Guest Post: Zach in Tokyo
When he’s not riding fold-up bikes, investigating sky communities, or watching Japanese-dubbed episodes of The Simpsons, my friend Zach has been documenting his experiences in Tokyo. Well, I imagine he is doing a lot of other things too, like taking care of business for his employer, eating sushi (Did I hear something about cow tongue at a Brazillian restaurant? And breakfast tacos–in Tokyo?), and checking out Sumo championships. Zach knows that I have an interest in cities, urban planning, transit, etc. and was kind of enough to send me some thoughts on that aspect of Tokyo. Thanks Zach! Take it away…
We flew in to the airport which is about 50 or 60 miles from where I was staying which is somewhat central Tokyo. This was not the new ‘floating’ Narita airport they built on an island but the ‘old’ regular airport. After going through customs and picking up my bags, my co-worker who is Japanese and whose parents live in Tokyo directed me to the train to purchase a ticket in to Tokyo. I believe it’s called the JR Express Line. There is just enough English on the signage to get you on the right train and going the right way – but just barely. This was not a ‘bullet’ train, just a regular train that started under ground and ends up traveling in to Tokyo at ground level. From there I exited at a large station and hailed a cab to the Villa Fontaine hotel in district Roppongi. Part of the Roppongi district is where many hip and upscale clubs and bars are. Throngs of Japanese party-goers and a fair number of Westerners party here. I went down to this district on a Wednesday night and it was bustling. The other end of Roppongi dips in to more of the business district of the city. Wall Street if you will. Lots of skyscrapers and large office buildings. The Motive office is located on the 11th floor of the Akasaka Twin Towers. The hotel is located as part of a complex called Izumi Gardens. Unfortunately the page is not that good and doesn’t really capture all the aspects of Izumi Gardens. The picture of the building does not show off the scale and how large it is. It says it is 32 stories but from the Tokyo Tower Observation deck that I went to it appeared as one of the tallest and larger buildings in the area. The outside is mostly glass and it has a green tint to it reminiscent of the great city of Oz. At the base of the tower there is about a three story complex that surrounds it. At the base are the Villa Fontaine Hotel, an upscale sort of Asian-French fusion restaurant “Mako”, a gym, several other restaurants, a salon, etc. They are all connected by a maze of escalators, stairs, and elevators, which, when viewed from the outside through the see-through glass gives it the effect of looking like the tubes that kids construct for hamsters to crawl through. Not to knock the design the architecture is beautiful and functional and it’s too bad they haven’t provided more pictures on the net but maybe it is too new for that. As stated, they do call it a community. Most of the rooms are apartments as far as I know but all businesses are housed on some levels of the tower so you could theoretically work and live in the same tower. You can have your laundry and most other services taken care of using the Izumi Garden services. Somewhere there is also apparently a gallery and an actual garden but I have yet to find those – I usually end up going in a circle and seeing the same things I have already seen. Also notable is if you keep taking escalators down you will eventually arrive at a subway station located underneath the tower. Unlike typical subway stations in the US, theirs are clean, brightly lit and generally offer a few shops and a restaurant or two and a coffee shop (usually either starbucks or “Tully’s”). The subway costs 160 yen which is about $1.60. That’s the best deal in Tokyo. Also nice is that you can often walk from station to station through these wide, brightly lit tunnels. So if the weather is inclimate you can walk the tunnels even if you do not wish to ride the train. I’m not sure if you could ride a bike or skateboard in the tunnels. Probably not but maybe, there was plenty of room but I haven’t seen any one doing it. There are a good amount of bike riders up top, but not a tremendous amount. One interesting thing is that many bikes in front of the hotel and all along the path from my hotel to my office are left unlocked. I have been told they just don’t have a crime problem and theft is not a problem, at least not in this area apparently. To qualify that I will say that NICE bikes are locked up, but often people leave older bikes unlocked. I thought maybe they had a free bike system since I noticed that many bikes were a generic grey color and seemed to have the exact same basket on them and these were the ones often unlocked. People said they hadn’t heard of such a thing though so probably is not the case. The sidewalks in this area are rather wide and accommodate bikers and walkers. They are not concrete like ours but typically paved or brick. You wouldn’t want to ride a bike in their streets if you can help it because people drive like maniacs. One interesting aspect I have found is when you get a ‘walk’ signal to cross the street, cars will continue coming towards the cross walk until they get JUST up to the stream of people walking – maybe a few feet away. They will then creep forward slowly and whenever there is a break in the crossers – they will shoot across. This seems to be legal even when the ‘walk’ signal is in effect. There is a red light for some cars, but most intersections are 5 or 6 way intersections so you generally have at least 2 lanes of cars that are pushing forward to get through the line of pedestrians. It is weird at first but it does not take long to get used to the way it works. At unmarked intersections whoever gets to an intersection first – whether bike or car or walker – has the right of way. You would probably not walk in front of a car in the US, but here the car stops on a dime and as soon as you pass they drive off. I’m told people are good drivers and they can stop on a dime at any time when needed. Luckily at the Motive office they have two small fold-up bikes for any one to use. Pretty nice how they fold down but I haven’t need to fold one up yet. I generally take the bike to and from work which turns the 15 minute walk