I first went to Tokyo some 40 years ago. I worked in the oil and gas business and wrote computer programs which ran on big fat mainframes and were used to support contract negotiations between my employer at the time, Shell, and its Japanese utility company customers. This meant that I enjoyed 2 extended stays of several weeks in 1972 and 1973. This time however it was a flying visit, barely 24 hours, and a bonus. Although I’ve been back several times my last visit was about 10 years ago. I had not expected such an opportunity.
I flew into Haneda which was a blessing. It’s the old airport and mainly used for domestic flights, most of the international airlines now use Narita. And Narita might as well be in another country it’s so far away. I wonder if it’s the inspiration for Ryanair’s policy of naming its destination airports after cities which they’re nowhere close to.
Haneda though is convenient and efficient. The aircraft doors opened at 2205 and I was in my hotel before 2250. And this was after a delay at the green channel in customs where the lady decided to look through my bags.
My recollections may of course not be accurate but although Tokyo has undoubtedly changed, as everywhere else has, to me there was much that was the same. And that ‘much’ is its essential Japaneseness. Global though markets have become and despite the thoughtless influence of technology, and the Japanese do love their technology, Tokyo still looks and feels like a Japanese city, perhaps more so.
Japanese taxis are a pleasure to use, as long as you want to go somewhere relatively well-known and/or simple to find; don’t expect a London cabby’s ‘knowledge’ in Tokyo. But they are plentiful, spotlessly clean, with lots of white covers on the seats,and the doors still open automatically. And the drivers reach for their clipboards every time they stop to add another entry to their logs. But to make sure that they can take you to more obscure locations they all boast sat navs; but not your miserly 2 by 3 inch screen that we use in the UK, these all seem to have screens twice that size.
But Tokyo taxis are not cheap. In fact most things are very expensive partly because of a strong yen (about 120 to the pound, compare the rate of about 850 when I first visited). This results in a cup of coffee or a beer costing £6 or 7 and that’s not fancy hotel pricing; it’s the price on the street, admittedly in a capital city, and it’s the price paid by your ordinary Japanese city worker.
Japan is a railway country and Tokyo is riddled with subway and overground lines. Everybody seems to use them and they’re as crowded in rush hours as they’ve always been. When I travelled this time they seemed to be full of younger people every one of which was glued to a smartphone. They are inexpensive, a £2 fare will take you a lot further than it would in London, clean and frequent. And there’s impressive use of technology to provide information to passengers inside the carriages. Plus as you’d expect just about everyone uses the local equivalent of an Oyster card so gone are the days of the ticket inspector clipping every traveller’s ticket.
I took the equivalent of the Circle Line to Shinjuku for shopping and dinner. The shopping was unsuccessful but I was staggered by the choices in the technology stores; nothing cheap but every latest device in multiple variants on display and shells for smart phones at £30 a pop. Dinner however met expectations: a yaki-tori bar. Fundamentally unchanged from 40 years ago from the shouts of ‘irashimase’ (welcome) for every new customer to the chefs sweating over the barbecue to the ready availability of beer and sake. But not quite unchanged because my order was taken on a handheld device and presumably networked to the kitchen: that love of technology again. The food was delicious but I have to confess that I don’t go for the more obscure chicken cuts. I am a thigh and breast man and leave gizzards and feet to others.
My second dinner was more of modern Tokyo, at the restaurant Vento in Shinagawa. It claims to be Italian but really it’s ‘International’ with Australian steaks, several dishes with Italian names and a diverse wine list. It was full, it was a Friday evening, and many tables were taken by all girl groups, the Japanese equivalent of hen parties I guess but with a little more decorum. I had a Caesar’s salad and an excellent rib eye but came unstuck with the cheesecake. I’m a sucker for one or two deserts and cheesecake is one of them. Even the best are too heavy for lunch but I’m willing to take the risk in the evening. Vento’s cheesecake though was heavy and sweet. Not a great end to the meal and I continued to taste it for some hours afterwards. Not even a perfectly good espresso would cut it. However my meal was washed down by excellent Japanese beer and I took out a second mortgage to enjoy one of the two glasses of red on offer.
But has Japan changed? Of course it has. Technology has been a major driver but so has diet, Japanese men are a foot taller than their fathers and Japanese girls have longer legs which they’re ever willing to display, and globalisation has brought international brands to the high street and the consumer. But a lot is still the same. There’s no more English visible in public places than there was 40 years ago, Japanese interactions and relationships seem to be just as formal with plenty of public bowing, and there are armies of uniformed people supporting the service economy and ensuring that it runs with ‘Japanese’ efficiency. Long may it remain that way.
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