I've been in Tokyo two weeks now, and believe me that's not what I had in mind when first coming to Japan. Actually its the exact opposite. Even without a plan of any kind my heart always longs for the country, the small towns and tight knit communities they foster. I may be old fashioned, but the big cities just don't feel very welcoming to me. Some people love them, thriving off the palpable levels of frenetic energy oozing out of every square inch of concrete and steel, longing to go from one novel excitement to the next. Tokyo is surely that, only times 38 million, and I can feel my inevitable departure from this megalopolis coming, and soon.
Knowing this I make a redoubled effort to visit some more museums and attractions, making friends with a Frenchman named Vincent who invited me to go to Kamakura, the seat of power for Japans first Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo, and also the resting place of a giant metal Buddha that's been through one hell of a beating with Earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis being nearly destroyed several times since the 1300’s. Hard to believe this is my first time leaving Tokyo proper since arriving.
Vincent didn't have a WiFi chip on his phone so I did all the navigating, getting us off the train a station late, then taking the slow train to 5 stations behind the right one, I really just got careless, but we eventually get to Kamakura. Its a very different place than Tokyo let me tell you. It feels like stepping into a much older Japan.
Even before getting there, which should only take an hour from Tokyo by train, you can see and feel nature returning again as you leave the mega city, which immediately made me feel lighter. The people were happier too, and the mask wearing ration lowered from the 80% to perhaps 65%, which may not seem like much, but every extra free face is lift to my spirits.
Kamakura reminds me very much of the popular anime Naruto, where old school Japan meets modern technology, it felt just like that.
We were hungry so we went into a food stall and got gyozas. I had typed, printed and laminated out a diet card stating that I'm vegan which means I cant eat meat, eggs, fish, shell fish, milk, honey or dashi, before leaving, all for less than $2 by the way, which was very surprising, I expected it to be over $5. Instead of using it though I just ordered the vegetable gyoza and asked it be without egg. My friends meal was produced the moment he ordered it, mine took 10 minutes, but his were so hot he was still working on them by the time I got mine.
These gyoza were extremely hot, I had to destroy them in order to eat, which ruined the whole point. Still, they were good, even though they definitely had fish skins inside them, which I didn't think they would. But hey, this is Japan, fish is in everything.
We walked the entrance of the mountain path where the main temples are and I had an amazing coke clone which tasted just like Pepsi and Coke mixed together. We got to the very top and looked down into the valley seeing a very nice looking shrine just below surrounded by red gates and flags. Vincent wanted to just drop down the hillside but I knew that wasn't proper so we went the long way.
It was at this point he started talking politics, about his fear of Russia invading France and the rest of Europe because of their imperial ambitions. I asked him if he owned any firearms and he looked at me as though I had just asked him if he identified as a Pomeranian.
"Of course not!"
"Will you get one?”
"No. France is not the United States."
"Okay. Why is Russia attacking Ukraine?"
"What do you mean? Because Putin wants the USSR to return."
"Is that what he said?"
"It doesn't matter what he says."
"It doesn't have anything to do with NATO encircling Russia and breaking its word about that? Especially where Ukraine is concerned?”
"Absolutely not, NATO has nothing to do with Russia. That's just a stupid excuse."
"So whats the solution?”
" The EU is getting each member state to begin sending soldiers to Ukraine, and the French are distributing nuclear weapons across Europe. Hopefully this will stop him, I don't want to fight, but I will..."
I made it emphatically clear the him that I don't support any government, but I could sense from him that he thought I was supporting Putin just because I was questioning the narrative. Its such a crazy thing to me how many Europeans, especially those on the "winning side" of world war 2, are religiously against firearm ownership, free independent thought, and self determination. They won the war but lost everything they had gained before winning it. The welfare state is truly a poisoned well. In any case we enjoyed the rest of the hike, going to the giant Buddha and taking some pictures before returning to Tokyo. There would be no mistakes on the way back.
Once at Vincent's new hostel we met an Argentinian guy named Brian who now lives in the US and got his citizenship, he joined us on a walk and dinner on the town. Politics in the states inevitably came up and our new friend said he just wants to be left alone, he thinks people have become far to obsessive with what other people do with their lives.
"Not to get too personal he said, drinking his vodka tonic as he shook slightly." Then he came out as gay to us, the first time he's ever done so. "No one in my family knows... But its crazy, I can't tell them because I've never even been with a man, or a woman... but I just know. They wouldn't understand..."
In all my years I've never heard of such a thing. To know your sexuality is the opposite of the "normal" yet to have been celibate your whole life? Never knowing either experience?
We left the Thai restaurant and Brian was a mix of emotions.
"Thank you for inviting me. I'm glad I was finally able to tell somebody, it's so hard living alone with it all the time."
"Of course," Vincent and I said in unison.
We embraced in a group hug outside the hostel. And I thanked them both for a good time, walking off into the night, heading for the last train home, in my capsule by the park...