• ⇤
• ⇽
• ≡
• ⇾
• ⇥

so this is Tokyo

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

So I'm here. It took quite a while, starting with being shlepped out from Terminal 1 at Pearson to the 'infield terminal' where I worked on my novel for a couple of hours . I managed to punch in ten pages worth of edits. Then on the plane for thirteen hours (Air Canada flight 001 takes you non-stop from Toronto to Tokyo), where I failed to sleep much despite my new anti-noise headphones and where I re-wrote the first two chapters on my novel.

Anyway, here are my first impressions of Japan:

• There is no way for me to convey just how huge Tokyo is - on the bus in from Narita airport, you pass through about forty-five minutes of urban density. And by that I don't mean Mississauga-like sprawl, I mean densely-packed residences and factories and rail lines and highways and whatnot. Residential density above that of Vancouver's West End, but it just keeps going on and on and on. From my hotel (on the 32nd floor) I can't make out the edge of the city - it just goes on until it gets lost in the haze.
• There isn't a lot of greenery in among the jam-packed buildings and roads and whatnot. But some of the park spaces seem to be elaborately developed and maintained. In outlying areas, the little green spaces that would be unused overgrown patches in Canada can contain rice paddies. (I can't believe this is the first time I've ever set eyes on a rice paddy!)
• Hotel service is different, here. There was a complimentary bowl of fruit here when I arrived. I read the included card, and it told me that I could call down to the front desk to have someone come up and cut it for me! My hotel room has a fax where one might otherwise have expected little more than a phone book - in the small bedside table.
• Cars have name tags (e.g. "Corolla") in Roman characters instead of Japanese characters. English appears all over the place on signs and ads and clothing and just about everywhere.

And here's what I've learned:

• Moui pei ohnegaishimas(u): "one more, please". I'll leave you to guess where I picked that up (through repetition).
• Uishi: "delicious"
• In Japan, one hands over ones credit card with both hands, not simply extending it with a flip of two fingers. I'd known this about business cards but not credit cards.
• By Japanese standards, I am heavy-set if not overweight.
• Japanese toilets can have up to three 'spray' modes. What fun!