garbage and gaming

Since the streets were so narrow and there were not that many back alleys, this is how they disposed of garbage in the business area. In most places there were even green nets to pull over the garbage. Interestingly they had somehow convinced the cats and birds to stay away.

There seemed to be this wild obsession with gaming, this is a quick shot I took inside on of these gaming shops.

cars and streets

There weren't many personal cars on the streets in Tokyo, most of what I saw were taxis. The streets were very narrow, and they even had narrower cars! The cars were mostly Japanese cars as you'd expect, but there was the occasional BMW or Benz.



By the way, they drove on the left side of the road and stood on the right side on the escalator.




Another interesting thing was the fuel pumps, I guess when you don't have enough land you hang things from the ceiling!

forgotten

"I can feel from the bottom of my heart that you came to Urumqi many many times and spent days and night for the hope to see me, visit me. I am grateful, I am thankful for the hardship you have experienced in cold and hot, snow and rain. I know you are doing it. I know the thin heart of my mother and my children and all of my relatives."

The Globe and Mail published an article on the recently released letter from Huseyin Celil, the Canadian citizen who was arrested (I think) in Ozbakestan and extradited to China 2 years ago. In China, he was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life in prison.

"Dear mother, Please forgive me if I have done any thing wrong to you in my life. Please forgive me if I even have spoken loudly in front of you."

You can find the full article here and the letter translation here.

Iidabashi - Shinjuku

The first night I arrived in Tokyo, my friends picked me up and we went walking through the Iidabashi - Shinjuku area. This is an older neighbourhood, where apparently no foreigner ever sets foot - they could not believe I did not speak Japanese! It was a good thing that one of my friends was a translator. The area was full of small shops and cafes, just what you would expect of Japan ...

We went into a shop that was owned by a 83 year-old lady, she had started up the business with her husband 60!!! years ago. He had passed since.


I bought many pieces from her shop. Whenever I chose something, she would take a glance at it, go into the back and get another one that was still in its box. She'd show it to me so that I would be sure that it's the same and I had to nod to show my approval. Then she would ask permission to gift wrap it. She did it as if it were a ritual. The gift-wrapping itself was an amazing procedure. The neatness and delicacy with which she worked was amazing. When we were leaving I asked if I could have my picture taken with her. She replied: "but my hair is not made up and I am not dressed!" She was by far the cutest old lady I met on this trip.

earthquake

The first night I arrived in Tokyo there was an earthquake, about 6.3 on the Richter scale at the source. It shook the hotel pretty hard, enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, and those who know me know that that is a big deal! Anyhow, I got up the next morning, called everyone in Canada and Iran and made sure they know I am fine ... fast forward a few days, and the earthquakes in China. The horrible pictures, the devastation and the pain you can see in people's faces. The gut wrenching fact is that most of those killed are children who were at school, 7000 schools fell down when the surrounding buildings almost survived. And now about 5,000,000 people are homeless. It's been about a week, what has been done for them? I can't stop thinking, it was so close, it could have been me!

my journey

Narita airport, Japan

I had a conference in Singapore and I decided to stay in Tokyo for a few days since I was transiting through Narita anyway. There are a few experiences in life that make an impression that will stay with you for ever, this was definitely one of them. I learnt as much about the world and other people as I did about myself. Since the personal experiences are not as easy to bring to words and maybe not even as interesting, in the next little while I want to give you a peak into some of what I learnt about Tokyo and the Japanese and maybe even a little about Singapore.

One thing that I have to establish first is that what made this trip exceptional are the people I met on the way. I will talk about some of them along the way ...

Narita, areal view, Japan

Narita is rather far from Tokyo, about 40 min with train. In between the airport and Tokyo lie many rice farms as you can see in the photo.

Narita rice cultivation

away ...

... i am leaving for a little while, i'll be back with photos :)

transportation in China

You won't believe your eyes!

electricity

This is a link I found very useful. It gives electrical power levels and outlet shapes in most countries; so next time you can know what to expect :))

stupid/intelligent

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

- Bertrand Russell

insensitive

How do you numb your skin, after the warmest touch
How do you slow your blood, after the body rush
How do you free your soul, after you've found a friend
How do you teach your heart it's time, to fall in love again

Oh you probably won't remember me, it's probably ancient history
I'm one of the chosen few, who went ahead and fell for you
I'm out of vogue, I'm out of touch, I fell too fast, I feel too much
I thought that you might have some advice to give, on how to be, insensitive

- Jann Arden