1/31-2/1/06: Tokyo

Tokyo. The first thing about Tokyo is that it is actually a ring of cities all clustered together. Second is that Tokyo is super crowded (of course), which you find when you are wandering around Tokyo Station. Third, Tokyo has the coolest bathrooms with lids that automatically lift when you enter the stall, and 3-in-1 sinks with soap, water, and blow dryer all in the sink bowl. And the fourth is that the people in Tokyo are asshole pimps and bitches (towards me at least). Never have I met ruder people. Not in the week I spent in Kyoto, any of its neighboring cities, Taiki, Sapporo, or on any of the trains, even. I don't know what their problem is, if maybe it's a big city thing or what, but they are so incredibly rude. Example: 1) don't speak Japanese to guy at front desk = "Receipt!" in a loud voice of utter contempt and a throw of both the key and receipt onto the desk before turning and walking away. 2) try to buy an amazing shirt on a dummy (because I can't find it on the shelf) at a store in Harajuku = I ask if I can try it on. Superbitch says no. I ask, then how I'm supposed to know if I can buy it. She glares at me, pulls it off the dummy, magically finds another in a different, better color, and starts to put it on the dummy. I ask if I could try that one on instead. She looks at me in shock and gives me the shirt while grabbing the other out of my hand and pulling it back onto the dummy. I go pay. She very obviously conspires with her co-worker and they point and laugh at me. How is this the way they do business. No matter, I was only buying that shirt because it had some amazing Engrish. They probably think it was cool. Stupid bitch.

Anyway, after I got to Tokyo, I went to Ueno and visited the National Museum of Tokyo, which was small, but incredibly well done. Whoever designed this museum was brilliant; each room was artistic and color coordinated, and every piece had been thoughtfully displayed in context with the other pieces. There were also very clear explanations about each room's theme, such as laquerware (which is gorgeous and used to be called "japan", much like porcelain can be called "china"), kimonos, samurai armour and swords, etc. I also found the museum's size, although small compared to most other museums, to be perfect for me; I was just about to bored/tired when I finished. That night I wandered around Ginza, which is crazy and chaulked full of stores, lights, and people. I also made a special stop at the Ginza Koban (police station): when it was built, the architect had forgotten to take the pin out of the model, and so the pin was actually constructed in real life. So amazing.

The next day was miserable. It was pouring like nobody's business and very cold. I tried to go to Harajuku, but it was too early and nothing was opened. So I wandered around the maze of a mall in Tokyo Station for a while staring at food. I also went to the Sony Building in Ginza, which is full of the latest, coolest gagets and has a floor of playstations that people hang around and play all day. Then, I made my way to Shibuya where the world's biggest crosswalk is. It's the one you see in all of the pictures. It was huge and looked like a sea of umbrellas, but I suspect that there were less people than usual, as it was still raining hard. I went to Harajuku, known for the people who dress up crazily. It would have been a very cool place to hang out with all of the stores, vendors, lights... very young and fun atmosphere. But it was raining. My shoes were filling up, and there were only some normally dressed people out. Also, this is where I met Superbitch.

This was the my last day touring southern Japan before riding the Shinkansen and amazingly late trains (again) back to Obihiro.