Venues

2000 FROM JAPAN
Photo Gallery of Japan

I hope you had a lovely Easter Holiday. I am writing from a wonderful (free) cyber café in Tokyo, before heading to Narita to fly home. It is raining, so not much point of gallivanting through Tokyo this morning, as the cameras will only get wet, and the pictures will be not exactly coffee-table book material.

This little whirlwind tour of Japan has been both exciting and insightful. I visited about 10 cities, including 5 World Heritage sites in the last 5 days. All this is made possible due to the excellent, precise, clean and efficient railway system. You can make a connection from train to train in less than 2 minutes, just like in India (there it is possible because your connecting train might be 5 hours late)

Just as the cliché goes, Japan is full of contrasts. Yesterday, for example I awoke in a Ryokan in Nikko National Park. Left the inn and started hiking at 5:30 AM through the wonderful forests, with birds chirping, the wonderful noise of mountain stream and small cascades, to discover the wonderful set of temples hidden in the forest. The sounds of nature and harmony everywhere, splendid before the hordes of tourists arrive at about 9:00 AM. I usually find myself leaving when the crowds get there, thus have been able to be captured by the magic places have to offer.

Yesterday evening, however I was captured by another sort of magic, the one of the evening crowds of fun-seekers in Tokyo’s Ginza and Shinjuku night districts. The milling about and the thousands of people combine with the incredible assortment of lights, noises and smells make for a mind-numbing yet exhilarating experience, not soon to be forgotten. Last night I also got to stay in capsule hotel, just to add to the cultural experience and save some dough. I heard about this sort of accommodation, as to how horrible, etc, etc. In my own personal experience however it was not necessarily so. The staff was super-nice and helpful (as everywhere here), the hotel featured a common bathing area, with sauna and Jacuzzi. Every thing is provided, towels, happy coat and toiletries. After a quite ritualistic wash, you proceed to the assigned capsule, a box measuring 1m x 2m with a small mattress, a TV, radio and reading light. For me it felt like when we were building a little house with my brother when we were children - over a all it was a good experience and very inexpensive by Japanese standards.

The most moving experience of this trip however was to watch Japanese schoolchildren deliver origami cranes (the symbol of peace) to the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. It was quite a moving experience that brought tears to my eyes, at the same tine as it made me realize that there is still quite a bit of hope for us as a species. I also had a lot of fun with the kids afterwards as they asked for my signature in the school books and we played around. A couple of 12 year old girls, who I had met on the bus, kept coming after me, we ran into each other in the museum several times, and it was like meeting old friends, time and time again, with the customary laughs and silly giggles. It was a welcome relief from the horrendous displays and photographs from the atomic destruction. It is amazing what we are capable of doing to each other in the name of superiority and other such ridiculous concepts.