はじめまして、東京！※ Nice to Meet You, Tokyo!

みなさん、こんばんは！今週は南山大学の休みなので、空いている時間がたくさんあります。もう週末に恵里ちゃんと初めて東京に行きました。東京に1日しかいなかったので、旅行は絶対に短すぎたと思いますが、今度戻って行くつもりです。でも、あの短い1日の間に色々な所に行きました！朝６時に新宿に着いた後で今すぐ築地に朝ごはんを食べに行きました。後で、銀座も東京駅も皇居も明治神宮も原宿も渋谷も浅草にも行きました！全部の場所は、面白くて楽しかったです。夜にスカイツリーに登って、夕日と夜景を見ました。最後に、名古屋に帰る前に、東京に住んでいる友達に会って、晩御飯を食べました。僕は東京に長い間に行きたかったです。まず、東京は「クールジャパン」と言うイメージの一番代表的な町です。つまり、東京はとても現代的で大きい町ですが、面白い所も昔からある歴史的な所もあります。そして、僕の最初の日本語の先生達は、みんな東京に住んだことがありますから、日本語の勉強の初めから東京の事について教えてもらいました。それは良かったと思います。それで東京に興味があるようになりました。
木曜日の夜に名古屋から東京に夜行バスで行きました。予行バスは、ちょっと大変でしたが、けっこう安かったです。次の回、新幹線で行ってみます。とにかく、午前6時頃新宿駅の前に着きました。その駅は、混んでいることで有名ですがあの時にほとんど誰もいなかったし、全然静かだったし、ちょっとへんな感じでした。でも、バスをおりて、今すぐ新宿の建物を見ると嬉しくなりました。「やっと東京に着いた！」と思いました。

でも、すぐ築地に朝ごはんを食べに行きました。綺麗な朝日を見ながら、賑やかな築地の雰囲気を味わいました。あそこで、朝ごはんで天ぷらが入ってるうどんを食べてみました。今まで食べたうどんで、一番美味しかったです！^_^

それから、静かな銀座を歩きました。築地のたなりにあるんですが、全然違う近所ですね。色々な素敵な店を見ましたが、朝早かったので全部が閉まっていました。有名なせいこ時計が見えました！それから、東京駅で仕事に急いでいるサラリーマンをたくさん見ました。

東京駅の近くのエリアには、高い建物がいっぱい見えたので、ちょっとニューヨーク見たいと思いました。（でも、東京の道は、ニューヨークのと違って、綺麗だと気がつきました）東京駅の前にある皇居に入ってみましたが、あの日にしまっていたので入れませんでした。ちょっと残念でしたが、次の回、絶対に見に行きます！あそこから明治神宮と近くにある原宿も渋谷に行きました！明治神宮は、東京の中にあるのにすうごく平和の感じをします。こんなところを見つけると、いつも嬉しいです。そして、すごい偶然で美しくて伝統的な結婚式が見えました。

原宿で、もっとも面白いファッションの洋服を見ました。ちょっときゃりーぱみゅぱみゅのように明るくて、かわいかったです。でも、ある人のけしょうにびっくりしました。どこでもピンクや黄色のものはいっぱいありました。原宿の中の「表参道ヒルズ」と言うモールに行きました。あのモールの美しい建築と綺麗な雰囲気がすぐ気に入りました！

それから、表参道で渋谷に歩きました。昼ごはんとお菓子も美味しかったし、天気も完璧だったし、渋谷に行った時は楽しかったです。ゆっくり首都の色々なことが楽しめました。満員電車とか、早く動いている群衆とか東京の有名なことが経験できました。渋谷のような賑やかな東京の場所に行くのは、本当にいい気持ちでした。

渋谷の後で最後に浅草とスカイツリーを見に行きました。浅草には、観光客のための店がたくさんありました。涼しい空気は抹香の香りが強かったです。世界の色々な国から来た人も日本人も浅草寺にお祈りしに来ました。みんなが写真を撮ったり、手を洗ったり、とても特別な所だとすぐ分かりました。東京の旅行の事で、一番楽しみにしていたことは、スカイツリーに登ることでした。やっぱり、私たちのタイミングは完璧でした。夕日が見ました。しかも、富士山も夜景もよく見えたので、私達はよく喜んでいました。スカイツリーに登ることは、いつまでも覚えておく経験です。そのタワーの上から、東京の大きさがわかりました。新宿と渋谷と東京市だけじゃなくて、横浜も他の町もはっきり見えました。夕日の灯でキラキラしている建物も小さい電車も車も、全部で美しくて忘れられないイメージを作りました。

