A week in Tokyo

Tokyo streches as far as the eye can see

I love visiting places that are off the map as far as desi tourists go. Until this summer, I had been to twelve countries on five continents, the last being Canada in 2005. I decided that it was time to add one more to the list.

I was in the process of planning my yearly pilgrimage to Austin when my Dad mentioned that he was going to Tokyo for a week as part of an IT companies’ delegation. He could take one person with him as a +1. My slow mind churned into action and I hatched the idea of going as part of the delegation. Since I was the +1 person with my Dad, I wouldn’t be required to attend the conferences, nor would I have to pay full price on hotel and accommodation. So with my princely sum of 35,000 Yen (~US$ 350), I set off to the largest city in the world, Tokyo!

The thing with Tokyo is that if you’re the average Indian tourist who goes to Bangkok and Malaysia and Singapore, this trip comes as a huge culture shock. Most countries on the Indian tourist path these days have some trace of India…restaurants, movies, Indian people even. But Tokyo had none of those.

For one, very few people speak English. Most of the signs are in Japanese (except, and thankfully so, transportation signs, which are n English as well). Two, the food is nothing like what one is used to back home. Three, you’re going to have a tough time if you are vegetarian. And four, everything is quite expensive, from shopping to travel to food.

But Tokyo more than makes up for these small travel-related hardships. I have been to a lot of great cities worldwide, and I have never seen anything like this place. It is as dense as New York City, as spread out as Los Angeles, as clean and safe as Singapore and as crowded as Mumbai at the same time. Tokyo is more like a collection of many urban centers. There are many downtowns and many suburbs, and they are all linked by an enormous system of over- and under-ground trains, buses and highways. It seems like Tokyo is simply the largest of these many urban centers and so they just decided to call the whole thing Tokyo.

I spent five days there, and here’s an ideal itinerary on what to do:

You will probably reach Tokyo in the late afternoon/evening when flying from South Asia. I recommend living near the Tokyo train station, or near one of its neighboring stations like Shimbashi, which are close yet relatively cheap to stay in. The evening can be spent relaxing and taking a walk to the nearby Tokyo Tower. It’s Tokyo’s answer to the Eiffel Tower. Though it doesn’t come close in the grandeur of the latter, the view from the top is simply breathtaking. Skyscrapers shoot up into the sky as far as the eye can see. It is more fun to go at night, as everything is lit up all the way to the horizon.

Day two can be spent walking around downtown Tokyo. There are two main attractions to see here. One is the Imperial Palace, which has beautiful palace grounds and an imposing view of downtown Tokyo. The other is the Ginza district, which is one of the most expensive office locations in the world. Huge showrooms of every conceivable luxury brand like Cartier, Gucci, Prada and YSL can be seen here. There is also a four storied Apple store with a training auditorium and a floor devoted to iPod accessories. The world headquarters of Sony are next to the Apple store, and a museum on Sony’s past, present and future products is accessible from street level.

If your feet still have some energy left after walking around Ginza all day, a visit to Roppongi is the best way to cool off. Roppongi is where the foreigners, or gaijins, find themselves most at ease. Roppongi can be accessed by metro. The Roppongi hills shopping center is an added incentive to visit this neighborhood. There are numerous local and international chains of watering holes. One of Tokyo’s Hard Rock Cafes is located here. Gas Panic and Propaganda are popular nightspots. Watch out for touts standing al along the street who may try to convince you to enter a ‘hostess club’, a Japanese version of a strip club. You might end up unwillingly spending ridiculous amounts of money (read:$150+) as their rules for entry; drinks prices and acceptable behavior with the women inside are often unclear. I suggest going to Roppongi every evening and visiting a different pub every time. Each of the tiny watering holes in this area has its own identity and each new one I went to had a new surprise in store.

Day three can be spent in western Tokyo. One can take a morning trip to Shinjuku, which is the Tokyo metropolitan area’s largest downtown. All the city government buildings are located here. One can take the JR East line to Shinjuku station and walk down to the Tokyo City Government Building, which is the tallest in Tokyo. It is a vast complex with the twin towers at its center. Each tower has an observatory at the top which is free for visitors. One gets an astonishing view of the city, which stretches in every direction as far as the eye can see. Once done with Shinjuku, Shibuya is a short train ride away. Shibuya is the youth culture center of Tokyo. The incredible variety of hairstyles and clothing styles are worth noting. A lot of anime influence is also visible. Shibuya is home to the largest concentration of LED screens in the world, almost every building seems to have one that is constantly blaring a J-pop video or an advertisement for some cosmetic product. It is also the location of the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing, called the Hachiko crossing. Some places to visit in Shibuya include the seven-storey Tower Records store, the Disney store and one of the numerous pigeonhole eating joints.

Bright lights at the Hachiko junction in Shibuya

Day four is shopping time! Visit the electronics superstores in Akhihabra, which is a short train ride away from Tokyo station. The largest store here is the eleven-storey Yodobashi Camera store, right outside Akhihabra station. It sells every product you can imagine and some products you can’t imagine! If you’re the tech-savvy type, it is easy to spend three hours in this store. A short taxi ride away is the shopping district of Ueno, where one can find cheap everything: clothes, shoes, accessories and more. A day of shopping followed by a few drinks at Roppongi can make for a very satisfying day.

