Check-out at 10am. The last 24 hours in Japan are running. The Keisei-Liner transports me to Narita. This time with my tripod and my Kendo equipment. Arrival at Narita where I walk to the hotel with 60kg of equipment. Check-in. With less weight on my shoulders I am heading for the big temple. The street leading there is a pedestrian area during the day. It is a pleasant walk. Some old houses to the left and right; many souvenir shops. All suited for tourist, specially if they are heading for the airport. I should have visited Narita on an earlier trip. It is really nice here.
Park am Naritasan
Straße zum Naritasan
Park am Naritasan
Straße zum Naritasan
The temple area is really big. We have January 8th, but there are still people here for the new year prayer. Stairs. And a gate with a big lampion. I hear chanting and singing form the big hall. Drums. A pagoda on the right side and many more buildings after the next stairway. This temple really is spacious. I can spot another big pagoda, the same style like in Koyasan.
It is 3pm and to late to visit the other attractions in Narita. They are all 6-10 miles outside of the city center and the trains and busses going there are departure in one hour. There would be no time left for sightseeing before everthing closes. No. I stay here. It seems that I am not in the mood for another trip. I decide for a walk thru the park, followed by some shopping and late lunch.
Naritasan
Naritasan
Naritasan Pagode
A short break at the hotel. I prepare the bags for tomorrow. At 8pm I start into the city. There was a bar called „Jet Lag“. But too many gaijins there. I prefer something more local. I find a resto that serves Katsudon, after that I take a brief stop for a really expensive cocktail. Back at the hotel I stop at the hotel bar. Nice place. Small but with the right company a really good ending for this holiday. We talk about Anime. Cowboy Bebop and Yoko Kanno. Now finest Jazz is running in the hotel lobby. A nice whiskey. This is how it should be.
At 11.30pm I call it a day. I won’t risk to oversleep and miss the flight. That would be stupid ending.
Today I will visit Kawagoe. The temple museum and the palace are closed but I will check out the rest. The travel will also brings me to Shinjuku. I will give my camera to Pentax for a checkup. The Pentax forum is opening at 110:30am. I can pickup my camera at 1pm. Plenty o time to buy souvenirs in Harajuku and Omotesando. Back at Pentax bad news are wainting for me. The K-10 is a goner. The mount of the CCD ship is broken. The K-m is defocussed. It will take at least 3 weeks to fix it. They try to do a software workaround. I check out the new K-30. This version isn’t available in Germany.
Warehouse District
Candy Ally
Kawagoe-jo
Kitain Temple
Kitain Temple
Kawagoe Gallery
At 2pm I am sitting in the local to Kawagoe. There is a nice shopping street for souvenirs. At the end of the shopping area the part with the old houses begins. Kawagoe is called Little Edo. And this area is the reason why. Unfortunately this street is also the major road during rush hour. At the end is a place called candy corner. A small street with a dozen candy shops. Japan is strange. Then I go to the temple. It is closed but I can visit the outside. Next stop is the temple. The activities for New Year are finally over. All booths are closed. I run back to the shopping street. There should a nice bottle of sake somewhere. I am still looking for souvenirs.
Back at Tokyo I totally lost track of time. I forgot Hide. Damned. It is already 8pm when i arrive at the hotel. I am not in the mood for a late night stroll thru Shinjuku or Shibuya. Therefore I check out another bar in Ueno.
I know that this entry isn’t that long, but there wasn’t something happening today. Tomorrow I move to my last stop, Narita. Looks like I visited every important part of Tokyo. There are only two open projects left: The last metropolitain gardens and the Yamanote tour. Maybe some clubs and a matsuri. For the next time I have to find someting really special.
Now it is time to go back to the hotel. The monorail brought me up to Big Sigth, now go further to the terminal station Toyoso. All these island are new. The didn’t exist when I was here last time (2004). Even Big Sight wasn’t built back then. Crazy. 8 years ago this was part of Tokyo bay. Here in Toyoso I have to change into the subway. I asume that this streets were the coastline before. The houses are looking old. But before I start into the subway, I order myself a big bowl of ramen. I only forgot that I am still in uniform. This causes some irritation.
Schrein in Iidabashi
Werbung in Akihabara
Mt. Fuji, View from Tokyo
Schrein in Iidabashi
Rainbow Bridge
Shopping Street in Iidabashi
Iidabashi Gallery
Late in the afternoon I start to find the district called Iidabashi. The Lonely Planet mentioned it to be a point of interest in Tokyo. I don’t know why. This place is nothing special. There are two nice shrines here; an old one and a moder one. There are some side alleys. Ok, there are some more. It is like a maze. GPS would really be a benefit. And it is a residental area. Maybe that is what the LP meant by „an old part of Tokyo“. After several turns I am back at the main road, that is a pedestrial area until 6pm. It is the first I spot supermarket and a drugstore in Tokyo.
