Yep, that’s the same pic that I ended the previous with. Because it really sets the scene.
Once we disembarked the ship, we were met by a dear friend of ours, who will hereafter be referred to as Nihon no megami Japanese Goddess), although I may just go with 日本の女神.
Anyway, it was midday, so we headed straight to lunch.
Ramen and draft beer? Don’t mind that we do.
Sluuuuuurp. Because that is polite and lets the chef know that you enjoy the dish.
After lunch, we walked outside to view the remains of the “Life Size Unicorn Gundam.” We missed it by just over a month, with the display ending on August 31st, just short of nine years on display.
Just our luck.
Heh.
But half of it hadn’t been dismantled yet.
Considering that at its full height of 19.7 meters (64.6 feet) and weighing 49 tons, with movable appendages, I guess it’s not a surprise that it was only half dismantled after a month.
Soon we driving across Tokyo at a leisurely pace. Because the speed limits in the city are generally 30-40 km/hr (18-25 miles per hour).
Once we got to our neighborhood, we walked around to stretch the legs. The first stop was the nearest Tokyo Metro station, the subway system that, with the surface trains, connects us to the entire city. It’s only a 3-minute walk from the building.
Located right next to the entrance is one of many neighborhood temples and shrines. In this case, it’s a temple, which means that it’s Buddhist. Those typically have a cemetery associated with it, never too far from the family home, right there in the neighborhood. This one, like most in Tokyo, is bound on all sides by apartment towers or businesses.
For me, it was also a quick reminder of why I needed to get back to this country. The complete comfort in intermingling nature, tradition, and modernity.
More exploring of the neighborhood had us stumble across a Shakespeare in The Park performance (in Japanese, natch); climbing a 46 meter (151’) peak (above sea level) that had a sign at the summit with instructions on ordering a certificate of summiting—although I’d rather have had an option for a climbing stick with branded station stamps to match our Mt Fuji sticks from 21 years ago—and; several grocery and convenience store scoutings to find food during our stay.
The next day, we made a quick run into Shinjuku center to refamiliarize ourselves with the Metro process and to get our land legs back. After two weeks at sea, both Goddess and I had several moments where we felt like we were still swaying. Normally, we’d make a crack about earthquakes, but our experiences were at different times. And being on the tenth floor, we would definitely notice one, even if it was light.
We didn’t realize it at the time, but we were lucky to catch Shinjuku at a pretty mellow time.
I mention that it was pretty mellow because over the next few visits we were exposed to the full weight of the tourism explosion that Japan is experiencing.
When we lived here 20-odd years ago, the total number of visitors to Japan was 7,3 million. Last year, it was 42.7 million, an almost six-fold increase. This year looks to be on track to beat that. The crowds are absolutely mind-boggling.
The following day, we walked from our place into the downtown Shinjuku area, we walked for a few blocks where the locals were vastly outnumbered by visitors. And that was before we got to the crowded streets. There you couldn’t spy locals until you got inside a restaurant or bar.
As you can see by that linked graph, the upward trend started in 2013 and, other than the blip of COVID, continues to climb.
One big contributing factor is the relatively weak Yen. Good for tourists, bad for the Japanese. Looking at snapshots of the Yen/US Dollar exchange rate each time that I lived here, 1 USD bought ~¥300 in 1976; ~¥140 in 1990, and; ~¥105 in 2005. Right now we are getting about ¥157. Again, good for us, bad for the average Japanese citizen.
Throw social media on top of that and the throngs are flocking to viewpoints to get the same shot that they saw online.
I prefer the random neighborhood finds.
This all works out well for us. Our travel mantra “turn left!”
That started years ago in Venice, Italy. Goddess was leading the way down a side canal. A sign on the building in front of us pointed to the right and was labeled “Piazza San Marco.” Immediately I said “turn left!” So she did.
We spent the next several hours sitting alone at a canal-side table eating fresh pasta and drinking a bottle of wine while getting looks from the random passerby of “what are you doing here.” Well, we were spending €17 for a lifetime memory meal while a shot of espresso over in the Piazza was running the same price.
So we’re going to be “turning left” for a while. And we are already starting to collect “what are you doing here” looks.
So we are on the right track.
It helps that we have already lives in this city. So we don’t feel compelled to hit the tourist sites (much). That will come later.
Follow along, if you’d like. The posts will be more frequent from here on out. Otherwise the once per week posts will be massive and no one will last until the end.
Including me.
BTW, that featured image of the skyline is the view from our 10th floor balcony. The towers of Shinjuku are in the distance, far frame-right.
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