11th April ’59 Ah, so. One wakes up early in the morning
because Arfur has his bloody alarm clock switched on. I looked out the window,
and, hold and belo, it had been/was raining, (I’m writing this under duress
because, though it is quite quiet, the Bullet Train is not exactly as smooth as
a baby’s bum). On the other side of the river across the road in front of the
hotel I saw a boy wearing a grey tracksuit followed by his dad wearing a white
tracksuit. Joggers!
Breakfast –
cornflakes, raisin toast and O.J. ¥ 950. Wrote some of this blasted scar of humanity in the lobby,
still catching up, which is obvious because of all the stuff that has been left
out, like what I can’t recall at the time of writing.
The shuttle
bus to the station needed to be caught so we left at quarter to nine-ish to
catch. Waited at the train station. Bought two books of Japanese short stories
for ¥1800. [One was Rashomon
and other Stories by Akutagawa, if I recall correctly]. On the platform of the Bullet Train,
Shinkansen, leaving at 10.17.
The train is quiet but not so smooth, as
evidence see previous writing [done in italics for some sort of verisimilitude...]. On its way from Kyoto to Tokyo it makes a stop
at Nagoya. It tunnels through mountains, it skirts (but not much) the sea, and passes
by a lot of built up areas and a lot of small farming areas. It also sometimes
leans to one side or the other when going round a curve.
Every now and then, quite often, the girls
from the buffet car come down the aisle pushing a trolley full of ice cream or
Japanese-style food containers containing food [obento],
and sometimes mysterious packages wrapped in paper. Some of them don’t even
need a trolley.
In a matter of less than three hours – that
is, less than the time it takes one hundred and eighty minutes to swing around
the clock – the train arrives at Tokyo Station, and it is here that it is
worthwhile getting off. Everybody else does.
Then we go over to Platform 5 or 6 to catch a
Blue or Green train to Hamamatsucho, the station nearest the Shiba Park Hotel
that isn’t a subway station.
Then a mass of us follow a map to find the Hotel. It’s not hard.
Booked into 814, which has an actual view of Tokyo Tower which is only a few
blocks away.
After dumping my hand and shoulder luggage (the suitcase arrived
after six), I went down to Daimon Station – the subway. ¥180 for a ticket to
Aoyama Itchome, transferring to the Ginza Line at the first stop from Daimon –
that is, as everyone knows full well, Shimbashi. I asked a schoolboy who didn’t
speak English how to get from the Asakusa line, which we were on, to the Ginza
line. Haha. But I went upstairs, looked lost and a Japanese man came to my aid.
It’s just a matter of following the pedestrian subway, through all the shops,
and the signs. Two stops later, I was at where I wanted to be. The Aoyama
Itchome Station is under the New Aoyama Building, to which I had undertaken to
go to reconfirm everybody’s sailing on Saturday. [As
requested by Sundowners.] I didn’t really need to do this as the
Grayline Co. was going to do it (they rang up while I was there) but it was fun
anyway.
I picked up the baggage labels and passenger lists (with cabin
allocation) and went down to the Walls (southern corner) of Akasaka Palace,
which isn’t open to the public [as it's the State Guest House. There might be guided tours there these days]. I walked round halfway to the main gate and
took a couple of pictures of the building. Then over the road I took some
pictures of football and baseball players training. They were in a sort of
valley – I think it is reclaimed land from a former river (there’s a lake down
the hill, which I walked past as I walked under an elevated roadway. I had a
hamburger and lime thickshake at First Kitchen that was much better than
McDonald’s. ¥240, I think.
 |
| Akasaka Palace, built in 1909. |
As
this eatery was near Akasaka-mitsuke Station, I caught the train back to
Shimbashi (where I bought a small calculator) and then back to Daimon.
At
the hotel I sorted things out and saw Mr Yoshio Hisamoto, the Assistant manager
of Japan Grayline Co., Ltd. I saw Chris and Linda as well – things still being
sorted out for them. [Chris’s
passport had been stolen in Hong Kong.]
At
something like 7.00 I went out; passing through the lobby I picked up a letter
from Mum and Dad. I caught the subway to Shimbashi by myself, not being able to
persuade Sandy to come with me (I met her just near the subway entrance).
At
Shimbashi I went up top and wandered around the Ginza area for a while. Some
wonderful lights there.
I
went up “West 5th St” and stopped at a corner to tighten my
shoelaces. A man came up to me and said, indicating a direction at the same
time, “Nice club, nice club. Woman speak English.”
What kind of English I didn’t go find out.
Wandered about some more and then caught the subway back.
Wait on, wait on – I caught the wrong train because I went to the wrong
line. So I went to Toranomon (on the Ginza line) and came back again, then
caught the correct line. All for ¥120.
While I was out Simon Nish [school friend
who was on a working holiday in Japan] had rung, but I was out. To ring
later. And also, it did rain lightly as I started walking from Shimbashi
Station – lucky I didn’t have my raincoat with me or it would have got a little
wet.
I
also tried some Dr Pepper’s for the first time.
Simon rang again about 11 o’clock – see him tomorrow.
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