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Letter 58
Tuesday 08.10.13 0 km
Nori has succeeded getting a day off, so we can go to Tokyo together. It's
the second in command,
that doesn't have classes of his own that takes his class today.
I did manage to see the big Buddha in Nara, but there's another big Buddha to
see not so far away.
It's actually more than 100 m tall. 134 m to ba exact. That's even higher than
the Main Hall Tower
in Copenhagen...
We go there by car. On the way Nori says that often we'd be able to see it from
where we are now,
but apparently not today. And then we drive on.
After a turn it rises up behind the forrest in all it's 134 m. It comes as a
total surprise and is
overwhelming. One more of these experiences I've had a couple of before - latest
in Salzburg. A
sudden and surprising picture that sticks to my mind.
Donald Duck fanatics will understand my next assosiation: "The Maharaja of
Moneystan". That's precisely
how it is. A huge statue rising in a bare field. It's a bronze layer build upon
a skeleton of steel
and concrete - and you can get into it.
The big Buddha with and without Nori
First we enter a room where the lights a dimmed and switched off, so only a row
of small blue lamps
can be seen, while a voice tells you something.
Then you can go to the 5th level to watch the view. How many floors that equals
I don't know, maybe
30? There are different pictures and sculptures of Buddha and posters about his
life.
In one of the other levels the walls are filled with golden Buddhas in two sizes.
By giving a donation
of a certain amount you can have your name on a plate in one of them. There are
names from Myanmar
too, and still some to buy...
Then we go home, and the father takes us to Toride Sta. where we take the train
and buy a one day
ticket for the metro. 710 Y, that's cheap.
But Tokyo is a real big city, you feel it, when you have to go from one place to
another. Tokyo Sta.
er so huge, that just to get from one side to the other is a task. Nori has to
ask for help twice
before we find the passage we have to follow, and we're walking almost one km
before we get there.
The changes with the metro takes time too. If you can find the direction at all
for your new line,
there are signs: 300 m... 170m... 65m...
We go to the fishmarket, where Nori never was before, and we eat there. There's
an overwhelming
amount of dried things in bags.
I have got a task with a knitting book. It drags out... First we go to a big
book shop, but they
cannot help us. Then to another where they can get it in about 10 days. And as
we going to the
street with shops that sell old books, we try this too. They're all specialized
in different types
and we do succeed finding a shop with fashion books and they have hundreds of
Vogues monthly
Magazines dating from the 80'es till today. But this special edition - I think
it is - we don't
find.
Photo from just before we headed home
In the evening we're going out for dinner. We're back so late, that the father
picks us up at the
station and takes us there directly. It's the mother that invites, and she's
invited some of her
collegues too. Nice laughing people.
The room is divided in two, one part with two normal tables and one part with
two tables in japanese
style. They've brought "my" stool, on which I normally sit.
From a lively evening...
It turns out to be a lively night. Beside the beer and the sake I have to taste
soujou, another
japanese speciality in stronger variations than sake. The strongest is 40%, I
think. They have like
sake a mild taste even I can feel the 40%.
The food is delicious. we have a starter and from there you just take from one
of the 2 common plates
with other dishes.
When we're about to leave the host comes with a note in danish! "Tak for
besøget" or something similar.
That's the closest I've come to meeting a dane.
Next surprise: a stranger is driving the car back. If you have something to
drink, you hire a chauffeur
to drive you home. When we get there, a car that has been following us, stops
too. It's the drivers
wife I guess. He must be able to go on from here. A solution to be taken up in
Europe and entirely
in the japanese spirit.
I think Nori said it costs 2200 Y = 16€.