informage

I have somewhat of a backlog to clear, right from Simon and Su-yen's glorious sunny scottish wedding, through a whistlestop Boston tour, the much anticipated (and not a little dreaded) Minneapolist meet the parents visit through to one more wedding on a dramatic foggy clifftop in San Francisco.

That'll have to wait though: right now I'm overwhelmed by my initial impressions of Tokyo. We've been here less than 24 hours and already I've seen so much. It's just so darn japanese! General impressions include the overwhelming politeness and respectfulness of people here: bikes are just left unlocked on the street and although english is poorly spoken if spoken at all, every person we've met has strived hard to communicate effectively. The juxtaposition of the imperial elegance of the old japan aesthetic and the brash modernism of new japan is everywhere. The quaint noodle restaurant we ate at last night with it's fine examples of japanese art was only given away by the posters of bikini-clad models that accompanied the prints.

Other bits:

On the train in from the airport upon leaving the tunnel it felt like half the carriage got their funky flip phones out and starting SMSing.

The woman at the airport who sold me our train tickets was a character from Hello Kitty, clad in pink with her alluring knowing smile.

The train announcements sounded like english played backwards (wow - what an observation!)

The housing started rustic and truly japanese looking and gave way to more modern concrete as we entered the city, but each dwelling had a specific eastern look.

Today walking around the lake which was rendered almost invisible by fecund Lotus plants, several old men stopped spellbound to observe a single sparrow foraging in the undergrowth.

At traffic lights car switch off their engines and lights whilst waiting.

A sign: "Wine. The best friend of life"