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Which hotel would you rather stay at? One with this view:
or one with this view?
Although the second hotel is roomier and even cheaper on a square foot basis and the view is somewhat pleasing, it hides the fact that the second hotel is very isolated.
The first hotel is Toyoko Inn, Otsuka #2, in Tokyo. Despite the industrial view from our room, street life below is quite lively and provides easy access to a wide variety of goods and services. Within a five-minute walk are a huge variety of restaurants, two coffee shops (one a Starbucks, one a Japanese chain), a train station, and a newsstand with two English-language newspapers.
Toyoko Inn served a free rice cake, miso, and coffee breakfast. It also had a beverage vending machine were we could get a 300ml can of orange juice for less than a dollar or a 500ml can of beer for less than three dollars
The second hotel is Hampton Inn, Chicago O’Hare Airport, Schiller Park, Illinois. The room is much larger and more expensive. Despite the wide view from our room, the street life is barren. The lot and parking lot are part of the plaza on I-294. We could see signs for a few fast-food restaurants, but we could not see any easy way to walk there. The street the hotel was located on had a sidewalk and bus service, but everything was vacant lots or light industry. The hotel did provide shuttle service to a restaurant, but we didn’t feel like going out.
Hampton Inn served a humongous free breakfast buffet of cereal, eggs, yogurt, bagels, rolls, donuts, three kinds of coffee, and two kinds of juice. It had a beverage vending machine in each room with a 337ml (12 oz.) bottle of beer for $4.04. It also had a little room next to the front desk with a refrigerator of beverages, a freezer of frozen dinners and desserts, a microwave, and shelves of other snacks. We opted to heat frozen dinners.
In all fairness, we stayed at a pension near Sendai where the only thing we could walk to was the beach, and we have stayed at ski towns in the U.S. where we could walk to plenty of shops and restaurants.
As in most cities, people in Tokyo wear a wide range of clothing styles. I think I saw kimonos only twice. A regular at breakfast wore a kimono, and in a busload of women in Matsushima, almost all wore “everyday” gray, blue, or black kimonos. One of the most popular styles for young women was what I call “butt covers”.
This young lady’s skirt was a bit longer than most. The style included over-the-knee, spike heel boots. Even many young women who wore shorts, longer skirts, or slacks often wore boots. The boots were of a wide range of styles: high-heeled tight leather, medium-heeled floppy suede boots, and even “cowboy” boots. These styles did not help and maybe even created some of the foot problems we saw. Many women walked pigeon-toed, sometimes even crossing one foot in front of the other. Was this caused by poor nutrition, or was it a holdover from tight-kimono days, even if the sufferers never wore a kimono?
Notice that this woman’s companion has a much more casual look. I would guess that his footwear, even though it may look comfortable, was not good for his feet. Because almost everybody takes off their shoes entering a home, they probably take them on and off without bothering to lace or unlace them.
Men also had their “uniform”, especially the “salarymen”. We would see men in dark suits hurrying to the train with a briefcase in one hand. Every so often we would see one in a brown or gray suit. High school boys had their own uniform of collarless, military-style jackets and a briefcase. Once either group was free of work or school, the men would often be in slacks and short-sleeve shirts and the boys in the standard teen-age garb of sweatshirt and baggy pants.
Japan is a mixture of whimsy and seriousness, politeness and aloofness. This flagman is an example of whimsy and politeness.
He hung a basket of flowers on the warning sign to liven up his post. When he saw I wanted to take a picture of it, he stepped out of the way. I gestured that I would like him in the picture and he readily complied.
What is more interesting about this crew of flagmen, they would stop work so that pedestrians could pass. One stopped a backhoe in midswing so that we could pass.
When you pay a vendor, you’re supposed to put your money in a little tray. They in turn put any change in the tray, doing so with a big smile and “arigato gozaimas’” (“thank you”). Even a taxi driver returning 40 yen (less than 40 cents) on a 1960-yen fare. Sometimes people will offer the tray to the customer with two hands.
We were supposed to turn in our key when we left our hotel and request it when we returned. Often, but not always, the clerk would present our key with two hands and “arigato gozaimas’”.
There were also “robots” who did everything mechanically, mumble the amount, take the money off the counter, plop the change back, and move on to the next customer. This generally happened in the chain convenience stores.
Like almost everywhere in the industrialized world, people insulate themselves from others on transportation, be it subways or elevators. The only exchange is “sumimasen” (“excuse me”) if one bumps or intrudes on another.
Like a Menard’s clerk (excuse me, associate), many Japanese clerks will go to great lengths to satisfy a customer, even if no sale results. I went to several stores looking for sunglasses; at one the clerk practically ran to ask others if the store carried sunglasses. I had a cracked fingertip and wanted to get skin glue. Even though I had my daughter-in-law with me to act as translator, a long conversation ensued to make sure I got the right product. It sure was; my finger was almost healed the next day.
If you’re going to visit a foreign country, it is best to stay two years. It takes at least a year to get a good grasp of the language and another year to enjoy using it. If you can’t stay two years, then it is best to stay two months. It takes at least a month to get a good grasp of a rudimentary vocabulary and another month to enjoy using it. If you can’t stay two months, then it is best to stay at least two weeks. It takes a week to know your way around and another week to enjoy moving around. Whatever you do, avoid quickie tours like, “This is Tuesday, so this must be Belgium.”
See also "Japan: Third time around".
©2007 Melvyn D. Magree