come back to that spot (it's ok to tell wishes when they come true, right?).

I know now that I'm welcome here.

- 88
- who shall shortly resume regular posting!