ついに、東京に住んでいる友達と晩御飯を食べました！去年チャペルヒルに来た西垣先生と先生の二人お子さんたちとUNCから来て慶應義塾大学で留学している友達に会いました。でも、普通のレストランで食べませんでした。私達が行ったので、自分の魚を釣って、焼いてもらいます。初めてそんなレストランで食べましたが、美味しかったです。日本でしかできない経験だったと思います。先生がレストランを見つけてくれたので、よかったです。（＾＿＾）

それで、夜遅く名古屋に帰りました。東京にいる1日で色々な探検が出来ました。東京が、本当に気に入りましたが、あそこに住む人を尊敬します。物価がとても高いし、電車が混んでいるし、少し住みにくそうです。帰った後で、名古屋は小さい町みたいと思いました。でも、東京を愛する理由もあると信じています。人によって違うでしょうね。まだ、東京で色々な所に行ってみたいですから、戻って行くつもりです。でも、今回初めて行けて、良かったです。ありがとう、東京！

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Hello everyone! I'm on a week-long holiday from classes at Nanzan U., so I have plenty of free time this week. So, I have an opportunity to update my blog! On the first day of this break, Eri and I made a trip to Tokyo. It was my first time ever to see Tokyo, but because of scheduling conflicts we were only able to spend one day there. For a metropolis like this one, a day doesn't nearly suffice, so of course I plan to go back in the near future. But to our credit, we certainly packed as much as possible into our one day. From 6 AM to 11 PM, we made a non-stop tour-de-Tokyo marathon through as much of the city as we could manage. We visited Shinjuku, Tsukiji, Ginza, Tokyo Station, the Imperial Palace, Meiji Shrine park, Harajuku, Shibuya crossings, Asakusa, and Skytree-town. "WAIT," you say, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT ANY OF THOSE PLACES ARE, GABE! EXPLAIN." Well, the short explanation is that they are all bustling miniature cities that make up part of Tokyo's iconic sprawl, like colored pieces of fabric woven into a huge and intricate quilt. I will show you a little about each one!

Tokyo is often thought of as a representative image of Japan. Even though this idea is not accurate, I can see how the city contributes to the country's distinctive "cool" image that has been marketed through the Cool Japan tourism campaign in the past decade. Tokyo is, after all, a unique and unmistakably cool city. It is a vast metropolis with centuries of well-preserved history, a hub of ultra-modern technology and convenience, an icon for infrastructure amongst Asian cities, a bustling port, the list goes on and on. I am just going to write about the places that we went in our single day there!

We took a night-time bus from Nagoya to Tokyo-Shinjuku, an office district for major corporations and home to one of the busiest train stations in the country... but nobody was there at 6 AM! It felt really odd to walk around the empty city center in the dark, early hours before anyone had come to work. From Shinjuku we went to Tsukiji, the world's largest fish market. In addition to enormous storehouses and a full-scale freightyard for shipping fish in and out, Tsukiji also features a large open-air market area where non-fishermen can find super-fresh selections and even fish-free delicacies. It was amazing! I have never seen so many beautiful and exotic fish, prepared in so many different tantalizing dishes. I was equally impressed at the apparent drive of the merchants, who were wide awake and down to business even just as the first sunlight peeked above the far horizon of Tokyo Bay. For breakfast I tried a sweet omelet (even though I don't usually like eggs) and enjoyed a bowl of tempura shrimp and vegetables over warm buckwheat noodles (the tempura was light and crunchy, not oily). 

From Tsukiji, we had to only walk a few blocks to find ourselves in the Ginza, which is essentially Japan's Fifth Avenue. "Ginza" basically means "silver place"; it was a colloquial name for the home of the coin-minting industry in the 17th century city of Edo. This district features plenty of pre-war Georgian architecture leftover from the late-19th and early 20th century period of westernization, giving it a special old-world feeling. We couldn't afford the Ginza fineries anyhow, but it was enjoyable to marvel at the famous Japanese flagships such as Mikimoto Pearls, and admire the classic Wako Building Clock for a little bit before moving on to more appropriately-priced sections of the city. 

With just a few more blocks of walking, we left the Ginza and landed in the neighborhood formally regarded as Tokyo-city, which is basically the towering financial district wrapped around Tokyo central train station. At that point, I was starting to wonder if we had somehow stepped into a cleaner, somewhat slower-moving version of Manhattan. The tall buildings, the endless streams of taxis, the armies of black-coat-white-collar workers (it was rush hour by the time) all felt so much like an Asian Wall Street. Alas, we made a right turn around the skyscraper and found ourselves in front of the Imperial Palace moat. So, we definitely were not in New York after all. There was the chrysanthemum throne, shrouded in a thick green forest and surrounded further by tranquil ponds; while behind us loomed the Japanese Manhattan. Unfortunately, the palace was closed that day, so we only took some photos from the outside and walked the perimeter of the palace walls- one more reason to go back to Tokyo! 

