Tokyo
Claudia and I spent around 6 days in Tokyo. Although Tokyo resides in Asia, it has a pretty different culture from Singapore.
Allow me to give a few big picture of how I view Tokyo.
Firstly, it is a very Technologically Advanced group of people. They have really fancy gadgets. We had the opportunity to visit the Sony & Toyota Building and it was quite an experience. In the Sony Building, I was most impressed with a state of the art Desk Top. It was really cool. It makes even the Apple Computer look ordinary!
At the Tokyo, there were all sorts of fancy and really nice cars on display. The great thing is that you can actually climb into them and fiddle with them (cannot drive them off though!).
I saw this really huge Land Cruiser and I fell in love with it. It is still one of my dreams to drive across a big continent like Australia or US and then stopped in the middle of the desert; feasting upon what I have shot and drinking beer over an open fire. How macho is that!
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The toilets were really advance too. They have all sorts of buttons besides the “throne”. They have buttons that produce sound that covers up the embarrassing sounds that you may make while doing your business. They have a button to clear the air (literally!). They have a button to control the temperature of the seat. They have two buttons that sends water to wash the back and the front (for ladies) after using the washroom. They even have a dryer to dry you up after the wash! Incredible!
Next, it has a culture of liking cute things. No wonder Japan is the birthplace of Hello Kitty! Things like music from the train station, to dressing, to the way people express themselves, to TV advertisements, to billboards; cute is the way to go. It is not about acting cute but they just like to be cute.
Thirdly, it is a very fast paced and crowded society. As I understand, Tokyo is the most crowded city in the world. If my numbers are correct, there are close to 26 million people (in Tokyo & greater Tokyo).
One of the scenes that kept coming back into my mind when I think about Tokyo is the number of people waiting to cross the traffic lights.
Below is a short video that I had taken while sitting in Starbucks at the Shibuya station. From what I can see, it appears that thousands of people would cross the traffic lights in all direction at any one go. Sorry, I do not know who to do it the right side up :(
I would not recommend people who suffer from claustrophobic to make their residence in Tokyo.
Fourthly, Japanese are absolutely expert when it comes to packaging stuff. Taking a walk in any one of the supermarkets, you can literally hear the goods shouting at you from their immaculate packaging to try them, buy them, taste them, drink them, own them. Satan may have learnt from the Japanese when he enticed Adam & Eve with the fruit at the garden.
And they are not only good at packaging things, they are just as good when it comes to packaging themselves. The people I saw on the street are really well groomed. The gentlemen and ladies are dressed really well and they really know how to look good. Our TCS stars would look rather common to a lot of people there.
Claudia looked to be at home among them while I looked them I am wearing a Halloween costume when I was wearing my normal everyday comfort clothes. By the way, Halloween is a rather big thing in Japan. They like the Uncle Sam culture.
Lastly, they are also quite a cultured bunch. There seems to be a deep appreciation of art, music and dance. We had the privilege of visiting Edvard Munch’s works that were at display in their museum. It was cool!
Anxiety By Munch
On this trip, it was also the first time that I experience a typhoon. It was so strong that we could not even move from one building to another building that is only some 20 meters away. Umbrellas were destroyed and trees were doing some incredible aerobics bending.
I had been to the Narita Airport several times on route to the US but I had never been to visit and see Japan before. This is my first trip but I believe that it would probably not be my last. I would like to see a slower side of Japan in my next visit; go soak in some spring, go whale sighting, catch some fish and eat sashimi on the spot etc.
Sayonara Tokyo!
Allow me to give a few big picture of how I view Tokyo.
Firstly, it is a very Technologically Advanced group of people. They have really fancy gadgets. We had the opportunity to visit the Sony & Toyota Building and it was quite an experience. In the Sony Building, I was most impressed with a state of the art Desk Top. It was really cool. It makes even the Apple Computer look ordinary!
At the Tokyo, there were all sorts of fancy and really nice cars on display. The great thing is that you can actually climb into them and fiddle with them (cannot drive them off though!).
