The long journey home began at 7.15 Tokyo time, when the airport shuttle bus picked us up from the hotel. This shot was taken as it crossed the ‘Rainbow Bridge’ across Tokyo Bay. Not a rainbow of colours however: thanks to the rather alarmingly blue filters on the bus windows, which were so potent that I was seeing extra pink shades inside, to compensate. Still, it’s a nice effect. Farewell to Tokyo anyway — until next time? Sayonara…
Last full day in Japan. A couple of free hours this morning were spent in Shinjuku-gyoen park, along with several thousand other people, most of whom seemed to be cooing over the blossoming cherry trees (sakura), with dozens of Japanese engaging in what I could only perceive as a form of fundamental nature worship beneath each one. A total stranger asked me in the hotel elevator this evening whether I had seen the blossoms. They even have national news announcements, blossom forecasts if you like, stating where the best displays are to be found. I don’t dispute these plants’ beauty, but I can’t help thinking — you know, we have cherry blossoms in England too. They’re just there. But clearly I’m missing something.
Shinjuku railway station is a few hundred meters from my hotel, and is not only the busiest railway station in the world, but the busiest transport hub of any kind. 3.5 million people DAILY pass through here — that’s the entire population of Greater Manchester plus Leeds, or more-or-less the population of Los Angeles, through one single railway station. Every single day. It beggars belief. This picture was taken at a relatively quiet point in the daily cycle, but still gives an impression of it all, I think.
On a Sunday of, frankly, foul, revolting weather, my friend Mariam took me on a sightseeing tour of Tokyo, including the Senso-ji Buddhist temple, the city’s oldest place of worship dating from 645AD. Here, visitors purify themselves at this massive bowl of incense sticks, wafting the ‘breath of God’ over themselves before entering the shrine.
I post this pic partly because of the odd added detail, odd to us sensitive Westerners anyway; I know, I know, it’s an Eastern symbol of the sun, good fortune, life itself even. It’s found carved into church windows in Ethiopia, Bronze Age stonework in Yorkshire, prehistoric pottery in Bulgaria. Its name, translated from the Sanskrit, means “it is good”. But still, you wouldn’t find it easy to litter your holy places with swastikas in Europe. I dunno, probably we’re the ones who’ve lost out.
The remnants of jet lag saw me up early, but I had to work today anyway, and photographically, it was probably worth it. Within a short time after taking this the haze had risen and Fuji — a truly beautiful sight — had disappeared behind it. But there you go — Japan’s iconic (and highest) mountain, in its late winter raiment.
Worked in the afternoon and evening, but had a bit of time off in the morning so spent it visiting Meiji-Jingu, a Shinto shrine to the Emperor Meiji who is revered for being the ruler under whom Japan transitioned from a feudal to a modern state towards the end of the 19th century. It was set in a beautiful, tranquil forest park, though the shrine itself, while an attractive building, was nothing particularly spectacular. A peaceful (and free) way of spending a couple of hours though.
For a donation of ¥500 (£3.50, give or take) visitors can acquire one of these prayer tablets and hang up their appeal along with a few thousand others on these boards outside the main temple. The reason for picking this photo in particular is the tablet to top centre. If there are such things as kami (spirits in the Shinto belief system), I hope they address that one, at least.
So here I am in Japan, specifically a side street not far from the immense Shinjuku station, which is like, take the biggest metro station you’ve previously seen in your life and octuple it. Since getting completely turned on to the country — or a certain stereotypical idea of it — by reading and watching Shogun when I was a teenager I have wanted to come here, and so now I’ve finally made it, thanks to a complete work freebie that just fell into my lap two months ago, it’s not easy to know how to depict it. Obviously it’ll take a few more days (months, a lifetime maybe) to even start the process of learning what the ‘real Japan’ is actually like, but let’s start with this shot. I suppose I picked this picture because it’s as good an effort as I can make at picturing my preconceptions. There were plenty of Blade Runner moments this evening, put it that way. But is that life imitating art, or the other way around? What I can gather so far, is that there’s not a lot of point worrying about the difference here.
