City Girl Gone?

I'm a city girl.  Or, at least I was.  Jason and I lived in a tiny little condo on Queen Anne, walked to the store to get our groceries, traveled in the rain without an umbrella, and carried bus passes.  We were city folk all the way.  I loved it, he loved it.  Until recently, as in last week, I cherished my long held belief that I was still that girl.  Then, I went to Tokyo.  Tokyo, the big city, not Tokyo the suburb I live in.  Now I wonder if I have any city left in me at all...

When I think of Seattle I think of the Pike Place Market, Westlake, the Space Needle. But Seattle is so much more than that.  It is packed with many little neighborhoods that each have their own spice and flavor.  We lived on Queen Anne, which is Seattle, but it is not the Pike Place Market Seattle.  Tokyo, and likely every big city in the world, is the same.  Before living here my vision of Tokyo was a giant mass of concrete and skyscrapers.  That happens to hold very true, but only for part of the city.  Tokyo also has the little bedroom communities, parks, and quieter areas like Seattle has.  Depending on what you are looking for will determine where you go in Tokyo.

This weekend was my first trip into the real city part of Tokyo.  There are so many things to say about it, but first and foremost thought in my mind - "Ack!"  So many people.  Everywhere.  There was not one single, quiet place you could stand or sit to catch your breath without being in some one's way.  I like hustle and bustle, but that was crazy.  It was stressful actually.  I think my stress was compounded by the fact that we were a party of 5, two being Lily and Jaxon.  Keeping track of them was challenging.  Anyway, it was nuts.  Here are a few pics  (I didn't actually take all that many than day) and some impressions to go with them.

 Do you see the buss down at the bottom of the picture?  That is a full size bus, with a huge building behind it.  Everything is Tokyo is built up.  Higher and higher and higher.  This particular building contains shopping on the lower floors, following by a few floors of dining.  Then, there is a block of glass windows that appear to just house scaffolding.  Finally, the skinny part on top is office space.  Tall, multipurpose buildings like this one are everywhere.  Most of them have some sort of signage outside. When in the city we went into a few of these buildings that were maybe just 7 or 8 floors.  Each floor housed it's own shop or store.  Not being able to read the signs, we'd go in having no idea what we'd find inside.  Kind of like a treasure hunt, only we didn't even know what the treasure was.

 These next three pictures are taken of what is said to be the busiest intersection in the world (for walkers), or something like that.  The first pic is taken from a second story window just as the light changes, the second is a minute or so into the crossing, and the third is taken later from the ground level looking back.  Here is the cool thing about crosswalks in Tokyo. When the light changes, all the walkers get to go at once, no matter which way they are

 crossing. Since all the cars are stopped, crosswalks can go across the street at all different angles.  People not only cross the street by going straight across, but they can go diagonally, or sometimes one of several diagonal ways since there are so many intersections were more than two streets meet up.  Of course, you need to know which cross walk you are taking or risk being trampled.

 This is the outside of one of the many, many malls in the city.  We went into this one for a minute and quickly got out when we realized that is was floor after floor and small women's clothing stores. It felt like there were a zillion people in there.  And...for some reason the stores and malls here are kept boiling hot.  All of them that we have every been to are uncomfortably hot.  Makes shopping quite difficult.

Just a random city shot.  Notice the foreigners in the pic?  There were many out that day.

Another city shot. Here we are looking down a little side street that was packed with large and small shops and restaurants.  Notice the signs on the buildings - they are tall and vertical like the building and they list store after store.  Very rarely does a single store take up a whole building.  And look - Burger King!

In my defense - we've been to smaller parts of the city and I have been just fine.  I've actually liked it!  This day, a rainy Friday, was just nutty.  I won't even get into Sunday yet.  I actually think that the part I didn't like the most was the train ride.  It took about 70 minutes and two train transfers (or maybe just one that day) to get to the city.  The train was hot, like Japan shopping mall hot, and so packed that is was smooshed, pushed and stepped on standing room only.  And, you spend half your time on the train worrying if you caught the correct train and the other half worrying that you missed your stop. So not relaxing! That I didn't like at all.  I guess it's something that I have to get used to - or just skip out on the city.  No way in the world would I drive down there.

So, Tokyo Adventure, Day 1: It was a success because I survived.  ; )  In case you are wondering, Jason is loving it all.  He doesn't mind the crowds, the trains, the where am I and how do I get home feeling.  He's in his element.  He's kind of a brat the way he adapts so well...