Unusual Glimpses of Tokyo

·        Tokyo is a huge city and even though we spent five days there, we still could not finish seeing many of the main sights like the Imperial Palace. This blog gives a small glimpse into the Japanese mindset as seen by me… I feel that we have a lot to learn from them in terms of cleanliness, technical brilliance, respect for the dead and the aged, their desire for perfection in whatever they do.

      One of the first things we did was to go and see the totally, totally fascinating teamLabs audio visual experience in the distant Azabudai hills rather than the smaller one in town. This was something we had heard about and booked well in advance.

T   TeamLabs – this is a mind blowing experience which you all must experience. It’s a technological marvel, to quote them ::. "teamLab Borderless is a world of artworks without boundaries, a museum without a map created by art collective teamLab.  Artworks move out of rooms, relate to other works, influence each other, and at times intermingle, without boundaries. Through this group of works, one continuous world without boundaries is created.  Immerse your body in borderless art. Wander, explore with intention, discover, and create a world with others.     Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B B1; 5-9, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo."  

You enter as per the exact scheduled time, and you can stay on as long as you like. You walk into a small dark corridor which then explodes into an everchanging mind-blowing explosion of technicolour visuals; you progress at your own pace, going from room to room, in awe of the human minds who created this masterpiece of illumination. You see waves, flocks of birds, animals, strings of lights, all in constant motion, in all sorts of directions and sizes. It is just awesome and when you come out, you are brain dead for an hour or so!! Don’t miss it if in Tokyo.

Like we have streets /areas of Mumbai where you can buy specific items, in Tokyo, you have Kappabashi….the go to place for any form of kitchen ware. My son is an expert cook and very fastidious in his needs of kitchen ware. 

He had already written down the makes and types of kitchen knives that he needed and so my daughter and I tagged along for nearly three hours walking up and down this very long street looking at every shop selling knives! Incidentally, we had also seen knives in some shopping mall which had 3 or 4 specialist shops. 

  

So, have a look at the Kappabashi knives and their variety, without forgetting to see their prices. I never knew that each task required a different type of knife, especially for sushi slicing! More important, i knew of German knives being renowned but these, they really were something else.   

We were pooped by the time the shopping was done !! 

  

 The knives are given their final sharpening at the shop itself.  This is a multiple part process using different types of stones depending upon the knife type and then the sharpening machine. Each stage is checked by the Master Sharpener.   The shop also offers the service of personalization – they write your name in Japanese. In my son’s case, his name is converted as per Japanese pronunciation and then etched into the knife…. A wonderful lasting memory of a truly Japanese experience.

For those starved of home cooked Indian food, you should eat here. 

Its awesome.                                                                                                

4-13-10 Kotobuki Taito Tokyo Japan,   Taito 111-0042, Tokyo 

81 3-5830-3509

 

                                                                                                                                My children and I were walking down this street looking for a lunch place and came across this unassuming small family owned restaurant. We were taken into the rear room where we could relax. The owner / chef brought the menu and asked where we came from.                                           

  

We spent a full hour enjoying a wonderful south Indian meal. Thank you, Anil Suzuki. We wish you all the very best.

To our total surprise, he then spoke to us in fluent Marathi !! He was an IT specialist who had lived in the well-known IT Park outside Pune teaching IT to students. He has travelled all over India, especially South India. He called himself Anil Suzuki – very common names in each country…..I think it’s a nom de plume !! He decided to start his own restaurant as he was so immersed in the various Indian cuisines and even now regularly goes to India to learn more cuisines and recipes. We had the BEST meal of our Japan trip over here. Do not miss this place if in Tokyo but do book in advance.                                                                            See the photographs – we were served a thali full of excellent quality food. We were hungry but also very happy with his quality which was pure home cooking so we had double helpings of most items. We had yellow daal, chettinad chicken, dry aloo, chana, jeera rice etc. outstanding and all served with a smile. We asked for masala tea but Anil Suzuki is a perfectionist and hence tea took a long time; we had to take it along with us rather than enjoying it in situ.

Shibuya crossing - Everybody who visits Japan has heard of, and definitely seen, Shibuya junction – it’s an un-Japanese phenomenon. I am told this is where eight roads meet and it’s the crossing with the maximum roads meeting at one point; It certainly has the record for maximum people crossing this multi pedestrian site every evening.At one place, there is this huge hi tech billboard pf a giant panda and he does a lot of innovative movements. At times, you feel he will fall off! We just stood there gazing up at all his various antics. 

