Lost in Shinjuku and Shibuya.

Toy say: Tokyo totally WOW!!!
Sunday 28th May and I have been in Tokyo almost a week. Had it not been for the few paddy fields I passed on the train towards the metropolis, the spattering of Japanese neon in my town and the local populas I would not really have known I was in Tokyo, Japan. That was until today. I had my first day off after a very busy and intense few days at work. I got up later than I meant to but was on the train directly to Shinjuku by around midday. I had my i-pod and was listening to some tunes and feeling very excited. I had turned down an offer from some colleagues to show me around the local area in favour of a lone adventure into the heart of the city. I wanted to experience it without distraction, without hindrance. I just wanted to take my time, get lost in the streets, listen to my music and take the whole experience in. This however, was in a way, a bit of a mistake....

I stepped off the Chuo line train into one of the world's busiest and biggest stations. About 2 million people pass through it everyday. It took me twenty five minutes to find my way out and when I finally found an exit I didn't know which way to turn. The place was immense. Shops, restaurants, department stores and people, just people everywhere. I abandoned my idea to set foot into the city mapless and went to get one from tourist information. Not that this was any help because for all my efforts I could not find where the hell I was on it! I gave up trying to get my bearings and just turned right and started walking along near the station. It took me about 45 minutes to walk around the whole building and what I saw just blew me away. The great shining grey tower blocks of the skyscraper district, monstrous tv screens playing mtv and adverts, floor to sky neon rammed buildings, everywhere was alive with colour, Kanji, Katakana, sound, black haired, ginger streaked, funky fashions and cell phones. I broadened my circuit of Shinjuku and branched out down frenetic streets, dodging eight lanes of traffic, and noted the half litre cans of Coke in the vending machines that I passed every five minutes. Shining taxis of turquoise, lime and orange. Tramps sat in a square watching Black Eyed Peas on 5th floor screen as Tokyo's black crows flitted above; ominous guardians of the capitalist dream. I struggled to comprehend what I was seeing. I wandered down a street off the main drag and came across some kind of 'happening'. Men and women were sitting about on the pavement, many wearing just synthetic royal blue top garments and nothing much else. On the backs of them were a Japanese symbol in white. I thought it was either a sumo audition or some other sporting event or a religious celebration of some kind. Many were drinking and eating though so to be honest I have no idea what it was about. There were about 200 of them and I was obviously a bit of an intruder. I got a few looks as I walked by them. I tried not to look to curious.

A couple of hours later I still had no idea where I was. I had no idea about what I wanted to do or see that day. I had vaguely considered trying to find the Park Hyatt hotel where they filmed Lost in Translation, but just couldn't find in which direction I was supposed to walk, let alone where it actually was. I gave up on Shinjuku and dived down the nearest Tokyo metro. It took me an hour to get to Shibuya because I kept getting on the wrong train. The Tokyo underground system is really complicated. Or maybe it was just me? I was feeling pretty tried and overwhelmed. My friends at school laughed at me when I told them about this. It turns out that Shibuya is only one stop away on the main train line from Shinjuku. Oh well.... I did insist on going it alone!

I emerged out into a scene from my favourite movie. Crowds, and I mean crowds, of grey suits, punks and wealthy looking youths congregated near the statue of the dog. This is the popular meeting place for young people in Tokyo. Beyond the immediated crowds in front of me, rose from the tarmac a seven story tv screen above a Starbucks. This was the hub of world. The busiest pedestrian crossing on the planet. A hexagon of human traffic and then gleaming cars surging. The traffic has to stop from all dirctions before you can cross which means a wall of people builds up around the crossings. A dense mass standing and then surging, waiting, standing and surging, over and over. I have never seen life in such intensity. Everything just invades the senses. Sound and sight violated and stimulated by movement, symbols. Great faces adorn glass, a dinosaur walking, the hugest working digital watch above a shop blinks red, a black fortress skyscraper from space, a giant crimson crab, flyovers, new car traffic, bubble vans, money, music, head sets shouting. The city really is a buzzing, pulsating organism of Yen. Everything and everyone screams money. It is the life blood of the Capital and never have I seen it manifested in such a dazzling way. You have to see it to believe it. You cannot comprehend such a place. I couldn't anyway. I felt unable to breathe. Not because of the air but because it was just so awesome. By five thirty I was back on the train and heading for the sanctuary I now call 'home'. I had had enough for one day, but it was my first taste of the real Tokyo, and I liked it....