Today, while Janet finished preparing some audio and pictures, Filip and I set out on an adventure to old Tokyo. After a passing glance of the Imperial Palace and a brief visit to the financial district (where Filip's office, Merril Lynch, is) we took the subway into old Tokyo. I'll note here that during the economic boom of the 1980's, it was calculated that the sacred land the palace and surrounding gardens occupy was worth more than the state of California, including the buildings, because of it's prime location just outside the financial district. The subway is even built to circumvent the palace.
Tokyo is considered a "new" city by Japanese, largely because it kept getting destroyed by fires, earthquakes and Allied bombing raids. However, old Tokyo supposedly offers a glimpse of how things were and is a pretty fascinating walk.
After emerging from the subway station, we immediately turned into a small park. Apparently, parks just spring up all over Tokyo, from the sprawling Imperial gardens to a few square meters of hillside and a single bench. This one had a beautiful bridge, a small pond with carp and even a shrine.
Not wanting to linger at the beginning of our adventure, we crossed a few streets and found a tea merchant. While sipping on our complimentary, freshly roasted green tea, Filip and I marveled at tea that cost as much as 3,000 yen for 100 grams. He picked up some more modestly priced coffee and tea and we headed back into the alley.
We then happened upon a small sweet shop that blasted American country western music, the Japanese propietor of which sported a huge cowboy hat.
We wound our way through the narrow streets, flanked by a seemingly infinite number of temples and tombstones. Amazingly enough, the land-cramped Japanese find space for cemeteries. However, the ashes of several generations are all buried under a single headstone.
We then found the Asakura Choso Museum, which was originally the home and studio of Fumio Asakura, a sculptor and intellectual. He designed the home and garden himself, and they were amazing. The garden, complete with pond and carp, sits right in the middle of the 3-floor home. Each room was incredibly balanced--the whole place puts you in a pretty peaceful state.
After the museum, we visited a Japanese decorated papers store (briefly--it was rather small and crowded) and a store that sells colors for Japanese paints. The store was stocked with every color imaginable, as powder in jars, from floor to ceiling. It was really quite amazing to see the entire spectrum distilled to this room of jars--including an entire shelf of whites.
We ended the trip to old Tokyo with a trip to a tea shop, enjoying a cup of very strong green tea and sweet cakes.
I do hope you were the typical tourist with your camera in tow!!! I can almost smell the tea!!! What an amazing adventure today!! Can't wait to read about tomorrow!!!
Mom
Posted by: Mom on February 9, 2002 09:38 PMHey You! I think this web log thing is the best idea! I love logging on to your website to see where your next adventure takes you. I need to emphasize the comment your Mom made about the camera. I expect to see many pictures. perhaps you could load some on to this blog thing? or is that possible? What do you think of Japanese who attempt to truely embrace American culture(like that store you went into?) Look forward to hearing more...
Erin