Tokyo Two

3 October, Oak Hotel, Ueno

Film buffs, particularly older ones, will recall the 70s hit. Soylent Green, will remember that the core tenet of this flick was that, as food resources ran out, we humans turned to some outrageous substitutes for what nature provided. Shops in Japan are flooded with snack foods that, on the surface, are 'real food' - nuts, drinks and cereals that look and feel like the real thing. But! Examine a bit closer and what might seem from the labelling to be a pack of peanuts is more likely to be a few nuts, probably less than 10%, supplemented by heaps of nut-shaped wheat or rice-based substitutes that bulk out the package.

Since the war, the Japanese have never been able to produce enough food to feed themselves. To their credit, they have sought and exploited suitable alternative sources like seaweed and some of the less attractive creatures of the sea, like jellyfish. It might be just an early sign and a simple example as well, but the mix of a dozen or more real nuts with a packet of nut substitutes, is a frightening portent of what faces the world as population increases and food production inevitably falls further behind demand.

While on food, we tried our hand at one of the small cafes that operate using a coin-in-the-slot menu. A bit daunting with no Japanese language skills, but we had a go and managed to actually get what we thought we would. The system is quite simple. Ordering and payment is done through a machine which issues tickets that you take to the counter to get your food. There must be a good reason why ordering is done through the machine rather than at the counter. Who knows? It works for locals as well as travellers.

 

Our image of Tokyo as a crowded city is probably a little over the top. The city is enormous, no question, but the streets are not teeming with people, the traffic is moderate at the worst and the city has many wide open spaces, particularly around central Tokyo itself. From the observation deck of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices, we got our first panoramic view of Greater Tokyo. As far as we could see, in all directions, on this extremely clear and sunny day, there were multi-storey buildings. Not hundreds of them, but thousands. Not really a pretty sight, but all the same, spectacular.

We leave Tokyo for Kyoto tomorrow on the Bullet train, the Shinkansen. Another rail adventure. We will be back in Tokyo for a few days before we go home.

Later entry: Just got home from an evening trip into the Ginza strip.

Don't get us wrong. We loved the Ginza, but we seem to have lost the ability to be wowed by city lights. We wandered about, saw the shops, had a nice dinner and a few drinks, at a very reasonable price in what is reputably the most expensive street in the most expensive city in the world. Perhaps those who do the research haven't been to Oslo? Perhaps Still, it all lacked the same thrill that we've had in places like the Grand Canyon or the Olgas.