in to about a 5 minute bike. At the hotel I generally walk the bike up to my room and store it there since it’s small. I would lock it outside but with the changes in climate varying so much I don’t want to end up with flat tires in the morning. I did take the subway once to go to the shopping district of Shingiku. Initially it was quite daunting to figure out where I was going, which train to take, and how much it would cost. The employees at the station are mostly older gentlemen who wear green uniforms with green hats. A younger Japanese guy helped me buy a ticket and get on the train initially. Once on though I realized how easy it was and how it was really no different than any other subway system. Without looking it up though I would guess it is probably the most elaborate subway line in the world. Here is [url=http://www.tokyometro.go.jp/network/map_english.html]a map[/url] of all the train lines (which is very well done I might say). If you click on the the T tab and click on Tameike-Sanno you will see where Izumi Gardens is located in relation to the rest of the city and subway station. The hardest part of the map now is probably that the colors they used for the orange and blue lines can look similar and can be a bit confusing. As far as cars and traffic go – I have seen a good amount of cars, but it is somewhat akin to NYC where there are no where near as many cars as people. They have a really cool system of elevated highways where there are lanes on ground level, then a lane above that, and a lane above that. The second level lane goes one direction and the top level goes the other. Each road has 2 or 3 lanes I believe. They look very futuristic. I first saw these in the Russian sci-fi classic “Solaris” where there is a very long scene of a car driving on these futuristic looking roadways. They drive mostly small cars and they have some odd looking vans that are the size of hatchbacks so they look something like large golf carts. There are also mopeds, and motorbikes (both “hogs” and “crotch rocket” varieties) zooming around also. I have seen more high-end sports cars here than anywhere else. Several Ferraris and a few Lamborghinis. In the Roppongi district I have passed by both an Aston Martin and a Lamborghini dealership. They are not like Covert Dodge or anything; they are more like a show room with 2 cars and an office. One aspect I should go over is probably all the methods in which the Japanese have made getting around more efficient. They love escalators and elevators that move really fast but more than anything they love automatic sliding doors. There are very few doors that open in or out. Most slide to the side which is more efficient than a door that either pushes in (and thus requires more space on the inside of building) or pushes out (where you would have to stop, pull the door open, and then continue through). Most of these sliding doors are just panes of glasses on almost invisible tracks that glide open smoothly when you approach. They are also fond of revolving doors both automatic and manual. Some of them are mysterious – you step in and push on them and they seem to revolve much faster than the speed you pushed them. If many people go through, by the third person it is going so fast you almost have to jump in and run before it hits you. They seem to like it like that and I do too. Another great thing is the elevators all move fast and the doors open and close swiftly – and – the close and open door buttons really work. The close button on an American elevator is just there to make you feel better. You can’t tell me you have ever pushed one and had the door close any faster than had you just waited. In Japan there is always one person on ‘door close’ duty. As soon as it looks like no one else is coming, someone is jamming on the button and the door is closed and you are off. There are tons of other innovations like this that are in place everywhere. Cabs all have GPS devices. Cab doors open on a remote control so you don’t open and close the door. I think perhaps there is a two-fold reason for all the automated doors. The aforementioned efficiency of it and also things stay a lot cleaner without ten thousand people touching doors knobs and car doors every day. They are big on cleanliness also and everything from sinks and toilets to carpets are designed to be easy to clean. I wish I could go more in to these self contained communities they are constructing but I do not know a lot about them yet. [url=http://www.housingjapan.com/eng/roppongihills/complex.html]Here is a better look[/url] at Roppongi Hills tower which is an incredible piece of work. We walked through part of it briefly but didn’t want to wander too much because it is also very large and perhaps more maze-like that Izumi Gardens. This complex also has a museum and a movie theater and a mall and I believe it even has schools and doctors offices, all on the sight. It has an elaborate Japanese garden and a lot of modern sculpture and fountains. This is not affordable living for average citizens though, this is high high HIGH dollar living. [url=http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=7310&papass=&sort=1&size=]Here is a great picture[/url] from the top of Roppongi Hills observation tower. On the right you can see the Tokyo Observation tower which is taller than the Eiffel tower and afford an amazing view of the city. On the far left of the picture you can see the Izumi Gardens building. Notice its cool green tint compared to the other buildings. How much does it cost to live there? [url=http://www.moriliving.com/residence/66/en_plan_price.html]According to this [/url] the most modest 1BR floor plan is about $6000 a month. Overall, Tokyo is an amazing city. They seem to have a good handle on getting around. There is a slight haze of pollution in the air much of the time though which definitely puts a blemish on an otherwise clean and efficient city. I can see why so many people live with it though as Tokyo offers some of the best a city can offer – food, entertainment, shopping, food, culture, innovation, and lastly food. I will have to talk about that aspect later if I can re-construct my 19 day culinary adventure when it’s all said and done.
Izumi Gardens
Bikes
Subway
Elevated Highways
Doors
It’s like that in every direction except towards the Ocean. City as far as you can see.