Shopping in Toyko

A defining moment in Tokyo - a smal queue is outside the Hermes store waiting for it to open.  One woman is already holding a Hermes bag !  You need two ? Welcome to Toyko Luxe.

I have already described the Imperial Hotel for you and staying in the Ginza area where the hotel is located allows an insight into rich Japan.  While the Imperial Hotel has a certain establishment atmosphere, old-money feel, the rest of Ginza is about those luxury products you only once saw in the Harpers Bazaar magazines at the hairdressers: Chanel, Prada, Tiffanys.  But now I see these stores at Chadstone and I always marvel that they get enough customers to sustain their existance.  Who buys the stuff ?  But while I may sit here and scream disdain for people who already possess a $40,000 hand bag standing in a queue to but another one, I must confess, I have always had a hankering for a Burberry trench.

We did not go to Burberrys, nor any of the other Harpers Bazaar stores.  We went to Uniqlo.  12 storeys of Uniqlo.  Uniqlo heaven.  I converted to Uniqlo from the first week it landed in Melbourne.  I let the Zara craze pass me by when they came to Australia the year earlier, and I was very disappointed by H&M when that Swedish department store juggernaut hit town, but Uniqlo hooked me.  It also helped when I worked out that the Uniqlo symbol was not Unversity Queenland as I has always thought when I saw it emblazened on Adam Scott's golfing apparel.  I thought it strange that a small university was sponsoring an international golf star, but then I thought, hey Adam comes from Brisbane so that's nice.  I should have realised I how wrong I was when Novak Djokovic starting wearing the same logo. My sister laughs at my Uniqlo obsession and my description of my outfits as head to toe, Uniqlo, but at $29.99 why wouldn't you buy the cherry red leggings ?  So I dragged Tom into Ginza's signature store - and guess what, he loved it.  Shame that everything in the store is for the northern hemisphere winter, but that three-quarter length coat he picked up will be perfect for the train trips to work next June.  Ok, there was no room left in the case and he did have to carry it back on all the way to Melbourne, but worth it. Not Burberry, but this way he has a coat and enough left over to pay for our trip to Portugal next year.  So keep your eye out for that blog.

Iniqlo in Ginza

Imperial Hotel Tokyo

We have stayed at some different establishments in Japan, from 3 star hotels, a Buddhist monastery, and a ryokan, which is the Japanese equivalent of the B&B. All have been clean and functional - but above all what you notice is that they are small. In space hungry Japan hotel rooms are necessarily small - remember this is the country that invented the capsule hotel.

We had planned to finish the trip in Japan with a little luxury, and while the Imperial sounded pretty smick I did not raise my hopes too high.  But hey, I reckoned it would have real beds and that was welcome after spending the last two nights on a futon.  Futons are eminently practical because they can be shoved away in a cupboard to free up living space for the day.  They do not offer much cushioning from the firm tatami mat floor, but it can't have been too bad because I slept soundly.

The Imperial Hotel looked pretty good from the outside when we arrived, and the foyer and front desk exuded establishment quailty. So far, so good.  Booking in I was underwhelmed when the receptionist advised we had been given a room upgrade.  I have been told too many times by hotel receptionists on work trips to Canberra that I have been upgraded to an Executive room, only to find that it meant I was provided Liptons Tea Bags, instead of no-name.  

Our room at at the Imperial

But here upgrade meant UPGRADE.  It started to sink in when our Bell Boy, Mori, took us up to the 17th floor and he had to use the key card to get onto the Imperial floor.  At our room door we were greeted by the Imperial floor concierge. I am ashamed to admit that I have forgetten her name (it was rather a lot to take in all at once), but Tom and I have privately nicknamed her Princess Sen.  Princess Sen is a revered tragic Japanese figure from the Edo period who retired from public life and became a Buddhist nun after a life of misery of Thomas Hardy proportions. Our Princess Sen, fully regailed in kimono, poured us some green tea and made sure we had everything we needed before leaving us to explore our Tokyo nirvana.  

It has it all - the towelling robes, coffee maker, recliner chair and footrest, Bose sound system and postcard views.  A massive, massive bed. Hotel monogrammed pyjamas - which by the way I am wearing.  At first I demured - eek I thought, hotel pyjamas, but then I considered that stance to be a bit precious as the alternative was to wear my two week old pyjamas (yes they have had a rinse out, but they are pretty manky by now).  We have a choice of buffet breakfast in one of two restaruants, or room service.  Oh, and free drinks from 6:30 to 8:00!  Obviously didn't realise we were Australians before they upgraded us.

