Bathroom in Narita.Note: The following is a combined collection of journal entries while I was in Tokyo.
So, I kind of love Tokyo!! It is beautiful. In the times I have traveled before, I always have that moment where it really sinks in "Wow. I am in ______!" I had that moment on a few different occasions, some on a small scale other times, it gave me chills. The first mini-moment, was when I was in the bathroom of the Narita airport and there were so many buttons and options for what you wanted the toilet to do, as pictured above.
The second mini-moment was on the Narita Express from the airport and I saw rice paddies and farmers with the lampshade style hats on working in the fields. It was like seeing in something in a movie, but I was seeing it in real life.
Tokyo is lovely. It is so decorated and everyone is so strategically stylish, not like Paris where it seems effortless. The people of Tokyo are so accessorized, colorful and styled. In the US even the most fashion forward people can't pull off the looks that people in Tokyo were running around it. It was beautiful and mesmerizing. I got to go to Shibuya it was amazing. I have never seen anything like it. It was like I was on a giant fashion show runway with thousands of people. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures and videos in the busy parts of Tokyo, but in my defense I was too in awe of everything that I was seeing, my camera was far from on my mind.
Tokyo was so populated and busy. I wonder why all of these people are here. Did they come here for work? Were they born here? Are they from a small village and had to move to the big city to find a job? Do they love it or hate it? Are they here on an important business trip? All of these things crossed my mind when watching the hoards of people maneuvering through the subways and crowded streets. Even though Tokyo is busy and full of people, I was amazed and excited to see the organized and structured way everyone coexists. People line up at train doors and part to let the exiters off, then they file in, in an orderly fashion. On the escalators, people who prefer to stand and ride the escalator may do so on the left side, but for those who want to walk up the escalator they have the right side open for them to run up the steps if they'd like. I can't imagine this happening in St. Louis. If St. Louis ever became that populated, it would be complete chaos.
Another highlight of Tokyo, was finally getting to meet my fellow classmates and instructors. Reading introductions and posts from people only allows you to get to know someone to a small extent, so it was nice to meet everyone in person.
At this point, I didn't know what exactly to expect from this course. Around the third day, after we met with Yumi, I could see it begin to take shape. She was such an inspiring person to meet, I feel she really helped shaped the mood for the course. Also, as we met Yumi, I feel like this allowed Satoko's passion to be revealed a bit more as well. Meeting with Councilor Fujita was an eye opening experience and one that would have only been made possible through this class. I don't think I could call up my local congressman and arrange a meeting for any purpose, so this was really special. It was a great to hear him speak and listen to the informative things he had say but also it was a great experience to be at the Diet building, in his office, while a Diet meeting was going on behind him on TV. It was a very cool experience.
Another experience and characteristic of Tokyo, was how safe it was. I was really blown away by this. Anytime that I have traveled before, I have always been precautious traveling alone and felt a bit uneasy at times. But, in Tokyo, the second night I was there, I was walking around Roppongi with a friend of mine and there was a passed out drunk business man lying on the sidewalk and his cell phone slid out of his hand and a guy walking by picked it up and set it next to him. No one was messing with him, no one calling the police, they just let him be. That would never happen anywhere in the US. It was weird to see this. My friend told me it's a common occurrence and throughout my time in Japan I found this to be true. Everywhere I went, I felt safe, I didn't get stared at because I was an obvious foreigner, like I have in some other places I have traveled. In fact I think obviously being foreign, worked more to my advantage, as people were more friendly in offering help when I looked lost. There were children riding the subway late at night alone and everyone seemed fine about it. It was a really refreshing feeling.
Needless to say again...I loved Tokyo.
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