The great thing about Tokyo is that one can switch pace dramatically in the blink of an eye, or rather, a quick change of JR or Metro stations. A few stops away from the peace and serenity of Yanaka – the cemeteries and the temples and the shrines – and we are smack in the middle of Tokyo’s favourite and most upscale shopping districts.
Welcome to Ginza.
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1. Where Angels Love to Tread (or Shop, Rather) • Chūō Dori, Ginza
It’s the weekend in Ginza, when the central Chūō Dori is closed to traffic and the pedestrians are free to roam the streets.
And roam is exactly what we do, albeit as happy visitors without a specific plan in mind as other weekenders either pad determinedly to their favourite upmarket brand store or sit down at small tables and chairs in the middle of the roads and sip on very expensive coffee.
There is always a film crew around; always a TV show or a documentary or a movie to be shot. We have watched some Japanese television at night, after a long day of trekking all over Tokyo, and are amused by a universal yet unique humour in a language we did not understand.
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Some of their variety shows are highly educational as celebrities stay on for hours at end guessing what the reporters and some guest stars are up to, either on a fishing boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, reeling in all sorts of weird and indescribable sea creatures or finding new ways to cook, serve and eat these sealife.
If we are not careful, we might end up in one of these Japanese TV documentaries ourselves: “Guess where do these foreigners come from?”
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2. The Abercrombie & Fitch Guy • 6-9-10 Ginza, Chūō-ku, Tokyo
Ginza is one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. All the big-name fashion brands are here: Louis Vuitton. Prada. Gucci. Ferragamo. Tiffany & Co. Chanel. Dior. Yet the one name that rises above the rest is an American casualwear retailer: Abercrombie & Fitch.
Why Abercrombie & Fitch, you might wonder? After all, every other female Tokyoite that passes by is carrying one edition of an LV bag or another – one would not mistaken in assuming that the French brand has surpassed its competitors in brandname recognition. Ah, but Louis Vuitton does not have the tallest building in Ginza.
Abercrombie & Fitch does.
Thirteen storeys high, with the first eleven floors as retail space and the top two floors for the office and staff quarters. Building space is always a premium in Tokyo, but more so in Ginza, for which “overcrowded” is the norm. This flagship store is the first and only Abercrombie & Fitch outlet in Asia and a lot of brouhaha went along with its opening in Ginza last December, Satomi tells us.
The lines of eager shoppers that went on forever, for blocks and blocks. The loud electronica music in the store that is akin to a construction site in terms of decibels. The ever-present spritzing of their house brand cologne all over the premises by the staff. And of course, the staff themselves.
Oh, let me tell you about the Abercrombie & Fitch guys.
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Apparently, the A&F sales staff are mostly made up of virile, young men in college-casualwear, denim and sneakers and always a brilliant white smile. When the store first opened its doors, the ladies (and some happy gentlemen) flocked to have their pictures taken with these Abercrombie & Fitch guys, in all their shirtless splendour.
Satomi asks me, politely as usual (so charming and disarming – I wish everyone was as serious about decorum as the Japanese), if I’d mind taking a photograph of her and one of the A&F guys. No problem, especially since the A&F doorman already struck a pose the moment he saw me aiming my camera in his direction. These boys are not shy of getting too much attention, evidently.
Devil notices the look on my face and reminds me that they aren’t considered camwhores if it’s their job to look good. That’s true. Why can’t I get a job like this? For that matter, why can’t I be good-looking enough to get a job like this?
Darn.
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3. They Scream for Apples • Sayegusa Honkan, Ginza, Chūō-ku, Tokyo
They scream for apples
These men stuck to the giant clock
Or maybe just the latest iPad
One can’t really be sure
With screaming men stuck to giant clocks.
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4. Leo • 4-5-11 Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo
Iconic.
That’s the only word to describe this Ginza landmark with its curved granite façade and its Neo-Renaissance style architecture. This used to be the Hattori Clock Tower, Satomi tells us, before the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Now it’s the Ginza Wako store, selling watches and jewellery.
This is where we wait to cross the street.
Across from us, is a huge advertisement screen and Leonardo DiCaprio’s famous visage comes on after a series of animated sweet potatoes (don’t ask). I find amusing how many big-name Hollywood stars get drawn to Japan to film a quickie commercial ad that will never be seen in their home country (aside from the usual YouTube cult following).