We had planned to attend one of Tokyo’s major festivals – Kanda Matsuri - but then we were told of the massive crowds and other issues which put off my family. But during my second session in Tokyo, I was very surprised to see a Japanese float festival on the main road right outside my hotel. The major arterial road had been closed since morning, so I knew something was up, but nobody explained what was happening. Then the drums could be heard in the distance and there was a sense of curiosity in the crowd which developed fast. 

Japanese believe in Buddhism and Shintoism. They have major festivals in spring and autumn when they take out very large floats with ornately dressed priests and patrons, traditional clothing for the teams pulling or carrying the floats. Originally, the festival gave thanks to a shrine using performances of Noh theater. Though the Noh style did not last, the performance element of the festival did. Townspeople would dress up in costume and produce lavish theatrical performances, and during the Edo period (603 - 1868) the parade would lead through the precincts of Edo Castle, giving commoners a rare view inside.

Basically, its all about mikoshi, which are portable shrines that are carried by large teams of people, often representing neighborhoods or groups. Mikoshis are adorned with a golden phoenix on top of each, are carried throughout the parade route, on the way to Kanda Myojin Shrine. At the shrine, each team takes a turn bringing their mikoshi to the front for an individual ceremony and prayer. Teams chant and bounce as they try to maneuver their mikoshi through the thicks crowds in the temple. It's a lively atmosphere and a lot of fun to watch up close.

 

It’s a festive atmosphere and the groups stop at various points along the way… generally due to traffic congestion or for stragglers to catch up. Water or soft drinks are served and someone goes along afterwards to collect the empty cups / containers!   

A really good service offered by most hotels and guest houses is that they keep the luggage for you whilst its not in the room – you may have arrived early before check in opens, or because of checkout timings or you are out for a couple days and returning back, the luggage is kept safely in the foyer of most hotels. 

We all know that Japan suffered a major defeat in the second World War 1939-1944. The dedication of its soldiers to the Emperor who had God like status was unbelievable.

The Japanese people created this amazing war shrine dedicated to their War dead called the Yasukuni Jinja. It is an amazing testimony of the people for their people who gave up their lives. I have seen war museums from Vietnam to USA but this was something really uplifting to the human spirit. Museums generally exhibit their weapons and their war policies / military history. This is a shrine in its truest sense as it glorified the day-to-day activities of the common soldier in each service as well as explained their fighting conditions.

It’s a huge museum and each year, there is debate whether the Japanese PM should honour the anniversary for the War. At every Japanese tourist spot, you will find stalls selling good luck charms. They cover most eventualities. And ofcourse they are beautifully designed and crafted.    

This museum has exhibits from 300 years ago. It is vast. I loved the section on the samurai warriors and their armour. A large area is devoted to the various invaders who came to Japan – especially their history of conflict with China. Throughout, its always text and visuals. There is a section where every dead soldier is remembered – his name, rank, age, place of death and how he died. Another area of fascination  was the whole vast section on food. The types of food served, how  the system of provisions and budgets evolved, menus for each meal, etiquette etc. the detail is exhausting… I just took photos of each item so that I could digest it later and write a blog on the shrine. 

In a special corner of the shrine, there is a large stone memorial erected in memory of the Indian judge who was part of the International Military Tribunal of the Far East. One of the pivotal distinctions between “Japan’s Nuremberg” and its more famous predecessor was the disunity so evident among the 11 justices, each representing a distinct nation. In the case of the majority judgment, eight justices backed the conclusions released and read aloud in the courtroom in Tokyo’s Ichigaya district. Opposing their conclusions were the Dutch and French judges, as well as Justice Radhabinod Pal (1886-1967), the Tribunal’s representative from India and a judge on  Calcutta’s high court.

Pal’s dissent, more than 1,230 pages in length, reveals the fissures within the attempts to bring to justice Japanese war criminals. The last of the justices selected for the Tokyo proceedings, Pal, joined after protests from India about the lack of diversity on the Tribunal. His addition did not alter, however, the undeniable fact that the “trial was fundamentally a white man’s tribunal,” as historian John Dower stated so sharply.

Radha Binod Pal’s own legacy is thus quite ambivalent. As Norimitsu Onishi wrote, many in Japan, including former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, have celebrated him as their champion and quoted his dissent at Tokyo quite selectively.

My final visual is of the automatic baggage loading machines in Haneda airport. I am told that such machines are becoming popular in many airports, but this was the first time that I did self-check in of my bags and off they went into the wide blue skies above.

Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this article, do read the others of my many trips around our wonderful world. Stay safe and stay healthy. 

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