Japan

Tokyo, my first stop in Japan, has about 13 million people. To help put that in perspective, New York City has less than 8.5 million. That is a lot of people. The Greater Tokyo Area has 35 million people and is the world's largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of $1.191USD trillion (according to Wikipedia). Tokyo is a huge, cool, interesting, and fascinating place full of contradictions, suits and white shirts on men, good food, and loads of things that make no sense. In the end, though, there is not that much.

I anticipated on spending four nights there and feeling that I had only seen a fraction of the city (how you would feel if you spend four nights in NYC) but after walking around for 8 hours the first day I was there I looked at a map and realized I had covered about 75% of the city. Obviously there is more to do than what I did in that 75%, but I can say I got a good feel for each area and could certainly describe the differences between them. Do not get the wrong idea. I really enjoyed my time in Tokyo; it really is a cool city. I ended up spending three nights there and the first night was just me arriving, getting the following day organized, and going to sleep after a very long flight.

A few things about Tokyo that will stick with me:

1. The fish market: The fish market in Tokyo is the biggest fish market in the world and known among visitors to be one of the craziest things you can see in Japan (which says a lot). It lived up to its reputation. It is like nothing I have ever seen. The floor is covered with bloodied sea water. There are all sorts of creatures for sale, some dead and some alive. Some tiny some enormous. Some rather pleasant looking others terrifying. There is yelling, pushing, weird electric carts rushing about. All this was around 6:30AM. The market dies down around 8AM, but starts before dawn, with a tuna auction. I wanted to see this auction so that I could see the biggest tuna caught before they are cut up but the auction takes place before public transportation starts running for the day and the market is too far to walk to from my hostel.

Next to the fish market is where just about everybody goes for the traditional breakfast given the location: sushi. My and a guy I met at the hostel waited in line for about 1.5 hours with mostly locals (a good sign) to eat the most expensive, freshest, and best sushi I have ever had. Now, this sushi is expensive (the least expensive pieces run about $3 each), but if you go to the part of town right next door, which "boasts" the most expensive real estate in the world, the meal would cost ten fold.

2. Shibuya: The Shibuya ward of Tokyo, specifically the Shibuya crossing, pretty much sums modern Japan. This video was not taken by me, though I did take video of the crossing. That happens over and over and over. It is truly stunning to see.

3. The trains and train culture: Tokyo's train system is like nothing I have ever seen. It is not only that the system is so extensive, but it is also the culture train riding. Other than the sound of the train and any other ambient noise, the train is quiet. Almost nobody talks on the train. You are not allowed to talk on your phone. Just about everybody closes their eyes and sleeps no matter what the hour is. It is weird.

From Tokyo I took a Japan Rail (JR) train to Osaka, with a stop in Shizuoka with the intention of getting some views of Mount Fuji. The JR train itself is a trip. The train is moving so fast that unless you are looking at something very far you do not have time to see it. So the idea of seeing the country on the JR train is foiled. However, falling asleep on the train is dangerous because if you miss your stop you will end up really far from where you want to go. It was too foggy to see Mount Fuji but Shizuoka is very nice by itself. It is full of parks and small streets to explore.

Osaka is often not visited by tourists because it is thought of as too similar to Tokyo. This is true in that both are big cities with similarities, but false in that one is a substitute for the other. Osaka has a different feel to it. The people are less busy and have more personality. That said, they are similar and I do understand why many skip it in favor of allocating that time elsewhere.

While in Osaka I took a day trip to Kyoto, the cultural capital of Japan, and another day trip to Kobe. Koyto is nice, full of shrines and temples. I think most people spend too much time in Kyoto as I felt I had enough in a day. Maybe two days would be preferable to one, but more than that is overkill.

Kobe was just OK but I think I was in a bad mood so did not really enjoy it much. Had I been in a better mood I am sure I would have enjoyed it more. What I did like most about my Kobe day was the sake brewery that I went to. I got a few tasting of different sakes and ended up buy a bottle. It was interesting and funny to listen to the guy tell me about each different sake and what makes each unique. I ended up buying a bottle and will ship it home from China.

Overall, Japan is a really interesting place. I do not understand 99% of what is going on there. Seriously. The phrase that I learned to explain anything in Japan that I cannot think of a rationale explanation for is, "This is Japan." At first, this did not satisfy me as explanation, but it really is sufficient. I really liked Japan and would certainly visit again.

