I am really starting to feel semi-comfortable in Tokyo. Well, maybe not comfortable, but at least not too daunted or self-conscious. I can begin to handle the thought of navigating around, and approaching Japanese people for help. Yesterday I went back to the Tokyo International Forum to get information from the Tourist Center. It wasn't as helpful a place as the guide book made it out to be. Oh well, at least I still have the guide book! I wandered into Ginza, the most expensive place in the world. A few years ago (at the height of the late-eighties economic madness) two square meters of land cost one million U.S. dollars!! Prices have come down somewhat, but not much. I saw a white Lotus Seven zoom through traffic, very much looking and sounding the part!!
An overcast Ginza
Today I went to Akihabara (Electric Town) and Jimbo-cho. Despite the comfort I now feel, it is still very difficult to communicate. I continually feel like my understanding of Japanese isn't too bad, but I can't express myself or talk in Japanese. Being in a big city, it isn't like you can just strike up a friendly conversation with the guy or gal next to you. To make matters worse, store clerks or restaurant staff seem to be freaked out by the idea of small talk with customers. None of this "Nice weather lately, isn't it?" or "Well, my friend came here and recommended you guys to me..." that seems common in the U.S.
I have been thinking about linguistics constantly, and as I begin to start to almost understand some kanji, it is like a whole new world opening up to me. I recognize that this may sound cliched, but it really is true...I have never experienced a new awareness and the possibilities it presents like this before. To look at a word and be able to get at the meaning of it, but not have a clue how to pronounce it is wierd. Hiragana and katakana are the two basic Japanese "alphabets" and are characters which represent syllables. These syllables are the smallest unit of the Japanese language, and the pronounciation is implicit in the character. The meanings of words written with these characters is memorized, and I do well reading this way. With kanji (chinese characters) the meaning is implicit in the writing, and the pronounciations ("readings" of which there can be several) are dependent on exact meaning and context, and are memorized. And now, for the first time, I can start to see a few Japanese words for their meaning in Japanese, instead of as an English word translated into Japanese. And the potential for subtlety of expression or wordplay is enormous!
I first start to notice it with place names. "Kawaguchi." So what, sounds like kawaguchi...I never thought anything more. Then on the train, I see the kanji for it, and the characters are among the few I recognize: River + Mouth...HOLY SHIT! I remember river in Japanese is "kawa" and mouth is "kuchi." Lo and behold, a place at the mouth of the river. Damn, this is cool. "Yamanote." A common Japanese name. The kanji yama + hiragana no + kanji te...I know this too! "Yama" is mountain, "no" indicates possesion, and "te" is hand. Hand of the mountain. This area was historically a well-to-do neighborhood away from the plebian downtown Edo (Tokyo) in the foothills! Okay...I am flying now, dictionary out, mind going a zillion miles an hour. Let's see..let's see...I have just learned the word for "truth" or "really"-it is hontou. Look up the kanji: hon...idiot, of course you already know this...it means "book"...tou...Look it up..."hit" Just as in English, either "popular hit" or "on the mark-physical hit" (another reading of which is atari...like the video games, and what I hear being called out from the archery range outside my window) A popular book = truth...WOW! "Kanpai!"-a toast = dry + cup WOW! More difficult now..."nangi" means pain = difficult + ceremony. AMAZING!
I bought a book on speaking fluent Japanese: everything the classroom can't teach you. It seems really helpful...it talks a lot about translating the techniques which are instinctual in English to Japanese. Can't remember a word? Use "thing" use "place." Toothbrush-"the thing you use to clean your teeth." Bakery-"the place where you buy bread." Anything you can readily use to get your point across...can't say rich?..."just like Bill Gates." This idea has been helpful for me in trying to break down mental language barriers.
So...Akihabara, hundreds of stores selling the most amazing electronic devices at discount prices. All with Japanese instructions and designed for Japanese current and frequencies. Still, amazing stuff: flat-screen TVs, incredibly powerful mini laptops, cell phones with built in e-mail, instant messaging, and video games...four inches long, one and a half inches wide, and half an inch thick, weighing only sixty grams, and for under a hundred bucks U.S. I play some limited versions of video games which haven't been released yet, including Gran Turismo 3 with the most outstanding force-feedback steering wheel/pedal set I have ever experienced. I resist the urge to buy something just for the fact that it is so cool. MD players are all the rage here, and the 35mm cameras are tiny! I now honestly believe that the American market gets the electronic items which are either duds or outdated on the Japanese market, but that the manufacturers still need to recover development or tooling costs on. It is just like the crap cars the Japanese manufacturers send to America..."Ah...what the hell, we'll sell it in the U.S., they won't know the difference!"
