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Just a day

Posted on 2012-09-06 11:03 by rv

I don't like that a lot of my blogposts start with 'I'. Today I didn't do a lot. I woke up late and had to take care of silly things such as getting accommodation in London. I remember last summer when I moved to London there was a fairly large choice of temporary accommodations on AirBnB, all of them seemingly average. This time the situation went from "they all look average and they're all expensive" to "they all look shit and they're expensive". It took me quite a while to dig up something that looked decent, but a bargain it will not be. There's no bargains in London.

Just as I was about to go out for dinner the already dark sky lit up and a summer thunderstorm erupted. I went out anyway and ate the best sushi I had in years. This followed by some shopping and I'm back in my hotel room, looking outside at the rain again.

My day-night rhythm has been 'classic' as of late. That is to say, it's like my jobless days when I went to bed at 4AM and woke up at 12PM. Incidentally, that seems to be the best rhythm for my days in Japan. Going to bed late means I can call people in the UK when it's early evening, and waking up late means I avoid a lot of the blazing summer heat.

I just realized that I only have 4 days left in Japan. My last day in Japan I will stay at Narita (city) as my flight leaves quite early the next morning, so this Sunday will be my last full day in Atsugi. I still have so many things I want to do. Going to Izu for hiking, doing a random train trip, visiting Odaiba and Shinjuku in Tokyo, climbing OoYama again, cycling to Enoshima, visiting Yokohama, exploring Tokyo more. The weather did limit me a bit in my motivation to do all those things, but all in all I'm very happy with my stay here. I did things at my own pace and enjoyed myself greatly. Now it's time to slowly start thinking about stepping out of the nexus and continuing my real life.

If anything, what I learned from this trip is that Japan is right, accessible whenever I want to go. Nothing will change very quickly. In the case of Holland, even after seven years of not living there, not much has changed. The feel of the place is still the same, and that will never change. Both countries are there for me if I want them, and that's good to know. One month of rest has done me a lot of good, and I feel extremely relaxed right now. I'm sure that will change again once I get back to London and resume my work, but given that the last time I started my job in London I was able to keep my zen for several months, this time will go even better. A holiday is a holiday. You put your life on hold while you have fun elsewhere. But in all honesty I am ready now to go back and resume my life. Time to make things happen again.

Posted in Daily Life , Japan , Thoughts | Tagged ,

The lake, revisited

Posted on 2012-09-05 07:55 by rv

I had been doubting whether or not to cycle to the lake this time, given that I am now on a crappy bicycle and it's been bloody hot every single day since I came here. In the end, I couldn't resist.

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It was tough, and I don't think I can blame it all on the bicycle either. My performance has degraded a lot since the cycling trip, and I had to walk some of the steep parts. I kept wishing for the ability to switch down a gear, but I was stuck in the single one. The weather didn't help either, as it was incredibly hot, and only got hotter as the day went on.

But I made it, and it was nice. There was no nostalgia-fest and I did not feel the need to reminisce about my trip, which is perhaps out of character for me. I just went to a park, relaxed there for a while, and then went back.

Going back is the real reward. It's almost all downhill. Even on a crappy bike you can go insanely fast. It's just such a great feeling. The whole day you suffer and die going uphill to try and reach the lake, and then you're finally there and you get the payoff. The downhill ride was amazing, relaxing and inspiring in ways that words cannot describe.

I guess that's the real thing I was missing from my cycling experience so far. It's not just the places that I used to visit, it's the long-distance rides that make me suffer so badly, yet ultimately end up being rewarding every single time. I love it.

Posted in Cycling , Japan | Tagged

Laundry time

Posted on 2012-09-03 15:43 by rv
Posted in Japan

Surprise thunderstorm

Posted on 2012-09-02 12:04 by rv

The weather looked fine when I left: some dark clouds in the distance, but moving in the right direction. When I arrived at the seaside I found that a new front of dark clouds had moved in behind me. Halfway on the way back I entered into the worst tropical rainstorm ever. Well, perhaps not the worst, the one in Okinawa was worse, and I've had some worse days during my cycling trip two years ago. But this was the first time in Atsugi that I actually ventured out in this kind of weather. It felt rather extreme, yet enjoyable. Arriving back at the hotel, soaking wet, the receptionists had the best look of shock on her face that I will not soon forget. A day well spent.

Posted in Japan , Photography

The old place

Posted on 2012-08-31 15:15 by rv

It's the youth heim, and my old room. I do miss the view.

I remember doing something to this door that made it like this, but I forget what.

 

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Somewhere

Posted on 2012-08-30 16:03 by rv

Posted in Japan , Photography

You can let your guard down in Japan

Posted on 2012-08-29 16:54 by rv

Today I met a friend, way later than I was originally supposed to. As such, it ended in a beer place in Meguro, and I had a rather good taste of beer that I actually liked and could actually distinguish from other beers. I also had the best yakiniku ever before coming to the beer place, but that as an aside. In the beer place my party met an interesting Irish gentleman who appears to be running an acne cream company in Japan. We ended up talking about good and bad things about Japan, as foreigners do when they're here or have been here in the past. There's the usual complaining about other countries, then the complaining about weird things in Japanese society, but if there's one thing I could take away from the conversation, it's this: you can let your guard down in Japan.

It's not the first time this thought has popped in my mind. I've talked about this with a lot of my friends who used to live here and have also had the experience of living in another country, and they tend to agree. But hearing it from a complete stranger feels slightly different. Satisfying, I might add. I haven't been delusional at all, this is actually a thing!

