Tokyo Today

We landed in Tokyo at a special time. This long weekend marks the the fourth observance of Sports Day, an annual celebration marking the first day of the Tokyo Olympics of 2020. The day is intended to remind the Japanese that sports and physical fitness deserve recognition. Unfortunately that Olympiad was dimmed somewhat by the Covid Pandemic, but one would never know that from the exuberance shown by the Japanese this weekend. The fair in the park I mentioned yesterday was just the beginning. Last night as Glenda and I were having a lovely dinner onboard the Viking Orion, a grand fireworks show started downtown. From our table onboard the ship we saw the whole splendid display. This afternoon we walked over to Divers City, a huge shopping mall just off the long park that is the spine for this part of southeast Tokyo. On the way we passed a small group of friends having a picnic, eating food they were cooking on a hibachi. This park was the venue for football, basketball, other sports during the Olympics. Now its enormous shopping mall is marked by a hundred-foot tall statue of a Transformer made with giant legos—identified on the map as Unicorn Gundam. Tens of thousands of young people coursed through the mall today like corpuscles through a bloodstream, visiting stores like “Hello, Kitty,” “Starbucks,” and “7-11.” Some were just hanging out in the food court. A thousand others were waiting in line to be admitted to a rock concert in the Diver City (“diver-sity.” Get it?) Theater. Outside another ten thousand were waiting for a rock concert to begin this evening, but onstage girls dancing in skimpy metallic costumes to the music of over-amplified bands and flashing laser lights were already warming up the crowd. The THUNK-THUNK-THUNK of electrified bass drums could be felt at our ship a mile away. When the Japanese celebrate, they go big. Otherwise, they are quiet and extremely polite.

Just like yesterday, every Japanese person we met today was excessively kind—even the young people who asked me not to photograph the rockers on the distant sound stage. Most of the young people we saw were dressed conservatively, while others evoked punk rock or Singapore chic. One young woman, though clearly Asian, was trying hard to resemble her notion of a Hollywood starlet. Young people seem unusually taken with fads—in music, in dress, and in language. Even so, everyone we saw today, even those whose clothing is influenced by the gangsta movement—all tend to follow the rules. All were extremely polite and courteous—to us and to each other. All walked to the left in crowded areas. There was no bumping, pushing or passing.

Modern Japan is a sociological wonderland which am still trying to comprehend. Today we saw it all.Read more