Tokyo

Tokyo never cease to thrill your senses. It is the fashion, food and the juxtaposition of ultra modernism and traditionalism. The maddening crowds of Shibuya metro station, the fantasy world of Manga come alive in Harajuku on a Sunday afternoon. On the other spectrum, the sereneness of the Nikko mountains and its shrines, the state of Zen, the immaculate tea ceremonies, the obsession with quality and orderliness. Japan exists in superlatives. Civilised yet it had once the world's most fearsome military prowess.

We stayed at the Prince Park Tower hotel which is next to the Tokyo Tower and two subway stops from Ginza. As service is big in Japan, check-in at the hotel was a flurry of activity with heads bowing and extra chairs being pulled out for our group. Tipping is not a way of life and can be construed as insulting to the service provider, so i didn't have to worry that i had no change for the bellboy.

Day 1: Hopped on the hotel's courtesy bus to take me to the subway. Timing is on the dot, with the trains as well as the hotel coach, which suited me fine. Exploring Ginza on foot and without a map can be quite daunting. I ended up near the Palace grounds when I intended to hit Ginza. Thankfully, another wandering tourist with a guidebook helped me get back on track. The area map posted along the streets didnt quite help and that English wasn't widely spoken led to many exasperating moments. I could only point to pictures of food on the menu in restaurants.

That evening, our host treated us to a wonderful meal. We sat by a gigantic hot plate while the chef expertly cut and cooked our food. We dined on fresh grilled prawns, succulent abalone, melt-in-the -mouth beef, asparagus, squid and garlic rice. The crushed prawns heads which were make into crunchy fritters with lotsa garlic was an instant hit. After dinner, we had the chef's special red wine jello which turned out to be quite nice. To wrapped it up, we were presented with a bag of homemade cookies to take back. Of course, all neatly packed.

Day 2: Akihabara beckons. We took the metro and ended up in this popular district one evening. We ended up buying a camera and almost bought an automatic heated toilet seat with several rinsing abilities. In the store, I met some Malaysians who were buying these seats and I understood from the store assistant that these gadgets are very popular with the Middle-Eastern tourists.

Day 3: We ventured to Roppongi in the evening which is close by the hotel. There are tons of restaurants and bars in this up-market area. Randomly we choose one restaurant that looked rather chic and the prices looked acceptable. One more hitch is that there are not many listing of restaurants in Tokyo posted on the web in English, athough Tokyo has hundreds of restaurants per square metre! Learning Japanese is a MUST if one is to live here. The restaurant/bar turned out to be expensive because there was a cover charge per person, which wasn't clearly stated on their menu. It read"cover charge per table". The servings were in tiny portions and what we thought was mixed grill meat turned out to be skewers of pork innards. We had some servings of tofu, japanese omelette, cold soba and greens to complete the adventure.

Day 4: Cannot help but oogle at the Japanese ladies. Everyone is so prettily dolled up with immaculate make-up, flawless skin, bleached locks in massive tumbling curls, dressed in the lastest fashion. It was like London/Paris fashion week come alive on the streets. The lastest haird0 craze: Hair piled up high on the head a la Amy Winehouse. Off the high streets of Shibuya, Shinjuku, Omeosando and onto the Harajuku streets: Maid fashion, Gothilita ( combination of Gothic and Lolita ) and Alice-in-Wonderland looks ruled. Japanese men are a mixed lot. Some "metrosexuals" looked really sharp and manicured. The ordinary salaried-men can look rather "fatherly", travelling the subway each day. Then the rest of the male youth are either buried with their heads in Manga or punching away on their Wii.

Day 5: We travelled out of Tokyo to the district of Nikko to see the famous temples which is a UNESCO heritage site. It was grand and austere to say the least. The working temples provided visitors a glimpse of this variant of Buddhism that is practiced here. We ended up in a nice local restaurant, tatami mat style and had our fill of more cold soba, tempura, tofu and others.

Day 6: Weekend and the only place to hit was Harajuku streets and the park next to it. We watched greasers dressed in tight leather pants, bomber jackets and hair modelled into sixties era style with the help of tonnes of hair gel gyrate to rock and roll music. Another group of women in polka dot dresses, ribbons in their hair danced to the music. The atmosphere was electrifying, as tourists snapped pictures and watched amused. The entertainers were clearly out there to show off.

Food halls located in Isetan and Takashimya is a good way to peep into the Japanese diet. It was quite a visual experience as hundreds of food kiosks displayed their offers. Tempura, sushi, rice dishes, grilled seafood and cute looking desserts of all manners and designs filled with red-bean paste, rice crackers, snacks, crunchy seaweed rolls and the list rolls on.

Asthetics is very important in Japanese culture, it is apparent everywhere. Food is packed in decorative boxes, each piece individually wrapped. The idea of the bento-box separates food into different little sections. The entire Japanese experience is about comfort and catering to the slightest need for human comfort and ease. From heated toilet seats to padded socks for ladies wearing pumps ( available at Muji ) to well-designed raincoats. Everything is foreseen and thought through. Kaizen.

Things to buy: Fashion apparel, Electronic gadgets, Hello Kitty stuff, Muji utilitarian products, Heated toilet seats, Japanese snacks.