Japan

Flew into Narita airport, Japan to a sea of neon lights. Headed to the information desk to ask about taxi's, the lady a bit bemused said "It's very expensive, it'll cost about 250,000 Yen" I pulled my phone out of my bag, did some quick calculations, £1980!!! I punched in the numbers again, there must be some mistake! I then headed to the subway which cost about £8 to Asukasabashi. The trains, as I understand it, are all privatised so run on different lines, you have to buy tickets according to the company that owns the lines as opposed to a ticket to your destination or a ride on the 'Metropolitan' line. It was very confusing and asked nearly everyone I encountered if I was in the right station, on the right platform and on the right train. My train was due in at 18:21, at 18:21 on the dot the train pulled into the station. My confusion was magnified when I was directed on a train and none of the stations we stopped at matched my map. I interrupted a chap playing on the Nintendo DS who was heading to Nagoya for a heart operation...great, here I was fretting over whether I was on the right train and this chap was about to have his chest ripped open!

Finally made it to where I was headed only to realise that the roads don't have names, only the main roads do. Stopped in a police box to speak to a very serious looking man wielding a rather large cane, "hai" he said pulling out a map, he smacked the cane on the desk "left and left, hai" he said. Two seconds later I was at the Khaosan Tokyo Ninja hostel. It was a sight to behold. The outside was in clad in geometric shapes, white-washed with little black ninjas painted on. I entered through the slide door and I was give the key to bed 18 on the forth floor. I followed the red lino up the stairs through a white stairwell with octopus ninja scrawled on the walls. Got to the forth floor; to the right was the locker room, to the left was the bathroom (with remote controlled toilet with a glorious heated seat) and the dorm was Mr Ikea's wet dream. There was about 16 capsules knocked up from a bit of MDF. The capsule was rather cosy, relatively spacious with a light, shelving, plugs and a little window, luckily my bed was next to a window, so got plenty of natural light. Capsules are the way forward, no being disturbed by people coming into the room, switching on lights, moving around, etc. Most importantly it was really private and found myself thinking I was at home, then waking up rather confused as to why I was in a coffin!

Got a one-day travel card and headed off into the city. Started at "central park" which seemed to be surrounded by universities. Visited a few shrines, which are different from the other temples in SE Asia, they are not as ostentatious and seems exude power and regalness, with its simple lines. The difference is like comparing Steve McQueen to Liberace.

Shinjuku is where all the action is, lots of neon lights and huge TV screens embedded in buildings. Again the confusion set in as Shinjuku station is size of a town but seemed to not lead anywhere. I was going around in circles for a good 3 hours before finding my way around Shinjuku, mainly because you find your way around using landmarks, and past the Japanese art-deco building of Isetan. The highlight of Shinjuku was a cluster of alleyways with tiny bars, half the size of my front room, there were rock bars, jazz bars and traditional Japanese pubs all lining this little oasis tucked away behind the busy Shinjuku roads.

The Japanese love jazz and take it very seriously. You never hear muzak, they opt for soothing tones of Miles Davis or Thelonius Monk in shopping centres, restaurants, trains and of course, the plethora of jazz bars. There are also about million art galleries dotted all over Tokyo, with the most surreal and creative art I've ever seen. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Ueno was a slight disappointment, there was a William Morris exhibition which I had no interest in, I was hungry for Japanese traditional and contemporary art. One hall displayed art work from Japanese school children...I was blown away that children are this talented and creative. Using every technique and material, some art was still life, lots of geometric shapes and a lot of psychedelic images. It made me realise that Japan's modern renaissance was all about absolute freedom and the mind was allowed to create, nothing was absurd or too out-there!

The party district of Roppongi was quite swish, but at the same time had a very seedy and aggressive atmosphere. Mainly, I think, because the majority of the clubs were gentlemen only. It isn't as in your face as the red-light district of Kabukicho, that was all 'pink cabaret' and hidden shops behind pink curtains decorated with anime ladies offering the depraved Japanese male all sorts of naughtiness. It's a bit weird, having something so immoral hidden behind a sugar-coated, pink, cartoon silliness. It's a little Victorian, like unspeakable, unacknowledged sins behind a veil of proper face for society. Anyway, watch the sunset from the Roppongi Hills, behind the Toyko Tower (which is like the Blackpool Tower). The sky was doing crazy things and was gutted about the absence of a camera.

I wanted to venture out of the city to Kyoto or Okinawa, but looking into transport this was going to be expensive. I figured that I wasn't going to come back to Japan anytime soon, this was once in a lifetime, so what the hell. I booked myself onto a Shinkansen (bullet) train to Kyoto, it cost 24000 Yen or £192 (ouch). The 7 hours road trip was reduced to a 2.5 hour train trip through central Japan past Mount Fuji. I wanted to catch the 8:05 train, the train left Tokyo station at 8:05. The scenery was breathtaking, apart from when I thought there was something wrong with my eyesight only to realise that it was posts dotted along the track going past so fast, they were just flickers. The train was so clean and very quiet, people are so polite and respectful (baring in mind that chivalry is non-existent). The journey was so smooth. I'm very impressed!

Kyoto is more traditional then Tokyo. Lots of traditional wooden buildings, surrounded by a magnificent mountain range. Kyoto is really quirky, it reminds me a bit of Camden Town. Lots of funky and second-hand clothes shops. I got myself I one-day bus pass. My bus to Gion (lots of temples, little traditional roads and geishas) was due at 10:43, the bus showed up at 10:43 and off we trundled. All the drivers have Britney Spears headsets, and one with a comedy voice was talking constantly, I don't know what he was saying but no-one was paying any attention. There are so many temples and shrines, it would take about 3 weeks to see them all. There is also a stretch of road called Tetsugaku-rio-Michi or the path of philosophy, which is just a nice walk really. I couldn't find the Sumiya Pleasure House to see all the geisha's, I'm sure I was just being dense with the whole 'let's not name our streets' policy.

I had planned to head to Tsukji fish market, it opens are 5am with a tuna auction, but I slept in. By all accounts, it's very good and the food is incredible as your sushi barely dead when they serve it you. Central Tokyo around the bay and station is more the Tokyo you see on television and hub-bub of technology, but it really isn't the place that makes Tokyo so amazing and completely different from any city in the world.

The whole of Japan is silly really, in many ways it's so modern, forward-thinking and serious. On the flip side, it's all about garish, silliness, cartoons (Manga is a cartoon) and childlike. The women are so liberated, but oppressed at the same time. You barely see couples or mixed-gender groups together in the street and a lot of women are alone. Using a mobile phone in public is a serious faux-pas, despite being the birthplace of the cell, I don't think I ever heard one go off or anyone talking on it, but everyone was clutching one.