Item From the Past: Japan, Day One

Flew out of San Francisco March 21 [1990] via Korean Air, arrived at Narita on the afternoon of the 22nd. Fed en route, a choice of "Western" or "Japanese" (I figured I might as well have Japanese) and saw two movies, more or less, An Innocent Man and The Abyss, though I dozed a lot during the latter, waking up periodically to see creatures baffling people underwater, or divers struggling to breathe, or something. Sat next to a Japanese man who taught me one word in Japanese: manju, which was the dessert on the "Japanese" menu.

Arrived tired but not too tired, and after a brief pass through customs caught a bus (¥2700) to the Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi, from which I was supposed to call Max's friend Akiko, who was supposed to meet me and take me back to Max's (he had something else to do). For that purpose I used a phone card for the first time, bought (¥500) from a vending machine in a room off the hotel lobby. Akiko didn't answer for a while, which was distressing, but eventually she did and I made it to his place by taxi (¥1000) -- not really a long ride for that much money -- noticing the tax driver's uniform, including hat and white gloves.

Slept solidly and on Friday the 23rd was able to wander around around Marunouchi and later Shinjuku by myself. I was amazed by how narrow the streets were, and how crowded they are with pedestrians and bicyclists and motorbikes and cars (most of those were on the large streets), but got used to it quickly. First stop, the massive Tokyo Central Post Office, from which I sent Mother a telegram letting her know of my arrival. After more wandering and looking around -- and there's a lot to see, from large buildings to weird little detail -- I managed to buy (¥800) my lunch, rice topped by a pleasant brown sauce, by pointing at the plastic model outside a small shop. I'd heard about doing that, I was a little surprised that you can actually do it [I think I had hayashi rice that day] .

Took JR to Shinjuku Station, a marvel in an of itself, a maze of twisty passages, all different, all full of motion, bright and dim at the same time. Haven't seen anything like it since some of the London Underground stations. Outside, the day was warm and mostly clear, so I sat down for a while in a pleasant little Shinjuku park. Green spot, really. Actual parks in Tokyo seem to be a rarity, especially the kind with trees and benches. Anyway, it was a place to pause and marvel, wow, I really came here. Nearby an enormous building was under construction, a postmodern job that wouldn't look out of place in Chicago. The exterior is finished, but loud work continues on the inside. Max later told me that it's the new Tokyo Metro Gov't building, a hulking 50 stories -- not too many taller than that around here. Hope it can withstand during the next Great Kanto Earthquake.

In the evening, Max and I went to an even taller building, Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro, tallest in the country actually [not any more] which has a bar on one of the top floors. Spent a while there, as well as ¥1000. Max expressed amazement that I didn't get lost in Shinjuku Station. Guess I have some sense of direction, which I think I'm going to need in the days ahead. Back at Max's apartment, we started watching Married to the Mob on tape subtitled in Japanese, but I couldn't stay up for it -- lingering jet lag, a day of walking, dinner and alcohol knocked me out before long.

Postscript 2010: I'm glad I didn't stay in Tokyo. Too much hubbub. Metro Osaka, with its 10 million, is more my size.