Think the Gubernator. Think Brad Pitt. Even Tommy Lee Jones have his Boss Coffee, which is a big hit in Japan. This is a phenomenon well captured by Bill Murray’s sad-faced comedic movie star in “Lost for Translation”, yet it’s thrilling to be here, in Tokyo, right now, and discover it’s all real.
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I have this alarming vision of Leo leading a gang of Ginza boys — all-American Abercrombie & Fitch rejects, of course — and invading Tokyo.
Silly me. What nonsense. America invading Japan. Looking at all the labels and the brands imported from the States around me, it’s obvious they already did.
Ah. But. No one does America the way Japan does. Japan has a way of absorbing all the influences and trends from the West and transform/fuse them into something quite distinctive, something quite their own. And then the West notices this, and starts copying Japan in turn — through the movies, the anime, the music, the fashion — and the cycle starts all over again.
The light turns green and we cross the street, en masse.
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5. The Odour of Oden • Otakoh, 8-6-19 Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo
We chat for hours over freshly brewed coffee and mille crêpe with seasonal strawberries at Le Café Doutor. Satomi and I have a lot of catching up to do after ten years since we last met. Careers and ambitions, hopes and dreams, all the usual stuff. It’s nice to be able to take one’s time to do this, rather than to exchange weekly life stories over instant messages when one haven’t the time to meet close friends.
Why don’t we do this more often, I wonder?
We walk around Ginza some more, pop into some of the departmental stores — Matsuya, Mistsukoshi, Muji — and when we pop out some time later, it’s already night. And raining. Thank goodness for those wonderful transparent umbrellas Tokyoites carry around with them everywhere. (And with good reason, in spring.)
It is cold and dark and wet. We needed some warming up, and fast. But where and with what?
Satomi has the perfect solution: Oden.
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Traditionally, oden (おでん) is a Japanese winter dish, a steamy assortment of tofu, processed fish cakes, eggs, seafood, daikon radish and other vegetables stewed and simmered slowly in a light dashi broth. However, it is also eaten all year round, and Satomi tells us you can find cheap and convenient versions at most convenience stores like 7-Eleven during the colder seasons, served in those ubiquitous white polysterene containers.
Fortunately Satomi has found us a table at a proper sit-down restaurant and we warm ourselves first with some hot sake. Clear, slightly sweet and it sure does the trick of warming us up after the cold walk in the rain earlier.
Next we have some finely-sliced sashimi dipped in soy sauce flavoured with diced spring onions and radish. So simple, yet oh so good. We follow this with some menchi boru, which is minced crabmeat shaped into balls and coated with breadcrumbs that is then deep-fried. We squeeze some lemon juice over them to add some tartness and tap it lightly on some of the salt provided. Delicious. We could like this everyday, seriously.
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The pièce de résistance comes last and is well worth the wait. A hot, steaming pot of goodness. Satomi does the honours of serving the oden into smaller, individual bowls for us. The broth is light-tasting, delicate and not overwhelming. Wonderful so the taste of the oden pieces come across naturally – a clean, natural flavour with no hint of Chinese-style MSG overdosing.
We supper and we chat and we chew, we drink sake and we dream of the years that have passed and all the years to come. The odour of oden permeates the room; it’s an odour of nostalgia and memories yet to be made.
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Copyright © 2010 Kenny Mah Ying Fye.
~ the Tokyo, Tokyo series ~
Prologue • Bye Bye Sakura
Part 1 • All You Can Eat Ameyoko
Part 2 • Uniquely Ueno
Part 3 • Okachimachi: The Best Sushi in Tokyo
Part 4 • Tsukiji: The Biggest Fish Market in the World
Part 5 • The Giant Lanterns of Asakusa, or The Girl Called Spring
Part 6 • Yanaka Cemetery: A Picnic with the Departed
Part 7 • Leonardo DiCaprio & the Gangs of Ginza
Part 8 • A Match Made in Meiji
Part 9 • Harajuku Girls in Love
Part 10 • Heavenly Hakone
Part 11 • Where Did Mt. Fuji Go?
