A City of Cities

A visit to Tokyo is like a visit to a gazillion destinations in one; Tokyo is that diverse. There are the parts of the city where the bright lights shine over the highest of high end fashion (or a few miles away where they shine equally bright over sleazy bars). There are peaceful temples inside luscious parks surrounded by towering sky scrappers. Tokyo has diversity.

I took a day trip up into the mountains north of Tokyo to a town called Nikko (not Mt. Fuji, but 1500 feet above the sea leveled city). This sleepy hamlet is home to magnificent fall scenery as well as a 17th century temple with elaborate decorations. My trip was a joy and an ordeal all at once. It was a joy because, unlike monotonously grey Shanghai, the fall colors were in full bloom worthy to stand beside Walden Pond on Columbus Day. It was an ordeal because suddenly in the mountains, I hadn't prepared for the cold fall air and was shivering for most of the day. Yet I didn't seem to mind, as the stunning temples off-set by the even more stunning natural beauty of the place made the 2 hour train ride worth it (its amazing to stare at some of the finest artistic work man has produced, only to be more struck by the simple change in color of the tree behind it). Tokyo has seasons.

At night I would choose a shopping district and simply wander around, gawking at the billboards, the shops, the people (mostly because they were walking in an orderly fashion and not shoving). The most impressive city sight I saw, indeed one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen, was a place called Shibuya Crossing. This traffic intersection, made famous by Lost in Translation, if it isn't the most crowded pedestrian intersection in the world, it must be darn close. Pictures don't do it justice, I shall have to load a video for you. Tokyo has people.

Matched by few cities in this world, Tokyo is one of the worlds most amazing. Feeling almost like a conglomerate of smaller cities (which indeed, geographically it actually is), Tokyo has more faces than anyone can ever know. And I don't mean that in that there are levels of detritus a fixed to a beautiful core, but that there are a multitude of living viable cultures oozing from Tokyo's heart. I had wanted to go to Tokyo because within the next year I hope to have visited many of Asia's most famous cities and I didn't want to leave it shining emerald, its rising sun if you will, out.