Four Days In Tokyo

Well here I am. In Tokyo. We've been here for four days. I’m not sure where to begin, but I will say, just briefly…Dhaka didn’t end well. I’ll leave that for another time, but there was heartache and loss and…a lot to include the death of our beloved Chumleigh and yet, we survived it all and now a new adventure begins. I know…I haven’t even gotten around to home leave yet, but that also, will have to wait just a bit longer, because here we are in beautiful Tokyo and I’m ready to get started!

For starters, Tokyo is astonishingly clean. I get that comparing it to Dhaka is probably a little pointless, but…well…I kind of have to! Dhaka is wild and dirty and broken. It’s colorful and noisy and chaotic and oh so….well sort of all jumbled up. Tokyo is the antithesis of all of that. Our first impressions were of an immaculate airport with an orderly system for processing through immigration. I can’t decide whether I’m impressed or a little saddened that there was not a single cat wandering around the airport.

We were greeted by our sponsor Steve at the airport and he whisked us off to an embassy van which was oddly devoid of armor as apparently, no body tries to blow you up in Tokyo!

As we pulled out into traffic, I had to notice that there were no rickshaws anywhere; no tuk tuk’s either,  and not a single goat wandering on the road.

As we had prepared for landing, our pilot had announced that the weather in Tokyo was partly cloudy with a light mist. He lied. As we entered the freeway, rain pelted the car from all sides and the clouds threatened to come right down and squish us onto the road. Still…even in the gloom it was clear that we had made it just in time for the cherry blossoms so I was content. They were everywhere and as impressive as anticipated.

Steve looked at us perplexed and said “I don’t understand. It’s never rainy this time of year. Yesterday was beautiful”. Derek and I exchanged a knowing glance. Steve didn’t know us yet, so wouldn’t realize that the weather was doubtless there just for us. A subtle challenge from Japan as if the country were saying, “I’ve heard of you before, don’t mess with me!” We have a history of bringing catastrophe wherever we go. A coincidence you think, that Bangladesh had never been bothered by ISIS until just after we arrived?? That’s what they thought when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines after 700 hundred years while were there, but we knew better.

We drove straight to the embassy housing compound. It’s pretty incredible. While the apartments are small, they are large by Japanese standards and as soon as I figure out where to put 7,000 lbs of household goods in a 1,500 sq. ft. apartment, everything will be fine; besides, it’s hard to complain too much when your living in a complex with a pool, tennis courts, racquetball courts, a gym, game room, community hall, a gymnasium with yoga, exercise and martial arts classes, and stunningly landscaped grounds with koi ponds. Oh, did I mention the shopette and salon? Who needs to sit in the apartment?

So there we are, settled into our little apartment and reality hits. We have no transportation. Our feet are now our vehicle and after a year and a half on lockdown in Dhaka…they’re pretty much a klunker. Fortunately, the embassy is only about a 10-15 minute walk from the compound, but oddly enough, it seems to be uphill both ways. There are remarkably efficient subways but it’s a fifteen minute walk to get to them as well. We have a vehicle being shipped to us from Dhaka, but frankly there’s no place to park so we might as well just keep walking.

Yesterday we decided that we needed to learn the subway system. We’ve utilized subways in many cities around the world, but can I just say that the Tokyo subway is the Godzilla of all subways? Take all the subway maps from all the subways in the world, squish them all together, and you will have the Tokyo subway. It’s massive. No really. It’s huge.

We found Sailor Moon!

Doors in front of the tracks so no one can fall, jump or get pushed on the the tracks.

Cleanest subway I've ever

So, being the intrepid adventures that we are, we heading to the underground. Steve came to our rescue yet again and gave us two pasmo cards. It’s a loadable card that you can use on all of the systems. Otherwise you’d be buying tickets every few minutes. The first step was to find the subway. It’s not as easy as it sounds! First off of course, it’s all underground and awfully well hidden at that. Lucky for us, we found a Tokyo subway map and route planner and soon we were on our way. It put something of a damper on our adventurous enthusiasm when we notice that everything here seems to be written in a different language. It’s like they have a different word for everything!

Alright, in fairness, we did discover that amidst the sea of lovely but indecipherable Kanji symbols, there were English names for stations and stops.

We finally found our station. I looked around at all of the passengers in dismay. What is the deal with Tokyo??? Everyone in the station looked like that they were there for a Vogue photo shoot! Seriously! The women are gorgeous. Men and women alike were perfectly dressed and coifed. Everyone in the station was dressed in subtle shades of black, grey and tan. I just came from Bangladesh for heavens sake! I dress like a crazed peacock! I vowed to go home and burn anything and the primary color spectrum.

Fashion trauma aside, Derek and I stood studying the subway app, comparing it to the English bits on the signs. A voice came on over the loud speaker and spoke quickly in Japanese. According to google translation I’m fairly sure he something like “Go away you pathetic Americans. You are too stupid and poorly dressed to be here”. Or something like that.

Anyway, in the end thanks to Derek we did find our train and more importantly we found a beautiful Hamarikyu Gardens. We even had cherry blossom iced choux with real cherry blossoms.

So, my first impressions of Japan? The people are incredibly polite. The shopping is insanely amazing. Derek is going to starve if he has to eat Sushi, everything is clean and beautiful and there is more to see than we will every manage, but we are going to try our hardest. This is going to be an awesome post!

Because all Samuri need an ice lolly.

Our little local grocery store.

Treats at the Gardens. And yes, that IS a real cherry blossom.

Bic Camera. Coolest Store EVER!