Jo in her Imperial PJs

I am not sure what intrigues me the most, the fact that the curtains are opened electonically by a switch at the bedside, or the high tech (and huge safe) that has a USB port to charge your phone/PC while it is locked away.  No - just decided, it is neither of those - it is the television in the bathroom that means I can watch the Golf Channel while in the bath ! Now that is nirvana!

The view

Post script 

Room service breakfast.  Yes - it came delivered on hotel trolley with silver service.  Do we really have to leave ?

A national public holiday in honour of sport - how good is that

Our first day in Tokyo was Monday 12 October - National Sport Day. And I thought Melbourne was the only place crazy enough to designate a public holiday in honour of sport. To be fair, this Japanese holiday also commemerates health, and is probably more about competing in sport and being active, whereas Cup Day is a bit more about ... well, a piss up really. 

Health and Sport Day was established in 1966 to commemorate the 1964 Olympics. The Olympics had proved a great bonus for Japan in helping boost the post war economy. Originally the anniversary was always held on 10 October, but in 2000 it was altered to occur on the second Monday in October so as to create a long weekend. And that is because the Japanese are not embarrassed about having 3 day weekends, in fact they relish the idea. 

Competitors at the Tokyo Marathon

They have a very sensible law, furikae kujitsu, which translates as the transfer law.  The effect of this law, passed in 1948, is that whenever a public holiday falls on the weekend they transfer the day off to the Monday. Additionally, any day that falls between two other public holidays shall also be declared a holiday. 

Currently Japan has 15 public holidays, with a 16th having been recently declared by the government. So frankly, I ask, what is all the fuss about the new Victorian Grand-Final-Eve holiday. Rather than complain about it I think it is essential that we embrace the concept and declare Cup Eve a public holiday. Let's face it, the Japanese may well run off with the Cup again this year with stayer Fame Game, from the same stables as 2006 winner Delta Blues, being a strong fancy this spring carnival. 

To top off their passion for sport the Japanese are hosting the Olympics again in 2020.  We may come back. 

Road workers stop to do their exercises.

Next stop Tokyo

We are on our last Shinkansen (bullet) train today, headed for Toyko.  So in the past two weeks what have we seen.

Temples - lots of temples. And shrines - many, many shrines.  And gardens - very beautiful gardens.  I have all sorts of ideas now for how to renovate my garden when I get home.  But I am just not sure how I am going to fit in the pagoda, tea room, scultured maple trees, rock garden and the carp pond, complete with gorgeous arched bridge. 

Fortunately it has not been all temples and shrines, because frankly they do tend to blend into each other the first dozen or so.  Japan still has some feudal castles and these were fascinating to visit, but because everything was made out of wood, fire has destroyed many of these original fortresses.  While the current royal family is the longest direct line monarchy extant today, the history of feudal Japan is one of regular conflict between feudal lords for control of the Emperor. Although the Emperor occupied the Chrysanthemum throne, the real power was with the Shogun and the samurai warriors, hence the heavily fortified castles.

Japan has a lively arts and culture community and we visited a couple of galleries during our stay.  I greatly enjoyed visitng the Kyoto Art Gallery which was hosting a 'Rinpa' aexhibition.  The stunning blue irises against the gold background typify Japanese art for me.

I was less taken by Kanazawa's 21st century gallery of modern art, modern it may have been, but was it art ? Probably best I leave Tom to comment on that experience (though the wine in the gallery cafe at dusk was very welcome).

First of all, the gallery itself is a wonderful building, circular, with glass external walls, even the cafe/bar had curved tables.  The exhibition was quite modern with some substantial works by a variety of artists from different parts of the world, suchas the swimming pool which coud be viewed from above or, via a long staricase, below and a wonderful tapestry made up of colourful bottle tops and labels, about 10 meters high agaisnt the gallery wall. 

In the pool

Kanazawa was our last stop before Toyko and in this coastal city seafood is the speciality.  We visted the fish market and amongst the recognisable fish there were some strange creatures I have never seen before, and the largest crabs I have ever seen.  Our meal at our ryokan that night included fresh fare from the market, including crab and a somewhat intimidating to eat sea snail, that was actually alright.

