Gerald's World or Tales of the Black Unicorn

GODZILLA! The next two days, my new friend Suguru is my guide to the city. He takes me on my first trip on the insanely efficient Japanese subway. The system, made up of 13 lines run by two different companies - Tokyo Metro and Japan Rail (JR), has signs and announcements in Japanese and English which is nice. I had always heard that Tokyo, and by extension Japan, was not friendly to tourists but the very reassuring train voice gives us the stops in Japanese and English which helps somewhat in the deciphering of how to get from place to place. The warning signs on the car doors  are populated with cute animals in train conductor uniforms telling you:  ‘Don’t stick your arm outside the moving car,’ and ‘Chewing on seats is wrong!’ I am definitely listening to the cute conductor panda warning me seat eating is off limits. The system is extensive and the trains go everywhere. Even for a New Yorker, it's overwhelming but not impossible. I had already purchased my Suica pa...

The shrine two blocks from my hotel I arrive in Tokyo the morning of August 18, about 9 am. I am giddy with excitement and completely freaked at the same time. Tokyo is out of my comfort zone. All the times I have traveled alone it is to countries where I could get by on a few words of the language, a puzzled look, and my smile. Tokyo is a different story. It is so foreign to me, I have no idea if my usual tricks and mystique will work. Don’t get me wrong, I have wanted to go to Japan for a long time. The foreignness that scared me is the same thing that intrigued me. So different from everything I have known. I have been a big fan of the food since my friend Robert’s dad took us to sushi in high school. At the time, sushi was a luxury, a big unknown outside of NYC. in the early 80’s, a sushi meal would run you a couple of hundred (upwards of $500) dollars because it was so nouveau. I mean it was eating raw fish. What were those Japanese people thinking? When I told my grandmo...