🇯🇵 Dangerous Boy

Hello Adventurers, 

“…But what’s the one place you recommend most?” It’s a question I’ve been asked lots this year, and I can’t answer it sufficiently. Why? Well, because what resonates with me may not resonate with you (because our individual interests are just that). Secondly, because I can honestly make a good time for myself in the most boring and/or challenging of places (which is the fun of adventuring…especially when shit goes sideways). Thirdly, because I believe all travel is an insane privilege…so I try and see the good in everything…and like, because I’ve even loved having the opportunity to explore places I’ve discovered I’ve hated. Fourthly, because every place is a prism…that reveals a different side of itself at different hours on different days, and in different seasons (making it hard to ultimately vouch for…because everywhere is ever-changing). Fifthly, because how I experience a place by way of long-ass marathon is radically different than how you may experience it by stroll, bike, car, bus, train and/or tram. Annoying caveats, right?

The short of it is, is that everywhere is sorta incomparable ala that idiomatic apples to oranges saying. That said, I live — and travel — to feel. Like, give me something…anything…just to stir up something inside of me, nahmean? And I don’t care what it is; joy, disgust, confusion, whatever…just something that cuts through the dullness of modernity’s blahs.

And Japan? I don’t know if it is the best place…but it is the one place that has filled me with more happiness than anywhere else. How so? Well, I first came here in 2016 with my bestie The Big Dawg, and we slipped and tumbled our way through Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka like a bunch of non-buff buffoons; getting lost all the time, doing all the cultural stuff wrong (where we accidentally butchered every single custom), and it…it just nearly tears-me-up with happy raindrops from the eyes when I think back about it…because all I can hear — in the mind of my heart — is the sounds of our laughter (or me gasping for air…hyperventilating from laughing so hard at Scotty). Then, a lil while later I took my newly-minted wife to Tokyo for our honeymoon…and it was a magical way to kick-off our marriage in a place — like young love — that’s just so full of conviction, dedication, and possibility…which we unknowingly squeezed in before the pandemic ruined it, the world, and everything else.

Basically, I’ve never seen Japan through anything other than rose-coloured glasses worn atop my boy-ish sized nose. So I was excited to go back, and give Tokyo another sniff…but sorta nervous too; because certain things are better in memory (and memory can often be greater than reality).

So did I get lucky in Tokyo again? Like, was the third time a charm(er)? Well, we’ll have to get into it…to see how it felt.

- Ben Pobjoy

2023 TREK TRACKER

Where in the world...record am I?

• Countries visited: 70

• Flights taken: 74

• Kilometres flown: 129,297

• Marathons completed: 232

• Kilometres trekked by foot: 10,995.5

• Total kilometres trekked since 2015: 74,087

RAPID WEEKLY RECAP

A speedy synopsis for time-crunched readers

• The Wildest Thing: The size, density, and depth of Tokyo…I have marathoned hundreds and hundreds of kilometres ‘round this place on three separate trips…and it never gets old / continually reveals new things to me😍

• The Biggest Obstacle: I mostly use my credit card for expenditures…but often need a bit of pocket money…and have you exchanged paper currency recently? Man, it’s becoming such a pain in the ass worldwide…as traders won’t accept anything but flawless, crinkle-free bills (and who has these in their wallets?!?!)🤯

• The Lesson Learned: A city can be marvellously livable if decorum is hardwired into the social contract😎

FIELD NOTES: TOKYO, JAPAN

Endlessly fascinating and infinitely interesting

The Tokyo metropolitan area has nearly 41 million residents…which is more than my country Canada’s entire population…but in just 0.0013% of the space (e.g. you could fit 742 ‘metro Tokyos’ within Canada’s total landmass). And here, you feel that resident number — because you see it by way of the sea of bodies you’re often drowning in — but you actually never hear the resident number; because people are supremely quiet, cars rarely honk, and because noise pollution isn’t a thing here (i.e. unlike in North America, no one is rude enough to take calls on speakerphone in public).

In a way, Tokyo is sorta like a bigger version of Manhattan…if Manhattan were on mute, didn’t smell like piss, lacked the rats, was free of trash blowin’ ‘round, and absent of people trying to run game on you. So, when it comes to Tokyo…take any preconceived notion you have about a big city, and flush it down the toilet. Oh, and while Tokyo is the capital of Japan…as well as the world’s most populous metro area…it’s actually not a city…but a grouping of 62 municipalities; being 26 cities, 23 special wards, 8 villages, and 5 towns. Wild, right?

