Mechakucha めちゃくちゃ

The Tour de France?  No, the real tough hill climbing cycle event is the Tour de Utsukushigahara, with its gekisaka (檄坂 – severe slope).  The race is only 22km in distance, but ascends 1,270 metres up to Utsukushigara from Asama Onsen (in Matsumoto) – the first few hundred metres of the race ascendup an 18% incline.  Last weekend, I headed up to Asama Onsen, with a group of friends – Phil, Matt, Bruce, Naoko & Dan) to take on the mountain and join the Tour.  Most of them had done the race before, but I was a first timer anda little unsure whether I’d make it.  Matt is an around-the-world cyclist who has just arrived from England by bike (see worldwidebikeride.com), and was not going to rest up too much in Tokyo when there was a mountain to race up!

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A 22km bike ride in the mountains?  No problems, put my name down.  What, a 1,270 metre ascent up the mountain?  What was I thinking?  Japan’s “gekisaka” (severe slope) hill climb event – the Tour de Utsukushigahara.  What a way to celebrate the first anniversary of my arrival in Japan.  I haven’t had time to post all the details yet, but to keep you interested, here’s a link to a photo album.  All you need to know for now is that I survived, but my legs are still sore.

Warning signs are rife in Tokyo, and I’ve taken on a curious fascination with them.  They’re an indicator of how society (or at least authority) expects people to behave, and what behaviour is perceived to require addressing!  In Tokyo, the Do’s and Don’t’s are everywhere, whether it’s to save you from yourself, or to stop you causing meiwaku (discomfort) to others.  (I think if I had a motto for living in Tokyo, it would be 迷惑をかけないように！or “Don’t cause meiwaku!”)

I’ve already posted here and here about the Tokyo Metro manners campaign poster series.  The subway is a good place to find lots of other signs telling you how to behave and how not to interfere with the comfort of others.  This is on the sliding platform gates on the Mita Line, which line up perfectly with the train doors when it pulls in.  I thought these gates were meant to make the station safer, but, going by the dire warning signs, they’re very very dangerous!  (Imagine trying to get an Australian train to stop at the right place on the platform for its doors to line up with platform gates – what an endless debacle that would be.)

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When the ajisai (hydrangea) are blooming, you know it’s the rainy season.  First it’s ume (plum) blossoms in March, then sakura (cherry) blossoms in April, then tsutsuji (azaleas) in May, and now ajisai in June.  Next it’s summer.  These ajisai were found on a suitably rainy at Hakusan-jinja in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo.

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The Suijo Bus is a tourist ferry with a different few routes along the Sumida River and on Tokyo Bay, and is a great way to see Tokyo from another aspect that many people don’t see.  It’s a good reminder that Tokyo is actually a waterfront city, which is easy to forget when in many of Tokyo’s major districts.  But Tokyo Bay is no Sydney Harbour, and you need to look for the subtle and smaller things to take maximum enjoyment.

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Clash leads to crash! Actually, it’s not an “L” sound and “R” sound error – just a bad translation of “shototsu” (衝突), which means “collision” – or perhaps “clash”.  This sign is at a blind corner on the walkway between Hamamatsu-cho station and the Hinode pier.  I thought the picture was amusing, whichever language the sign is in.

This weekend I encountered another level of Japanese change room etiquette and a socially acceptable way of covering your face rolled into one.

When I tried on a T-shirt in a Shibuya store this weekend, I was politely and routinely asked by the store attendant to wear a face cover, as she pointed to a box on the change room floor.  The box contained flat-packed material bags labelled as “Face Covers”, but without additional explanation. 

Putting on my thinking cap, I realised that I was meant to put this thing over my head so that my face didn’t directly touch the clothes that I was trying on as I pulled it over my head.  Is this fastidiousness gone overboard?

Japanese change room etiquette requires taking your shoes off before stepping inside – it’s easy to see if a change room is occupied because of the shoes outside.  But I was previously unaware that I might be required to put a bag over my head to protect the store’s merchandise from myself.  I can’t imagine consumers back in Australia being very compliant if they were asked to cooperate with this.

This photo, taken on my mobile phone camera via the change room mirror, shows the result.  I’ve had confirmation from a Japanese friend that I got it right.

I’ve already posted about face masks in Japan.  Do I detect a broader trend of face covering?