Lost in Translation: First Time in Tokyo

If you're planning on making Tokyo your jumping off point for your own Japan adventure, as many do, you should make an effort to watch the Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson cinematic masterpiece, "Lost in Translation." People who come to Japan with little to no understanding of the language or culture, like our good friend Mr. Murray did, you may feel the same type of distance as the actor portrayed in the film. However, much of the language barrier in that movie was exaggerated, and I'm not saying Japanese will sound remotely understandable to someone who speaks English, but in the ten years since the movie's debut, it has become much easier to get by in Tokyo without speaking the language. English is spoken in abundance in the capitol city and while speaking with strangers is hit and miss, a lot of the staff members working train stations as well as other stores have at least a basic knowledge of the language and will be able to help you out with basic things such as how to get somewhere or where to find something.

Now, on to my first experience running the streets of the capitol. My traveling companions and I awoke the next day bright and early, that was a nice effect of jet lag, and while we still weren't completely acclimated, we were at least much more rested and charged than the day before. As such we made our first mission to find perhaps the most famous special ward of the Tokyo metropolitan area, Akihabara.

First off, I guess I should explain a little bit about me. I would refer to myself as somewhat of an otaku. To put it simply, this is the Japanese equivalent of "nerd." It's acquired somewhat of a negative connotation over the years, but those who call themselves otaku do so with pride. An otaku is someone who takes a particular interest in some aspect of Japanese pop-culture, be it manga and anime or music or video games. Just something that avidly grabs your attention and for which you buy sometimes exorbitant amounts of media. For example, I have several volumes of Japanese manga, countless gigabytes of anime on my hard drive as well as some figures and posters of my favorite shows and characters. I would consider myself a fairly average otaku, but just like with any fandom, there are those who take it to extremes and it is life-consuming. This is where the term otaku derives it's negative meaning. But for everyone, otaku and normal alike, Akihabara is one site you cannot miss when in Tokyo.

For fans, there are buildings upon buildings dedicated solely to the sale of memorabilia for manga and anime and the same could be said for video games and music as well. There is not a time during the day where one could go to Akihabara and the streets be not absolutely packed with people. Other noteworthy facets, such as adult entertainment stores and maid cafes, are also in abundance in Akihabara.

As you could imagine, this was all quite overwhelming for us at first. We spent nearly two hours just looking in two stores. Admittedly these stores each had a good nine or 10 small floors, but still we were so engrossed with awe at the sheer volume of memorabilia that it was all we could do to take it all in. A fun little nugget we also gleaned from these first two stores is that as a general rule, the top floors of stores in Akihabara are generally dedicated to more adult themes in their merchandise. While not outright pornography, in some cases, the contents were very erotic and for three foreign students, it was pretty surprising at the lack of boundary between the more wholesome side of the fandom and the less wholesome sect. Even after living in the country for a year I can still say that in many cases there is no boundary between the normal genres of shounen and shoujo manga and the more erotic topics of yuri and yaoi doujins. Lesson of the day - be careful and attentive when walking around Akihabara or you may find content you weren't looking for.

We spent the greater part of the day in Akihabara perusing stores and game centers, filled with games of various genres and of course the quintessential claw machines. After my year abroad, there are two things I've come to learn about claw machines in Japan. One, they are the most addicting contraptions imaginable with colorful, flashing lights and above average prizes in most of them depending on the cost. Two, each and every one of these behemoths is designed and built by the best physics minds to ever come out of MIT. While the prizes in the claw machines are better than any I've come across in America, they are painstakingly set up to look incredibly easy but near impossible to master. I've watched people sink over four times what the prize inside is worth just trying to win the game. The greatest example of claw machine addiction I've seen came from a good friend of mine I met during my academic year at JCMU, who we'll call Bruce. He once spent 30,000 yen on claw machines at a local game center in Minami-Hikone. For those of you not up to date with international exchange rates, that's just about 300 US dollar spent on claw machines for prizes that probably topped out at $50.

After our trip to Akihabara, we hiked our way back to the hostel, stopping to buy some dinner at a convenience store. We arrived as exhausted as the day before and our wallets slightly lighter after a full day of shopping. We showered, grabbed some snacks and our computers and went to relax in the free wi-fi and television in the hostel lobby. Luckily for us, the Japanese national soccer team was playing a friendly and sports is a joy that has no language barrier. And yes, I used soccer. I'm an American. I apologize to the futbol aficionados.  The true entertainment, though, came from a very avid fan who I believe owned the hostel and sat next to us on the couch the whole game, drinking beer and providing very excited commentary throughout. We couldn't quite understand all he was saying but we got the gist just the same. We stayed up long enough to watch the end of the game and by then the sun had long set on our second day in Japan.

Useful phrase in this week's post (and bonuses!):

shounen - しょうねん　少年

meaning: young boy; genre of manga more targeted to the male demographic

shoujo - しょうじょ　少女

meaning: young girl; genre of manga more targeted to the female demographic

yuri - ユリ　百合

meaning: girl love; manga on the theme of female homosexuality

yaoi - やおい

meaning: guy love; manga on the theme of male homosexual love