Tokyo Album Tokyo and Day Trips Hakone, Kawasaki, Kamakura, Kokubunji
	Tokyo
	Above is the JAL wingtip shortly before dawn, and to the right is the scene after dawn, crossing the Alaskan glaciers. From New York the planes direct to Japan take the great circle route, passing over the Great Lakes, western Canada, Alaska, and then down over the Aleutians to Japan. To the left is the monitor on board that allowed us to track the flight. Here we are nearly ready to make landfall over Japan. . On my first day I was taken to the town of Sawara, in Chiba prefecture, right next to Tokyo. There, every July, they have a matsuri--festival--just as do many towns and cities in Japan. Some are hundreds of years old traditions.Typically, there will be several "floats" pulled through the streets, each by residents of a different neighborhood. The word "float" is a misnomer, though, since these huge and beautifully decorated items weigh in the neighborhood of 5-6 tons! The wood is intricately carved, and a group of musicians sit inside. Others, usually children, occupy the roof, along with some form of decoration, and use wooden rakes to hold up the power and telephone lines that are everywhere. (Japan is about the only developed country that doesn't routinely bury these wires in the cities. Frankly, they're an eyesore.) It seemed as if everyone who lived there turned out to help pull or simply join the festivities. The short coats-happi-are decorated differently for each neighborhood, as are the head bands-hachimaki. I had to give back the happi but my hosts presented me with the hachimaki, which I wore frequently during my trip. Each neighborhood has a float to pull - this is the one that I helped pull. Below are two others, and as you might guess, my favorite was the one on the right. There are some signs in Tokyo that we all recognize . . . and then there are the uses of English like that to the right we can only enjoy. These motor bikes are the common delivery form for meals. The helmet is resting on a platform that is suspended by a spring from two arms. It's an ingenious method of providing a cushion as well as a level platform. There's lots of modern sculpture in Tokyo, and even one modern Buddhist temple. This is the statue of Hachiko, outside Shibuya station. It's the equivalent of 'under the clock at the Biltmore' in New York City - - a popular meeting place. Hachiko used to accompany his master to the station every day, and then return to meet him in the evening. One day, the master had a heart attack and didn't return, but Hachiko kept returning every day until he too died, waiting at the station. Shibuya station was where I entered Tokyo by train from the apartment in Kawasaki, so I spent a lot of time walking the streets of Shibuya ward. One of my favorites was Spain Zaka, a winding, trendy, boutique-lined street where young people congregated. I enjoyed people watching there just as much as I ever did in Manhattan, which was a lot - it was great fun. And another neat street to wander, at the foot of Spain Zaka, is Center Gai. It too is full of trendy boutiques, coffee shops - kissaten - and restaurants. Lots of of opportunities to people watch, as Keiko and I were doing when a stranger offered to take our photograph. It's not uncommon to see a sleeping 'sarariman' -- businessman. There is now television advertising on some Tokyo subway lines. And high school girls dressing up. Department stores are institutions in Tokyo, with day care and playgrounds on the roof, a variety of international restaurants on the top floor, formal art museums, and entertainment, like this classical pianist (playing a Mozart sonata) in the gift food section. With space at a real premium, a common sight is the turntable in garages on narrow streets where cars can't turn around. This is Tokyo Station's 'new' front entrance. But the station is so huge that the original front, now the back, can't be seen from this side. Which is a shame, because it's far more interesting, aesthetically pleasing, to look at. Kawasaki This is Sanae, Keiko's niece, and her husband Keitaro. Now they're in Maine, working in my friends', Keiko and Bay's restaurant in Rockland. During my first trip I stayed with Keiko and her mother in their apartment in Kawasaki, but on my second trip I stayed in Keitaro's apartment while he was working in Maine. Above is a typical breakfast, one I'd get at the local 'konbeni'--convenience store. Fruit salad, vegetable salad, sake-omochi--cooked salmon packed in sushi rice and wrapped in nori--seaweed. With juice and coffee, about $7 for a tasty, nutritious meal This is a typical Japanese bath room. Not a toilet, but a bath room--the toilet occupies a different room. The tub here is nice and deep for a good hot soak, after the cleaning is done outside the bath, sitting on the small stool.The bucket on top is used to