The Japan I Know

I worry sometimes about being too harsh on Japan's capital cities.

It's not that they're bad, it's just that the recommended serving size is far too large for my plate, I suspect.

I'm back in Tokyo at the moment, for context! Waiting my last couple days out in a business hotel on one of the Bay Islands.

After being in Tohoku for a month, Tokyo may as well be a different country. I got off the highway bus and was flabbergasted in Shimbashi Station when I saw how many exits there were. A random street I turned down had buildings taller than Sendai's famous Dai-Kannon "colossus" statue. I couldn't help but feel scandalized when I heard people talking on the train, and my hotel receptionist confirmed that my Japanese was indeed very jouzu.

I hadn't been "jouzu'd" up north in weeks! Not even after getting through multiple 30-minute meetings in Japanese.

Of course, at some point, living away from a huge metropolis was always going to change me into a country bumpkin. Still, I did not expect this metamorphosis to take place in 5 weeks.

To provide a sense of scale, the Tokyo Metro Area has 37 times as many people as the City of Sendai. Tokyo is as big to Sendai, as Sendai is to Walla Walla, Washington. A little culture shock seems expected.

And look, I get it; everyone has a great time here! Back in the early 2010s, several of my close friends would frequently make 2-week trips to Japan and spend the entire time just in Tokyo. There's just that much to do.

But if you're not ready for it, and I'm frequently not, Tokyo can give you the same type of gameplay paralysis you get when you start a new open-world game. The choices on where to go and what to see are functionally endless, and "Too Much Choice" often feels like "No Choice At All."

Still, yesterday was Sunday, and I needed Tokyo B-roll for future projects, so I knew where the content would be good: Yoyogi Park.

Not a quarter-mile from the entrance to Meiji Shrine, a few pompadour-sporting friends have been rocking and rolling for over 40 years. Sometimes there's youngsters out there, too, learning how to do splits in impossibly tight (and fashionably distressed) blue jeans. Classic American Rock plays on a portable sound system, so while Western tourists are a couple blocks away visiting the deified spirit of Emperor Meiji, some locals are, in their own way, invoking the spirits of Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

I cannot help but think this is incredibly cool.

The closest Yamanote Line stop to this place, by the way, is Harajuku. I'm definitely not the demographic that finds Takeshita Street interesting, and I doubt I ever was, but I sure would like to take a walk down there with Gwen Stefani sometime and ask if she's happy with herself for what she did.

It's not just Gwen's fault, of course; this is also partially what 30 years of lazy travel writing does to a place. As early as the 1970s, Harajuku's status as a hotbed of youth culture and streetwear fashion led to the establishment of a pedestrian-only zone between Takeshita Street and the above-mentioned Rockabilly Square. In the early 00s, this place was well-known overseas as the place to go if you were really into cosplay, homemade Lolita-style dresses, or goth fashion.

Now, there's still a little of that, but the fashion idols of yesteryear have been replaced with cheerful SNS personalities, obnoxiously-colored food, and way too many crepe shops to be viable. I'll stick with the Park.

Walked by the Shibuya Scramble. Just, take a miss on that one. Trust me.

I did enjoy seeing the Starbucks Snipers in action, however.

Afterwards, I went out to dinner with a friend and retreated back to the empty, wide pathways of Ariake.

The land that would become Ariake was dredged up from the bottom of Tokyo Bay back in the 1930s. It was then used primarily as a landfill and for industrial uses up until the 1980s or so. Now, it's home to Japan's biggest convention center, and several events for the 2020 Olympics were hosted here, apparently. Since it only has a population of around 6000 people, the whole place is basically entirely empty at night.

It's perfect. As much as I love Japan, I'm okay admitting that Tokyo has always left me a little overwhelmed. Tokyo is just so radically different from the rest of the country, and since nearly everyone starts and ends their trips here, it's easy to feel trapped by it.

I'm less than 48 hours from departure back to the States. In a couple months, I'll be coming back with my wife and dog to settle down in the Japan I know.

In the meantime, grateful to have been here, seeing the ume flowers bloom while being serenaded by the Stray Cats' "Rock This Town."