Tokyo - Adham's Blog

Sakura Diary #6: Contemplations on a Lazy Day

Saturday 20.05.2023
Forgive me if I come back fat. But if there were a devil specialised in food seduction, he will have Tokyo as his headquarter. I just wonder how people here are not fat. Japanese people are mostly lean. The food is actually mostly healthy but the desserts seem criminal. There are food courts/halls in some malls with maaaany stalls for dessert. You don’t really know what to pick. The dilemma of choice when we have too many options which is the curse of freedom. People here are also very fashionable, but also decently dressed. Japanese fashion is minimalistic, and relatively conservative. Most of the people dress loose fits you also wouldn’t see a lot of flesh. Most of the bodies are covered. So in general, it is not a very revealing attitude. If you see very short pants or skirts, specially without taste, then you can be almost sure that’s a tourist. In contrast, some tourists look quiet vulgar in the way they are dressed. This was something I didn’t know about Japan, specially in the capital, Tokyo. I keep on seeing different tailored cuts for women cloths, beautiful, aesthetic and not just naked. I wondered, who designed all these pieces? How many designers per capita does Japan have? Or are they the same clothes from international brands that are simply well put together? I would say that Japanese people in general take an extra effort to make things look good, which combined with their brilliant engineering aspire for the formula of perfection.
It is Saturday, the 20th of May 2023.
I checked out and moved to another hotel. This time I treated myself to a fancy one and my room is in the 19th floor among the skyscrapers in Ginza. After tiny rooms in the previous hotels, I felt comfortable and a bit home. After enjoying the luxury of the day, I did my favourite activity which is purposelessly walking around the city. Without idea which direction is what. This is something you can enjoy in Japan. Since everything here is observable. The architecture, the fashion, the shops, the street signs, and more, are all different. You are never bored in the streets of Tokyo. I decided spontaneously to visit a huge park with temples and shrines in the center of Tokyo. Well, “the center” is not very precise since Tokyo is more like a collection of small cities, each is worth a visit and has a lot to be discovered.
After many years of traveling and visiting mosques, churches and temples, one gets quiet saturated. At some point, they become similar. I go inside every now and then for a glimpse of the spiritual energy in that place, regardless of which religion. I like to observe the faces of believers and wonder what kind of thoughts are now in their minds or feelings in their hearts. But my visit to the temple Meiji Jingu was more concentrated on the huge park surrounding it and less time close to the shrine/temple where hundreds of tourists gathered and no traces of spirituality were left. I tried to take a selfie but ended up with this double-shinned photo that I am posting here anyway since you probably know I am not as ugly as the photo shows 😀

Tomorrow is a busy day since I have planned a few things. Before I leave you today I would like to share with you a travel tip: ”eSIM”. If you have a relatively modern smartphone, you can buy a local phone number or data plan without needing to go to a shop. You can even buy it before you travel and activate it when you need simply with a couple of clicks, even as soon as you touch down. This is available for almost any country. Just google “eSIM Japan” for example. This way, you can satisfy your digital addiction with minimal downtime!

