Traveling Tokyo

Written and photographed by Shahed Kayes

 

Japan has always fascinated me since my childhood. When I was in middle school, we had an essay in our textbook named “The Children of China and Japan.” After reading that essay it seemed to me that Japan was heaven for children. Later on, in my high school geography textbook, I read an essay on Japan where it was mentioned that Japan is known as the “Land of the Rising Sun.” Though I had a dream since my childhood to someday travel to Japan, I never had a chance. At last I got the opportunity to travel to Japan last year after finishing my first semester.

I traveled to Tokyo from Busan along with two friends and classmates, Dinesh Kc and Tao Don Tajaroensuk, on February 27, 2017. After the immigration procedure at Narita Airport, it was lunch time, so we decided to have our lunch inside the airport before we started for our accommodation, Space Hostel Tokyo. While we were having our lunch, we met a group of Japanese students at the food court. They were traveling to the Philippines, and we had a good chat during our lunch. They were very friendly and helpful. I read a lot about how the Japanese are a polite and gentle people, and that day I realized it was true. It was really a very good start in Japan.

After touching down on Japanese soil, the first imprint upon my heart was that I had to come to Japan again and again to learn and to enrich myself. Japan is an Asian country that has fully embraced Europe in terms of science and knowledge, and has established its position in the first world while maintaining its own identity. During World War II, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by the U.S. with the first and only nuclear weapons to have ever been used in war. After that huge amount of destruction, how Japan has stood back up in such a short time is truly amazing! There’s an expression in my language of Bengali, “the Goddess of Politeness,” and when I talk to any Japanese, I can feel that politeness. They don’t talk much, but instead devote themselves to their work silently, like saints.

Space Hostel Tokyo
My friends and I reached Space Hostel Tokyo in Taito-ku by riding on the high-speed Skyliner railway from Narita International Airport. It took 40 minutes to reach our hostel. The hostel’s ambience was beautiful and intimate. There were guests from 15 countries in the hostel at that time, most of whom were students and travelers. The charge was quite reasonable compared to other places in Tokyo. The day I reached Tokyo, I learned two useful Japanese terms from one of the Japanese guests: konnichiwa (hello) and arigatou gozaimasu (thank you). Throughout my travels in Tokyo, whenever I met any Japanese, I used these two words as greetings.

Pictures of Authors and Scientists on Japanese Currency
There are pictures of the king, the founder of the nation, or the president on the currency of almost all countries in the world, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, South Korea, and the U.S. I was very surprised to see that Japanese currency didn’t have any picture of a king, queen, or head of the Japanese government on its coins and notes, unlike other countries. There were instead pictures of eminent writers and scientists from Japan on their currency. I was really surprised when seeing the Japanese peoples’ mindset towards their intellectuals; the Japanese nation knows how to respect its most knowledgeable persons!

I asked a few Japanese people in our hostel about the historical figures represented, but they couldn’t say anything about them. The next day, when we went to visit the Tokyo National Museum, I asked the information officer of the museum, Mr. Kanako Kemura. He explained that Hideyo’s image was on the 1,000-yen note. Also known as Seisaku Noguchi, he was a scientist and bacteriologist who was born in Fukushima in 1876 and died in 1928. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1913–1915, 1920, 1921, and 1924–1972.

Higuchi Ichiyo’s image is on the 5,000-yen note. She was a renowned writer in Japan who was also known as Natsuko Higuchi. Ichiyo was born in 1872 in Tokyo and died in 1896 at the young age of 24, and yet she achieved literary excellence at such a young age! Fukuzawa Yukichi’s image is on the 10,000-yen note. He was born into an Osaka samurai family in 1835 and died in 1901. He was a writer, teacher, and social reformer. He’s also known as a civil rights activist, a liberal idealist, and one of the founders of modern Japan. Known as the Voltaire of Japan, his most famous work is An Encouragement of Learning (Gakumon no Susume).

Renko-ji Buddhist Temple
I visited the Renko-ji Buddhist Temple with my friends Dinesh and Tao on the first day. Just a 15-minute walk from the Koenji Metro Station, the temple houses a statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, whom we honored by observing three minutes of silence.

I should explain briefly about Bose. He was a great leader and visionary on the Indian subcontinent, which consists of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, where he’s still an idol and source of great encouragement for many people. In August 1945, at the age of 48, Bose, one of the main victims of India’s independence struggle against the British, disappeared. During World War II, Bose developed a friendship with Japan to fight against the British for the independence of India. Bose formed a radical group of freedom fighters, the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). Azad Hind Fauj fought fierce battles against British soldiers in India, Singapore, and Burma. On August 17, 1945, Bose left Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on a military aircraft. The following day, a Japanese radio broadcast announced that he’d lost his life in a plane crash in Taipei along with a Japanese passenger. Bose’s death or disappearance is still mysterious.

Since then, Bose’s ashes have been kept in the Renko-ji Buddhist temple in Sugniami-ku, Tokyo. On August 18, an annual memorial service is organized on behalf of this temple for the memory of Bose. Although there’s a debate about whether this temple really preserves Bose’s ashes, three former prime ministers of India have visited this temple, and many regular visitors come to pay their respects. It was a great experience for me to pay my respect to Bose while visiting the temple.

Japanese Cuisine
Since the day we arrived in Tokyo, we traveled randomly to many places like Renko-ji Buddhist Temple, Tokyo National Museum, Hachiko Square at Shibuya Station, Tsukiji Market, San’ya alleys, and Akihabara (not to mention all the times we went out to experience the nightlife in Tokyo). We were always traveling, and when we were hungry, we searched for fast food shops where we could get food at a reasonable price. Usually, we had our lunch and dinner at any hotel near Wino Park and sometimes at Shibuya Station. I liked Japanese food, especially sushi. Sushi is served with raw fish that’s sometimes smoked with mustard sauce (wasabi), one of the most delicious sauces.

Tokyo National Museum
On our second day in Tokyo, we visited the Tokyo National Museum where there’s a special discounts for students. You just have to show your student ID card and the discount is yours. We paid only 410 yen. To understand a nation, it’s necessary to understand its history and culture, as its present and future are created and developed based on those past traditions. So, it’s important to visit national and folk museums of any nation when you are traveling.

On the premises of the Tokyo National Museum, there are four other buildings: Honkan (Japanese Gallery), Horyu-ji (Horyu Treasury), Toyokan (Asian Gallery), and Hyokeikan (a space for temporary exhibitions). In general, houses and offices are small but quite livable. However, wherever called for, structures are built on a large scale, such as the Tokyo National Museum. The museums and galleries are well structured and the architecture of all the buildings is spectacular. Also, there’s a huge park outside the museum for visitors to sit in a green space of natural surroundings.

In Summary
Though the food, accommodation, and transport in Japan are expensive, it’s worth visiting to experience Japanese culture and meet the wonderful people. It was an excellent experience for me to travel in Tokyo. I recommend that you all visit Japan at least once in your life.

THE AUTHOR
Shahed Kayes is a poet and human rights activist from Bangladesh. He has published three volumes of poetry in Bengali and edited an anthology of Bengali love poems. He has also produced one book in English entitled Laureates of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Award: Who Really They Are? At present, he is pursuing an MA in human rights at Chonnam National University in Gwangju.