It is getting dark. Therefore I start towards the Sky tree. Maybe there are some waiting tickets left. Holidays are over and there may be less people. I get one and can pick up my ticket in 90 minutes. That gives me some time to pick up my tripod in the hotel. But again I underestimated the distances and the travel time in Tokyo. I arrive back at the tower a few minutes before my time is over. And in addition I get myself lost in the maze of floors and stairways. Not easy to find 5F. Even worse. They order me into the wrong queue. The first time I have to act like an American to correct it. Otherwise the waiting ticket is void.
Again I have to wait before I can buy the final ticket. 2000 yen. Pricy. And then there is some waiting again; in front of the elevator. There really are many tourists here. The elevator is going up with a speed of 23 miles/hour. This means 1968 ft/min or 3 floors/second.
This is a view. Tokyo at night. And there are no sky scraper or tall buildings around. Therefore it looks even higher. Tokyo is in every direction; up to the horizon. All these lights. There is an area with multi-story apartment buildings that have an access balcony. In front of every door is a light bulb. Are there are many light bulbs. To many to count. Behing each lamp is living at least one person. Wow.
There, between the tall buildings, is the Sumidagawa with all the bridges. The buildings get lower into the opposite direction. I see the curve of the river I only knew from google maps. Then this other river is the Arakawa. And this really long building. is this the building they built as a fire division wall? It is approximately a half mile long.
And then there is this darkness underneath the Sky Tree. The district Musashi is old and basically filled with small business and residential buildings. No skyscraper. Surrounded by the rest of Tokyo, it looks like a black hole. No doubt that the Sky Tree with its 10 story shopping mall will change this area of Tokyo forever.
Tokyo von 350m
Tokyo Sumidagawa von 350m
Tokyo von 450m
Tokyo von 350m
Sky Tree
Sky Tree Gallery
A second elevator brings my up to the 450m level. Another 100m of height. Crazy. Ok, I have to pay another 1000 yen, but is worth the trip. The elevator has a glass roof and the elevator shaft is illuminated. 100m in blue. Futuristic.
And the additional 100m really make a difference. The sightseeing platform is going slightly uphill. This is the helix a saw from below. It looks strange but is a great idea. The walk ends one level higher at an elevator that goes down to 350m. They seperate the ingoing and outgoing stream of people.
On my next trip I will visit again during daylight. I hope there are less people waiting then. And I will bring a polarisation filter to remove the reflex from the windows. I shall I return at night again. All these lights. They have a hypnotic effect on me. I am like a moth in a lamp store.
There is no report from yesterday, because nothing happened. It sat in busses and trains all the day, or I waited at stations. And all why I enjoyed the onsen after breakfast until 11am and therefore missed the only good connection to Tokyo. At the museum at the Kusatsu bus station I learn something about this place: The water here has a ph level of 2.4. Wow. That is acid. A steel nail dissolves within 18 days, completely. Even concrete is getting erode within days. There are over 100 springs that produces 9.800 gallon/minute of water. The heat power is 1700 million calories per hour. And the european doctor who studied the medical effects of the water was from Germany, from Bietigheim-Bissingen. There is the connection. By the way … I met the the girl from the Izakaya in the train. That wasn’t planned at all. She is also going to Tokyo. But she already had plans for the evening. So I spent the the end of the day in Ueno.
Dezome Shiki 2013, Parade
Dezome Shiki 2013, Abnahme
Dezome Shiki 2013
Dezome Shiki 2013
Dezome Shiki 2013, Parade
Parade
TODAY is the Dezome Shiki. The alarm clock goes off at 7am. Subway at 7:30am. I arrive Tokyo Big Sight at 8:25am. Wow. I took me one hour. Are run thru the hallways. I ask for direction and mention that I have an invitation. The answer: „You are Mr. Boller from Germany? Welcome.“. This I didn’t expected. My seat is on the western side of the VIP area. The third row from the top. I have a perfect view. Next to me are sitting some guy from the austrian embassy and on the other side the chief of the special forces of the Hong Kong police.
The official part begins. Greetings and and some standard talk. Now the vize prime minister of Japan is talking. The flag is hoisted, the national anthem is played. The cadets of the fire fighter academy are marching in perfect formation. IMpressive but a little bit to much military style for a fire department. The speaker (I have a head set with an english translation) says, that marching is trained to raise team spirit and learn to act as a unit. ok.