Part 12 • Beautiful Boy Ramen
Part 13 • Ghibli Museum: Spirited Away by Princess Mononoke
Part 14 • How We Got Beaten Up by Bruce Lee at Roppongi Hills
Part 15 • Shinjuku Gyoen
Epilogue • The Last Meal in Tokyo
Kenny Mah believes in the good in people. He has been blogging for over ten years. No, his hands aren't tired. Yet.
vir·ile (vîr’əl, -īl’) adj. 1. Capable of performing sexually as a male; potent. … eh, so how u know the staff members there are virile? ahem.
now this song is stuck in my head … you look like a girl from abercrombie & fitch … chinese food makes me sick … :P
i only discovered oden a few years ago, but i love it! the ones at fukuya and iketeru are pretty good, though the one you had looks better!
@Sean: Uhm, they are suggestively virile? :P
And that song, yeah. Seems like from aeons ago now. Where did our youth go? *groans*
Oden: It tasted better mostly cos we had just ran in from the night and the rain. Soul food, this is. :)
For that matter, why can’t I be good-looking enough to get a job like this?
Konnichiwa Kenny, I’m very sure you would rather have the brains than the looks. ;)
@jemima: *considers this for a moment*
Well, yesss… But why can’t I have BOTH the brains AND the looks? Heehee.
v cool kenny. i am reading it backwards but I tell ya, if anyone can do Japan justice, it would be you.
@ciki: Me do Japan justice? You make me sound like some kinda Ultraman rip-off. :P
P.S. Thanks for taking the time to read. No hurry lah – you just got back from New Orleans, after all! Get. Some. Rest. :)
Who said you don’t have both?
You just need to look at yourself straight in the eye & believe in yourself.
You’ll find more than you have ever bargain for.
:D
@jemima: Oh gosh, you are just too sweet for words, dear.
Mostly when I look myself straight in the eye in the morning, I notice eye droppings having not woken up not too long ago. :P
*rolls eyes*
@jemima: Tee hee.
Okay, seriously though? I get what you mean. There is too much potential in all of us that we would hardly do ourselves justice if we just focused on our looks or lack thereof.
I am more than my face and my weight and my waistline.
(But I wasn’t joking about them eye droppings, muahahaha…)
Now, that’s my boy. :D
Them eye droppings means that you’re normal… just like the rest of us. :P
@jemima: Well, I wouldn’t be too sure about “normal”… Some days I am just one step away from the loony bin… :P
our youth isn’t gone. you’d still qualify to be an MCA or DAP “youth wing” member for another 10 years or so. and hey, if we’re talking about music, the fine young cannibals are still around and touring, but their lead singer is in his late 40s. i rest my case.
ahhh my instinct for denial knows no bounds :D
@Sean: Ah, I guess my definition of youth differs significantly from yours, bro. Me, I had my mid-life crisis at the ripe old age of sixteen.
I guess I am one of those people who are born old, then gets younger with them as we discover more to love about life around us.
(Waitaminute, did I just compare myself to Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”? For shame’s sake. Eeks.)
hmmm, when i was 16, i really thought i’d die waaaaay before i hit 30. not that i wanted to, but i didn’t exactly NOT want to either.
if only i could figure out how to, i wouldn’t mind comparing myself to brad pitt in meet joe black. :D
@Sean: I never watched “Meet Joe Black” but from the trailer, he looked way too pretty for his own good. The Brad Pitt of “Babel” some years later was definitely more matured and interesting. :)
hmmm, one man’s matured is another man’s grizzled. or if we take the example of the guy in your blog title today, i’d jump for the joyous, romantic fool of titanic, but steer clear of the brooding, world-weary nut case of shutter island…
@Sean: Yikes. You just reminded me I haven’t caught “Shutter Island” yet. I enjoy all of DiCaprio’s collaborations with Scorcesse so I will be looking out for this.
Can you believe that I can’t remember much about “Titanic” other than its, you know, ending? LOL
wow eye candy! :p
@babe_kl: Eye candy? You are obviously referring to me and the Devil, right? :P
hmmmm, i guess u didn’t watch it six times at the multiplex in 1997 (and bawl each time), the way i did…
as much as i’ve enjoyed gangs of ny, the aviator, the departed and shutter island, i’m so ready to see leo break out of that and do a nice romantic movie (revolutionary road doesn’t count as romantic)…
@Sean: I actually watched it twice in the cineplex in 1997, once with my then best friend, and the second time with a girl when I realised it was a total date movie, hehe.
