5 Things to do in Tokyo

        

           Half a century ago Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, travelled to Tokyo and wrote of ‘appalling over-crowding’ and ‘endless and very depressing suburbs’. Not much has changed in those respects. Japan’s capital remains exceptionally busy and pretty ugly. It’s not a place that is going to win the average tourist over in a heartbeat. Still, Tokyo does have some great things to offer the traveller. Here is a small selection.  

          The lovely and extensive Hama-rikyu Gardens (300 yen) are situated near the high-end shopping district of Ginza and the celebrated Tsukiji fish market, the world’s largest. While the environs (a dirty moat, busy roads and skyscrapers in all directions) are not promising, the park itself is beautiful. There is a large tidal pond, which is supposedly frequented by green crabs, goby and other exotic fish, although you may be hard pressed to spot them in the murky green water. 

        Wooden bridges traverse the waterways, and the lawns and pine trees are painstakingly manicured. A cool breeze blows in off the nearby Sumida River, bringing with it the smell of the sea, and you can relax on benches in the shade or crash out beneath an arbour. In June, blue hydrangea flowers blossom. Ulysses S. Grant, the legendary U.S. civil war commander and rather less successful president, stayed here in 1879, in a building that was sadly demolished ten years later. 

          The best way to travel to the Hama-rikyu Gardens is by the Suijo water bus (740 yen), which departs from the heavily touristed district of Asakusa. This journey down the Sumida River is an absolute joy if your usual means of transportation in Tokyo is the train at rush hour. The best place to sit is at the back in the open air. From this vantage point you can study the city’s many bridges (‘of great individuality’, according to the tourist hype), and look out for Tokyo Tower as you near your destination. You might also want to try a glass of the excellent Downtown Ale (‘Recommend!’). 

          Down a long avenue shaded by sloping trees and featuring three handsome wooden torii gates lies Meiji-jingu (no entrance fee), a most attractive shrine that commemorates Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) and his wife. The approach is notable for a wall of sake barrels and a thoroughly out-of-place collection of sixty wooden wine barrels gifted by winemakers in Burgundy. For 500 yen you can write a wish or message of thanks to the enshrined deities on a small wooden plaque, or ema; a magnificent tree before the shrine is surrounded by hundreds of these. 

          There is also a shady and appealingly overgrown garden (500 yen), whose white, purple and blue irises are irresistible to camera-wielding Japanese visitors. Turtles and huge carp swim in a small pond at the southern end. Admire the beautiful surroundings and ignore the misleading tributes to the Emperor, who we read spent his life ‘earnestly praying for… peace with other countries’, when in fact his reign saw the annexation of Korea and other acts of expansionism. 

          Even if you don’t feel like hitting the bottle, you ought still to pay a visit to the nightlife centre of Roppongi. The scene that plays out at night in this famous hive of sleaze and drunkenness has to be seen to be believed. You may encounter besuited and apparently respectable Japanese businessmen passed out on the floor of the metro station, while the streets above are filled with Turkish restaurants, faux British pubs, ‘snack’ bars and smoky nightclubs throbbing with house music. A staggering number of black African men loiter on the sidewalks, desperately (and illegally) seeking to persuade booze hounds to enter establishments of ill-repute.

          It’s hard to believe, but you can go kayaking in the heart of Tokyo. Although the city’s rivers and canals are not very easy on the eye, it has to be a more rewarding way of burning calories than working out in a hotel gym. You need to be in some sort of shape to undertake the two to three hour journey with the Tokyo Great Kayaking Tour (6000 yen), for it’s a pretty exhausting Sunday morning endeavour. 

          Starting from Kayabacho, you cross the busy Sumida River, avoiding water buses and young thrill seekers, before entering the narrow and deserted waterways to the east. Here you are likely to come across small kids waving at you from bridges and hardy jellyfish that have somehow adapted to life in the city’s polluted rivers. It’s invigorating, and you’ll get a free beer or chu-hai at the end. 

Kayaking in Tokyo

            ‘Was that a jellyfish?’

          ‘Nah, I think it was a plastic bag.’

          Actually, it was a jellyfish. I’d never imagined there were such exotic creatures in Tokyo’s dark and murky rivers. In fact, it’s hard to believe there are any fish at all down there, but our guide Yuki, a friendly native of Kobe, assures us there are ‘some small ones’. 

          This is my second experience of kayaking, the first having taken place in a mangrove swamp in Okinawa. It’s fair to say the surroundings on that occasion were more attractive. Here we can see high concrete banks, rusty and half-submerged boats, the odd business hotel, flowerless cherry blossom trees and innumerable low and uninspiring bridges. Not Venice, in short. 

          The second of our guides, a brown-faced and fit-looking man named Hideki, runs us through the rudiments of kayaking before we’re let loose upon the city’s waterways. This demonstration takes about five minutes, and it all appears pretty straightforward: keep your arms at right angles and move your upper body from side to side as you paddle. 

          Once in the water, my Pennsylvanian companion and I discover things might not be so easy after all. Our initial efforts to go straight see us hit the embankments on both sides of the river. (Two and a half hours later we’re still zigzagging, expending masses of energy in the process.) 

          The first section of our route takes us across the wide and choppy Sumida River, tourist boat territory. ‘This is the most difficult part’, Yuki observes, several of our predecessors having apparently failed even to make it to the other side. We wait as a river bus ploughs serenely by, sending out small waves that cause our kayaks to bob gently up and down. Then we head north up the Sumida, the wind making it easier to progress than on the secluded canal we just exited. 

          As my earlier comments suggest, the rivers we paddle through are far from clean. There are baseballs, tennis balls, plastic bottles and cartons, even a dead bird. Near our landing stage it looked like there had been a minor oil slick. Falling in seems a deeply unpleasant prospect. 

          Getting wet is unavoidable, and my shirt is soaked soon after we begin. I quickly establish that wearing sunglasses is strongly advisable, in light of the spray from our paddles, but there’s little to be done about the salty river water getting into your mouth. The paddling is punishing on the upper arms, and when we pause for a break I devour a bag of snacks like a man who’s been subsisting on a diet of insects for a couple of weeks.

          There aren’t many people on the bridges we paddle beneath, but the young Japanese kids who see us seem rather awestruck. We bellow out ‘konnichiwa’ in response to their waves, feeling like celebrities. 

          After at least 6 kilometres of paddling we struggle out of our kayaks, Hideki congratulating us by saying ‘Otskare sama deshita’ (‘thank you for your hard work’). We return to the company’s office for a cold beer and talk of Tokyo. It’s been exhausting, but one of the best things I’ve done in this city. 

Info: Tokyo Great Kayaking Tour runs tours from near Kayabacho Station (Hibiya Line) for 6000 yen per person. This price includes kayak and life jacket rental, a bag of snacks, a bottle of water and a beer at the end!