Day 1: lost and found in Tokyo

Mixing my share of germs from the long-haul flight with the cushioned seat. Connexion between human and things is always so intimate.

A LCD display of the N'EX–Tokyo route

A non-smoking waiting room at the Narita JR platform. A bit counter-intuitive, it's like a designated non-smoking area in Paris.

The exterior body of N'EX (Narita Express) operated by JR

This is not the first time I've been to Tokyo, nor the first time I was on a trans-atlantic plane. I know the routine, I know what's there to see in Tokyo. But deep down it felt different. I was more solitary this time. Yes I traveled by myself to Tokyo which is a bit sad even with the justification of participation in a major conference. The contrast of my solitude with other Chinese-speaking travelers (either come in groups or as couples) draws my attention to the broader circumference for fellow lone travelers: the physical landscape of urban Tokyo and the virtual community centered around this urban metropolis. It's all about making connection, to feel (or fool yourself) that you are connecting with the footprints and footprinters along the pathway.

I arrived at Narita airport after the +10-hour flight from Phoenix. My indolence coupled with my ex's incompetence resulted in a lack of planning and an unnecessary overspent budget in my visit to Tokyo. This time I am on my own so I rely heavily on the information shared by fellow bloggers and travel writers. I did not take limousine bus from Narita airport to Tokyo, which is commonly perceived as the most convenient means of airport transportation. Several sources point to a more economical route introduced by JR (Japanese Railway) for foreigners just a month before my trip (July 2010). Some indispensable background knowledge before submerging yourself in the byzantine subway networks in Tokyo. There are a number of subway companies operating different routes and lines in Tokyo. JR is the national subway enterprise in Japan (not only in Tokyo). But there are non-JR subway companies competing and cooperating with JR in Tokyo. For the Narita–Tokyo route, JR offered a round-trip package with N'EX + a pre-loaded 1500¥ suica card (a rechargeable and refundable pre-paid smart card) for just 5500¥! Now this means nothing to travelers unless you compare it with the cost of taking the limousine bus. A round-trip bus ticket from Narita to Tokyo costs 6000¥/person, without a complimentary suica worth 1500¥！Suica is very useful for budget travelers in Tokyo. With a swipe of the card above the sensor, you can take all subway lines (JR and non-JR routes), bus, and shop at the underground station streets. Seriously, why waste an extra 2000¥ to take bus and more time on potential traffic congestion when you can get so much more underground?

While I found my underway to Tokyo, I was lost in the above-ground Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a black-spot for misplacement due to the multi-connected exits near this point. There are at least 4 exits pointing to different directions under the generic rubric of "Shinjuku": Seibu-Shinjuku, Shinjuku JR, Shinjuku-sanchome, Shinjuku nishiguchi, not to mention the farther apart Higashi-Shinjuku. So if you only go by "Shinjuku", it's difficult if not impossible to find your way along the meandering streets with densely populated and motorized urban surroundings. I am staying at Tokyo inn near Kabuki-cho, which I assumed is situated in the Kabuki town. My assumption is partly correct. It is part of the broader area known to tourists as the Kabuki town, but the epithet of a "town" implies that it is more than just a tourist spot. The location of the inn is off the hustle and bustle of Kabuki avenue, close to Higashi-Shinjuku. I dragged my luggage with an anti-G force handle bar uphill, across the garden shrine, the reputed Mutekiya ramen restaurant, and streaked as fast as I can through the gigolo clubs on my way to orient myself in the puzzling pixelgram of Shinjuku. A friendly young lady very helpfully walked with me to the inn which is very much appreciated. Kind of feel bad for having her walked up a hill in her stiletto heels though >_<

My day of lost-and-found in Tokyo ends with a (deserved) self-indulged dining trip at Mutekiya. Honestly, the ramen is a bit too salty for my inept tastebuds, but I will acclimatize my tastebuds in the next couple days for the amount of salt and oil in Japanese food. I would still give it an "oishi desu" but 900¥/bowl is bit over-rated.明日は別の日"です!

Tonkotsu ramen served at Mutekiya 麵屋無敵家

8 mile

"Look, if you have one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment. Would you capture it? Or just let it slip."

Here are several things I know about 8 mile. I know it's about Eminem, I know it's released in 2002, I think it's about rap culture. But I did not expect to see Brittany Murphy, whom I first saw in Ramen girl before her sudden death last year. I also did not expect I could find so much commonality with the perspective expressed in this movie.

The movie surrounds the life of Jimmy Smith (Eminem) from the lower stratum in Detroit. He got his girlfriend pregnant, then moved back with his mum in a trailer, where his mum is living with a man of his age and his little sister. Jimmy hangs out with mostly Black gangsters and rappers. The crux of the movie is Jimmy's run in a rap battle operated by his DJ friend. The psychological barrier, the stage freight, the economic pressure, the race issues etc. are rhythmically summarized in Eminem's rap song "Lost yourself". The prologue of the song is excerpted at the head of this entry.