I saw this really huge Land Cruiser and I fell in love with it. It is still one of my dreams to drive across a big continent like Australia or US and then stopped in the middle of the desert; feasting upon what I have shot and drinking beer over an open fire. How macho is that!
.jpg)
The toilets were really advance too. They have all sorts of buttons besides the “throne”. They have buttons that produce sound that covers up the embarrassing sounds that you may make while doing your business. They have a button to clear the air (literally!). They have a button to control the temperature of the seat. They have two buttons that sends water to wash the back and the front (for ladies) after using the washroom. They even have a dryer to dry you up after the wash! Incredible!
Next, it has a culture of liking cute things. No wonder Japan is the birthplace of Hello Kitty! Things like music from the train station, to dressing, to the way people express themselves, to TV advertisements, to billboards; cute is the way to go. It is not about acting cute but they just like to be cute.
Thirdly, it is a very fast paced and crowded society. As I understand, Tokyo is the most crowded city in the world. If my numbers are correct, there are close to 26 million people (in Tokyo & greater Tokyo).
One of the scenes that kept coming back into my mind when I think about Tokyo is the number of people waiting to cross the traffic lights.
Below is a short video that I had taken while sitting in Starbucks at the Shibuya station. From what I can see, it appears that thousands of people would cross the traffic lights in all direction at any one go. Sorry, I do not know who to do it the right side up :(
I would not recommend people who suffer from claustrophobic to make their residence in Tokyo.
Fourthly, Japanese are absolutely expert when it comes to packaging stuff. Taking a walk in any one of the supermarkets, you can literally hear the goods shouting at you from their immaculate packaging to try them, buy them, taste them, drink them, own them. Satan may have learnt from the Japanese when he enticed Adam & Eve with the fruit at the garden.
And they are not only good at packaging things, they are just as good when it comes to packaging themselves. The people I saw on the street are really well groomed. The gentlemen and ladies are dressed really well and they really know how to look good. Our TCS stars would look rather common to a lot of people there.
Claudia looked to be at home among them while I looked them I am wearing a Halloween costume when I was wearing my normal everyday comfort clothes. By the way, Halloween is a rather big thing in Japan. They like the Uncle Sam culture.
Lastly, they are also quite a cultured bunch. There seems to be a deep appreciation of art, music and dance. We had the privilege of visiting Edvard Munch’s works that were at display in their museum. It was cool!
Anxiety By Munch
On this trip, it was also the first time that I experience a typhoon. It was so strong that we could not even move from one building to another building that is only some 20 meters away. Umbrellas were destroyed and trees were doing some incredible aerobics bending.
I had been to the Narita Airport several times on route to the US but I had never been to visit and see Japan before. This is my first trip but I believe that it would probably not be my last. I would like to see a slower side of Japan in my next visit; go soak in some spring, go whale sighting, catch some fish and eat sashimi on the spot etc.
Sayonara Tokyo!
posted by Jeff Chong at 8:25 am
5 Comments:
Oh wow.. your entry has just convinced me even more to make a trip down to Tokyo next year, though perhaps I'd prefer the quiet side of Japan...
Anyway, good to know that you two had a great holiday there =)
Welcome back pastor.. glad to hear u had fun there...
indeed japan is a melting pot of cultures.. i would look rather fwd to my visit next year in april...
haha livi. Am sure you would like Tokyo with all the good looking metrosexual guys all over the place!
Yes, a quiter side of Japan is what I like better as well. Perhaps we have been living too much in Spore and we would prefer something different.
Hey JX, Enjoy your upcoming trip in Japan. I am sure you will have great fun there. The food is extremely good too!
hee...Ps Jeff,Thanks for explaining the toilet bowl thingy..when i made use of their toilet bowl,i was so amazed by all that fancy gadget whiz,,but all i needed was to flush the system!Gotta admit they are a league above the rest!=)
haha janice. I can certainly identify with you!
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