Sakura Diary #5: Adham in Wonderland and Cleopatra’s Tears

Nothing beats a good cup of coffee. Probably this is one of the best perks of holidays, that you can enjoy the tranquility of a good cup of coffee without worrying about what’s next. I had that cup of coffee in a really good roastery close to the hotel and planed my day.
The first stop was a Japanese sweets-company, Toraya”. There I had lunch and tasted again the traditional sweet beans pancake. The food here looks always good. Here I quote Tanizaki from the current book I am reading “It has been said of Japanese food that it is a cuisine to be looked at rather than eaten. I would go further and say that it is to be meditated upon, a kind of silent music evoked by the combination of lacquerware and the light of a candle flickering in the dark.”. Involving beans in desert was novel to me as well and it seems common here. I actually really like it and it is going to be on the long list of things I will miss from Japan.
It is raining. I took a taxi to the teamLab Planets museum, a museum for an immersive experience in artwork installations. A lot of people lining up. Once entered, the patch of visitors lined up in organised lines looking at a screen giving us instructions about the experience. Somehow looked like “Squid games”. The instructions told us that we will have to take off our shoes and socks since we will be walking in water sometimes. Also if you had a skirt, your underwear might be seen since some floors are mirrors! It reminded me of a favourite joke of my late father that I can only tell you in person 😅.
So We entered the venue! First we had to climb a slope with water flowing down. It seemed like a smart way to wash the feet of all the visitors before going bare feet into the museum. At the end of the slope there was this kind of water fall falling from the ceiling. I felt the excitement. Everywhere is lit with the minimal lighting. This goes well with what I am reading now “In Praise of Shadows”. I felt I was on the verge of a new experience, and I was not mistaken.
So the whole experience was divided into halls. The first hall was a black room with two doors, one for entrance and one for exit. The floor is covered by beanbags, so you can not walk straight. You step somewhere and this shifts the structure of the beanbags. Since many people pass through the room simultaneously, the pressure distribution becomes very dynamic depending on other people around you, and this is the point. It is about the effect on each step you take on your progress as well as on the others around you. I caught myself laughing out of joy. Then we went through black dark corridors with dim lights and with surround music to the next hall.
All walls, ceiling and floors were covered by mirrors, and hanging room the ceiling were strips of LED lights that changed colour in an amazing sequence. All this was accompanied by orchestrated music to fit the patterns. I was impressed. The whole installation felt surreal, somehow like Superman’s Kryptonite from the 1978 version (sorry young boys!). I sat in a corner of the installation and kept on watching. The whole mirrors thing makes you reflect a dozen times and this somehow was humbling.
The next hall was filled with creamy water till the middle of your leg. On the surface of the water were colourful projections that included various swimming fish as well as abstract colourful patterns. This experience was also kind of surreal, somehow like an LSD trip!
The next room was less significant. It was filled with huge balloons either resting on the ground or hanging from the ceiling or attached to the walls. The light of the room changed probably randomly to change the ambiance. The following hall was both simple but touching. It was a dome with mirror floor! On the doom was projected a vast space of blackness filled with all sorts and sizes of flowers. The flowers flew in countless shapes, numbers, and forms. Visitors were asked to lie on the mirror floor and enjoy the experience that was accompanied with mysterious space music. Here, I don’t know why, I felt emotional. I laughed a bit, then I got waves of sadness. This installation has touched something quiet distant inside me. I am not really aware what it was. Then there were two more exhibitions outdoor that I found less impressive. If you are interested in seeing these rooms, check this video below, of course you will be neither immersed nor impressed 🙂

After the exhibition I went shopping in the Ginza district since it was raining and cold. I managed to checkout a couple of small art galleries as well. I ended the first half of the day with a wagyu-steak dinner. It was delicious but a less than my expectations.

***

In the evening I went to another Latin club, Cafe Leon. I found mostly older people and only a few young ladies. I chatted a little with the owner and his friend in Spanish (both from Peru). Then I danced a few bachata songs. The level was quiet low, except of one young Japanese lady that had the moves. We had a good connection, which was noticed by my new Peruvian friend David. When I went back to my seat and sat beside David, he told me to go “get” that girl since she was “ripe” and an easy catch 😂. I told him I was not interested which shocked him and he showed a hugely disappointed face. Exactly like the GIF below and said “Cleopatra is crying in her tomb!”, I burst laughing.

I chatted with him a bit more and he suggested me to go to Okinawa, the “Hawaii of Japan”. I asked a few more things and got excited about some beach time in this trip. So I decided to include it in my plan. I soon left to go to El Cafe Latino since I knew that there will be a busier party there, and there was. A looot of Latinos make me feel home somehow. Shortly later I found “David” entering the cafe to my surprise hehe. We are almost friends now.

Dance, dance, dance.
for my heart mirrors every turn of yours,
Swiftly glide through space,
Spreading elegance and captivating smiles
like charity that makes us poorer

A shining beauty in the shadows of Tokyo,
witnessed by your admiring crowd.
With unmistakable passion,
your presence is clear and loud.

But they all seem to fail,
To see what’s beyond the veil.
I can see and I can tell.
But … well..

Sakura Diary #3: Robotic Dog, Shibuye and Blue Zones

It is Tuesday, 16.05.2023

In contrast to the day before, I woke up after 4 hours of sleep, yet equally energetic. Breakfast, writing, then off to a tour organised by Donny from couchsurfing. Today we will be in Ginza luxury shopping district but visiting other kinds of stores. We were a small group including Donny, a Canadian gentleman who used to develop websites and invested a lot of his income in stocks 15 years ago. Then he discovered that the income from the dividends was enough for him to live comfortably. So he retired at the end of his thirties. Now he spends the year divided between Tokyo, Mexico City, Poland, Hungary and finally Montreal. He speaks 7 languages comfortably and reads around 10 books a month. Accompanying us on the tour were a young German lady, a French lad, and a Thai guy. On the top of Ginza Six building they made a nice garden overlooking the poch shopping district and embraced by Tokyo skyscrapers.

