First Week!

Well, I have been in Japan for almost 10 days. It feels like ages already. I can barely remember being home. It is difficult to remember everything I’ve done, but I’ll try to summarize based on the different areas of the city that I’ve seen so far.

I live in Yoyogi, in a little parkside neighborhood that feels a bit like Europe. The reason it feels like Europe to me is that everything is small., and I guess Europe is the only place I have been–and obviously things are smaller there than in the U.S., where everything is huge. So basically, things are small. There is a woman who runs a lottery ticket (I think?) stand accross the street from me. The stand is the size of a closet with a teeny tiny window for customers. She just sits in there by herself all day. It seems like such a weird job. My apartment is small, but cute. I have a little balcony where I hang my laundry out to dry, and a little kitchen, and two plants and two chairs with two pillows. I have the apartment decorated nicely with some of my posters from school, and records on the shelves for some color. Things here are also very quiet. My first impression upon exiting the airplane was WHERE IS ALL THE NOISE?!?! It’s bizarre to sit on a subway that is filled with people and sooo quiet. The other day, a girl on the subway accidentally swung her backpack around and hit her friend in the face (not hard enough to hurt or anything) and the two girls started cracking up—but at a volume level of 0. It was so bizarre. If they were Americans, they would have been screaming hysterically with laughter. Anyway, on the big street, (behind which lies my little street,) in Yoyogi is a really nice supermarket that is open late. (They have bagels–Tribeca brand! Also great fresh mozzerella and pre-made tofu dishes that are far, far better than any Japanese food I’ve ever eaten in the states.) There is also a 24 hour convenience store, a subway stop, a train line, little shops and restaurants, etc. If you follow the street up the hill, you reach a residential neighborhood and an elementary school with a playground. If you follow it the street as it winds around in the other direction, you reach my favorite place in Tokyo so far: Yoyogi Park!

Yoyogi Park is incredible! It is definitely NOT quiet. As soon as you walk in, you can hear the sounds of the African drumming circle that is there every day. Yoyogi Koen is not just a place to go jogging, or play soccer, badminton, baseball, ride a bike, etc. All of these activities do occur. But more interestingly, Yoyogi Koen seems to be the place where everyone goes to practice whatever art form they perform. On a typical sunny day this weekend, I saw, in between shady camphor trees, people playing the violin, saxaphone, guitar (acoustic and electric), melodica, drums, bass (acoustic and electric), various traditional Chinese and Japanese musical instruments, the birenbau (sp?), the harmonica, the ukelele (group lesson), the bagpipes, the digeridoo, etc. etc. etc. Significantly, the bagpipes and digeridoos each had their own clubs of about 10 members each. There are also teenage rock bands who perform a distance of 10 feet from each other along the walkways that lead into and out of the park (there must be dozens performing at the same time in various areas of the park). Then there are the people selling hand made clothes and crafts, the actors rehearsing monologues and group scenes, the artists drawing and painting, those practicing stage combat (with and without swords), people fencing for fun, and the martial arts area, which includes capoeira, tai chi, and karate. This is not to mention the singing classes, the folk song choruses, the modern dance groups, the tap dancer’s corner, the hip hop show I saw a week ago. Additionally, there seems to be about one theme festival per weekend. Yesterday was the Laos festival, featuring a wide variety of food and traditional crafts. I came away from the food stands with an excellent green curry and a smile. Anyway, the energy in Yoyogi Koen is contagious. It makes you want to create something whenever you walk through. The park is filled with picnickers, kids playing, and people just enjoying the entertainment of those nearby. I cannot believe I live next to this park!

The other places I have been include Shibuya, (a Japanese version of Times Square, where everything is oversized, from the tv screens to the Starbucks,) Harajuku, (yes, the teenage fashions are as outrageous as Gwen Stefani claims,) Shimokitazawa, (sort of like the West Village, with a lot of record stores, clubs, and vintage clothing stores,) and Shinjuku, (the Tokyo you see in the movies–absolutely overwhelming with lights and cars and people.) This past week, I attended an Oktoberfest in Hibiya Park, which I will have to post a video of soon. I had never been to an Oktoberfest before, and so I found it funny to see so many people in lederhosen and suspenders singing German songs and yodeling. What made it funnier was the fact that all of these people were Japanese, except for the gigantic head yodeler on stage, who seemed to be imported from German. The funniest part of the evening was when the head yodeler would sing a call and response song with a very repetative chorus that went “blah blah blah something in german / JA! JA! JA!!!!!” repeat ad nauseum. She would sing the german bits, and then poke the mic into the face of excited and incredibly inebriated Japanese businessmen who would hug each other and scream “JA!!! JA!!!! JA!!!!!!” with great gusto. It was amazing. Afterwards, I went out to a bar with Suresh, Akiko, Ravi, and some of Akiko’s friends. (These are all friends of Chiyo, who sublets me my apartment.) So far they have all been very nice to me! I ended up talking with Suresh for a long time about American politics and Indian food. (He is a Bollywood filmmaker from a small village in India. As he says, it is the home of the best biriyani. We both agreed that Basmati rice is far superior to Japanese rice, with Thai style rice falling somewhere in between.)

Other noteworthy conversations of the week included one with a kitschy pop art accessory store owner in Shimokita. After I heard WFMU streaming on her computer (and playing a Japanese song, no less–that made rewind reverse cultural diffusion moment even weirder,) I asked her about her favorite bands. It turns out she had been to New York in the 70’s and had met William S. Burroughs. She recommended some Japanese folk music for me, although she wasn’t very into Japanese music in general. She showed me a mix CD with Eye, King Crimson, Einstrase Neubauten (I can never spell that, sorry), and Pulsallama (a member of which I am sort of friends with from Rock and Roll Camp!) We talked about music and poetry, until I embarrassed myself by thinking that Alan Ginsberg was still alive. Oops. My bad. I ended up with her business card. Who knows, perhaps I will see her again. Her store was noteable for selling innovative Japanese crafts–wearable art made out of computer motherboards (a little green froggie pin! so cute! why didn’t anyone think of this before?) and bags that took the sex, drugs, and rock and roll theme to the next level. Anyone want to buy a bag with ACTUAL PILLS or a SYRINGE glued onto it?!!?!? Dear lord!! Why!

I have accumulated 20 Japanese kawaii consumption points by buying a wallet and a change purse that feature little allegators carrying umbrellas, taking baths, and talking with little birds. Both items make me incredibly happy.

Oh yeah, my other good conversations were with people in record stores. Basically, I just go up to them and ask them about their favorite bands. I befriended a man named Masao in his store, with Nina Simone “They call me…..PEACHES!!!!!” (great song) and James Brown playing in the background. When I bought “My Girlfriend was a Punk!” (a compilation of rare early female punk rockers,) I learned that Masao’s amazing record store is failing fast. He makes most of his money off of a set of plastic cd storage sleeves he markets for people who don’t have a lot of space for the hard cases in their apartments. This seems like a particularly good invention given the size of the average apartment in Tokyo. Maso knows TsuShiMaMiRe, an amazing all girl three piece from Chiba Prefecture. He is going to try to put me in touch with Mari, their singer and guitar player so I can video and interview them! Awesome!

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks, loyal readers. I will post some photos and videos on Flickr soon!