Think about it. What if you didn't have to worry about your bag when you have to go to the toilet in a restaurant? What if you don't have to worry about getting wasted on the streets because no one will steal your wallet? What if you don't have to be mindful of sleeping in the train because no one will ever try to steal your shit? Last one: what if you don't have to worry about walking down the streets because no one will ever approach you and ask you for money in an infuriating way?

The answer to all those questions is: then you go out, you live carefree and you end up with a happy nightlife city like Tokyo. Sure, there's seedy neighbourhoods, but even those are only dangerous if you happen to offend the local crime lord (which is a hard thing to do by accident).

But to which population groups does this apply? What do you have to be to qualify for the privilege of letting your guard down? Well, native Japanese seem to disqualify immediately. Japanese people have been raised in this culture so have no basis for comparison. They think Kabikucho in Shinjuku is the worst place they can imagine, yet to any foreigner it will seem amazingly tame (at least it did to me, and I'm a countryside farmboy). I've thought a lot about this, and I was going to write down a detailed version here of how your race and gender help decide whether you can let your guard down or not. But that's not the point. The point is what the consequences are.

In London, if you leave your bag out of sight, it gets stolen. It's that simple. Same goes for your bicycle: it better be locked damn well if you're planning on leaving it in a public place. If you let your guard down and forget to look after your things, you will immediately be punished for it. Not so in Japan. You've got a safety margin. Here's an example. I often left my bicycle at the train station in Japan when I went out late at night. Sometimes I wouldn't return for several days. I always locked my bike, but sometimes I would leave my raincoat in the basket if I didn't think I would need it. I know, it's a weird thing to do, but I was testing Japan, to see if someone would steal it or not. Someone did, eventually, but that was only after leaving my bike there over the entire weekend. But on the occasions that I left it for one night and came back the next morning, nobody ever tried to take things from my basket.

There's a similar safety margin with beggars. I've never been approached by one in Japan until yesterday, but even then I feel confident that I can say anything to a begger without having to worry that he'll want to get physical or draw a knife on me. I used a beggar in this example, but I could have used any other person. My point is: if you don't have to worry about these kind of situations happening you'll walk down the street differently, and you'll feel more free. Perhaps that's just my risk-averse nature speaking, but it seriously affects me. You would never even imagine strolling through central London late at night to take photos; it just doesn't even occur to you because society has pummelled you into believing that you shouldn't go out late at night, especially not with expensive equipment. In Tokyo it's something that just springs to mind naturally. I'll spark the controversial thought here that  London is like a wilderness full of lions, tigers and other deadly predators, whereas Tokyo is filled with deer, sheep and koalas.

I filed this under rant because I don't think this is particularly thought-provoking or objective. It's just my subjective thoughts about Tokyo. And it's a rant because I really felt like I had to get this off my chest. All the time I keep feeling this way but fail to articulate it the way I want to, and the thought gets lost in my brain somewhere. The Irishman finally gave me the kick to write down this imperfect version so I can at least read it back and try to write a better version at some later point in time.

Posted in Japan

The beggar

Posted on 2012-08-28 14:08 by rv

Today I was walking  across Akihabara station when a man approached me. This is quite rare in Japan and even more so in Tokyo, mostly because of two reasons: 1. Japanese people's English is not too brililant, and they have a right complex about that, so they're afraid to approach foreigners. And 2. this is Tokyo, a big impersonal city where everyone leaves everyone else alone.

The other valid reason for which Japanese people have approached me in the past, bless their souls, is because they think I am lost or require help. This has happened to me a couple of times in the past so I assumed that this guy wanted to help me. His initial question - "Where are you going?" - suggested that he wanted to help me find the right train.

I answered in English (seeing as the other big reason a few brave Japanese people approach foreigners is to practice their English): "I'm not going anywhere. I'm waiting here for a friend". So far so normal. But then he did a heel face turn and asked me, once again in broken English: "Can you help me"? I was a bit surprised at this, and before I could give him answer he said "I need 300 dollars. Give me 300 dollars".

My automatic reply system kicked in before I could give him a snarky reply: "No, I don't think I can help you". Then he said nothing and walked away, looking for the next foreigner to assault.

Honestly, I am shocked. Shocked. I have been to Akiba countless times before and nobody's ever approached me to beg for money. I've been to other, more foreigner-rich areas of Tokyo (Roppongi, Shinjuku) and nobody's ever approached me. <bias>If anything, I'd have expected another foreigner to come beg for money, but not a Japanese person</bias>.

Is this perhaps a sign that the Japanese are finally mastering their English? Surely when beggars start to speak it, that's a great linguistic victory.

And a great defeat for society.

 

Posted in Japan | Tagged

Nipponbashi

Posted on 2012-08-25 10:18 by rv

 

Posted in Japan , Photography | Tagged

Akihabara

Posted on 2012-08-24 07:37 by rv

Akihabara, affectionately known by the locals as Akiba, famous for its electric town which is filled with electronics shops that attract foreigners looking for cheap deals, and its anime/manga-related shops that attract the Japanese geeks - otaku.

I first visited this place seven years ago, and have come here a couple of times a year while I was living in Japan. In the beginning I bought a lot of things: dvds, figures, Transformers, Gundams, art books and the occasional manga. My buying craze has gone down since then, but I still love to visit Akiba and stare in wonder at the awesome geek toys on display.

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I'm amazed by the changes in Akiba. Not so much in terms of shops and merchandise but in terms of people walking around. I distinctly remember the place with only Japanese otaku and foreign tourists walking around, but today I saw a lot of Japanese otaku + girlfriends, not to mention regular Japanese people. Geek has gone mainstream, Akiba is the proof.

Posted in Japan | Tagged
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