Traveling truly sets the stage for everyone to share their life stories. Throughout my own travels, I’ve heard countless fascinating tales that have inspired me to shape my own path thus far. Today was certainly no exception!

We wandered around town, visited Sony-store where they exhibited latest technologies that sometimes never made it to the market.

We also explored an 8-story stationary shop filled with all sorts of paper, writing materials, and office supplies, as well as a 4-story toy store. Tokyo is like a vertical wonderland! Many businesses and shops are located on the 2nd, 3rd, or even higher floors, without any presence on the ground floor. I guess it’s easier since most people discover these establishments through Google anyway. As the tour came to an end, I bid the group a “hasta luego” and headed off to meet Tomogo, a local couchsurfer who had promised to show me more of Tokyo.

Tomogo works in the marketing of a healthcare app. Initially, she planned to take me to visit some temples, but we arrived after closing time. So instead, we ventured into the vibrant Harajuku area and ended up in Shibuye, home to the world’s busiest crossing, complete with its iconic diagonal zebras.

We went on top of a tower for a nice Sushi dinner and a view of Tokyo from above. I am in general not a Sushi person but this one was good. Well, not good enough to convince me to take you out for Sushi, but yalla, no problem.

Tomogo is wise. We discussed a lot about life, relationships and modern society. I learned a lot about Japanese relationships between men and women. After dinner we went to the game arcade, which is a usual activity here. We played old style video games by inserting coins and for example racing in Super Mario, racing in motor bikes and playing shooting games. I lost in almost all the games against Tomogo which is strange hehe. After the video games we went karaoke where Tomogo sang Japanese love songs and I tried my luck with Frank Sinatra and 50 Cent :D. Karaoke, for me like bowling, is an activity designed to fill you with shame and disappointment. I wonder what is the percentage of people that feel great after terribly singing in front of others. I added karaoke to my “Sushi-List”, of things I would need to be convinced to do.

Wednesday 14.05.2023

I had to change hotels today since my first booking comes to an end. I moved to another Hotel in the buzzing area of Roppongi. The new hotel has a swemming pool and its own “Onsen”, which is a traditional public hot bath. After leaving my luggage, I wanted to go see the sumo competition sinece luckily there is a grand sumo championship going on. But unluckily all the tickets are sold out. My plan was to go in front of the arena and hold a sign ”I need tickets” and hope that someone might have an extra one to spare. As fate would have it, while riding the tram towards the arena, I managed to secure a ticket from a black market website and decided to disembark at the next station. I found myself in a street that has many shops for music instruments and suddenly I found a university hospital in front of me. Sine I had no other plans, I went in and asked if I can have a tour in the hospital as a doctor. The answer was ”not without an appointment”. So I asked if I could make an appointment and the answer was ”no”. I took that as a clear rejection with ”get out of here” as a virtual subtitle.

I wandered more the streets of that neighbourhood and ended up having a massage and a hair cut :D, which is one of the experience I collect from different countries. For dinner, I went to a restaurant that didn’t look very remarkable but the food there was delicious. The minimum of the quality here is high. It seemed to me that there is no wrong choice, except of my incapability to use chopsticks. Donny said that around 1/3 of the world uses chopsticks and I wonder why. For me it is a terrible tool that can easily be replaced with better inventions.

In the evening, I decided to visit the “English Only Cafe,” a café where locals primarily gather to practice their English skills. I believed it would be an excellent opportunity to meet and engage with the local community. To my pleasant surprise, both Donny and Miriam, the German lady I met earlier, were also present. I moved from table to table, striking up conversations and sharing jokes about life with the predominantly young Japanese crowd. It was yet another enriching experience of cultural exchange. After the event, Donny, Miriam, and I headed to an Izakaya, a traditional Japanese pub known for its drinks and finger-food snacks. Our conversations continued late into the night. Donny amazed us by reading Patrick Süskind’s “Perfume” in just one day, inspired by Miriam’s mention of the book the previous day. Truly impressive, don’t you think?

One of the most interesting conversations was about the ”blue zones”, where are regions in the world with the highest number of people aged more than 100! There has been a research and a book about them trying to understand what these regions have in common and what makes humans live that long and, above all, they lived with few diseases and not just survived that long.

