Chapter 30 Friday 25th - Thursday 31st July
Tokyo!!!!!!!! What a city!!!
We got ourselves onto the Shinkansen(Bullet Train) and zoomed off to Tokyo through Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, etc (see photos) Very Pretty country side but we missed Mt Fuji as we were on the ‘wrong side’ (Note: book tickets early – left side going there and right side coming back.) The bullet goes every 20 minutes or so and you really only just line up for tickets 10 min before and you are usually right but a little earlier would have us on the ‘Mt Fuji’ side!!!
We met up with Michele and Miyuki the Mugen life team, (see photo) Michele had finally arrived from Australia. We then caught several trains and met up with Miniaki (a musician friend of Brian’s). He might be playing the Ockerina and Kalimba in the World Fusion concert we are putting on at the end August in Osaka. We had a ‘home stay’ and his wife cooked us an ‘authentic’ Japanese meal and we slept on the floor in the living room. Very Very ‘authentic’ and not too comfy for us soft Gijin!!! (see photo)
The next day we had a Joy of Singing workshop in another part of Tokyo several trains later.(it is very very big!) It is really cool to look at the satellite photos to see just how spread out Tokyo is. (just go to Google Maps) It is like a country within a country really. The whole population of Melbourne travels through the main Tokyo station every day and over 9 million people live in Tokyo. The train system is pretty complex but once you get the hang of it you can get around pretty well …………Brian’s department……..I’m with him. We did hop on a train that was ‘not ours’ and had to jump off a few stations later and just caught the last train home in time around 1.30am (yep they don’t sleep in Tokyo either!!!) Well they mainly sleep on the trains. There is a lot of snoring and head bobbing. I have to not laugh as they do look funny! I am so in awe of their ability to sleep standing up and be in a really deep sleep too and then when the train stops they jump up and leave at the right station!!! It must be so ingrained into their system that they can hear through the haze of sleep. Amazing!!!
On Saturday evening we met up with the girls and went to see a wonderful young musician play a ‘live’ at a nifty café in the ‘young district’. He has lived in Australia for several years and had only been playing guitar (self taught) for 3 years. Very talented with a Spanish/funk/blues style. (see photo). I really liked the area with lots of great shops and funky fashion,what a wonderful place. Heaps of ‘interesting’ fashion styles walking around and just buzzing with life! (see photos) I found this amazing T shirt shop where all the samples are on racks and have codes with location maps on them and then you find your (tube) and take it to the counter. Rows and rows and rows of t shirts in tubes lots of lights flashing and 3 floors of it. You can also look for designs on the touch screen computer by ‘style’, ‘colour’, etc. really fun and great styles too. (see photo)
The next day Brian had some private singing lessons (with interpreter.)and then we had some time off so decided to go sight see but we didn’t know where to go and didn’t have a tourist map so threw caution to the wind and jumped on a train to ‘somewhere’. I struck up a conversation with a nice lady, Kay. (as I have a tendency to do, even though no one can understand me that has not stopped me yet!!!) We asked her where we might go for the evening and after a few train stops she said. “Lets get off here and I can show you on the map”. So we spent 15 min on the platform looking at maps she offered to take us sight seeing the next day as she wanted to practice her English and she knows Tokyo really well. We were chuffed! So she waved us off in the direction of a ‘neat part of town where all the posh shops are’.(see photos) We were rapt as this really was the ‘Tokyo’ I had in my head with the busy intersections with everyone walking across the road at once and the big screen tvs on the buildings and the flashing lights and pretty colours and funky fashions and cars and busses and ‘Tokyo’ stuff!!! We walked and walked finding all manner of great shops to look at even though it was Sunday.
We were hungry and decided on a Pizza/pasta place. Japanese really don’t do this very well (or hamburgers and fries) not that we go for that kind of food but we decided to give it a go. Well the pictures were deceiving and we ended up with a tiny bite size pizza and a beer and we were still hungry and had paid too much already so wandered off and found a sleezy looking ‘foot path’ café under the railway line. “This place will be cheap”! It had grotty funny red gingham cloths and a mist machine to cool us down that blew out mist (I wonder how ‘old’ that recycled ‘mist’ is??) We sat down and were promptly served a ‘complimentary’ plate of green stuff with pickle stuff!!??!! Then looked at the menu and choked as the prices were astronomical. By the look of the place we thought it would be very very cheap??? So we just ordered a drink each and walked out with a $17 bill!!!
Not complimentary $3.15 cover charge to sit at the funny grotty table. Found out later this is the ‘famous’ YURAKU CONCOURSE which was a popular place to drink and eat before and during the war. There are old posters in the subway area and nothing has changed (and you could sure tell) since the 40s!!!!! Well we can now say we have been ‘Yuraku’d’. (see photo)
We were still hungry and had already spent over $50 for very little food and a couple of beers but we did have some interesting experiences on the way!!! (Note: check the menu before sitting down- that’s why I like plastic food you can see what you are gonna get!)
The next day we met up with ‘Kay’ (see photo) and she took us to a wonderful hotel that had been built 80 years ago in the old wooden style with lots of gardens. The builder had decided to hire lots of out of work artist to decorate his hotel. It was totally rebuilt about 15 years ago and all the artworks were lovingly restored and built into the new structure. It is used mainly for weddings and has many anti rooms and conference rooms and every wall and surface is carved or inlaid with mother of pearl and shell and it has waterfalls and gardens inside and out. We saw a wedding while we were there and spent a few hours just wandering around this amazing place. Not many locals know about it so we felt very lucky (see photo.) Kay then took us to another part of town (more trains) and we got some great panoramic views of Tokyo and Brian liked the building with the clock (see photo) as no people work there it is apparently full of computers only!!! We felt very lucky to have met Kay and she was so generous to spend her time showing us around. We convinced her that her next holiday should be to Noosa to visit us!!
We then caught more trains to stay with a friend of ours from ‘Manshine’ Marco who has lived off and on in Japan but has been in Tokyo for 3 years.
He lives in a fantastic apartment on the 22nd floor just across from the ‘Tokyo Dome’ (see lots of photos.) We had a great evening with him and his girlfriend eating a home cooked meal and drinking good Aussie wine sorounded by spectacular views of Tokyo city that stretches into infinity and beyond!!! (see photos) Marco says he loves Tokyo and reckons it is a country all by itself. We reckon he is right!
We left the next day on the 3 hour trip on the Shinkansen to Osaka for our Tuesday night singing workshop which was fantastic. But we were sure happy to get ‘home’ to Kobe and hit the sack at 1.30 am (Oh just another ‘typical’ night!)
Well here ends another episode of
‘MARTINSSSSSSSS INNNNNNNNNNNNN JAPANNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!”
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