Tokyo: Where Trains, Temples, and Typhoons Collide
okay so i'm trying to write about tokyo but my brain is kinda fried right now. just got back from a 14-hour flight with zero sleep, and it's...there right now, according to the weather app - 2.7°C but feels like -1.04°C. hope you like that kind of thing. not exactly the warm welcome i was expecting after sweating through customs.
someone told me that tokyo is like this huge, sprawling mess of a city that somehow just works. it's got this crazy history where it started as a fishing village called edo back in the day, then became the capital in 1868. can you imagine? one minute you're catching fish, next minute you're running the country. and then it got bombed, earthquaked, rebuilt - all while still managing to be the biggest metropolitan economy in the world. resilience or just stubbornness, i can't decide.
the geography is just...wow. 2,194 square kilometers of mostly flat land but with these random hills popping up. and rivers! who knew? they've got this humid subtropical climate with four seasons, which is fancy talk for it gets hot in summer, cold in winter, and typhoons show up to crash the party every now and then. and earthquakes. lots of earthquakes. they're prepared for it though - strict building codes and all that. still, my hands are kinda shaky typing this.
if you get bored, which i can't imagine happening in a city of 14 million people, chiba, yamanashi, kanagawa, and saitama are just a short drive away. i say drive, but the trains here are insane. apparently they've got the busiest stations in the world. shinjuku station alone handles like 3.5 million people a day. that's more than some countries! and the food...oh man. sushi, ramen, tempura - you name it. someone told me that edo-mae sushi is the real deal, not that tourist stuff. and monjayaki - savory pancakes. who knew? definitely trying that first.
the people here are...polite. really polite. like, take-your-shoes-off-in-the-house polite. and punctual. my alarm is set for 7 but everyone's already been up for hours. they're blending ancient tea ceremonies with cutting-edge anime culture. it's like two different worlds sharing the same space. someone told me they've got more michelin-starred restaurants than anywhere else. gonna need a bigger budget.
things to watch out for: trains are crowded, living costs are high, and they still prefer cash over cards in some places. english signage is there if you need it, but those translation apps are your best friend. oh, and typhoons. did i mention typhoons? they show up around september-october. good times.
tokyo's got this skyline that just goes on forever. ultramodern skyscrapers next to ancient temples. vending machines everywhere - selling everything from hot coffee to fresh underwear. 24/7 convenience stores that somehow have better food than some restaurants. the skytree tower is 634 meters tall - that's like, really tall. you can see everything from up there, which is probably good because you'll need to navigate this place.
okay, i think i'm rambling now. probably should've had more coffee before starting this. or maybe less. it's hard to tell when you're this jet-lagged. but tokyo...it's something else. a chaotic, beautiful, expensive, efficient, ancient, modern, overwhelming, amazing mess of a city that somehow just works. even when it's 2.7°C.