東京 Eastern Capital, Tōkyō

Wesley nudges me awake as our plane lands into Narita airport. We took a few days off work in Shanghai to visit Tokyo.

The train is cleaned before we enter onto it. The softspoken soundsystem seems to whisper in high-pitched voice “Kon'nichiwa, kaigai de kangei shimasu. Ressha wa sugu ni Naritakūkō kara, c e shuppatsu shimasu.”

こんにちは、海外で歓迎します。列車はすぐに成田空港から、東京へ出発します。

I’ve never been in such a labyrinth of confusion. Shanghai was loud and hectic, but Tokyo just had so much. Mass. Expanse. People. Wes flags down and cab. The door opens automatically. As I slide onto the leather seats, the white-gloved driver takes our address card and whisks us into the heart of the confusion. I felt like Marlowe going into the Heart of Darkness.

The receptionist at the hotel Hanabi gestures for us to remove our shoes and place them into lockers. As

we walk in, I see no furniture only a room with bamboo flooring. In the cupboard are little mats for Wes and I to roll out and sleep on.

 At night, we talk the subway into Shibuya and walk the busiest crosswalk in the world. We sit in a tiny sushi restaurant, ordering rolls off of iPads and waiting for it to slide out on wheels out to us.

When we walk the streets, Harajuku girls with large eyes and long eyelashes motion for us to come in. Bows in their hair and tutus on their waist. It was a fantasy world.