So that if you don't have enough Dandelions,
you can pick some up on your way home.

When you just have a hankering for dried squid.

Downtown in our neighborhood.

Grateful to have a voice

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, 

in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. 

-=Thomas Jefferson=-

As the presidential elections loom closer each day, and as Thanksgiving approaches and I see people posting about what they are grateful for in their lives, I want to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for freedom. Freedom to believe those things that I hold dear. Freedom to stand up for my values and thoughts about religion, ethics and in general, the world around me.

We should all be deeply grateful for and very aware of this incredible gift. Isn't it a beautiful thing that we can express ourselves and have a voice in this world? That we can stand for what we believe and change the very fabric of society?

And yet...as I scroll through Facebook posts lately, I am saddened to see so many people showing their disdain for this priceless give of freedom. Go ahead, campaign!! Share your views! Beat your chest if it makes you feel better! That is the point of America. It is the point of freedom. You get to be what you want to be and you can tell people what you believe, but for heaven's sake (and all our sake)...show some respect. I am shocked by the venom and anger I have seen in so many posts, particularly if someone makes a comment that contradicts whatever meme or thought has been posted. I made the mistake of making a comment on a post today that didn't fall in line with the person posting it's views. I was simply trying to point out that there are two sides to every story and I got blasted for it and told I could leave the conversation.

It might help us to remember that the very essence of freedom is that we all have it. We may not like other peoples point of view but we MUST respect it, or freedom is lost. 

In a world that beats the drum for tolerance, I find that people have becoming increasingly INtolerant. I have such a deep love and affection for my Facebook family. Over and over, I see friends state an opinion that others might disagree with and yet, I see people behaving respectfully and with kindness, at times maybe simply agreeing to disagree. However, I have seen many other posts that disintegrate into a vicious attack complete with name calling and foul language.

I have some bad news. What we all have, are opinions. Just that. None of us have 100% of the hard cold facts. We have opinions and it is a beautiful thing that we can share them and learn from one another, but the point is not to crucify anyone for their beliefs. That's already been done.

Can we maybe just try to reach the finish line of these elections with a little dignity and human kindness still intact? None of us like the word hatred, but honestly, I'm seeing a lot of it in peoples attitudes towards those who would question their ideas or beliefs. It's sad and it's ugly and we should be ashamed. 

Our goal for 2017 should be a global community of respect and reverence for freedom and the glorious kaleidoscope of opinions and personalities and thoughts that it provokes. You don't have to agree with everyone, you just have to believe that those who oppose you have the same right to their opinion and be as staunch in defending their rights as your are in defending your own.

The Things I didn't see...

I read an article once that said the more pictures people take, the less they remember about a given place or event. As a photographer, this seemed ludicrous to me. Surely, photographs help us to create memories! I know how valuable they are to people. I know how valuable they are to me!

But a few days ago, in Nepal, I think I finally understood. Derek and I were wandering through a huge market area in Kathmandu. The streets were lined with brass and incense, yak wool blankets,pottery and Gurkha knives. The small shops lining the street were crammed to colorful and chaotic capacity and above them, the upper floors of the building were adorned with interesting windows, doors and shutters. There was wood and brick and stone and plaster. I felt overloaded by the visual experience of it and framed and shot pictures almost frantically, trying to capture every inch of this exotic and fascinating place.

After several minutes of concentrating on my pictures, the thought occurred to me that I was here in Kathmandu, Nepal with Derek and I was barely paying attention to him as I concentrated on shooting. I stopped and lowered my camera and looked at the brass shop I had been photographing, then I looked at Derek. I mentioned the article to him and how maybe I really was missing a big part of the experience.

Derek looked at me and smiled an enigmatic little smile. I looked longer and realized It's one I've seen many times over the years and I knew exactly what it meant. It meant, "Oh good. You've finally realized (fill in the blank)". He's awfully good at letting me come to realizations on my own.

He looked back at the shop I had been photographing as I suggested that maybe I was missing something by focusing so much on taking pictures of our experience. He smiled bigger and said, "You mean like the smell of Jasmine in the air? Or the sound of the bells in front of the brass shop ringing in the wind? Maybe the glint of the sun on the brass platters?"

I just stared at him in awe of his perception. He understood. Even better than I had. So with my camera dangling from my fingers, we stood there and just looked at the shop and took in everything about it and I suddenly saw so much that I had missed initially. I...experienced the shop. We moved on and this time, walked quietly...slowly down the street. Absorbing.

I won't lie, I still took a few pictures...but less. Instead I took his hand and we wandered and we listened to the sounds and we smelled the Jasmine and we took in the total experience both of the city and of being together in such an amazing place.

A little further down the street we saw a Hindu temple. As we passed through the threshold into the small square we heard the overwhelming thrum of hundreds of pigeons. A woman was flinging out seed to them with a wide arc of her arm. The birds would cluster to eat and then some little thing would startle them and they would burst into the air all around us. Again I grabbed my camera excitedly and began shooting but then I looked at Derek and put it down again and just stood and absorbed the moment.

I experienced the collective cooing, the breeze created by so many wings flapping all at once and again...Derek. It was magical. Transcendent, and I think I wouldn't have realized that if I had just kept focusing on the ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed. 

I love photography. It is an amazing way for us to preserve memories, but they are one dimensional. The next time we travel or visit family or do whatever we are doing, I will remember to put the camera down more often and live right there in that moment and be with the people I am with, instead of trying to capture the surface experience quite so thoroughly.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I won't still post waaay too many of the pictures I did take;-)