古い、新しい：Old and New

Well, the first thing I have to get off my chest is…

He Lives

Now we may proceed amicably. I am overwhelmed by the number of topics I can cover having made my return to Tokyo and shocked that I managed to let so much slip my mind in the past eight months. There is no grace period for foreigners to adjust to the workings of Japan. The moment your foot falls in immigration, all customs and traditions that may comfort you on your own soil vanish without so much as a puff of smoke. Each following step is a learning experience true, but what is revealed is the lack of knowledge one has about what the next pace will bring. This being my second time in Tokyo, I am lucky enough to side-step the shock and awe that may leave a less experienced traveler standing, mouth agape in front of something as simple as a pachinko slot casino. That being said, I most definitely remain susceptible to the endless number of convenience stores that populate almost every street corner in the city. There is something about the glow of Family Mart or the slurpyless 7/11’s signage that is so alluring that I just have to take a look to see whether there may be something else new and unbelievable available.

Pretty Technological

A Torii

While there is an endless amount of modernity within Tokyo, the swirl of past, present and future is so astounding that to my outside eye, the city itself is a kaleidoscope. With that in mind, everything that remains from dated Japanese culture is so ingrained within the society that it will never disappear and due to Tokyo’s endless march into modernity, forever continue to be assimilated into more advanced technological creations. Since my flight landed, I have been staying with my girlfriend and her family in Higashimurayama-shi. Their home is a healthy ten minute walk from the nearest train station which is, in turn, approximately twenty minutes from the first portions of the actual metropolis. Along that ten minute walk I see three red painted or stone Torii (traditional temple gates), several aromatic ramen shops, a hospital that always seems to be closed and fifty-odd Japanese men, women and children either spinning away on their cycles or plodding along one slow step at a time. Tokorozawa station may be the only station I have been to where all the tracks are located on one floor and manages to give off as much of a countryside appearance as one can expect this close to Japan’s capitol.

The noticeable breaking of the past onto the present becomes much more pronounced once one arrives at Ikebukuro station. Synonymously seeing men dressed in western suits and others dressed in traditional hakama or the occasional kimono evokes the same nonplussed response as vendors hawking mochi balls next to the internationally recognizable, corporate Starbucks. The buck does not stop there evidenced by the microphone wielding man against a backdrop of neon skyscrapers.  The right wing advocates for the reinstating of the fundamentalist Japanese empire did not seem like people to be trifled with. Getting directions to Kabuki that include the landmarks of MacDonald’s, the temple, and fish market is something else.

One more thing…

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