Dezome Shiki 2013, Fahrzeugparade
Dezome Shiki 2013, Fahrzeugparade
Dezome Shiki 2013, Löschboote
Dezome Shiki 2013, Fahrzeugparade
Dezome Shiki 2013, Helikopter
Fahrzeugparade
Sveral different units are marching by. Then the parade of the fire trucks starts. They really have some cute little cars and also big high tech trucks. Maybe I write more details in a different blog. Just this: They have a „Super Pumper“ that provides easily 1000 gallons/minute by using 6″ hoses.
In the backgroud the fire fighter boats are going into their position and start to produce big fountains of water. 5 helicopter are approaching in formation and flying deep over our heads. This is an every-goes-show.
Next point on the agende is a big exercise; more precise: there are 4 exercises at once. An earthquake related car accident, a burning tall building, a haz mat incident and a rescue from high altitude. The diffrent events start with a delay of approximately 60 seconds. Fire trucks are driven arounf constantly with their sirene on. 50 trucks in total. The helicopters are back. Fire fighter rope down. Injured victims are reeled in. The fire at the haz mat is getting bigger. The haz mat team arrives. The earthquake situation is getting worse. Many rescue teams are working parallel. I don’t know where to look first. Now two automatic water cannons taking care of the haz mat fire.
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Dezome Shiki 2013, Übung
Excercise
The show is closed by 10 ladders that roll out a big banner and festoons. The flag is reeled in. What a show. And I watched everything from the VIP section. I walk back into the fair hall. Here trucks and equipment is presented. I skip the technical details. They have an earthquake simulator, games for children, a.s.o. The music corps is playing a concert.
I get up early; Unusual for me; Breakfast at 8am. Next stop is the post office. I need cash. But the ATM is still offline. I am running out of money. Next stop is the emperor palace. Three extremely long queues. And an interesting concept. I queue is filling up with people, one is wainting and the third queue is proceeding. The next queue is in front of the security check; without a backpack or handbag I can pass. Another checkpoint only checks my pockets, but lees intensive than a bouncer in front of a German discothek. And another queue.
Slowly we proceed to the big gate. I meet two swedish guys. We chat a little bit. Then I arrive the gate. Usually this is as fas as you can go. Now I am allowed to pass. I walk the way up to the inner palace area. The area in front of the gallery has the size of a football field. I find myself a place in the middle. This is timing. In this moment the japanese emperor is starting his speech. I try to take pictures blindly with the camera far over my head. Too late I recognize that the camera settings are at 1600 ASA. But the pictures are ok. The speech is over, everyone is celebrating. A group next to me is shouting „Bansai“. Funny. In Europa you only say Bansai before plan to try something stupid.
Fushimi Watchtower
Fläche vom Palastgebäude
Eingang Kaiserpalast
Jubel im Kaiserpalast
Eingang zum Palastgelände
Leuchten vor dem Eingang
Kaiserfamilie
Emperor Palace
Then I get flushed out. No chance to resist the stream of people. 20 minutes later I am back at the street in front of the palace. I decide to take another round and queue again for the third speech. The second is running now. The queue is shorter this time. I am still impressed how they organize this amount of people. This time my position is not that good. I have reflections in the window and no polarisation filter at hand. The speech, The celebrating people, alle the flags.
At 12:30am I am back at the train station. The dragon dance takes place at Oazu shooping depato. The dragon shall eat all the bad spirits. He is in company of Ebisu, the deity of luck, and people with drums and pipes. They are walking from shop to shop.
1am. The tea ceremony is just around two corners. Why not pay a visit. After the ceremony I have chat with the master. I learn, that there is a meaning in the position of the wipe (?) at the belt: You wear it at your left side. Because this is the position of the sword and a tea master doesn’t carry a sword. There is also bushido version of the tea ceremony. Here you carry the wipe on your right. I am impressed how he folds the wipe with one hand in one single move. I try it. No chance.
Glücksgott Ebisu
Ebisu und Drache
Drache in Buchhandlung
Abendessen Uematsuya
Drachentanz
Dragon Dance
Back to the hotel; a brief stop for Tonkatsu (lunch); then the shinkansen to Ueda. I only have 1000 yen left. Enough to get to Bassho but not for the way back. In Ueda I find a bank; no money; I ask the JR office and the police; the Lawson clerk; no chance for foreign credit cards. I call the hotel that I will arrive late. Lucky for me that I have my mobile with me. I call because I have ordered dinner and I hope I can eat it delayed.
The hotel owner picks me up at Bessho train station. The dinner is waiting at my room. Small portions, but plenty of them. More than usual. Because of New Year. Lucky! The day is complete (without money). Next stop: hotel onsen. Extrem relaxing. There is some snow around the pond. Not much but it is ok.