Anyhoo, Tokyo is essentially a gigantic grouping of huge-cities-as-conjoined-neighbourhoods…and it is peacefully overwhelming and hence unique (from the culture itself to how everything operates); etiquette / honour / reputation is everything here, there isn’t a single garbage can anywhere, convenience stores as well as vending machines are the existential bedrock of the society, people vacuum the outdoors to keep it spotless, when you buy stuff you gotta put your card — or your cash — on a lil tray and pass it to the teller, nobody jaywalks, every job sorta has it’s own uniform (often brightly coloured), smoking outdoors is a finable offence…yet you can smoke indoors pretty much anywhere, tattoos are hated, you bow to others hundreds of times a day, people regularly die from being overworked, and you gotta remove your shoes before entering lotsa places. And don’t even get me started on the yakuza, the hostess clubs, the freaky fetishes here, and/or the blue zone immortals down south.

Overall, Tokyo is both highly efficient and simultaneously inefficient…because it is supremely conservative as well as tremendously risk-adverse…so lotsa things register as overkill. Like, in North America it isn’t uncommon for a company to slap one worker with three jobs (none of which they can do well…because they’re principally over-tasked) whereas in Tokyo, a company will give three people the exact same job to do (and expect it to be done with extreme excellence…because any personal error will lash one’s soul with debilitating shame).

Basically, if you sent someone from McKinsey & Company or the Boston Consulting Group over here…they’d be beyond baffled…in prosperous / preposterous / productivity-weird Tokyo…which is within historically isolationist Japan (which is a country that’s economically strong, stagnant, and shrinking today). The whole place is a goddamn paradox!

Japan’s secret sauce is that it is a very old civilization full of strangulating customs which demand constant obedience. And these restrictions suck in and of themselves, yet they power the most wonderful sense of expression amidst the requisite conformity. Nothing makes sense here, ever!

If you visit Tokyo, you must do your research in advance to determine what you want to see and do (or else you’ll waste your time here), and you must give yourself ample time (like, don’t visit if you can’t dedicate 7-10 days to it). And you can’t just show up and hope to stumble onto things…because this place is massive, dense, difficult to decode, few speak English, and because much is housed in multi-floored towers (which are full of shops, bars, restaurants, galleries, museums, and more).

All that said, I do have a few contextual pointers ‘bout different areas; Ginza is tony, Akihabara is electronic, Aoyama is wealthy, Shinjuku is buzzing, Chiyoda is historical, Shibuya is futuristic, Asakusa is traditional, Roppongi is lively, Harajuku is youthful, Daikanyama is hip, and don’t sleep on visiting laneway places like Setagawa (just to see how smush-y the suburb-esque parts of Tokyo are).

Oh, and I highly recommend going to the Tokyo City View on your first visit here…to get a panorama view of some of the aforementioned areas from a 52nd floor vantage point (it’ll boggle your mind to see how the city doesn’t thin-out…it just sorta extends for as far as the eye can see). And yes, you must also visit the Shibuya Scramble Crossing too (because it is the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing…where as many as 3,000 people cross it at a single time).

To understand a place, I like to know what it once was in order to ‘get’ what it has now become. Because of this, I highly recommend visiting some of Tokyo’s historical stuff; the Imperial Palace being a no-brainer (FYI, the path around its moat is the heart of the running scene here). Furthermore, you gotta check out some Shinto shrines as well as Buddhist temples to get awed by their architecture as well as relish in their rituals.

My personal faves are Sensō-Ji (due to its age, size, scale, and height), the Toyokawa Inari Betsuin (because it is colourful, full of lanterns and flags, and has loads of Shinto fox statues), and the Gotokuji Temple (because it is filled with thousands of maneki-neko cats aka the white waver).

When you go to these places of worship, it’s considered rude to be a voyeur…so do participate; be it through wish hunting ala o-mikuji, lighting incense, or writing a prayer on an ema. It is very inexpensive to do these things (e.g. a couple of bucks at most) — and when I do them — locals always look my way and nod in approval.

Swedish women — all outfitted in sharp lines — threw me for a loop this past summer when they visually convinced me on my marathons there that Stockholm was the most stylish place on the planet (because the aesthetic there is so consistent). However, after visiting Japan for a third time…it’s hands-down Tokyo because of how eclectic the style is. Fashion here sorta gets its due on the global runway…but not really…because Europe’s gatekeepers are so Eurocentric. As such, do check out Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyaki, Junya Watanabe, and Yohji Yamamoto (these are just a few of the fab fashion designers here that come to mind first).

