Life in Tokyo

Japan is now entering its rainy season, so I thought Id settle down in Tokyo rather than be caught hitchhiking in the pouring rain everyday. Naturally, ever since I made this decision, the weather has been beautiful and sunny. So here I am, in the worlds greatest metropolis, staying with one of my previous host families.

Settling down has allowed me to check the bad habits that grew whilst I travelled. For example, my standards of hygiene have improved greatly since having access to a shower every day, and a reasonable sized towel. When travelling, I only take a Japanese sized towel which is absolutely tiny, and the thought of standing in a shower cubicle padding myself with a damp towel for half an hour is often enough to turn me away from the shower; instead, I would resolve to not stand very close to anyone for the rest of the day.

I have also finally found a way to keep my snacking habits under control. The habit started in Eihei-ji, where the reverence for food and half hour long pre-eating rituals made me lust for certain snack foods, especially anything with the taste of chocolate or sugar, which did not feature very much in the temple food. Upon leaving, I subsequently found myself eating snacks very regularly, wherever I went. My greatest achilles heel was soft serve ice cream - It costs around 300 yen ($3), does nothing at all to fill you up, and tastes absolutely fantastic. In Takayama, they helpfully put out a gigantic plastic replica of soft serve ice cream at every store that sold out - Come on, even smokers dont have to put up with gigantic replica cigarettes when they walk down the street! The Takayama `free samples` didnt do much to help either, and very quickly my snacking habits had a depressing effect on my budget. Now, at my host families house, I have found the perfect solution - free snacks! There are plenty of potato chips, chocolate, ice cream, and also healthy Japanese snacks such as the delicious Inari-Zushi (I might go and eat some now in fact), so I barely spend anything on snacks anymore!

Most importantly though, it is here in Tokyo that I can try to earn some money! Money is a very important nutrient for travellers, and Money Deficiency Syndrome (MDS) can create serious problems. Symptoms include eating the same microwave curry every night for a week, refusing to drink at pubs, standing outside tourist attraction gates looking indecisive, trying to sell off their shoelaces for the best possible price, and general depression.

If there is a job to be found in Japan, Tokyo is the place to find it. And if there is a job to be found in Tokyo, Roppongi Hills is the place to find it. Roppongi Hills is meant to represent Beverly Hills - it is very trendy, very expensive, and crowded with the young, rich and stupid alike.

I do not have any time to waste looking for a job in the traditional way, picking one career path and following it. Rather, I attempt to follow four career paths at once, and see which one ends up working out the best - English teaching, Japanese teaching, Modelling for Fashion/TV, and working in cafes. I wander the trendy streets of Roppongi, spending half my time bowing to restaurant managers, and the other half of my time striking poses for modelling registrations (feeling like a twit, but loving it). I indulge in plentiful snacks on the way in lieu of lunch. The Japanese onomatapoeia for someone eating chips is `Kari Kari`- Yes, they do have a noise for everything!

Settling down also means a chance to enjoy Japanese culture. Tokyo is everything it is cracked up to be - the future here in the present, the quintessence of urbanity, a towering, gleaming megapolis which perfectly defines what life in a city means.

Nobody sleeps; my host mum goes to bed sometime past midnight (I fall asleep around then, I am yet to ever actually see her go to bed!). Everybody works; at one of my modelling interviews, the guy interviewing me is a perfect stereotype for the ridiculously busy Japanese person, and he literally phone hopped from one phone to the other, apologizing to me in between. The climax of this was when the doorbell rang - the next appointment was here, and the interviewer skilfully managed to conduct two interviews at once, at the same time as answering calls on his mobile, landline, and making sure the computer was behaving itself.

Perhaps this sort of lifestyle awaits me in the future; will I end up running down the streets of Tokyo trying to remove my `Outback Cafe`apron so I can be on time for my appointment to smile next to a Coca-Cola bottle? Or (more likely), will I end up sitting around watching Japanese soap-operas on my host families gigantic TV, flipping through classic Manga and haunting the local library? Only time will tell...