Next we went to Meiji shrine, Tokyo's biggest shrine. Along the way, I glimpsed the commuter's horror that is the Tokyo subway in morning rush hour, but we made it to Meiji without a problem. Thanks to native friends, I was already used to the typical shrine customs; how to enter and exit, how to make a formal prayer (basically normal praying with bowing and clapping added in), how to wash my hands at the special spring, and so forth. What I did not expect to see was a traditional Japanese wedding parade right through the middle of the shrine. What a reverent and beautiful ceremony it was! Everyone in the area was delighted and clapped for the newlyweds. I was amused to see that their "limousine" was an old-fashioned London taxi cab. 

From Meiji shrine we strolled through Harajuku, the home of Japanese "kawaii" (cute/endearing) culture. Essentially, it is a series of old narrow streets filled with all kinds of brightly colored shops, all connected by a common theme of cuteness. Food, clothes, pets, gadgets, dancing, and musical performances crammed the streets of this bright neighborhood, particularly along the famous Takeshita Street. I must say that I have never seen so many crèpe stalls and iPhone-case stores in one place! I had been a little nervous about what I would find in Harajuku, but after all it seemed (mostly) appealing and very friendly.

  From Takeshita, we visited Omotesandou-Hills, an award-winning underground shopping complex that was recently completed. This hall features a cavernous central area, huge skylights, and constantly changing light displays that made us feel a bit like we were swimming in an aquarium. There wasn't much to see there, but I did try my first cupcake from Magnolia Bakery of NYC there! Perhaps I was a little off the mark with my geography by eating Magnolia Bakery in Tokyo... but cake is cake, in my mind. 

We walked down the old Omote-sandou street towards Shibuya. This neighborhood really was delightful, if not a little too precious. It is compared to the Champs-Elysées in Paris for its similarly romantic atmosphere and elegance... and its not-so-romantic prices. Needless to say, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through there and out into...

 SHIBUYA CROSSINGS!!! Shibuya is, like Shinjuku, another office center that sits atop a huge conglomeration of train lines. The intersection is famous for its throngs of commuters and its Times-Square style signage. But when Eri and I looked closer, we saw that maybe 40 percent of the throng were tourists taking videos of the throng... Which led me to wonder if maybe in some future Tokyo, all the natives will completely abandon Shibuya and leave it to the Germans, Americans, and Chinese to crowd. Anyway, I enjoyed a few minutes Shibuya's mind-boggling rush hour before we traveled to Asakusa-sensooji temple.
Asakusa is a neighborhood in the north-eastern part of central Tokyo. It's one of the largest traditional Japanese neighborhoods in Tokyo remaining after the war. We only spend half an hour or so at the famous sensoji temple in central Asakusa, which is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, or Buddhist god of mercy. The marketplace in front of the temple was filled with sweet aromas of baking bread and fresh sweets. People from all countries came to make offerings, pray, or simply breathe in the sweet incense for good health (which is what we did).

From Asakusa we crossed the glistening Sumida River to reach literally the biggest attraction of the day: Tokyo Skytree. This recently completed broadcasting tower is the second highest freestanding structure on earth (as of now) and stands at 2,080 feet, much higher than any other building in the area. Thankfully our timing in climbing the tower was perfect, and the experience was nothing short of magical. The sun was just beginning to set as we reached the top, and thousands of rooftops reflected its orange light. I saw Mt. Fuji for the first time, its indigo silhouette nestled beneath the setting sun. The sun dipped behind the mountains, and millions of little lights flickered on across the landscape. Twinkling headlights of cars and trains far below moved smoothly across the landscape, like shooting stars in slow motion. I will never forget that picture of Tokyo. From the top of Skytree, I understood just how enormous the metropolis is. There is so much that I have yet to do and see there. Even though we were exhausted from our travels, we had really only seen a bit of it. After descending from skytree, we enjoyed a special dinner with friends living in Tokyo: Dr. Nishigaki, who spent a year in a teaching exchange at UNC last year, and Kristina, a Chapel Hill native who is exchanging at Keio University in Tokyo this year. That was a lovely way to finish off our trip. Once more we boarded the all-night bus (I have since promised myself to take the bullet train next time) and found ourselves back in Nagoya before sunrise the next day. WOW! Nagoya felt like a homely little village after our day in the crushing vastness of Tokyo. Since my return, I feel much more loyal to my adopted hometown, and have a lot more confidence in my ability to make my way around. If I can take on Tokyo, I can certainly handle Nagoya, right?
Anyways, I learned in my one day that Tokyo is a huge, diverse, and altogether cool place to visit. I saw too many dogged salarymen and zombie-like natives to ever want to live there by choice. Living in Tokyo (and surviving) is something that I really respect in the people that can do it! I will certainly look forward to going back soon.