Ben Taylor: Subway

Showing posts with label Subway. Show all posts

This post refers to the 22nd of March, where I joined my friend Taro and two friends of his for lunch in Akihabara.

Leaving Blair's residence in Takanawa, Minato-ku, we made our way to Sengakuji station, which was the start of a small adventure in itself. I am used to taking the yamanote line from Shinagawa station to just about everywhere. I would simply stay on that train until the stop closest to my destination, and then walk, which is much easier for me. The other option is of course what we did on this day.

As we descended the stairs to the station, Taro suddenly turned to me and said, "Hurry," then started to run. As I followed him down the stairs I realised why we were moving with such haste, the train we were hoping to board was at the station. We continued to plummet into the heart of the earth, and rounding the last corner onto the last set of stairs, I looked up quickly to see the train there and the conductor on the platform, finishing the final check. Our pace increased markedly.

...

We made it, and even better, we did not have to fight the doors! I feel it necessary to say this, as many times before and since then I have seen someone perform a similar trick to this, but make the threshold as the doors are closing, sometimes being forced out, other times managing to fight off these mechanical obstacles and make it in. My favourite memory of such is still the time I saw two friends rushing to make the train, one making it on, and the other failing to follow quickly enough and missing the train to quickly closing doors.

If you were not sure, in Tokyo there are several 'lines' that trains use. Yamanote line is the simplest, being merely a wide circuit around the city centre. More complex lines are difficult to describe, but needless to say, if you need to go somewhere in Tokyo, there is a subway or train station very close by. The two main options are Tokyo Metro, and JR, if you are curious about the complexity of it all, the following links are provided for your convenience:

http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/index.html
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/

After some time on the train from Sengakuji, Taro informed it was time for a change. Accordingly, we exited our vehicle at the next station, found a different 'line' and hopped the next train out of there. We were rushing because Taro was supposed to meet someone for lunch, and regrettably, we were behind scheduled time.

Arriving in Akuhabara, apparently the centre for all things technological, we met with Michi, a friend of Taro who shares the same apartment block, Tiger house. We then picked a place to have lunch, fortunately for me it was decided to eat at a nearby pub. I say 'fortunately' not because of any difficulty, but because this pub was fascinating.

Upon entering, the view was as such:

Chandeliers, a disco ball, a world map, and everything else you can imagine.

This the right side of the previous photo.

And the left.

I was simply astounded, by not only the sheer amount of items, but also the fact that almost all of them were from another country. However, the most bewildering thing was still to come. We ate a mix of Western and Japanese foods, from rice to a hot dog. There were beers from all across the world, from countries as diverse as Australia and Belgium. We talked for a bit, our fourth party member showed up, and we talked some more. Upon taking a trip to the bathroom, I saw this...

A cool sign right? The most surprising thing was that it was in the middle of Tokyo.

I hope you have found this interesting and enlightening, I found it such, and therefore felt compelled to share.

I have debated that title for a while, it was either that or 'mediocrity,' and whilst this post is about the more mundane parts of a week, I consider it in no way pedestrian by any standards in comparison to my life only a month ago.

Yesterday, Tuesday the 16th of March, was what one may call an 'average day in Tokyo.' Currently Blair Thomson and his wife Sachiko are away, Blair in New Zealand for 2 weeks, and Sachi staying with her parents for the same length of time. Accordingly, Taro Miyaji (a mutual friend of Blair's as you may recall) is staying here, to keep me company and teach me Japanese.

This story starts at 11:15am. The previous evening another friend of Taro's, Saori, also stayed over, and left at around 9:30am on this Tuesday morning, but that is a completely different story.

I woke up with a start, attempting in vain to look at my watch. After rubbing my eyes I tried again, and realising the time I quickly went to wake Taro, since, as of last night, he was supposed to be leaving for work in 30 minutes. Disoriented, he informed me that he had called work, and was now starting later. Accordingly, I bade him return to sleep, a request he had already started to comply with.

I then went about my average morning ritual of reading my bible, a little exercise and a shower, after which Taro woke. We enjoyed our breakfast at 11:45am this morning, both glad for the extra sleep. After which we set out on our first of 2 missions.

The first was to find a different supermarket. Up until this point, we had been visiting 2 'supermarkets,' both located in Shinagawa train station, and both quite small by Australian metropolitan standards, as many things are in Tokyo. This one was supposed to be slightly larger, and so with vague directions, we journeyed on.

