Clueless

For those of you who haven't heard the news, Humphery Lyttelton, 'humorist' and famous trumpeter, died yesterday at the age of 86. On hearing news of a celebrity death my normal reaction is "ahh... unfortunate" but for Humph I sniffled quietly in a corner for a few minutes. You could say that at 86 he'd had a good inings, but I maintain that it was far too young for one such as the Lyttelton. Why is it that people have to die?

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I haven't a clue.

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I trooped out to Tokyo today and had a look at the West Imperial Palace Gardens, a nearby science museum (on the advice of Tom and Joel) and the bottom of the Tokyo Tower.

The gardens were truly very present. The wooden shrines, bushes filled with bright coloured flowers, oriental statues and ancient stone walls seemed oddly juxtaposed against the gleaming skyscrapers on the horizon. I'm fond of juxtaposition between the old and new and nowhere does it quite as well as Japan.

As I was eating a banana on a bench marking the spot where the imperial samurai used to train, two pleasant Japanese buisiness men approaced me and we had a nice conversation about London. The first question anyone will ask you when they find you're from England is "do you live in London" followed by "ahh, so how far away from London do you live?". Two questions that I've become very practiced at answering.

Once I'd had my fill of elegant horticulture I headed off on a mission, first to find somewhere to dispose of my banana skin and then to locate the science museum. Considering how startlingly clean Tokyo is, bins are in very short supply and after a long search I had to enter a big gray building to get rid of my peel. Wondering how far away the science museum was and if I'd get there before it shut, I looked up to at the clock on the wall and saw that it was right next to a large sign saying "Welcome to the Science Museum". Spooked, I payed my 600 yen entry fee and wandered in.

The Museum was a lot of fun, though would have been better if I'd had company. Everywhere things went whoosh and pop, though there were no English captions and while my Japanese is good enough to explain that I live 2 hours away from London by train, it falters somewhat when faced with technical explanations of the science behind the Aurora Borealis.

The exhibit which stuck in my mind the most was a scarily lifelike female robot who you could supposedly talk too. She reacted well to my "Konnichiwa", but to my other questions (Are you well? Who made you? How far away from London do you live) just stared blankly and eventually told me to go away and let someone else have a turn. I was quite hurt!

Tokyo Tower, Japan's answer to le Tour Eiffel looked good from the outside, but a little kitsch within. I didn't have the time to take the expensive elevator to the top viewing deck, but had a snoop around the shops on the bottom floor and met the tower's mascot. The poor guy is the same shape as the Tokyo's famous erection but strangely pink. Goodness knows why he smiled so much, he must have been bullied something dreadful at School.

Tomorrow I rise early as I've been invited to see Kamakura with Koike Kei-san, the man who owns and runs my online Japanese school. I may get back too late to write anything, but if I have time expect tales of temples, shrines and 800 year old giant Buddhas.

The journey takes over an hour and a half, so wish me luck finding a seat on the train!