The fish market in Kanazawa

Dinner at our Ryokan

And shops!  We have been restrained about shopping so far, not wanting to lug around more that we have to. So bring on Tokyo and shopping !!!

The random things a traveller sees

Maybe it is because we are out and about more than at home that we come across interesting random things while travelling.

One of my favourite memories of visiting Florence many years ago was a square that had been blocked off for filming.   We watched a period drama unfolding before us and were delighted some months later when Room With A View was released.  Tom's obsession with Helena Bonham-Carter may date from that event. 

We were again delighted to find that Himeji Castle was hosting a film crew during our visit.  I doubt the film being filmed here will be as famous a Room With A View but we were chuffed anyway and watched the beautifully decked out actresses strut their kimono stuff.  Himeji Castle is unbelievably picturesque and has appeared in a number of films, including The Last Samurai, Kagamusa and the somewhat ridiculous James Bond film, 'You Only Live Twice' where JB gets made up to look like a Japanese by a bevy of bikini clad Japanese girls.  Unfortunately they were not allowing photos of the filming so here is one of Himeji Castle.

Our visit to the Shinto shrine on Miyajima coincided with this wedding ceremony.  Religion is a funny thing here - the story goes, 90% of Japanese people when asked will say they are Buddhist, and again 90% will say they are Shinto when asked.  The truth is that they follow both religions and the two happily meld and coexist.  Yet, in truth the country is very secular.

Wedding at Shinto shrine on Miyajima

Not quite a religion, baseball is very popular.  The local team in Hiroshima is known as the Carps and when we happened across the Chrysanthemum Festival this display was themed for the local baseball team.

The Hiroshima Carps

This charming young girl took our eye in Nikko.  Dressed up to the nines in her silk kimono she was being treated about the place by doting family.  We had no idea what was going on, but apparently it is common for girls around the age of seven to be dolled-up and taken to the Shinto shrine by family - no doubt it is good luck.

Traditionally dressed family

Kimono hire is a common day out for tourists and locals.  Popular with young girls, they hire a kimono for the day, get the full make-up and hair job, and wander around the tourist sites - taking incessant selfies, of course. In Kyoto's Gion district many restaurants offer discount prices to couples who turn up dressed in traditional garb, I gather it is encouraged as the tourists find it cute.  There are not many geisha these days, so this is the next best thing.

Kimono's for hire in Kyoto

Perhaps not the next best thing are these young Toyko girls.  It was explained to us that they were touting their girl band - they were certainly noticed!

Arriving at Kanazawa Station there was a welcoming committee of Kimono clad ladies  Really, they shouldn't  have.

Travelling in Japan - it is not all Bullet trains

Wandering along the urban streets of Hiroshima I noticed what I initially thought was a municipal worker pushing a cart with a number of hard-hats sitting on top.  Probably a gardener I thought, about to tend the trees that are kept meticulously pruned in all of Japan's urban areas. But then I noticed the 'worker' was a young women, and she was accompanied by another young women who had a number of toddlers in tow. I say 'in tow' deliberately; the toddlers were walking single file, all holding onto a rope, with an adult leading. What we had stumbled upon was a kindergarten group taking a stroll to the local park, and the smallest ones were sitting in this trolley being pushed along.  What looked like hard-hats from a distance were their yellow sun-hats.  How inventive.  Of course at home the kindergarten would have ample grounds in which the children could play, but in space hungry Japan, they use the public spaces for fresh air and exercise.

Preschoolers on an excursion

The bullet train, the Shinkansen, is at the opposite end of the technology scale.  It is everything you hear about it - high tech, comfortable, clean, and fast.  Today we are travelling on the Thunderbird line to Kanazawa.  Generally the internet access is excellent, although the earlier trip this morning to Osaka took us through many tunnels and the connection dropped out regularly. Lack of Japanese is no problem - there are enough signs in English to make out what is happening.  And the stations are a delight when you arrive - lockers for luggage so you do not have to drag it around, and plenty of coffee shops if you have to wait for connections.  

While we are on luggage - they have this brilliant service where you can forward your luggage on.  For example today we are travelling quite a long way with connections and rather than drag along two cases we have sent one onto the next destination after this one - and it will be there when we arrive.  Excellent idea. 

They have Fondies n Japan too!

