Brain Top Off!

So, you finally find yourself standing amidst the controlled chaos that in Shinjuku Station in search of a train.  Talk about luck, of a sort, for there is no shortage of train lines here in Tokyo.  If you’ve never seen it by yourself, the recent route map of Tokyo’s transportation looks not unlike a spilled bowl of color-coded soba noodles.  And there’s never been a better representation of that rather than in Shinjuku.

In this junction for the sake of your commuting benefit are more than five JR routes, two subway lines and two private railways, at least one of which offers a through train to the subway system.  But even that doesn’t touch on the scale of Tokyo’s underground.  There are, on average, a reported 500 umbrellas lost on the city’s subway system each rainy day (the number drops to 190 under blue skies).  That figure is not bad, given that nine million people use the system each day.

Little in Tokyo, save the battle between cliches and surprise, is given up easily and that include the transportation system.  It is not a secret any longer that the Japanese capital is at odds with itself.  On any visit, all the cliches come vividly to life: too organized, efficient, clean, huge, polite and damn expensive, upon first glance Tokyo doesn’t leave much room for interpretation.  At best, the culture is puzzle to most foreigners, so why should its capital be any different?  Ah, but cliches are meant to be turned on end, and in Tokyo that’s definitely the case. 

Similar with the underdeveloped countries, during rush hours we will see one or two people who sole job is to squeeze a few more bodies into the trains and on their way.  How often, though, do you hear of an early morning salaryman dashing past only to skid to a halt and ask a visitor in perfect English if he needs help?  It happens –even the native of Tokyo can’t always figure out the quickest route to their destination.

Tokyo, without any doubt is a soaring city sporting cuttingedge architecture at every chance.  Well yes, but more often than not just down the next side street is a tree-lined residential lane.  Traditional Japanese gardens can easily be found anywhere around this city just like the tall buildings.

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