Another most beautiful day along mid Honshu
range on the way to Toukyo. Sure, the sidewalks are crowded, the cars pack the
streets, the route is not always clear or direct, and the air doesn’t small as
fresh - but, its Toukyo! Now, today, will all be new bike territory for me. I
have never cycled more North than Fuji-san, and I am so excited to start making
my way that I actually woke up early this morning and got a good head start on
the day. Because, why wait? Come on!
Way
in the back there you can see the snow top covered Fuji with a little cloud
cover as a hat. Between there and the top of this bridge where I took this
photo, is that mountain disallowed access to cyclists. What frustrates me more?
That cars which have the capacity and the speed to take the long way around,
don’t. Or, that the city planners would make such a convenient tunnel passage
and not include at least a single walkway for people without cars through? I am
young, have the means, and the stamina to make my way around and over a
mountain, but not everyone is or can.
I am
calling this post part “shoe bomb” because I picked up some new gas canisters
for my stove, name brand: iBombe. I laugh at the cautious misstep implication
of Apple corporation actually making a bomb, though I might not actually be
that far off the mark with that remark. I stuffed the compressed gas canisters
into my shoes, a perfect fit and real space saver. Just, please don’t let me forget
to take them out before I board the plane. No amount of charm or bribery could
get me out of that situation.
Argh,
more stairs. I fear this will be a repeated theme in the following days through
the city streets. At least before I had a slide to push my bike up and down.
These three flights of stairs are positively the worst.
“Where
are all the people in your photos?” someone once asked me. Well, for one, I
wait until they are out of frame if I can. Nothing ruins a good chance at an
amazing photo than an awkwardly positioned civilian, staring back at you. Your
eye’s attention naturally drifts to that one oddity and focuses on it rather
than the whole picture. So, I wait.
Besides
the normal crowds, this is a typical shot of the Toukyo streets. A confluence
of concrete and floral jungle, immaculately clean and trimmed, with a hint of
something big and amazing waiting for you just around the corner, if you have
the curiosity to go explore.
I
used to think when I played video games as a child that the digital utopian
constructions of cities within the games were solely the artist’s rendering of
what a futuristic/science fiction city would look as if devoid of crime,
litter, and pollution. When I came to Japan over two years ago, this lifelong
assumption crumbled within the first couple hours. The video game artists were
not drawing on imagination, they drew from their immediate reality.
- Back to the Toukyo story in a moment. First,
I have the pleasure and opportunity to tell my story many times over in my
travels, to be amazed by its expansion with each day added to adventure. One of
the largest turning points in the first era of telling this story came in the
form of my decision to quit the life of a banker at 22. A strong reason in that
decision was to go and experience university life as a student. It sounded all
so much fun. And, was =) A stark turnaround from the 18 year old who once
failed at three separate high schools.
At the time of a university student, I had
very little access to pecuniary revenues. As did my friends. I literally used
to shop for groceries at the 99 cent store two blocks north of my apartment in
Berkeley across San Pablo Ave. There, you could find almost anything. Three pack
of underwear? Check. Multicolored variety garden gnomes? Yes. And in the corner
you also find every college kid’s go to meal for a fast and very inexpensive
food adaptation. The infamous coup of noodles soup.
Now, back to Toukyo. It’s one of those ridiculous
sightseeing stops that you don’t want to miss, but that you are just a little
too embarrassed to buy tickets for because it is such an obvious tourist trap.
Like, going to Graceland or the Statue of Liberty.
I am a moderate coup of noodles fan, people
would say. That there is a museum solely dedicated to just a simply concept of
dried out ramen noodles is an experience just a little more ridiculous than one
might come to expect. Japan, if you did not already know, is full of
ridiculousness. And dammit if it doesn’t also make me a little more curious. Also,
there are rumors that if you go, you can make your own dried noodles cup,
topped with whatever and how many ingredients you can shake a stick at. Think of
when you order frozen yogurt toppings, but with dried ramen happenings. Ready?
Let’s go!
Entrance
to the first exhibition of the museum. A very square entrance for a company
product famous for being served in round bowls.
Along
the walls of the room you find the entire visual history, artistic packaging,
and flavor evolution of the simple yet intricate cup of noodles idea. Here are
the kinds of instant ramen you could buy just thirty years ago.
Here are
the variety and types of instant noodles you can buy today. Not just ramen, but
instant noodles of almost any kind, and in more flavors that you can count,
with some so unusual you wonder how they made it past an actual decision making
committee. Milk and seafood flavored instant ramen soup, anyone?
Is it
strange that we find Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle podiumed
alongside Albert Einstein and Hellen Keller? Let’s see, who else is here? From
the left its Marie Curie, Konosuke Matsushita (fourth grade education youngster
sold light bulb sockets, ended up founding the company you know as Panasonic),
Wilbur and Orville Wright, Soichiro Honda (last name sound familiar? Quote “99%
of my efforts ended in continuous failure. I am here today because of the 1%
that bore fruit.”), Helen Keller, Hideki Yukawa (first Japanese Nobel laureate;
physics), Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, Christopher Columbus, Henry Ford, Thomas
Edison, Charles Chaplin, Galileo Galilei, Ludwig Beethoven, Henri Fabre, Alfred
Nobel, Hideyo Noguchi (internationally known physician), and Marie Curie.
The
museum exhibit is meant to remind us that Mr. Ando came up with the idea at age
61 with many failed ideas behind him. Now, you eat the same half-dollar cup of
ramen noodles in the Styrofoam cup case as the astronauts eat after long work
hours in space. Never give up!
This
part of the exhibition I enjoyed quite much. There were about ten panels all
like this one in a row against a bare wall. Naturally, the one I enjoyed the
most drew the least attention from the crowds more interested in taking a photo
with the company mascot.
Boom!
A little art and coloring on the front, a super-secret message on the back, and
the date. All done. Except, my cup is just a cup at the moment. Step one, the
artwork is finished. Which brings us right along to step 2, fillings.
Dried
ramen is mechanically inserted to my cup via a crank I pull and rotate, like a
pressed penny souvenir machine down at the wharf. They leave you plenty of room
in the cup to add all the ingredients you would ever care to enjoy. Be warned
though, as with mixing paint, swirl too many colors together and all you get is
grey.
After making my way into the heart of
Japan’s capital by bike, and taking in the tour of the ramen museum, the day
was already setting up for its afternoon. Now, camping will take some careful
finessing. I found an actual campsite on a map, which, I must say, came with a
shock. Camping in Toukyo, OK. I’ll try anything four times.
Kidding,
of course. This is where I pitched my tent. Not too bad, huh? Yeah, that is
what I thought too. Could even make the top 20 camping sites with the bay side
view and all. Then, I heard it. Big, loud, windy, and unavoidable. I checked my
iphone map instantly for my location and…
Yup.
I had. Somehow, I had completely missed the fact that this campsite resided immediately
adjacent to a military airport strip. “Nature”, in the city. Ha. I am reminded
of a brief dialogue from the Blues Brothers film when the brothers first come
home to Elwood’s cramped city apartment, window positioned right outside a busy
train station.
Jake:
“How often does the train come around?”
Elwood:
“So often, you won’t even notice.”
True, after a while, I didn’t even notice
the flights coming in. That first hour and half was rough though, trying to get
to sleep. I think the planes stopped coming after 10pm, but I can’t be sure.
Other thoughts preoccupied my attention, such as, I had cycled all the way to
Toukyo! After tonight comes time to kick down my imaginary kick stand (I don’t
have a kick stand, just lean my bike up against a wall), and live out my
personalized tourist wants of sights, sounds, and eats.
Out of towner Love,
-A
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