Tokyo

Hi all this is the first chance I`ve had to access the internet since arrival, would you believe that internet cafes are view and far between in Tokyo! We`ve asked around but not found one yet. You`ll also have to excuse a few typos, this Japanese keyboard is a bit different and I don:t have much time.

I`m having an absolutely fantastic time, almost beach mission like 24 hr adrenalin rush on trying to get check out Tokyo in the small amount of free time we get. But I`m going to try and do this chronologically so let`s start from the beginning.

Wednesday 26th of February 2005
Met the four other`s coming from Melbourne at the airport, had good fun on the flight. Watched Manchurian candidate, Garfield and Cat Women during the flight plus a few video games thrown in. Just before landing we watched a beautiful sunset with brilliant red yellow and blue colours along the horizon, followed shortly after by the moon rising over the ocean with a beautiful reflection in the water. Narita (Tokyo airport 50mins from City) seemed very dark from the air, not nearly as many lights as Melbourne which is not what I expected. We have since seem some typical neon streets in Tokyo.

We then met the rest of the Australian contingent at Narita (7 from Sydney 1 from Brisbane) bus ride to hotel - three level freeways are not uncommon, I even saw one with two levels of freeway over a river!. Checked in and had dinner - first Japanese meal which was great, and a short walk around a couple of local blocks, there's no way I could of slept without at least seeing a bit of Tokyo.

Thursday
Met the Americans and Swedes, all great people, very friendly getting on really well. The Americans all say `don't get me started` about Bush which is great. Formal opening ceremony in the morning and introductory lectures from Japanese bureaucrats via translators in the afternoon - pretty boring. Lunch time excursion we found a shrine right in the middle of inner city residential area, great contrast of open space surrounded by crowded in buildings, beautiful spot, where anyone could offer a prayer. Locals seem to come and do this a any time during the day. After a formal reception in the evening (beautiful Japanese food) I lead the Australian contingent on a one and a half hour walking tour of local suburbs, working it out as I went. We found some Typical Tokyo neon streets and then one of the imperial palaces which cover a huge amount of space, probably more than two or three times the size of Alexander and Botanic Gardens combined.

Before returning to the hotel from the Akasaka Palace we went out to Rapongi the an area known as the international tourist night spot, pretty expensive and full of foreign bars (so funny seeing British and Irish pubs etc run by local Japanese but I guess that happens in Aus too. We were also approached by about 20 pimps within half an hour who had pictures of their girls menu style. But as soon as the pimps realised there were girls in our group they backed off big time. Only saw one hooker actually on the street.


Friday began with a full Japanese breakfast at the hotel, an amazing experience, some tastes very different to what I`m used, some great and others that are more of an acquired taste. Then we went to the NPO forum which is described in another post.


Other miscellaneous impressions of Tokyo/Japan:
Smog is pretty bad, seems visible at night (though it might just be fog or a combination of the two).
From high up, 10 storey buildings stretch as far as the eye can see.
In most places they don`t seem to have the same level of street and general lighting as we do. Even from the air Japan was not nearly as bright as Melbourne. Although central city streets with lots of neon lights are much brighter, just not as common as I expected.

My times up, the Japanese are very punctual, I`ll finish the story some other time, hopefully soon, as we have free internet access this weekend.

cheers
James