Books

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Tool

Anthem - Ayn Rand

How the Light Gets In - M. J. Hyland

1984 - George Orwell

The Broker - John Grisham

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

About a Boy - Nick Hornby

A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller

Rabbit, Run - John Updike

The Malaspiga Exit - Evelyn Anthony

The Best American Short Stories 2001 - Edited by Barbara Kingsolver and Katrina Kenison

The Linger Loco! - Chris Raven and Simon Raven

SuperFreakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

I Am Charlotte Simmons - Tom Wolfe

Utopia - Sir Thomas More

The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby - Tom Wolfe

The Firm - John Grisham

The Age of Reason - Jean Paul Sartre



A Partial List of Books Read Incompletely (and Why):

Stupid White Men - Michael Moore (I may have read the whole thing but was skipping around when reading it so I am not sure.)

House Rules - Jodi Picoult (Owned by a CS host and left before I could read the last 1/3.)

Social Encounters - Edited by Michael Argyle (I forgot it on a bus before I could finish it.)

Intermission

First and foremost, I have (finally) posted pictures at concoursejaypics.shutterfly.com. They are only semi-organized and have no description. But, they look nice and now you do not actually have to read text any more, so enjoy.

I have more to say/write about Dubai, but in the end, I am just too lazy to type it, so the post already there will have to suffice.

I left the States on July 19. From there I had about 10 days of organized, guided touring in Israel. After that I visited a friend and his family for almost a week. After that I "really" started backpacking and did so for almost two months until I went on a family vacation in Mexico (where I am as I write this).

After Mexico, the real backpacking starts. I look at my time so far kind of as training for the real thing. I was less strict with money than I will be (or expect to be), particularly with food. I still plan on indulging with activities, because they are cool and really add to the trip. I will be adjusting the contents of my bag slightly (more on this later) given what I have learned over the past three months and putting to use what else I have learned. I will have about a year of this real backpacking and about 15 months total outside of the US.

When I first thought of this post months back I expected to have something insightful or to have had some epiphany to write about. Not so much. The trip has been great so far. I have met a ton of interesting people and experienced things I would have never either had the opportunity to do or would have have taken the opportunity to do. I supposed the pseudo-philosophical rule of thumb that I have developed follows along those lines: if there is something I have an opportunity to do that I would not have otherwise, do it. Of course, there are limitations, but this is a pretty decent guideline of my decisions so far. It pertains to small and big things alike (small: trying new foods; big: going shark diving), sometimes at the same time (small: I had a feces-spitting content with my tour guide [I won]; big: the tour guide was giving my a tour of Kruger National Park in South Africa with game all around).

I suppose the trip itself kind of follows that mentality. (Is this that epiphany I had not had?) I do not expect to have the opportunity to do a trip like this at any other time in my life so I might as well do it now. However, I think that is a cheap and over simplified explanation/justification of a trip of this magnitude and do not want to leave it at that. At the same time, I cannot verbalize why I am doing this trip any better so I guess it will have to do.

Adjustments to the contents of the bag: I am ditching the two cotton polos (the non-quick dry ones), one or two (I cannot decide) long-sleeved shirts (also non-quick dry), the pajama pants that I have never worn, a hat that I bought that is too big, the photobank (I think I broke it), several books, lots of at-one-time-local coins and a fair amount of notes that I picked up along the way and want to save, an assortment of rocks/stones from various beaches and historical sites that I wanted to keep, scores of train, bus, plane tickets and free pamphlets.

There are a couple of additions as well. My bag is getting more geeky: I bought a Asus Eee PC Netbook. I have only been using it for a few days but I like it so far. I also have acquired an iPhone through my exceedingly generous aunt and uncle. I do not really know how to use it yet, but I am getting more and more used to it and I am sure it will come in handy. With the Netbook I will probably post both texts and pictures more frequently, but I do not know this for sure. With the iPhone, I set up a Twitter account that I think might be interesting to use while traveling (twitter.com/concoursejay). I do not know how to use it yet, so there is nothing there and when I do learn how to use I am really unsure of how much I actually will. Right now it is just an idea, but I think it might be worthwhile and funny. Also, a different pair of headphones and a few new books.