After the train, bicycles are clearly a favoured form of transport. I am always impressed by the female office workers who cycle along looking quite elegant in their suits and high heels.  Tom is aghast at the lack of helmets, and certainly here in Hiroshima they get along at a fast pace and if they took out a pedestrian it could be nasty.  For pedestrian, read oblivious tourist - Tom has had to pull me out of the way of an approaching cyclist quite a times now.  The funny thing about cyclists is that that just willfully disobey the rules not to cycle on the footpath.  The Japanese are naturally rule obiding in everything else but this one thing.  And they park their bikes anywhere, despite there being signs to only use designated parking spots or your bike will be towed away. Tom has been excitedly waiting to see a bike towed away but he has been disappointed to date, though we did see an inspector give a bike a parking ticket!  I kid you not - wrote a ticket and stuck it on the bike! Explain to me how that works? How do they track the bike owner?  Perhaps they are just honest and pay the fine anyway.

Rickshaw - another form of transport (mainly for tourists)

Hiroshima is difficult to write about: the museum is a gruelling visit and while the Peace Park is themed with a positive anti-nuclear weapon message that all can relate to, knowing you are standing at the site where so much devastation was reeked is harrowing.

The Atomic Dome

Technology

So, Japan is a sophisticated user of new technology - hai?  We have all seen those TV stories about robots and other technological wizardry created in Japan.   There are the Shinkansen (bullet trains) which since the sixties have transported the Japanese between their major cities at remarkable speeds. And every major town seems to have a tall telecommunications tower to demonstrate its sophistication.

The Kyoto Tower

Yet when I got off the plane in Tokyo and looked for the ATM to cash up in Yen, I was confronted by something that looked like the terminal of a VAX minicomputer that I used back in the nineties at Uni! Alright, it worked, but where is the snappy user-friendly interface?  And once in the city the only ATMs that take my travel money card are in post offices and 7/11 stores. And whilst the screens are a bit more sophisticated, touch with an 'English' option, the keypad is recycled from an NCR cash register.  Pay pass? Forget it!  Most smaller shops don't even take credit cards.  And if they do you have to sign.  Remember that?  (Ok, it wasn't that long ago that signatures became obsolete, but I have been using a PIN for at least 5 years!).

And then there are phones.  Yes, smart phones are everywhere, particularly amongst the young, but many of the businessmen I have seen still use the old style flip phone with a dedicated keyboard.  And not everyone on the train has their head in a smartphone screen - perhaps a good thing.  Although the public telephone is fast dissappearing from Melblurne streets they still prolifreate in Japan.  Mind you, we have only seen one in use since we ahve been here.  Finally, most networks are still using 3G for mobile data, with only one recently offering 4G!

A unique telephone box in Nikko

And it doesn't end there.  We had vouchers for Japan Rail (JR) to exchange for passes at the station. We presented at the office with our vouchers and the girl behind the counter was very helpful, checking the date from which we wanted the pass to operate and completing the process.  The process was however unbelievable.  She wrote all our details including passport numbers, on a form and in her record book, and typed out the details of the pass on a form which was then peeled off and put on the other form and then laminated.  During this process she checked every detail of our pass at least three times!  And I mean checked.  Highlighted, ticked, stamped.  I guess we can be sure that the details are correct.  The whole process took about 15 minutes!  And at no time were any of our details entered into a computer - but more on that later.

Automatic carp food dispensers

We wanted to book seats on the Shinkansen for our trip to Kyoto; don't get me wrong, the bullet trains are the best thing since sliced bread, simple to use, punctual, comfortable and no fuss cf. air travel.  Our guide took us to the JR office at Tokyo station to book.  Twenty minutes later we had our booking.  The staff were very courteous, but to check the train times she pulled out a printed timetable!  At least an inch think in very close 6 pt type!  To make our reservations, she had to re-type the details from our  JR pass into the system for our booking!  Even VicRail has online timetable and reservations!  (Though their trains could be faster).

(UPDATE - later in our trip when we booked seats I noticed there was an online system - perhaps it want working on that first day?)

So, I guess my point is, whilst Japan is a very technologically sophisticated country, particularly in their manufacturing and IT, the use of technology in daily life is a few years behind ours.  But with the emphasis on technology that actually makes their lives easier - hi-tech manufacturing, good public transport for instance - perhaps the Japanese have the balance right.

The new Kyoto Station building - the Japanese are not frightened to invest in public transport

Obviously this contribution has come from Tom, how would I know what a VAX was, or or that matter know that 3G has been surpassed by 4G.