I was mesmerized by the closing sequence of Hou Hsiao Hsien’s “Cafe Lumiere” the first time I saw it. I have never forgotten this hypnotic urban landscape in motion. Yesterday, as we were walking over a bridge near Ochanomizu Station, I suddenly realized that I was seeing this same scene again. These are the kinds of discoveries that make travel exciting and they are the reason I try to walk everywhere. When you travel underground it is faster at the cost of missing all the “in between” things. Some of my best travel experiences have happened somewhere in the space between my departure point and destination. Today’s discovery is a perfect example of one of those serendipitous moments and it is one of my favourite things I have seen in Tokyo so far.

Here is the closing sequence from the movie. It is shot in slow motion from a slightly different perspective than my pictures.

I waited for over an hour to get two or even three trains in the frame at the same time. These are the best shots I got. Sometimes there are even boats travelling up the Kanda River underneath it all. But…trying to get everything in the picture at the same time is like standing around waiting for a solar eclipse to happen by chance. Hou Hsiao Hsien probably sent an assistant up to the bridge and made him stand there all day filming.

Seeing this made me so happy.

A few days later, I went back to the bridge to try my luck again. After a couple of hours, I got this shot which I plan to print and display on my wall at home:

A Sunday trip to visit a rescue cat cafe in Ochanomizu. Neco Republic is warm clean space where the cats seem to be very well cared for. Cute cats are everywhere, some shy and some friendly. Most of them are found or abandoned pets and some are in pretty rough shape. We spent just over an hour there to recharge our cat batteries.

Both of us have cats at home and we both admitted to missing them right away. Luckily, Tokyo has a large number of cat cafes to warm travellers hearts. I am not sure about the ethics of keeping animals in shops for customers entertainment, especially fragile pets like reptiles. Even cats, though domesticated, need their peace and quiet. You have to respect that part of their nature, so I wasn’t sure about cat cafes either. But, we did our research and this place seemed to really put the cats needs first.

Look here if you would like to book a visit. And if you like cat cafes, check out this post about another one in Tokyo.

Jimbocho book town in Chiyoda is the centre for used book sellers and publishing houses in Toyko. Vintage books, prints, magazines, antiques, pornography and movie memorabilia shops spread over a few city blocks.

Jimbocho is also home to a few shops that specialize film production promo prints, original posters and photographs. In a tiny crowded shop called Vintage Jinbocho, I found this beautiful post card of Wong Kar Wai’s “Days of Being Wild”. It has the signature green tint of the original film. You can find Japanese language promotional items for films from all over the world including Hollywood releases. Of course, there are also plenty of promo materials for Japanese films, something that is difficult to find elsewhere. Here is the link to Vintage Jinbocho.

You will see both JiNbocho and JiMbocho used in English spellings. Both are correct.

Kabukicho at night is a “red light” district in Shinjuku, crawling with tourists, working girls, scam artists and host bars. But, it is worth going at least once to see the lights at night. There is a view just outside the entrance to Kabukicho that is like a beautiful scene from a movie. All the movement is mesmerizing. Bright buildings in the background frame a busy road and pedestrian walkway passing under a multi-track train corridor. Everything is moving colour in different directions all at once but it seems to work. Kind of like Tokyo in general.

Today we rode the Hibiya Line on the way to Shibuya to look for records. This train has some of the best sounds I have heard so far. Songs of the Hibiya Line are different at each station. Here is an official list of all the stations from end to end. If I ever travel to Tokyo again, I would like to do a more organized sound map of at least a few lines. It would be fun to go station to station and get good recordings of all the songs on the way, taking pictures of the trains and station interiors. Then again, I wonder who else besides me would be interested in such a document…wouldn’t stop me from making it though. The collection process is the most fun!

Our house was at Minowa Station of the Hibiya Line so this was the line I heard most often.

I enjoy using the Tokyo Metro system. The trains and stations are clean and cheerful. The sounds and maps and ticket machines all combine to add an air of fun to traveling within the city. I know that a tourist’s impression of local transit is not necessary the same as a daily commuters experience. But, I also got to ride a few times in the famous Tokyo rush hour and although you are crushed together like canned sardines, people are polite and cooperative.

If you enjoy subway sounds, check out this post from Seoul and this one from Busan.

Every time I travel somewhere, I seem to find a coffee shop that I like and go there almost everyday. I guess I am a creature of habit where coffee is concerned. This is Iriya Coffee Stand. It is a hole-in-the-wall at the entrance of a residential building on a side street in Iriya.

The featured coffee changes everyday and is always good. I am not sure how the owner makes it…it is not espresso. I think she grinds each dose to order and hand presses the coffee or it may be pour-over. So, it takes a little time but it is always delicious. There are cute little snacks available as well.