Next I travel to the Transportation Museum (about two blocks away) which sounds really cool.
My Transportation Museum Ticket
It is primarily about trains, and aimed primarily at kids, I think. I get a few snickers, but I don't care...I am too busy shoving in line for the next cool simulator or hands-on exhibit with the best of 'em. :-) There are families with small kids everywhere (what was that about the aging population crisis in Japan?) and especially at the model train demo and the train engineer simulator. I think the biggest highlights for me are the Shinkansen (bullet train) wheel bearing they had on display and the complete unrestored Mitsubishi Zero radial airplane engine from WWII, rust, chunks missing, and all. This bearing was a roller bearing, O.D. about like a dinner plate, I.D. maybe six inches, and about six inches wide too! They had the first airplane to make a powered flight in Japan (1910) suspended from the ceiling. It was essentially unrestored. Also noteable: A 1966 Datsun, sawn completely in half, and rigged with an electric motor that turned the engine, tranny, valvetrain, differential, etc. over when you pressed a button. There were tons of model boats and ships, a large collection of unrestored low-mileage 1960's Japanese commuter motorcycles and scooters, and many hands-on displays and simulators-steam trains, electric train controls, railyard switching controls, train brakes, etc.
Half a Datsun.
This is the most exciting part of the car exhibit at the museum.
The room of the museum on "personal transportation!"
I leave the museum and head for Jimbo-cho. I pass about a zillion outdoor sporting goods stores, mostly ski/snowboard/skate. Jimbo-cho is famous for the bookstores, of which it has many. particularly very old used books. I guess that this is the famed "U distict" bookstore area, but in a city with at least 25 institutes of higher education, what is the University district? I am a bit disappointed...there seem to be two kinds of bookstores. One is what I would call a newsstand-the most popular domestic magazines and cheap novels and comics-all paperback, all monthly, all of dubious quality. The other is the used bookstore. Usually a rat's nest, never with any apparent organization, often hard to move in due to the quantity of books piled on the floor. The selection is esoteric as best, the prices way too high, and shopkeepers rude and distracted. I guess maybe if I really had a thing for 1950's manuals on French fashion in Japanese, or 1970's American homemaker's guides, or 1930's Japanese books on flower arranging. It is very interesting as an experience, just not as a shopping experience. I found the larger bookstores in big commercial areas to be better for browsing and buying.
Things seem to be closing down at around 7:00 or 8:00, so I walk back to Akihabara, which was also just about shut down. I ride the train to Shibuya, which is a young nightlife district. The place is crawling with young people, including a lot of high schoolers! I wander until I end up on "Love Hotel Hill." Love hotels have outrageous decor and rent by the hour or the night. They are frequented by both married and non-married couples. At one, I check out this cool car pulling out, and the passenger starts freaking out and covering her face...Ooops! I wasn't trying to see who you are cheating with, honest, lady! It was an experience to see the names and architectural styles, but I don't hang around.
The official funny thing of the day: Most bars try to be trendy with (usually) ridiculous sounding English names. I pass one with a sign out front: "Alco-hall-A Bar." I just about die laughing.
Tokyo has an amazing number of nice cars. I see a Porsche 911 GT1 driving down the street! Yes, the mid-engined homologation special...one of ?00 made at what US$ ?00,000 each? I get back to the bustling part of town and tried to hang out, but it doesn't work too well. So I go to several giant music stores and go around sampling all kinds of Japanese pop at the listening stations. Probably boring for most, but I find it a fascinating study. I run into two Americans in a foreign newsstand. They are both servicemen from Alaska. Both of them idiotic (but what do you expect?) and cheerful and friendly, if not particularly helpful. I decide to call it a night and head home. I get back, and Echo is quite disappointed! She had changed her plans mid-day and come back early so that she and I could go out to dinner and celebrate Chinese New Year! Oops! How was I supposed to know?
