Tokyo (東京)

Juan Buis

Or: how to fall in love with a city

Nobody thinks thirteen hours on a plane are fun. Especially if all overhead lights are dimmed during the night, but the one above your seat is flickering full-force, keeping you awake for the entire flight. But then again, that doesn’t really matter when you arrive at Narita Airport. I love airports in general, but this one is the cleanest on the face of the earth. You’re definitely in Japan. The moment I walk out of the gate I spot a brightly colored suitcase at the collection point having about 10 names on it, including mine. My luggage didn’t arrive in Tokyo but got stuck in another country. Luckily the Aeroflot lady was really helpful (after apologising a million times) and explained they would deliver it the next day via a courier.

Public transport here is amazing. I started to realise this while waiting for the Narita Express to Tokyo — before anybody could enter the train, a team of a least five perfectly uniformed agents clean the entire train, front to back. And again. And once more. I can only imagine they do this every single time it gets to the end station. Again, you’re definitely in Japan.

Slowly but steadily gaining pace the train took me to the city center in around an hour, of which at least 40 minutes were spent rushing through the outskirts of the city — yes, it’s enormous. Bigger than any city I’ve ever been to, for sure. At first you get the feeling you’re in the outskirts of a western metropolis like New York, but soon enough things around you start to change.

Arriving at Tokyo Station you experience immediate sensory overload. An insane amount of people, a classic and very intense J-Pop show being performed right in front of you and no clear indication where the hell you can actually get a subway ticket. Luckily I quickly got to the station near my AirBNB, but that’s where the fun really started. You see, addresses really are inexplicable for most people apart from Japanese postmen. One of my new friends, Luis, would later on explain the chōme system in a small izakaya, where it became clear even true Tokyoites just use Google Maps.

Anyway, back to Bunkyo-ku. After arriving I met my hosts, five male Japanese students that tried to explain me I couldn’t use the shower because they had their annual utilities check. They turned out to be great guys and despite a very real language barrier we were able to connect through the international language of funny Japanese comedy clips on YouTube. Just check Lassen Gorelai and you’ll know a bit how I felt. Afterwards I quickly went to Akihabara just to quickly dive into the city for a bit, where it only took half an hour for my brain to melt from the flickering lights and massive crowds. I quickly went back to the hotel to sleep off my jetlag.

The following first few days of life in Tokyo were extremely exciting, with a lot of things happening and me getting to experience a city that’s just as big as it is organized, with surprises behind every corner and definitely the lowest percentage of bad food in the world. I’m going to make a selection of some things that happened to me, just to give you an impression.

For instance, getting an apartment! After the first few days in Bunkyo-ku I now live in Shibuya-ku. It’s a great place at the edge of one of the busiest neighbourhoods in Tokyo (and the world). Video screens, neon signs and speakers blasting the latest J-Pop hits are everywhere.

Something interesting that immediately strikes you when walking down Inokashira-dori (a very busy street in Shibuya), is the focus on white people in any and all marketing material. You’ll have to look really hard for Japanese models, even though walking through the city and using public transport lets you experience that you are in fact the 1% here. There are so little expats living in Tokyo, that almost every time I’m walking through Shibuya or Harajuku somebody wants to take a picture. Sometimes it’s just because they think you look cool, at other times they invite you to a model casting (!).

Another great aspect of the city are the people and their culture. While waiting at a train station, I was looking at the people working for the subway company. Dressed in spotlessly clean uniforms including white gloves, they wait for the train to arrive. When the next one is coming up, they graciously signal their colleagues to check if nobody is standing too close to the tracks. They probably do it hundreds of times a day, but I have yet to see anybody look bored or not 100% focused on their task at hand. Everyone is proud of their job, and everyone works really hard. You’re reminded of both these things at almost every shop. When you’re buying something at a konbini (24-hour mini supermarket) and they notice nobody is helping customers, they will actually run to help you while apologising nobody was available. Or, when ordering food in a restaurant, water or tea is immediately served for free and constantly refilled.

It’s all very endearing, impressive and something people in Amsterdam can learn a lot from. The levels of service, gratitude and kindness are unlike any other I’ve ever experienced.

A very cool thing I experienced was taking a train to about 30 minutes west from the city, and visit the Studio Ghibli Museum. When you leave the train, you’re expecting to arrive in the middle of nowhere — but no! You’re in bustling Kichijōji, another one of the dozens of connected urban centers that make up the gigantic metropolitan area that is Tokyo. The museum itself is pretty amazing for a Miyazaki fan like me and features some great exhibitions that give a great look at the intricate process of creating beautiful films like Spirited Away. Almost all Ghibli movies are available with English subtitles, but please do yourself a favour and never watch the dubbed versions — they mess up the experience.

All in all I’m having a great time here, and every day is filled with new experiences. I’ll be blogging here irregularly, so if you want to keep track of my adventures on a more daily basis feel free to follow me on Instagram.

@juanbuis on Instagram



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