Getting the Real Feel of Japan!

TOKYO – Despite all of the amazing artifacts of Japan – historical and modern – and despite the sublime beauty of its mountains and coastlines, the real attraction of the island country is the Japanese themselves.

In fact, people who come to Japan and limit their sightseeing to its historical grandeurs and its modern-day façade of high-rise buildings, amazing “bullet trains,” bridges and tunnels that connect islands, shops that make Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles look dowdy, and more, are short-changing themselves.

One of the keys to getting a real feel for Japan, and thereby getting the most out of a visit, is to rub elbows (and other parts of the anatomy) with the people themselves, and simply to “people-watch” – viewing huge numbers of them, in public, as they go to and fro.

There are literally several thousand outstanding “people-watch” locations in Tokyo alone. To make things easier for visitors, I have selected several spots, each of which has a personality of its own, that would most likely be regarded as at least in the top twenty locations in the city by most experienced people-watchers.

Three of these locations are within a short walk of each other. They are the main Ginza Intersection where Hibiya and Chuo Streets intersect at Ginza 4-chome; the Sukiyabashi Intersection, about 200 yards west of the Ginza Intersection, where Hibiya Street intersects with Sotobori Street; and the Hibiya theater and restaurant district another 200 yards or further west, adjoining Hibiya Street on the south side.

Since the late 1800s, most Tokyo residents have considered the Ginza 4-chome intersection as the unofficial the center of the city. Its famous Mitsukoshi and Wako Department Stores are historical icons.

For really old-timers, the Mitsukoshi Department Store building on the NE corner of the intersection was the main Post Exchange for the U.S, military during the 1945-1952 occupation of Japan, and there was a U.S. run hamburger and milk shake cafeteria in the basement of the Wako Department Store building on the NW corner of the intersection.

The Sukiyabashi Intersection, just a few blocks away, is probably the most filmed, and therefore internationally the most familiar, intersection in Japan…the special attraction being the amazing display of nighttime neon signs on the NE corner. Sony’s main product display building is on the SE corner of the intersection, and the Hankyu Department Store is on the SW corner.

The nearby Hibiya district is the location of the Tokyo branch of the famous Takarazuka Theater, which features all-female revues on the scale seen in Paris and Las Vegas, along with several other theaters and food courts in the basements of adjoining office buildings, as well a number of narrow restaurant alleys.

The Roppongi district, a few subway minutes from the Ginza/Hibiya areas, is a maze of narrow streets that are home to hundreds of bars, nightclubs and restaurants that run the gamut from plush to dives. The district is a major draw for foreign residents, film stars, fashion models and others wanting to make some kind of statement.

Shibuya, a few minutes further on in a southwesterly direction (on the Yamanote commuter Loop Line that encircles central Tokyo), might be called “young town,” as it is a night-time and weekend mecca for young people, drawn to the area as a meeting place (at “the dog” in Shibuya Plaza in front of Shibuya Station), and for its plethora of apparel and accessory shops, restaurants, bars, bookstores, record stores, etc.

Then moving one station to the north on the Yamanote commuter train line we have the Harajuku district and Omotesando Blvd., which now competes with Chuo Avenue [the main Ginza thoroughfare] as the city’s most popular strolling street.

In addition to the upscale fashion shops and restaurants fronting on Omotesando, the district’s maze of side streets are chocked full of shops carrying the kind of far-out clothing favored by the far-out young. In fact, it is the dress, make-up and behavior of the thousands of young people who flock to Harajuku on holidays and the weekends that attracts hordes of sightseers.

Next on our list is Shinjuku, the second station going NW from Harajuku, with its department stores, office buildings, hotels, and notorious Kabukicho entertainment and restaurant district, a short walk from Shinjuku Station. Often described as sleezy and dangerous because many of its establishments are run by gangs (domestic and foreign), it is generally as safe as Sunday School, and draws huge numbers of people who are attracted by its reputation and what it has to offer.

One could easily add such well-known locations as Akasaka, Aoyama, Asakusa, and go on down the alphabetical line, all with their own special appeal, but the few noted should be enough to satiate the most avid people-watchers.

All of Japan's cities have from a few to dozens of shopping and entertainment centers that swarm with people day and night, and especially on all holidays and weekends. The several hundred towns throughout the country also offer distinctive people-viewing opportunities that are based on the primary economic acivities in the vicinity -- from farming and fishing to making handicrafts, logging and tourism.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959 and still in print, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.