Anyhoo, the street style here is off the charts; professional men in sharp three piece suits with female counterparts in androgynous outfits, school kids in their suit jackets / lil shorts / funny hats / randoseru backpacks, traditional women in kimonos and wooden flip-flops, boys in slick streetwear or girls in decora or kogal, thirty-something women with their striking bangs and billowy trousers atop stilt-y stilettos, and teens in cosplay-like garb that almost presents like a costume (pictured above).

People here rock some of the wildest looks I’ve ever seen…done with the most deadpan faces…and it is so fun to take-in. Fashion — in Tokyo — feels like one of the few socially acceptable expressions of individuality and/or rebelliousness here, and it truly makes this place special. Furthermore, even if one’s style is real whacky here, it is nevertheless well-considered, and taken seriously by the wearer. Overall, everyone is so put-together…and it always makes me feel like such a slob in comparison (but functions like a much-needed kick in the ass to step my style game up).

Food is a big part of Japanese culture — and it fucking sucks to be vegan in Tokyo (although it is getting better) — so I mostly subsist on onigiri and inari sushi bought from the incredible convenience stores here. As such, I can’t make many food recommendations...sawry! That said, you’re gonna wanna hit the Tsukiji Outer Market for street food from all the lil stalls there. In addition, you gotta eat grub at the home-grown fast food chains like Matsuya / Nakau / Yoshinoya / Tendon Tenya / CoCo Curry which have pay-before-you-eat-kiosks, and are all popular with locals for their meaty rice bowls, udon noodles in broth, cold soba noodles, cutlets, curries, and tempura. You can eat a ‘set’ at these places — which is a main with some tiny sides — for like less than $10 USD (which is the deal of a lifetime in Tokyo).

Anyhoo, what can’t be missed is a visit to Toyosu Market to watch a live auction of tuna that are bid upon by restauranteurs (pictured above). It starts at 5AM every morning — and you honestly gotta get there at 5AM to catch the action — and my pro-tip is to hit it on your first day in Tokyo (after your red-eye flight / when you’re crazily jet-lagged)…because when the hell else are you gonna wanna do something at 5AM?

Straight up, Tokyo has exceptional shopping*; because its size means unparalleled variety, because the people here have sophisticated tastes, and because Japanese brands pride themselves on quality and craftsmanship. Basically, whatever you want is available here…and made better than anywhere else.

Personally, Daikanyama T-Site (pictured above) is my version of commercial heaven. Yes, it is a bookstore…but it’s wayyy more than that; it’s a stunning example of architecture where no detail has been spared, it is full of original art, it is full of first-edition / limited-edition / hard-to-find printed matter, it is expertly curated with knick-knacks, it has an exquisite café on the second floor, and often has ‘pop ups’ by the most culturally relevant brands, artists, writers, and/or creators. Many of the books are in Japanese — duh and obvs — but there are some English titles too…but I mostly shop there for the excellent selection of zines and photography monographs (where the language matters less, and the pictures matter more).

Anecdotally, when it comes to Japanese fashion brands / clothing stores in Tokyo, I like White Mountaineering for tops and sweaters, Visvim for denim jackets, Flower Mountain for shoes, Hender Scheme for leather goods, Beams for casual wear, and United Arrows as well as Tomorrowland for more elevated pieces. All of these places are expensive AF…because these places make stuff that’ll last you a lifetime (which is Japan’s M.O.).

Lastly, a unique thing about Tokyo are its many ‘department store towers’…and there are a dizzying amount of them. However, my top three are; Don Quijote in Roppongi (because it is a seven-floor discount store that’s open 24/7…and just jammed with quirky things…and is where you can buy all the special Japanese Kit Kat bars), Shibuya Parco (because of the interplay between stores and restaurants over loads of floors), and Dover Street Market Ginza (because it is ridiculously avant-garde…and everything is outrageously priced…hence amazing for people watching).

I can’t help myself…so here’s some other retail stuff; do check out Itoya for stationary, get a free 3D foot scan at the ASICS store (the data it provides is fascinating), go to Kakimori to make yourself a custom notebook as well as mix yourself custom-coloured pen ink, swing by the Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square to survey Japan’s many handicrafts, stroll around Akihabara (which is the global epicentre of otaku culture), and this is of course Samurai sword country…so foodies, you may want to commission a hand-forged kitchen knife (so you can chop it up like a pro at home).

