I'm catching up on some of my blog entries - and this is 5 months late. But after re-naming my site after Japan, how could I not include pictures from Tokyo. The city where I experienced my first typhoon, my first spray 'n wipe toilet, my first bullet train, and my first trip to Disney in 22 years.
I learned in Tokyo that Singapore was not the cleanest country in the world. Japan has that title. There is no trash anywhere (or trashcans for that matter) and for a city with 22 million people, this continues to shock me. The roads look like they've all been paved yesterday and yet most people ride the trains or pre-WWII bicycles - the kind with the baskets in the front. The subway maps look like someone took a handful of colored spaghetti and threw down on a piece of paper - yet somehow the train stations are pretty easy to navigate.
The Japanese have a reputation for being deadly serious people. And that may be true...but Tokyo was where I first encountered their mad love affair with animation. Oftentimes goofy but always charming, the cartoons used in everyday signage clearly show the locals have a sense of humor - even if it doesn't look like it at first.
It's not just the animation; look at their clothes. You ever see a fashion show and think - "Who the hell wears that shit?" Go to Tokyo, and you'll find out. Next time I visit, I'm going to take more pictures of the Japanese people all dolled up in their latest fashions. By a long mile, the Japanese are the most fashionable people on the planet (at the parts that I've been to anyway). For better or for worse, the Japanese go all out in their fashion. Sometimes looking like goofy cartoon characters but most of the times just making you think how frumpy you look in your sweater and jeans.
I can see why Sofia Coppola made a movie about this place. Looking forward to going back.
No comments:
Post a Comment