Ancient Tokyo

The Yabusame Festival in Tokyo

For all of the dazzling neon lights, soaring high rises and buzzing anime shops, Tokyo clings ferociously to its heritage as the capital of Japan's feudal past.  Despite Tokyo being infatuated with trends and fashion, Shinto shrines and temples are still crowded with worshippers and manicured Zen gardens are woven in between the sprawling mass of the world’s largest urban area. Every aspect of life that we saw in Japan is conducted in a polite and respectful manner stemming from its past. Even incredibly drunk co-workers on a Friday nod and bow profusely when falling out of bars to each other! On the face of it everybody is treated with respect and as such works to the best of their ability - from the most enthusiastic shop assistants to taxi drivers who are all dressed as 1920's elevator operators.  We rented a room from a Japanese hermit (I saw him twice during the whole stay and one of these was when he walked in on me on the loo before he screeched and ran away – we never saw him again) in the Asakusa district, a quiet residential area of Tokyo.  The apartment offered a roof terrace with amazing views of the new Sky Tree that is a dominant feature of Tokyo's skyline – no mean feat!  When you get to write about the trip whilst sat with a bottle of saké on your final night overlooking Tokyo it’s safe to say it has been a good week!  

Zen garden in Kamakura

A hidden temple in Tokyo

In a city of 37 million the biggest problem we faced was working out what to do with the week we had from the seemingly endless options.  Deciding that the best course of action was to learn a little about the city first we headed to the Edo – Tokyo Museum (Edo being the name of Tokyo under the Shogun).  It turned out Edo had spent much of its existence trying to avoid fires and plagues, much like London.  We ended up getting a free guided tour from a gentle 89 year old man named Yamamoto who was a fount of knowledge as he had volunteered there for 19 years.  Having lived through the wars and the arrival of democracy after WW2 he just seemed happy about the transformation of Japan, attributing its economic success after WW2 to the lack of arms imposed by the allies and the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.  Looking at Germany as Europe’s driving force it could almost be seen that the Axis Powers lost the battle but not the war in a perverse twist of history.    Having worked in munition factories during the war and survived the American bombing of the city (I didn't realise how badly destroyed Tokyo was during WW2) he beamed when talking about the re-education of Japan into a democracy and how confused everyone had been by the new ideas having been brain washed by Emperor Hirohito before WW2.  Amongst other things he explained that the oldest buildings in Japan that are still standing are wooden as they are more flexible and do not suffer from the earthquakes like the more rigid stone buildings.  This seemed particularly relevant as the very next day a giant earthquake rocked the south of the country causing severe destruction on the southern Island.

Kyudo Archer

Taking a trip out of the city we headed to Kamakura, the first feudal capital of Japan and set between the sea and wooded hills.  After we had seen the Daibutsu  (a huge Bronze Buddha) we explored a few of the Zen gardens although we had to watch out for kites attacking us for our lunch as they circled above us.    We also went to another, far less crowded bamboo forest and enjoyed a rest on the beach where we saw the unusual sight of a woman cleaning an octopus over an abandoned washing machine!  Kamakura is the home of Yabusame, a type of archery invented by Minamoto Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate about a thousand years earlier.  Worried that his Samurai lacked the necessary skills they trained by galloping on horseback and shooting three targets whilst in full flight.  The following day back in Tokyo we were lucky enough to see an Archery festival featuring both Kyudo (standing archery) and Yabusame. Having watched the Kyudo tournament we took up our seats in the park about a metre away from the competitors who galloped up the track in traditional Samurai clothing screaming and firing arrows.  After the initial shock of being nearly trampled by the horses it was a spectacular sight as when they did hit the targets they exploded sending bits of wood flying in all directions.  The entire event was commentated on by an English translator whose English was about as good as my Spanish but she did at least provide entertainment if little information.  A little like the sumo the festivals are staged for the gods and a message was read for the victims of the earthquake towards the end of the festival.  It was great to see that for a city that prides itself on being at the forefront of technology so much effort is made to preserve its amazing heritage.