Sunday, January 13, 2008

Going Japanese


I am currently in Tokyo - my first business trip of 2008 – a journey which will also take me to Seoul, Beijing and Sydney. Even though it sounds glamorous - in reality I’ll be spending hours in airports, logging some serious air miles, clearing customs in four very different countries with a bag full of stuffed 2010 mascots, attending back to back meetings, forced to sing karaoke (not easy when you can’t carry a tune) - all the while feeling guilty that I’m leaving Tom to deal with a sick little pug.

This is my first trip to Japan and I was a little worried, as so many people had warned me that Tokyo is a very difficult city to navigate. So far no problems, I’ve been able to move around relatively easy on the subway without getting lost. My biggest challenge has been figuring out how to use the high tech toilet in my hotel room. It has a whole keyboard of options – I can heat the seat, wash my privates, blow myself dry – yet it took me over an hour to figure out how to flush the damn thing!

Tokyo is the world's largest urban agglomeration – there are as many people living in the Tokyo area as in all of Canada. I find this amazing, and yet everything is so clean and organized. It’s a little disconcerting as my image of Tokyo was formed in my youth - when I was a big fan of Godzilla movies – I keep expecting to catch a glimpse of him above the skyline.

Japan has a very fascinating culture. My son is a huge fan of contemporary Japanese movies and books - which tend to be dark - bordering on the bizarre. I find it hard to reconcile those images with the people I have met here, who are lovely and gentle. I feel like I am only scratching the surface, and wonder if a tourist can ever know the real Japan?

2 comments:

Tyra said...

Amazing! You are so blessed to see so much of the world! I would love to be in your coat pocket and experience all your wonderful travels.

Be safe! Love you!

Marot said...

oh! my friend was in Tokyo on Sat and she just came back