Not only am I an Asian girl, I am also a fob, a PhD student from the Far East. These qualities make me the farthest type of outsider to a rapper community and its culture. Honestly I couldn't have understood the lyrics without subtitles. Too fast, and too tongue tweaky and sliding for me to grasp. There are obvious material and cultural demarcation separating my connection with this tribe. I don't want to pretend I'll ever understand or not understand anything about the hip-hop culture but at the core I think it portrays a psychological need to get accepted by people you identify with. In order to do so, you need to overcome the physical inconvenience (like being a wigga among a Black community) and bootstrap yourself for the best performance. People recognize accomplishment and results, not the physical attributes of the performers, although they are by no means eliminated.

Everyone has had many opportunities presented to them at one point or another in their lives. Indeed, life is the best gift we've ever had. Say no more and give your best show to every audience you are lucky to encounter in your life.

A rude Japanese receptionist

OK, I did not see this coming:

ME: Do you speak English? I want to confirm my reservation.
A Japanese receptionist: no.
ME: You don't speak English or you don't want to confirm my reservation?
A Japanese receptionist: that's right.
ME: .....well, I am looking for a little help here. Could you help me out?
A Japanese receptionist: No.

Looks like my trip to Japan does not bode well. Who mystified Japanese women as the most polite and subservient women in Asia? Definitely not women from other East Asian regions.

Rich lechers in the 20th C: The Aviator, The people vs. Larry Flynt

Two biopics to be reviewed for this week's entertainment assignment.

The first one is "The Aviator", chronicling the life trajectory of the obsessive-compulsive mogul Howard Hughes and the other is "The people vs. Larry Flynt", featuring the pruriently political story of Larry Flynt. Both biopics are about American millionaires of great achievements. Although neither Hughes or Flynt is well-educated or respectfully decent in the orthodox sense, they are well-known public figures in the 20th C for their unswerving pursuit of their belief. This is the common highlight of both movies: Endure the hardship and keep on believing and pursuing whatever you believe in, and you will eventually win the public vote of championship. But would either man rise to their stardoms were they not wealthy? Would they gain public support if they could not financially sustain the long and costly legal battles with the US government? What is more important? Their affluence or perseverance?

At any rate, I am impressed that the US provided a public space to accommodate and commemorate these unorthodox figures. For better or worse, I doubt if the same status will be assigned to either man, esp. the porno king Flynt, in the Chinese society. But the nation-wide respect to these rich lechers in the 20th century also reinforce the intensified structural inequality. As sexually alluring as Althea Flynt is (Courtney Love is flawless in her character, I mean, WOW!), she was married to Larry Flynt when she was 17 and died at the age of 33. What does it tell us about gender relations of this couple? What does it tell us about the growing salacity of media violence today? These two men might have made irreplaceable private achievements but they also paved the public road for "American Philistinism". Is this as celebratory as the victory over the triumph of the First Amendment?

But who am I to judge? At least they have the guts to go nuts and coarse, right? Somehow I don't feel bad about my strict upbringing. Substituting bad taste with freedom doesn't sound too ambitious to me.

ChungKing Express

Is Chungking Express, a 1994 award-winning production of Wong Kar Wai, an expressed story of ChungKing Mansion in HK?

This is also my driving question in watching this movie. Well, the answer is yes and no. ChungKing Mansion appears in the beginning of the film, embodied with intensional shaky shots with the embarrassed-looking Indies and Pakistanis, but the building is not the focus. What, then, is the focus? If you have any previous experiences with Wong Ka Wai's movies, you know this is not an easy question.

It is a movie about the inevitable expiration of consumer products with expiring dates inscribed on the canned fruits; it is a movie about the predictable loneliness to spend your birthday at a definite time in the future. Yet it also a movie about the unexpected encounters with strangers at the crisscross intersections everywhere in a metropolitan city; it is also about the unpredicted gain and loss with human emotions and connections. In a city where relationships and romances are popularized and randomized by technology and material exchange, true love is not expedited; rather spurning is assisted by cell phones and beepers. Happiness is still obscured by opaque happenstances whereas sadness and despair are enhanced by precise calendars, reminding us the mechanical progression of time and the symbolized inevitable loneliness incurred on us.

If there is anything that keeps us alive in a self-destructive city, it is the indefatigable search and hope in finding truth and eternity. Keep on believing, as Angela Aki beautifully utters. Tony Leung finally met Faye Wong, a year after waiting for Wong's unplanned return from an adventure in California. Was this within his expectation? Probably not within the capacity of logical calculation, but an act of faith in yourself and in the eventual kindness of life.

Now, this is what ChungKing Express is about.