*Please note that you should carry your passport while shopping in Tokyo, because foreigners are tax-exempt in many Japanese shops.

Imma hit this quick, but Tokyo has some fantastic galleries, museums, interactive experiences, and amusement parks too. You basically have to hit the The Sumida Hokusai Museum to see Katsushika Hokusai’s highly-influential woodblock prints from the Edo era, go to the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (because the way they present work…as pictured above…is often daring), go have your mind blown at teamLab’s Borderless immersive experience, and go get charmed at the Ghibli Museum (mandatory for animation fans…but tickets must be purchased well in advance).

My absolute fave thing on this trip to Tokyo was swinging by Yoyogi Park to see the Japanese Rockabilly troupes dancing with — and against — other troupes to rock and roll music (both American and Japanese). There were ‘greasers’ with pompadours who were clad in leather from head to toe — smoking and drinking in public like a bunch of bad boys — doing high kicks and then dropping into the splits, there were ‘good girls’ in pleated knee-length skirts doing the twist in varsity jackets, there were ‘denim cowboys’ rocking out, and ‘good boys’ in satin-y coach jackets — with matching coloured bandanas in their back pocket — being all wholesome with their rockabilly kids in tow. It was the best vibe ever!

In closing, these field notes are like a ‘tip of the iceberg’ with regards to all that Tokyo has to offer…and what I’ve shared doesn’t even come close to doing this place justice…because it is just overflowing with all-things awesome. I hate to play favourites…but if there’s one urban place you gotta visit in your lifetime…well, it’s Tokyo!

BEST LOCAL THING-Y

Jaded cool cats — be they local or visiting — may lead you to believe that the Golden Gai is lame, passé or too touristy…but pay ‘em no mind. Yes, this micro-district of miniature taverns appears in every Tokyo tourist guide…but that’s because it is totally worth a visit!

Why? Because the Double G’s colourful streets are narrow and winding, its snug bars fit no more than 10 people, and because you’ll be hard-pressed to find a drinking experience this intimate — as well as visual — anywhere else. Plus, everyone chain-smokes ciggies inside of ‘em…so they’re gloriously old-school…and for baddies (unlike today’s sanitized bars for goody two shoe’d nerds who binge drink mocktails).

This time around, I went to Hair of the Dogs ‘cause it’s the punk rock tavern. And when I entered, I was handed a menu of classic punk albums (so I could choose the sounds for the joint’s sound system). However, I waved it off…because I own all those known-to-me albums on vinyl back home. As such, I asked the bartender Haruki to school this gaijin by playing me what she felt was the best Japanese punk rock music. She lit up, did so, and we got talking…kinda through spoken words but mostly through words displayed on smartphone screens by way of voice-to-text apps.

A short while later, a regular showed up for his nightly drink. He was in a suit so I playfully trolled him…telling him he didn’t look punk…which Haruki relayed with a wink. The guy laughed and confirmed that he was punk…because he hates his boss, hates his job, and hates his life…yet loves Frank Zappa, LOL. All of it was a silly icebreaker…ushering in us three drinking crisp Asahi half-pints together, smoking, and singing along to punk anthems (like, when the English-language bangers eventually came on the stereo).

Before I left, the dude got his sweet-but-playful revenge; asking me to justify my punk-ness to him — so I relayed how I quit my job to do my Marathon Earth Challenge project this year…merely because it came to mind first — and the guy reacted by slamming both of his fists on the bar, saying something in Japanese, standing up, and bowing at me.

I asked Haruki what he said, to which she replied approvingly;

“A dangerous boy”

It was the best compliment I’ve received this year, and momentarily made me feel cool (something that was compounded by Haruki deciding not to bill me for the bar’s cover charge). Look, I’m in my forties and balding…so humour me!

However, the feeling was short-lived…because I jogged home late at night to bag the marathon while shivering in the heavy rain, and accidentally pissed my pants (for the fourth time this year while on a marathon…not because I was drunk…but because I couldn’t find a public washroom in time).