rinse if one doesn't like the shower spray. The was my means of transportation from the apartment to the train station, and around Kawasaki This is Bremen Dori--Bremen Street--a typical neighborhood shopping street. It may not look it, but it's a two way street, used by cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists together. The Takahashi denki-ya--electric/electronics store-- is located here, and I spent a lot of time on this street as the subway station is located at one end. I'd ride the bike from the apartment, park it at the store, and walk down the block to the station. Then I'd return at night, help close the store, and we'd all go to a nearby tavern for beer and snacks - - sometimes my dinner. One difference in the 5 years between my first and second trips was the appearance of homeless -- I saw them in nearly all the parks I visited in Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama--that huge megalopolis that is home to, in many ways including the above, nearly a third of Japan's total population. I met this man in the park in Kawasaki where I went birding on my first trip while living nearby with Keiko and her mother, and where Keiko and I walked her dog morning and night each day. On my second trip, I was revisiting the place and was approached by this homeless man who wanted to make friends. By his scarred hands, with enlarged knuckles, I took him for an ex-prizefighter, but he had a quiet dignity that transcended the stereotype of that occupation. Kamakura Just before the train from Kawasaki reaches Kamakura, it passes through the town of Ofuna, where this remarkable sight is visible from the train window. This is Kwannon, a female deity. The bust is 25 metres tall and made of concrete. I'm not sure what the secret is, but the faces of many of Japan's Buddha statues seem to exude a palpable aura of peace and serenity.This one in Ofuna is no exception. There is a door in the back leading to a medium sized altar with about 10 nicely upholstered sofas. I signed the guest book. Here's my friend Hiroshi (a Japanese teacher at Brown) with me at the great Daibutsu of Kamakura. Not nearly as large as the one at Todai-ji in Nara, it is nonetheless very impressive. It's about 15 metres tall, and there's a small altar inside, got to by a door in the back. Outside the temple, there's a trail that leads up the mountain behind the Daibutsu and then winds through woods for about 5 miles to the main train station in Kamakura, where the train for Enoshima, a resort island in Tokyo bay. My friend Hiroshi (left rear) met Kazuko Miyagawa (on my right) at a language teachers' conference. She's married to Takeshi (behind us) who is an abdominal surgeon at a Tokyo hospital. Hiroyuki and Keiko Kudo (right front) own a travel agency. Shigeki (to my left) and Mitsuko Fukui (on Kasuko's right) own a children's book publishing company. All of them are bright, articulate, and possessed of delightful senses of humor. Hakone Hakone is a resort town in the mountains, about 1 1/2 hours from Tokyo. The last leg of the trip is by single car train from sea level up steep slopes to the town. It's done on a single track, with several switchbacks such as the one at the right. I'm inside the train going down the mountain. We came down the track on the left, going past the switch. We then reversed and went across to the track on the right, going just past the switch, and then reversing again to back up past the switch and wait for the approaching train to come up. You can see it is just going onto the switch. It will go across to the track on the left, and then reverse and go on up the mountain on the left as we go down on the right-hand track. The main feature in Hakone is the art museum, with its famous outdoor sculpture garden. Actually, garden doesn't quite do it justice as it's several acres of beautifully landscaped grounds with nearly 100 pieces outside, and two large buildings of art, one exclusively devoted to Picasso. Kokubunji Keiko and Bay arranged for me to spend a weekend on my second trip with the Taguchi family in Kokubunji, a small city about 1 1/2 hours from Tokyo. Taguchi-san owns a shipyard where Bay worked one year when he was in college, and Taguchi-san's son, Katsuhiko, spent a few years at the University of Maine where he met Keiko... a remarkable coincidence. One night we went to dinner at a neat restaurant. The dining was only in private rooms, and a miniature railroad brought the food to the door. You can just make out the tracks here. The Kamo Nursery was astonishing. Specializing in begonias and fuscia, there was brilliant color everywhere. The Shiraito Falls were beautiful, even in the rain. I later found out that had it not been raining and instead had been clear, Mt. Fuji is plainly visible just over the top of the falls.
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