Fishy to Flashy.
Gritty to Glitzy.
Raucous to Respectable.
All that within the few interesting miles from the rowdy fish markets of Tsukiji 築地市場 to the more refined temples of commerce at Ginza 銀座.
Like every other visitor to Tokyo, I spent the earlier part of the morning sampling fresh seafood - the half of which I couldn't ever name - while brusquely pushing my way through the ever-growing crowds at the Tsukiji markets just to get that all-important tick on my bucket list. Though Charming Calvin raved about it, I wasn't too impressed with the rolled omelettes on offer but then I've never been a fan of tamago. However being over here in Tokyo has made me a serious fan of the tuna sashimi!
Stuffed to the gills with fish, oysters and other unrecognizable shellfish, we made our slow way towards the glitzier end of the neighbourhood. From Tsukiji where rowdy merchants handed out dried cuttlefish while hollering for a peek at their available wares slowly and inexorably transformed into Ginza with the more stereotypical Japanese salesperson deeply bowing and whispering a clear but muted invitation to their posh ateliers.
Think anyone who has heard of Tokyo would know of the world-renowned shopping of Ginza with its streets lined by department stores, world-class designer boutiques and well-established stores. With Hokōsha Tengoku 歩行者天国 in place leaving the main thoroughfare of Chuo-dori closed to traffic, it was the perfect time for a walkabout around Ginza while people watching.
Not to mention the occasional artist playing on the streets; only here would you have the talented Chie Hanawa in a kimono playing the age-old shamisen while utilizing some of the most cutting edge music technology available.
After a couple of days in Tokyo with an entire day spent just watching the people go by on Chuo-Dori, it would be hard to disagree with the general notion that yes, Asian boys do all look alike. Let's be entirely racist but even I have some difficulty telling the carbon copy hotties apart in a Chinese / Korean television series initially, at least during the first episode. Like the dozen or so male characters appearing simultaneously in the first episode of Nirvana in Fire, I could barely tell them apart.
Not that they aren't all equally attractive.
It is however entirely possible to tell apart those with looks more stereotypical of different regions in East Asia, such as me since I'm clearly from Southern China with my flatter nose and rounder face. Yes, yes there are wide variations of course but even the soldiers in the Terracotta Army can be differentiated by their faces to tell where they originally came from.
One surprisingly easy way to differentiate the Japanese boys would be their distinctive hairstyles. Rather than slicked back up like me, most of them have their perfectly mussed hair hair flopping down meticulously over their foreheads.
Gritty to Glitzy.
Raucous to Respectable.
All that within the few interesting miles from the rowdy fish markets of Tsukiji 築地市場 to the more refined temples of commerce at Ginza 銀座.
Like every other visitor to Tokyo, I spent the earlier part of the morning sampling fresh seafood - the half of which I couldn't ever name - while brusquely pushing my way through the ever-growing crowds at the Tsukiji markets just to get that all-important tick on my bucket list. Though Charming Calvin raved about it, I wasn't too impressed with the rolled omelettes on offer but then I've never been a fan of tamago. However being over here in Tokyo has made me a serious fan of the tuna sashimi!
Stuffed to the gills with fish, oysters and other unrecognizable shellfish, we made our slow way towards the glitzier end of the neighbourhood. From Tsukiji where rowdy merchants handed out dried cuttlefish while hollering for a peek at their available wares slowly and inexorably transformed into Ginza with the more stereotypical Japanese salesperson deeply bowing and whispering a clear but muted invitation to their posh ateliers.
Think anyone who has heard of Tokyo would know of the world-renowned shopping of Ginza with its streets lined by department stores, world-class designer boutiques and well-established stores. With Hokōsha Tengoku 歩行者天国 in place leaving the main thoroughfare of Chuo-dori closed to traffic, it was the perfect time for a walkabout around Ginza while people watching.
Not to mention the occasional artist playing on the streets; only here would you have the talented Chie Hanawa in a kimono playing the age-old shamisen while utilizing some of the most cutting edge music technology available.
After a couple of days in Tokyo with an entire day spent just watching the people go by on Chuo-Dori, it would be hard to disagree with the general notion that yes, Asian boys do all look alike. Let's be entirely racist but even I have some difficulty telling the carbon copy hotties apart in a Chinese / Korean television series initially, at least during the first episode. Like the dozen or so male characters appearing simultaneously in the first episode of Nirvana in Fire, I could barely tell them apart.
Not that they aren't all equally attractive.
It is however entirely possible to tell apart those with looks more stereotypical of different regions in East Asia, such as me since I'm clearly from Southern China with my flatter nose and rounder face. Yes, yes there are wide variations of course but even the soldiers in the Terracotta Army can be differentiated by their faces to tell where they originally came from.
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| Quite a few of the boys could have come out of the many yaoi bara titles around! |
One surprisingly easy way to differentiate the Japanese boys would be their distinctive hairstyles. Rather than slicked back up like me, most of them have their perfectly mussed hair hair flopping down meticulously over their foreheads.
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