Shinagawa station is about 7 minutes walk from the place I am staying in Takanawa, Minato-ku (an area of Tokyo). Today we walked a different direction, and sure enough, about 8 minutes into our journey we passed another subway station. This is standard across the board in Tokyo, as a Google of Tokyo subway stations will show you plainly. The city is covered in train stations, if you want to go any real distance, most people take the subway. At any time during the day from about 10am to 9pm or even later, most trains you get on will be standing room only, a fascinating experience for someone from the Gold Coast, where trains can only come close to this capacity at peak hour.

We walked on, crossing different roads, where no one jaywalked, no vehicles queued through intersections or ran lights and people drove calmly across the board. Alien for some people, but standard for Japan. Eventually we came to the supermarket, which was the largest I had seen yet. Inside, the aisles were set up similar to an average Australian store, the most interesting part of this shopping experience happened as you made your purchases at the checkout.

In many supermarkets there are 2 people working each checkout point, one 'ringing up' your purchases, the other packing your food into bags. If you have purchased meat, the person packing the bags will offer to pack the meat in ice, so it doesn't go bad on your return journey. In the odd cases where there is only one person working the counter, there will be ice machines provided, free of charge.

Since this supermarket was larger, it also had incentives for people to purchase 2 litre bottles of water: right next to the ice machines there were others provided for your convenience. Some would wash your water bottle whilst others would fill it up again with fresh, pure water. There also were several other machines, the function of which I can only guess at. Apparently, this too is relatively unexceptional.

We walked home via a different route, where people would passing on the side walk would be patient in passing, bike riders would be careful and respectful, and not a child was seen running amok, despite many children from the local school out and about. All very ordinary.

We dropped off our purchases at the apartment and walked off again towards Shinagawa station, on the other side of which was a mobile phone store that we wanted to visit. As we arrived, we picked up a ticket, so that we would be served in order of arrival, and waited patiently. After talking quietly, we were served quickly, and were again on our way. Glancing at my watch I noticed it was 4:30pm, Taro took the train from Shinagawa to his work, though any station would have been fine, and I made my way home.

I cooked a simple dinner of spaghetti. Almost all kitchens use gas for heating, and are quite small by Australian standards, as most things are in Tokyo, space is a premium. I saved some dinner in a second bowl, and used some cling wrap to cover it. Japan is remarkable in that in everything it sets its mind to, the country and its people strive for perfection. This cling wrap was slightly thicker than any I had used in Australia, the cutting edge was a good width and it cut very well.

Doing the dishes with very little bench space was interesting, and the rack on which to dry my dishes was housed in the sink itself, as there was no room anywhere else. I am told this is conventional across Tokyo.

Forgive me if this post was boring for you, but this set of 'insignificant' experiences are, in many ways, so far removed from any in Australia, that I felt it necessary to write about them.

Chronologically, this post refers to the evening of Sunday the 7th of March, which is also the day I wrote my first post.
I left Takanawa to catch the subway at Sengakuji station, headed to Ningyocho. I was to meet with a Japanese friend of Blair and mine named 'Taro' (Apparently the Japanese equivalent of 'John'). The plan was that he would meet me at the station, and we would go to a party with some of his friends, or that was my understanding anyway.

I arrived at Ningyocho station 3 minutes early, quite the achievement I might add, and took the stairs up to ground level to see where my friend was. As I arrived at the top, I was hit with a blast of cold air, to think just 2 days previous at the same time I had been walking around in just a long sleeved shirt and pants, at least it wasn't raining too hard. I made my way back down to the station proper, to check if there was another entrance, and I had missed Taro. I hadn't.

As I decided what to do, I noticed two young looking Japanese talking to themselves on the subway stairs and glancing at me. You might think that this would be common, especially considering my current appearance (long hair, and a beard), but the Japanese are amazing in that I am yet to see anyone openly stare at me. In fact, no matter what one goes in Tokyo, whether it be to a very small local bathhouse (see 'Of Bullets and Dodging') or through the busiest intersection in all Tokyo, one would be hard pressed to see any Japanese person even register a look of mild interest upon seeing such an... un-Japanese looking person.

Back to the story, as I mused whether or not I should approach this couple, they walked towards me and the gentleman spoke up, "Hello, hello, are you Ben? Taro's friend?" "Yes, hi, nice to meet you." "Ahh, ahh, nice to meet you, nice to meet you." At this point Taro arrived, and performed the introductions. Apparently these were friends of his, who lived in the same apartment block, named Saori and Hama. Ok, the gentleman's name wasn't really Hama, but they said it was his nickname, and it was much easier for me to remember.

We walked off to a nearby coffee shop to talk for a little while. I still find myself realising that if the positions were reversed, and I was a Japanese person in Australia, with minimal English, it would be a lot more difficult to find people to accommodate me so well, especially native Aussies. After talking for a small while, over an hour passed and we decided to find a place to eat. After much quick debate between themselves in Japanese (I said I was happy to do whichever) it was decided that a nearby Italian restaurant would be our destination.