The evening was not over, one more meeting with Najat, a tunisian model living in Tokyo. We have a mutual connection and we were in touch before my trip. We met in Roppongi and went for drinks in a not-so-busy club. More conversations and more about living in Japan, this time rather from a slightly middle eastern perspective. These two days were very rich with encounters with locals and travellers. I thought tomorrow I should spend more time alone, in nature or with art.

Sakura Diary #1, Journey in a Journey

Seeking evolution and serendipity (my favourite word). I set on a new adventure to Japan for two weeks. Hoping to be enchanted, surprised and amazed. Hoping to eat, dance, laugh and think, and above all, hoping to evolve.

To save some cash, I booked a flight to Milan before hopping on a plane to Tokyo, but let’s be real, any excuse to be in Italy is a good one. I stayed at a hotel near the airport and rested up on Friday night, then headed to the airport on Saturday morning feeling like this whole adventure was happening way too fast. As I walked through Milan Airport, I couldn’t help but notice all the fair ladies around me. I thought to myself, “Have I already made it to paradise?” Alas, it was time to board my flight with AirChina.

I fly with AirChina. Let me talk to you about my stereotypes, well no. A non-remarkable 11 hours flight with one exception: the staff announced a few things including that the airplane is a public space and we will be monitored by audio and video. I look around me and notice two security men with Walkie-Talkies stuck to their chests. This was new! What exactly happened in the past so that AirChina hired security staff on their planes? Luckily my next seat was empty and the seat after was occupied by a friendly Chinese businessman on his way home to Shanghai after visiting an exhibition in Milano. He seemed surprised that I was surprised that there is a security guard in the airplane alley!
I spent the few hours watching Chinese movies, which to my surprise were funny, exciting and emotional that I almost cried (yeah, didn’t really cry since 2015). I suggest you to watch the movie called “Moon Man” which is worth the two hours of your precious time.
So, I will write about my trip and share with you what i learn and what i feel. I had a lot of suggestions from Kate, Virgil’s nice Japanese lady, and I am excited about the upcoming adventures. I have also had a couple of contacts before the trip that I will try to connect with.
This trip I am accompanied by a small book: “The Meditations”, by Marcus Aurelius! And since these days I am interested in artificial intelligence and poetry, I will try to involve AI in this trip. Let’s see what will happen. I will use ChatGPT for some experiments and also some iPhone apps that use AI for rendering photos!
Have you been to Japan before? Send me your top to-do suggestion, your favourite place and your favourite dish.
The second leg of the flight will be from Shanghai to Tokyo and I shall arrive on Sunday afternoon.

The transit in Shanghai was not logical! I discovered that I had to pass the customs and then collect my checked in luggage then pass the customs again! For that reason, they give travelers from certain countries a 24 hours visa. The customs control was one of the slowest I have ever witnessed, i grew a full beard waiting in the line, , thankfully I had a few hours buffer. During my time in the airport I needed assistance with the Wi-Fi login, a good coffee and the departure hall. I approached the information desk where two young ladies dressed in red and with their FPP2 mask promptly stood up to greet me with shaking their right hand, exactly like the cat you see in Chinese restaurants 😀

They were very helpful and answered my questions with a monotonous response then greeted me with the hand shake again. I left wondering whether artificial intelligence has already taken over!

I went to grab some food and ended up eating some mystery meat – let’s just say I didn’t ask too many questions. Another couple of hours on the second flight to arrive in Tokyo airport. Here I smiled widely and felt the excitement!
Clean, efficient, friendly and polite. In the waiting line for the customs they had mobile machines to collect your biometric data while you are waiting in line. I passed smoothly and collected my checked in luggage from the belt, where all luggage’s were ordered in an impeccably paralleled manner on their side, probably to reduce the space required on the belt, thus reducing the number of rotations I assume. I remembered one of my favourite quotes “there is always a better way to do anything, and we should always aspire to find it”.
I already knew that Japan had a lot to offer. So I went to the toilette 😀
In the men’s cabins, and apologies for the graphics, there was a child seat, so you can do your business while your child is completely seated besides you. Need not to worry about the smell, since the integrated famous pidet will “deodorise” the cabin, and eventually send a stream of water to clean your rear and consequently your heart. You can control the water pressure and volume as well.
I left the airport with the train towards my hotel. I booked three nights in the “book hotel” which is a hotel full of books. Other than that I had not planed anything and I await the gifts of the universe!