This entry was posted on 2001-04-04
Tokyo
Sometimes, before I leave to go back to Japan, I totally romanticize the country and forget about all of its downfalls. This morning I had a nice little wakeup call to remind me that Japan is not perfect. As I was walking down a street in Shinjuku en route to the bookstore, I was approached by an inebriated man wearing a cap that said "Hawaii" (the Japanese love anything English and anything with English writing. More on that later). He was older (probably in his 50's or 60's, I never can tell) and in my opinion, just disgusting. Besides the fact that he obviously had way too much to drink, his hair was greasy and he had some front teeth missing. Not exactly my type. The bookstore was still closed when I arrived (it was due to open in about 5 more minutes) and there were quite a few people already outside waiting. They had a few tables of books set out for people to browse while they waited for the store to open. I turned around and there was the inebriated man, right behind me. I quickly grabbed a Japanese book about world history (I am always interested in their take on historical events) and started reading it (My Japanese reading skills are far superior to my speaking skills). But he didn't get the point. He started saying shit to me in his heavy Northern Japanese accent (Each area of Japan has its own dialect (ben). Tokyo-ben is standard Japanese. Most people know Tokyo-ben and their regional dialect. Many of these dialects are far fetched from standard Japanese. Most Japanese can only understand and speak in their dialect and in Tokyo-ben. For example, a person from Osaka would not be able to understand someone from Sendai speaking in their regional dialect. Since I lived near Osaka, I can understand and speak some Osaka-ben. All of my Japanese courses have always been taught in standard Japanese.). Northern Japanese (Tohoku-ben) is a far cry from anything that I can speak or understand. So I just ignored him and read some more of the history book. He started shouting in Tohoku-ben so I put the book down and walked away. He followed. Finally, he precedes to pinch my ass, in broad daylight, in public. I practiced some of my Japanese obscenities on him (I think he was surprised that I could speak the language), which publicly humiliated him. He went away.
Japan is great, but I could do without the wandering hands.
Now that that's out of the way I'll get to the good stuff. It's a beautiful day outside. It's sunny and fairly warm. So I decided that today would be the perfect day for some cherry blossom viewing. I figured that I should go to the place in Tokyo for hanami (flower viewing): Ueno-koen (park). Apparently I wasn't the only one who had that bright idea. Almost everyone on the Yamanote line got off the train at Ueno-eki (station). Oh well, at least I could witness the Japanese response to their beloved sakura.
And boy, did I witness that. This country goes crazy over sakura. Everyone knows what hard workers the Japanese business men are. Even they have company outings to go sakura viewing. There were company picnics all over the park. A lot of the men (side by side with their bosses) were drunk, singing, and lounging on their blue mats under the sakura trees. It even looked as if some people camped out under the sakura last night. There were people in their sleeping bags and people still sleeping.
As for the sakura themselves: beautiful. They're so delicate looking. After seeing them wilt away, die, and fall off the trees, I can truly understand the Japanese literary concept of mono no aware (beauty in sadness and tragedy). The paths of the park were lined with the tiny pinkish flowers. Some of the trees were nearly bear. Others were in full bloom. They make such a gorgeous national symbol and what better way for nature to tell the Japanese that spring is coming than to produce such beautiful flowers.
Ueno was crowded. To get away from the noise, I walked through the park until I found a small Shinto shrine (the Kanji said "Garden Flower" shrine -- appropriate name). As soon as I walked through the torii (the gates on shrines to separate the holy from the unholy world) it became amazingly quiet. All I could hear were the birds singing and occasionally, the bell ringing. It's so amazing how much beauty and serenity can be found right in Tokyo.
I left the Ueno area looking for two things: a less crowded place to view the sakura, and a new electronic Japanese dictionary. I found both.
First I went to Akihabara, where all of the huge electronics stores in Tokyo are (10% of all Japanese electrical goods are sold in Akihabara). After a brief run through of the Tokyo Transportation Museum (I wanted to see the Shinkansen exhibit), I set off on my mission to find a good electronic dictionary. I had a few requirements: Japanese to English and English to Japanese, no romanji (romanized Japanese), a built in kanji dictionary, and hiragana and katakana (the Japanese phonetic systems) lookups for kanji. I got help from one of the salespeople at one of the many stores. I found the dictionary that I wanted. It was time to shop around for the best price. Every store was selling them for more or less the same price (some bargain in Akihabara, but I hardly ever do) so I went back to the original store where I got help in the first place and bought it from them. Good electronic dictionaries aren't cheap, but I figured it was my little present to myself for getting into a good graduate program. Besides, I know it will come into use once school starts this Fall!
By then I was too tired to find a better, more serene spot to view the sakura. So I headed toward Shinjuku (near where I'm staying) on a JR line. From Shinjuku-eki, it's about a 12 minute walk to the place I'm staying. This time I walked right through the park (Shinjuku chuo koen). And I discovered sakura! And not many people were around! I sat for a few minutes to take in the beauty. I was really tired by then, so I only stayed for a little while. I continued through the park and found yet another Shinto shrine. Wow! Right in the midst of Shinjuku there is a quiet park and a shrine. I'll probably go back tomorrow and sit for a long time.
Right now I'm about to take a quick nap. Then it's off to Kinswomyn -- Tokyo's premier lesbian bar. True, I won't be picking up any Japanese boys there, but oh, am I ever-so curious to see Tokyo's gay scene.
Oh, one more thing. I promised I'd tell you about any funny English (Engrish) that I see here. Just as a little background note, the Japanese love anything with English writing on it. The English doesn't have to (and usually doesn't) make any sense whatsoever. That translates to hilarious English on various items in Japan. Today's funny English comes from a plastic bag from the bakery where I bought some walnut rolls. I have not edited any spelling, capitalization, grammar, or punctuation. The only think I've added are the quotation marks. Here it goes: "Our little friend TOMTE use magical secret-power for delicious BREAD that. Well enjoy in next morning. Children who living in NORTHERN EUROPE tell us secret that just baken BREAD. Yes...... TOMTE's secret. HOKUO as. BREAD country SAPPORO is very similar with TOMTE's land."
There you have it, your Engrish lesson for the day!
Ja mata!