Tokyo April 23

A bit jet lagged but delighted to be back in Japan. I lived here for 3 years in my mid-20’s (another husband, another life) and loved everything about it. Back then, Tokyo was the most expensive city in the world. It no longer holds that title but all the things I enjoyed are still here. It continues to be the safest city with respect to gun violence (and probably any other kind of violence – perfectly safe to walk around at night by yourself), it’s clean (tried as I might, I could find only 2 instances of graffiti as we whizzed to the hotel and there is NO trash, anywhere), the famous Japanese politeness is still very, very part of their identity, great attention to detail, beautiful parks, excellent service, best rail service anywhere, etc. etc. It rates very highly on the best places to live in the world. Perfect? Heck no, but a fabulous place to visit. And, I think they have more Michelin stars for restaurants than Paris. Am I gushing enough? I’m REALLY glad to be here.

Turns out that half the cruise ship passengers (about 350 out of 700) opted for the 3 day pre-tour of Tokyo. Because the Edo-Tokyo museum is now closed for renovations, we went to the National Museum of Science and then on to the Asakusa Sensoji Temple. Japan is primarily a country of people who follow Buddhist and Shinto faiths and many follow both. There was a temple (Buddhist) and a shrine (Shinto) on site.

Tokyo itself has 38 million people, give or take, and Japan only just opened up post Covid for visitors in March. As a young adult living there, I learned a couple of things right away: if you have a cold, wear a mask (duh). Many people are still wearing them. And, if you’re partying with your buddies in nightclubs, and you need to use a public restroom (and you’re 5’10” with hair dyed blonde that goes to your waist), no worries. Many restrooms are (horror!!!) unisex which meant that I walked behind a row of men standing at urinals til I got to the stalls (which were private). No hassles.

Young women (they were almost always in pairs) rent traditional kimonos for excursions to the many temples/shrines and parks. Lots of photos of them and by them – the original camera-happy people.

In a city that’s so densely populated, the dog scene is adorable – shortly after I took this photo, the little gray poodle was dressed with a hat to match its sweater. Notice the double decker dog stroller to the right.

A regular celebration in which mini-shrines are carried through the park.

I remember signs like these from my time living in Japan. We all needed education.

The Japanese are so gun averse, they don’t allow kids to play shooting games at arcade type establishments until they’re 18.

Turns out we were right across the street from a large, much loved park. To try to stay awake, we took a walk after dinner. (BTW Our go-to app to find plant friendly restaurants, Happy Cow, listed almost 100 restaurants in our neck of Tokyo. We ate well.) Lots of families were still enjoying their time together. I also noted that PDAs (public displays of affection) were no longer culturally verboten. It’s no Paris, but couples were holding hands and sitting next to each other. Other ongoing politeness practices: train/subway and elevator rides are silent, it’s rude to eat and walk, and (hurray!) smoking is gone from the public sphere. I remember I had to excuse myself when Ron and traveled here at the end of our Intel days. I was close to passing out from the smoke during a group meal and had to get out to the street to breathe.