Between Graduation and preparing for the new school year, playing catching is hard work! I’ll do my very best, though.
This issue will be about…
New Years in Japan (Part Deux)
This past December, after enjoying a brief stay back home for my sister’s wedding, I flew back to Japan. For those of you who don’t know, when you fly from America to Japan it’s like you lose almost two days due to the time difference. That put me on the cusp of the new year when I flew out on December 29th from the East Coast.
Arriving (groggily) in the early morning hours of December 31st, I had about 4 hours to rest in my airport hotel before checkout. After transferring my bags to my next hotel, I hit the streets of Tokyo to meet with my old college friend, Julia. We studied Japanese together, and she’s likewise teaching English in a place north of Tokyo. This was the first time we’d seen each other in almost two years, so it was great. We met with a coworker of hers, also spending New Year’s in Tokyo, and went for lunch and some light shopping on the famous streets of Ginza.
That night, we went to Shibuya (a popular nightlife district in Tokyo) for dinner with a few other friends of hers. It was a prison themed restaurant, with each of the tables secluded in cubicles like a cell block, barred windows and all. It was slightly dark, and every once in a while a siren would blare, the lights would flash, and people who had “broken out” would run around with masks.
As the hour got later, we finished dinner and went along our ways. Julia’s friends had opted to stay in lively Shibuya for the countdown, but Julia and I planned to be two among hundreds (if not thousands) of people making a trip to the famous Sensouji Shrine in Asakusa on New Year’s eve.
We had planned for this in advance, knowing that many people would be out and about. Traffic would be bad, both on the streets and on trains, but we had left early to combat that. However, there was one thing we hadn’t expected: that the police would be our undoing!
Don’t worry, no one got arrested. At least, none of us. The point I want to make is:
Traffic cops are terrible. Everywhere.
That night, we went to Shibuya (a popular nightlife district in Tokyo) for dinner with a few other friends of hers. It was a prison themed restaurant, with each of the tables secluded in cubicles like a cell block, barred windows and all. It was slightly dark, and every once in a while a siren would blare, the lights would flash, and people who had “broken out” would run around with masks.
As the hour got later, we finished dinner and went along our ways. Julia’s friends had opted to stay in lively Shibuya for the countdown, but Julia and I planned to be two among hundreds (if not thousands) of people making a trip to the famous Sensouji Shrine in Asakusa on New Year’s eve.
We had planned for this in advance, knowing that many people would be out and about. Traffic would be bad, both on the streets and on trains, but we had left early to combat that. However, there was one thing we hadn’t expected: that the police would be our undoing!
Don’t worry, no one got arrested. At least, none of us. The point I want to make is:
Traffic cops are terrible. Everywhere.
While I’m sure they had good intentions like crowd-control and traffic relief in mind, what they really created was a mass of confusion. Like cattle, we (the crowds) were herded off the streets and onto the sidewalks – a smart move for safety, and now what I have qualms with. The mess began when certain, otherwise convenient subway entrances were blocked from use. Locals and tourists alike complained in confusion, stopping to ask cops where the heck we were supposed to get the subway, all the while moving along at an ant’s crawl.
Needless to say, Julia and I hadn’t anticipated pedestrian traffic of this level. Add to that, Shibuya is at least a 30 minute train ride from Asakusa. We jumped on the first train that came as soon as we made it to the train stop, but even then we were only the slightest bit out of luck.
So it was that we found ourselves counting down the seconds to midnight on a crowded, Tokyo train next to a very amused Japanese woman.
“It’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown, or anything.”
The train arrived at Asakusa Station at 12:02 am.
We thought we would have to run to the shrine once we exited the train, but as we ascended onto the busy street I looked at Julia and said, “What the heck. It’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown or anything.”
It became our slogan for the night.
We went to the nearest convenience store and bought some wine coolers, then proceeded to the shrine. It was quite cold out, and we were sure to be waiting in line for a while, so we figured the alcohol would keep us warm on our way.
When we arrived, however, it was worse than we had expected. The crowd, at least 60 people or more across, spanned back about 5 blocks from the shrine with hopeful Japanese waiting to make their first prayers for a good 2014.
By this point, we were freezing and exhausted (I’d averaged a total of 4.5 hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours, and Julia had likewise arrived from a trip abroad on the previous night). Glancing at each other, we shrugged.
“It’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown.”
The shrine would be there when we got back. So would the people, but we hoped the crowd would have died down by then. We went to a nearby bar, where we warmed up and played card games with a few area locals. At around 2 am, we returned to the shrine. The crowd had lessened, but we still waited about an hour and a half before we arrived at the shrine steps. The crowd leaving was much better than arriving, but still hectic to push through. By the time we were walking to the station, it was about 5 am. As we trudged along, we were surprised to find that Starbucks was open.
We were cold again, and we figured, “Well, it’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown!” So we had our first coffees of the year in a Japanese Starbucks, watching as the rest of Japan trudged along home.
We thought we would have to run to the shrine once we exited the train, but as we ascended onto the busy street I looked at Julia and said, “What the heck. It’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown or anything.”
It became our slogan for the night.
We went to the nearest convenience store and bought some wine coolers, then proceeded to the shrine. It was quite cold out, and we were sure to be waiting in line for a while, so we figured the alcohol would keep us warm on our way.
When we arrived, however, it was worse than we had expected. The crowd, at least 60 people or more across, spanned back about 5 blocks from the shrine with hopeful Japanese waiting to make their first prayers for a good 2014.
By this point, we were freezing and exhausted (I’d averaged a total of 4.5 hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours, and Julia had likewise arrived from a trip abroad on the previous night). Glancing at each other, we shrugged.
“It’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown.”
The shrine would be there when we got back. So would the people, but we hoped the crowd would have died down by then. We went to a nearby bar, where we warmed up and played card games with a few area locals. At around 2 am, we returned to the shrine. The crowd had lessened, but we still waited about an hour and a half before we arrived at the shrine steps. The crowd leaving was much better than arriving, but still hectic to push through. By the time we were walking to the station, it was about 5 am. As we trudged along, we were surprised to find that Starbucks was open.
We were cold again, and we figured, “Well, it’s not like we’re trying to make a countdown!” So we had our first coffees of the year in a Japanese Starbucks, watching as the rest of Japan trudged along home.
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