So I guess we didn’t have the exact experience, haha.
And no, “Revolutionary Road” certainly does not count as a romantic film by any measure… :P
And you didn’t try to pinch the A&F boys even! WHY! :)
@Paul: Now who said I didn’t? ;)
the first time i watched it was with a friend whom i was in love with at that time, but he didn’t know it (and never found out, as far as i know). by the sixth time, i had had a vicious argument with him and we were no longer on speaking terms. so yeah, that movie has some history for me and it’s been inextricably woven into my own doomed romance for me (glub glub) :D
@Sean: Ah, your personal history of doomed, Titanic-level epic high-school romance? Dude, we wanna know more, please! :)
So now they have A&F in Asia ! I did not know that! Did the store play loud music? It’s like a signature of A&F stores and the principle behind is to chase the parents of “kids” out of the stores, so that the kids can shop their way in the store :P
@tigerfish: Oh they sure did. Loud doesn’t even begin to describe it. (I guess I’m getting older too, groans.)
high school?! i was in my second year of university by then lah. but not old or wise enough to avoid the thorn-strewn path of unrequited love. wait for the tale in my memoirs someday (and dare i hope a film adaptation by cameron crowe?) :D
@Sean: You mean you weren’t in high school during the Titanic era? Strange, I always had the impression you were younger than me…
Cameron Crowe strikes me as an excellent choice to adapt your life to screen. He might even persuade Tom Cruise to play you. :D
nope, i’m older and wiser than you =)
actually, i’d like edward norton to play me. i need someone with some gravitas :D
@Sean: Edward Norton? But he’s supposed to play me in my life-to-screen adaptation!
Hang on a minute though. Aren’t either Tom or Ed too Caucasian to play us? I mean, we’re not very white aside from our obvious banana-ness. :P
yeah, i suppose tony leung could play me, but he’s getting a bit too old. who’s the latest fresh-faced hong kong male ingenue? :D there seem to be more choices in the caucasian actor department. robert pattinson could portray u as the morose teen/twentysomething, while matt damon could play u from your 30s onwards :D
@Sean: Robert Pattinson? You want a pale-faced vampire-wannabe to play me, a semi-tanned-face China type? Oy vey. That’s a stretch.
Matt Damon is awesome though. (Wish I had his body circa the Bourne trilogy.)
And Tony Leung just gets better with age – don’t you want to be portrayed with gravitas? :P
Tokyo, Tokyo! so good you have to say it twice :)
@rokh: Can I quote you on that? Sounds like a great tagline for this Tokyo travel series. :D
Just realized Sean is my classmate!
@Paul: OMG. Really? Wow. All hail us Malaccan boys! Wheee…
did u find an A&F guy for me too?? huh huh huh huh huh????
@Jun: Oh, for you, my dear — we saved you ALL of the A&F guys inside the store. ;)
Seriously.. all your Japan posts have made me drool!!! I really want to visit Japan!!!
@Selba: Hahaha, at this rate, the Japanese Tourism Board should really make me an ambassador! :P
I remember cycling to a convenience store during winter to get some oden. they might not be the finest but gosh, were they comforting! that, followed by some kirin or asahi is utmost pleasure.
@Nic (KHKL): That they are, great winter comfort food! Your story reminds me of Leon Lai cycling in “Comrades: Almost a Love Story.” (Of course, without Maggie Cheung in tow lah — or did you have your own version of Maggie?)
Hehe.
is it very cold when you were there? :D
Leo – is he doing the earth hour thingy or another commercial? cannot get enough of him!!!
I agree.. the abercrombie guy is super, super cute!! *drools*
@gina: Not cold at all – nice and cool. Perfect spring weather. :)
Leo was doing another commercial, a car, I think. And yes, Tokyo’s full of eye candy. Heh.
Wah..the A&F guy is really good looking. Wondering how much does he get to pose? Is his job only to pose? but Kenny you don’t look too bad either =)
@Lilian: Hehe. I don’t know how much he gets paid but it sure ain’t enough. ;)
And: *blushes*