The outdoor seating is in a little courtyard off the sidewalk and sheltered from the wind and rain so it’s comfortable even on a chilly morning. You can even wrap yourself in a blanket if you get cold. A nice warm way to start the day.

If you want to see more or come for a visit, here is their Instagram .

Update!! May 20th, 2025:

Senso-ji Temple

Senso-ji Temple is a short walk from our house. Masses of worshipers among clouds of aloes wood gather at the huge site. Lots of tourists in cute kimonos and cool little shops are all around. I bought some knit gloves here. It is cold and windy in Tokyo! Especially at night.

Here is a link to the official website where you can find more information including history and special events.

Sumida River Bank

Along the Sumida River: Tokyo Sky Tree and Asahi Breweries headquarters. This famous Tokyo building designed by Philippe Starck, is topped by the “Asahi Flame” (aka the Golden Poop). The main building is meant to resemble a tall glass of beer complete with foam head on top.

Everyday here is bright sun and blue skies so far…but chilly!

The Skytree is tall and imposing. From a distance, because of all the outer skeleton, it almost looks like it is made out of wood. Every city seems to have it pointy tower somewhere in the skyline and this is Tokyo’s most famous. It kind of resembles our CN Tower in Toronto but with more prominent bones! Here is a link to information in English for Skytree visits.

Some months before we left, we had a look at the Airbnb website for places to stay. The main criteria was to be near a subway line and to have a comfortable place to call home. We didn’t really know what a “good” neighbourhood would be so we just chose something more or less central with subway access. This Taito City airbnb was exactly what we were hoping for. I would definitely stay here again. In case you are interested, here is the listing.

This is our home base in Tokyo. It is small but has everything you could possibly need including a bathtub and laundry machine. My camera doesn’t have a wide angle lens so it is a little tight to photograph. Two of us fit comfortably in here. It is clean and bright and well organized. Anytime I return after living in one of these compact places, I wonder why we seem to need so much space. This is also my first experience with a tatami room and futons like this. But they are comfortable and warm, better than any hotel bed where the sheets are screwed down under the mattress. Lots of windows make it bright and cheerful so it is a nice place to wake up in. I think enough natural light can make any small space liveable for me. I like it here. Iriya is a few minutes walk and has lots of good food, grocery stores and coffee. High quality inexpensive sushi and sashimi is available everywhere. I am eating it everyday, sometimes twice!

Today was our first day out in Tokyo and I was excited to ride the subway and make a test recording of some of the station sounds along the way. I wired up my backpack and we went out to explore.

It seems like every station has it’s own music..listen with headphones or earbuds if you can.

I was inspired to try “field recording” city sounds when I saw Hou Hsiao Hsien’s film Cafe Lumiere. The famous Taiwanese director made this film in Japan. The main character is Yoko. Her close friend Hajime runs a bookstore and is also working on a sound based art project. He travels all over Tokyo collecting train station sounds with a field recorder. Hajime uses the sounds to make an interactive computer map of the Tokyo subway system and links the sound of each station to its location. It is a quiet and relaxed film with beautiful photography of Tokyo.

This one:

For anyone traveling to Tokyo, here is a good website about the metro system . Google/Apple maps also seem to be a pretty reliable source of information for getting around Tokyo. In contrast, Google is much less useful in Korea..as you will see later.

Traveling from Toronto to Tokyo including flight delay took almost 30 hours. I take these long flights pretty often so I am used to the 15 hour plane ride. This time around though, we added 3 hours sitting motionless in a broken plane before being kicked off, followed by a delay of almost 8 hours before we got onboard a new plane. On any 15 hour route, I eventually lose track of time and can hardly remember who I am by the time the flight is half over. But this time, I experienced a whole new level of disorientation. For my daughter’s first flight to Asia, it was a challenging one. But, by the time we got through it all and were horizontal on our futons in Tokyo, we just felt grateful to have made it. We were both looking forward to the next days’ adventures.

We got to go to the de-icing bay. I have only seen this once before. It looks like aliens are attacking the plane from all sides. The crews working in the snow all day had a much rougher time than we did.

Inside the spaceship….blue glow of television light

In flight sounds

A few hours after we took off from Pearson in Toronto, Delta 4819 crashed while landing at the snow covered airport. Thankfully no one lost their lives although there were some serious injuries. The airport closed for a day following the accident. As frustrating and exhausting as air travel can be, arriving safely at your destination is the most important thing. I think we were quite lucky to even get here today.

This morning I wake up and open the blinds, and this is the very first thing I saw in Japan:

They are construction security guards. I love the uniforms : ) It is so beautiful and sunny here.