We entered and were promptly seated, with several menus for drinks and food quickly delivered. I was astonished to see 'strawberry juice' and 'banana juice' on the list of drinks. Saori tried the strawberry, allowing me a taste, and it was described accurately, it tasted exactly like you would imagine juiced strawberries would taste.

This next bit hurts to write, but it must be told:

I brazenly talked, as some Australians are wont to, yours truly being the worst offender, exclaiming how the menu was all in Japanese and that I could not understand it. I asked loudly for translations from my friends, or I would not know what to order. Yes, in hindsight I realise how tactless this was, but my embarrassing actions did not end here. After some explanations of the different menu items, I said I would love to try the risotto, all well and good right?

After ordering the food, we talked for a while, Saori and Hama being encouraged to practise their English on me. To learn a language I decided, the best way was merely to speak it, and learn as you go, as well as picking up more vocabulary from a book in private. Sometime I should really start doing that with my Japanese.

The food arrived, a small platter of different entre style foods: 2 small pieces of ham; duck; beef; cooked egg and bacon; capsicum (bell pepper in America?); pumpkin; and 2 whole, small fish, maybe sardines? After some talk about what each food actually was, we shared them out, each trying a small portion of each. Then... rather awkwardly, a single bowl of risotto arrived. Idiot. If I was not so hasty and brash when the menus came out, no doubt someone would have said that they would be ordering a series of dishes designed to share, not a single meal each.

It is difficult to describe just how stupid I felt, and it didn't help that my error was sitting there in the middle of the table, the equivalent of continually hitting myself on the thumb with a hammer. Remember though, this is Japan, no one drew attention to my error, or in fact said anything that could even have possibly been construed as pointing it out, instead we simply shared this dish as we would any other.

Learn from my mistakes!

The rest of the meal went quickly, we talked, they learning English, I learning Japanese, and everyone enjoying themselves. We ate a dish of large and small clams; a plate with chunks of spearfish, potato, capsicum and several other vegetables; a plate of fettuccini with clams, octopus and the single biggest prawn I have ever seen.

After much more talking, it was time to leave, but not in the way I had thought at the time. This was not the party with Taro's friends he had been warning me about, but merely dinner. So off we marched in the chill March air (couldn't help myself) towards Tiger house. The first thing I noticed upon entering this residence was the large set of cubby holes, full of the most shoes I've seen in one place for quite a while. After being loaned a pair of slippers, we entered the living room / kitchen, which contained only one table, at which was seated several Japanese men making dumplings.

After introductions, I whispered to Taro, asking what the dumplings were for. He responded that they were obviously for the party tonight. I surreptitiously glanced at my watch, 10:30pm. As we sat and talked, more and more people came, seemingly from nowhere, and more food was brought, prepared, and arranged. We talked, ate, I practised my Japanese, they practised their English, I forgot everyone's names a couple times, they encouraged me to try all manner of strange looking foods. All were good. In short, a good time was had by all.

This party was to celebrate the birthday of Saori (the day before) and another male member of this apartment block, whose name I cannot recall. Some gifts were exchanged and people started to clean up, I looked at my watch again. Almost 1 a.m. As people said goodnight, Taro and I forced Hama to show us his room. It was about 4 metres long, and about a metre and a half wide. Seriously. The floor was basically taken up by 2 things, his bed, and the space it required to open the door. Across the ceiling was hung his entire wardrobe. Also, in this room was a desktop computer with 2 monitors, and many other things that one needed to live. Don't ask me how it all fit.

If you're reading this Hama, please forgive me, it was too astonishing not to share. Later Taro showed me his room, which was more expensive, and therefore larger. It was far wider, almost 2 and a half metres, a good 5-6 metres long, and had a set of draws. Spacious.

After final goodbyes to Hama and Saori, Taro and I headed back into the cold night air. We were stopped upon exiting by Ryuchan, who was walking back with his girlfriend, well, he was riding a bike; she was walking. Unfortunately I cannot recall her name either, but she was very nice, and the first Japanese person that showed the appropriate emotions upon seeing a white kid in the middle of Tokyo, Japan, those emotions being shock, surprise, humour, and then cordiality. "Much better" I remember thinking to myself. After one more goodbye, Taro and I walked off into the Tokyo night.

"Where to?" I enquired. Showing me some vouchers, Taro informed me that he had free tickets to a nearby spa. I nodded and quickly glanced at my watch, 1:30am.

"No worries."