Dangerous boy? Hardly. A ‘baby in danger’ or a ‘man with dangerously small bladder’ seems more apt. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

POBJOY'S GLOBAL PRICE INDEX

This is an on-going documentation of how much things cost in different places around the world. Here are some of the things I bought in Tokyo (all prices converted to USD):

• A veggie burger, side or waffle fries, and 355 millilitre can of Coke Zero from a restaurant: $12.72

• Two tickets for two different exhibitions at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum: $8.66

• One 50 gram jar of instant coffee, two 63 gram bags of chips, and four bananas from a convenience store: $3.98

MARATHON MUSINGS

On effort and/or trying to be the best at your craft

I don’t believe in god…so I’ve never been eligible for club perks (i.e. god-given talents). Furthermore, I have no natural abilities whatsoever because evolution has been similarly unkind to me (as evidenced by my receding hairline). Basically, nothing comes easy to me…whereas everything I do is hard (for me, at least); where any and all progress is earned through persistent effort — and by throwing a stupid amount of time at things — and by over-dedication to the process. This is the only way I can advance my chosen crafts…in pathetic smidgens forward.

Like, making photographs is hard and writing is harder and marathoning is just the hardest. And I don’t mention this to whinge nor simp for sympathy, I mention this because nowhere makes me feel more at peace with this you-just-gotta-bleed-for-it reality than Japan.

Tokyo is a place I love…but it is one of the most mischaracterized places on the planet; erroneously portrayed as futuristic and/or innovative (like, on postcards or in movie b-roll)…because certain areas are awash in ginormous billboards that cast light onto the multi-levelled roads which are braided up into the night’s sky like concrete tentacles. Lots of stuff here looks cutting-edge…but it is theatrical set dressing.

Sure, Japan’s got the video games and the animation studios that created paradigm shifts in the culture, but they’re the exception…and not indicative of the place at all. Tokyo — in reality — is bureaucratic, shy, slow, and lovably clumsy.

However, Tokyo is also a place of immense craft and craftsmanship…most of which is rooted in tradition. Here, originality isn’t prized per se…it’s all about doing things to the best of your abilities, even if that requires a lifetime of dedication; be it pottery, paper-making, ikebana, etc. Whereas guns-blazing America is the maverick frontier of global innovation…Japan is the place of perfection, period.

I’ve known this ‘bout Japan for some time…like, I knew it before I arrived on my first trip here (because I’m a fan of so many Japanese artists and designers)…and it gets reconfirmed on every other trip. And I saw it freshly on this trip — expressed in another way — when I paid $1.55 USD to visit a kite museum…which is full of painstakingly handmade, hand-painted kites that are fragile AF, and prone to crashing (which is something I know, because I used to fly kites all the time when I lived in Montreal…which is a pastime I’d recommend to anyone ‘cause it’s so damn relaxing). What struck me most at this museum, was the sheer amount of time that someone had dedicated towards making something so beautiful that was destined to be destroyed by a single gust of violent wind.

It seems futile, if you’re North American.

But here, it isn’t; because you do things to the nth degree in Japan…because that is how you demonstrate respect to something you intend to honour by way of hard work. It is also why everything nice is a bazillion dollars here; because affordability often means corner cutting. And for much of the world, the Japanese way doesn’t doesn’t present as sensible — and probably explains in part why the economy here is sorta fucked — but it makes total sense to me;

It’s not about having to be the most original or the newest, coolest thing or even optimizing for efficiency…it is about trying your hardest to do your best — regardless of cost — and I just love, love, love that approach-as-philosophy.

On the tail-end of one marathon here, I passed some sort of workshop on the edge of town…and a glowing box on its outer wall caught my eye in the dark (pictured below).

I stopped to inspect it, but didn’t know what it was…until a lil old dude came outside — who didn’t speak English — but showed me how he had made a free, foot-activated, mechanical arcade game for local kids…where the effort probably didn’t justify the output (it must’ve taken eons to build…especially as it excreted prizes). And that is the beauty of craft itself; doing merely to do (regardless of the expense of the effort, because it’s about the value that the practice builds up in your soul).

IMHO, Tokyo — as well as Japan — are just full of those little types of lessons re: keep on keepin’ on, and they always fill me with so much hope and inspiration and encouragement to keep on trucking in my chosen pursuits.

Anyhoo, I wanted to relay this to you before year’s end…because maybe you got some New Year’s Resolutions on the horizon (that concern your want of being a better version of yourself). If so, put in the time to become what you hope to be…even if it doesn’t make sense on paper…because process is the path that betters us (as perfection remains a destination beyond the horizon).

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