The last day can be spent visiting the Japanese temples in Tokyo. I suggest taking a train to Asakusa, which is home to the largest temple, the Sensoji shrine. A street full of stalls leads up to the temple, where one can buy souvenirs, clothes and cupcakes which are made in archaic-looking machines in front of the customer. As you near the temple, you will see an ice-cream store that sells ice-cream of some of the weirdest flavors you may have seen: unpolished rice, sweet potato, green tea and peanut! Asakusa also houses the world headquarters of Asahi beer, which are in a building that looks like a giant beer mug! You can come back via a river taxi which leaves you in the skyscraper district of Shiodome close to the Tokyo downtown. Some of the buildings are very imposing and provide the urban traveler with a great photo opportunity. If time permits, a visit to the artificial island of Odaiba is advised. Odaiba contains some weird buildings, like the Fuji TV headquarters some very large shopping malls. An unanticipated tourist attraction in Odaiba is a scaled-down replica of the Statue of Liberty. The train ride to Odaiba on the Yurikamome private railway is an attraction by itself. The driverless train leaves from its own station adjacent to the Shimbashi station and crosses over to Odaiba via a massive suspension bridge, providing some great views throughout.

If your schedule permits an extra day or two, I recommend a visit to the neighbouring city of Yokohama or to Tokyo Disneyland. Both provide for a full day’s worth of entertainment. I am sure that a trip to Tokyo will be unlike anything you have ever experienced. The best part about this great metropolis is that if you don’t like what you see, hop onto a train. The next station is sure to bring you something different to experience.

Some useful links:

Tokyo tourism information:
www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english

WikiTravel:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo

A small drop in an ocean

You know I don’t just complain when I see something wrong with the world. I also point out when I see something good. I had one such experience this week, and it was with the Mumbai Traffic Police.

I got caught by a cop for running a red light at the Churchgate stoplight, where I thought the left turn was free. I was stopped, asked for my driving license and told that there would be a 200 rupee fine. I don’t think it is right for us to bribe, given that we complain about cops asking for bribes all the time. So I told him that I would pay the fine as long as he gives me a receipt. He said with a glint in his eye, that the fine couldn’t be paid there, and that I would have to turn in my license, collect it the next day from the central police station and pay the fine at that time. I said that was fine. His facial expression suggested displeasure at having lost a potential bribe. He said, “Okay, you look like a decent guy. How about you give me a hundred bucks and I let you go with your license?” I replied, “As long as you give me a receipt for the bribe, I am up for it.” With embarrassment etched all over his face, he said, “Fine then, collect your license from the police station tomorrow.”

The next day, I went to the police station. That’s when the party started. I was squinting in the afternoon sun trying to figure out which counter to stand in line at, when I heard the cop at the nearest counter say, in English, “May I help you, Sir?” I fought a nagging desire to pinch myself as I walked up to him. I gave him my fine receipt and paid the fine. While giving me back my license, he gave me a feedback form. He said, “I would greatly appreciate if you could fill this form, sir.” I filled it up, and as I handed it back to him, he asked me if the cop at the intersection had asked for a bribe. I told him that he had. He said, “Please give me his name, so I can file a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau.” I said that I didn’t know his name. He gave me a card with a telephone number on it, and said, “If you ever have trouble with a cop, especially as far as bribes are concerned, just call this number. We have roaming squads of anti-corruption bureau officers who will come and take care of it within 15 minutes.” I didn’t know what to say. I thanked him, to which he grinned broadly and replied, “Mention not!” As I walked back to my car, I could not help but think that the fine had been worth it.

This may seem like a small isolated instance of professionalism and honesty in an ocean of corruption, but it is a turning point. I said just a few days ago that the scary thing about our national attitude is that it isn’t going change anytime soon. Could I be proven wrong? I certainly hope so! I sincerely hope that one by one, these little nuggets of wonder called ‘pleasant experiences with the government’ add up until a day comes when they are the rule rather than the exception. After all, little drops fill up an ocean.

September 22, 2007: An open letter...

This letter is addressed to all the people who I have had the pleasure of knowing during my four years at Austin, and who I have had to honor of playing with as part of the Longhorn Cricket Club. It elaborates on my cricket experiences after becoming a UT Alum.

Today, I played my first match outside the Longhorn Cricket Club team, and I am confident I have done the team proud with my performance. It was certainly a difficult day to play cricket, with the late monsoon showers spraying the pitch every now and then. It seems that my reputation as a decent opening bowler has followed me to India, since when we lost the toss and were asked to bowl; I was given the ball to open our campaign. The rain led to the match being a quick affair, with each team having only eight overs.

The rustiness showed immediately as I started off with a wide. It seemed like bowling over arm was not my cup of tea anymore. But I bounced back pretty quickly. The second ball was my trademark short ball to welcome the batsman to the crease. Our team proved to be outstanding and with a concentrated effort we restricted the opposition to a paltry eleven runs all out. My performance was a respectable 2-0-6-2, with three runs and a wickets coming in each over. The best part was that both my wicket taking balls cleaned up the batsman’s middle stump.

Clearly we were not the only team to have a good bowling attack. I got a chance to bat with only four runs on the board. Since we needed eight runs in 5.5 overs, I wasn’t too worried. I just needed to protect my wicket and runs would come. The runs came, with me hitting a six over the long off boundary on my fifth ball. I got flashbacks of batting against the Hawks in my last game as part of the Longhorn Cricket Club team, and of hitting a six on the last ball during my last taped tennis ball tournament. We got two more runs off wides and the game had been won. I was 6* off 11 balls with no fours and a six.

You might say this was a great match to have as a come-back to playing cricket. But I wasn’t pleased with my performance. I bowled a fair number of wides and was not able to swing the ball. I guess that is what happens when you play with a rubber ball. All in all, a great day of gully cricket!!