Thursday 31 May 2007

Bower


This is a pic I took in Kabuki-Cho, which incidentally is the red light district of Tokyo. I went there because of David. Anyway, when I first saw it I wasn't sure what it might be, from a distance it just looked like a pile of garbage. Upon noticing the ribbons in the trees it struck me as maybe a makeshift shrine. However, it appears to be a homeless person's home, the most creative I'd seen.


Lots of homeless live in Ueno park and they mostly use blue plastic tarps for shelter. When I went there with Bek I saw a woman trying to reach a branch to pick some of it's berries. I don't know what kind they were but I reached up and pulled it within arm's length for her. She hurriedly spit out the berries she had in her mouth and grabbed some more. The thing is she didn't look homeless at all, maybe she just liked berries. Most Japanese homeless are very presentable and you wouldn't necessarily guess them as being homeless.

Wednesday 30 May 2007

Potatoes

I went to do the walking tour around Shinjuku which I found in the Lonely Planet, but became easily distracted when I found Shinjuku Park. The place was much larger than I imagined a Tokyo park would be. It consists of English, Japanese and French style gardens, as well as a Mother and Daughter Forest, whatever that is.


The English garden was just a big open field bordered by some trees, perfect for teaching the baby independence. I wheeled the stroller into the very middle, careful to avoid all social contact with other parents, and chose a spot equidistant from all the small groups of people. Then I let Alice go and she happily wandered far away from me. I think she is already quite independent, she didn't seem to look back or hesitate. I chased her a bit, and even led her a tad further from me and then quickly ran back to the stroller. She didn't freak out or anything. Maybe I need to up the ante and leave her in the park overnight.


Well, I turned my back on her to watch the huge crows which seem to gather and chatter in all Japanese parks. I see some Jgirl approach Alice and start chattering in similar fashion, cooing and emitting noises to put any crow to shame. She got out a Polaroid and took some snaps, then took another camera out and took some more. I was waiting for her to extract an easel and pallete from her bag when she approached me to give us one of the polaroids. It was a very nice pic, spontaneous and well suiting Alice. I said I'd give it to her when she was older, and she walked away happily. Of course Alice followed her, little attention grabber that she is.


An Englishman came up next with his cute little girl, about Alice's age. He sat down and we talked about the dearth of dads in Japanese parks. He owned a restaurant in Ebisu, and was taking his daughter to the park because his wife was "rubbish at waking up early". He seemed very casually dressed with red socks under his house slippers and a cardigan framing a huge golden medallion hanging from a heavy chain. Not exactly park wear.


I bitched about my new found invisibility in Japan. No Japanese person will look at or speak to me, but they will do anything to attract Alice's attention. Then he told me about 'potatoes'.


He described to me a special kind of Japanese baby which doesn't move much, doesn't react much and rarely acknowledges the world beyond eating. His wife was from Osaka, so he hoped to avoid any Tokyo potatoism in his own child. I asked what might cause it, he didn't know, perhaps it was contagious? We left each other, single serve friends, and I continued my walk around Shinjuku.

Tuesday 29 May 2007

New apartment, new country

We've been in Tokyo now for a week, and have just moved into our apartment from the hotel. The three of us are still living around Roppongi, which seems to have a lot of foreigners. I think most people in our apatment block aren't Japanese, though I haven't met many of them. This type of accommodation is booked monthly, so it's only really for business people and the freeloaders who follow them around.



The apartment is extra nice, but I'm still going to bitch about and make fun of it. Actually the best thing by far is that I don't have to clean it, freeing up about an hour a week of my time compared to my life in Sydney. It has a balcony as large as the entire apartment, due to the square, box-like nature of the design, the only choices for house footprint they have are one or two blocks.


Here's the complex: http://www.asahihomes.co.jp/e/hotels/car/index.html

And here's the apartment itself, note the internet outlet: http://www.asahihomes.co.jp/zumen/ca806/806_e.html

So far my only feats have been walking to various places and eating various things. While I remember most of the wheres and whats, I don't think trying to recreate those things retrospectively is appropriate. They're gone and are never coming back. So you'll only get to hear the new and improved adventures.

Sorry.