It felt like the time I arrived in Hong Kong at the height of the SARS scare. The airport was eerily quiet and people were walking around with masks on – there wasn’t the usual buzz one associated with Hong Kong airport.
One thing was different – at Narita, the corridors were also dark due to energy-saving measures in place since the earthquake and tsunami took out the Fukushima nuclear power plant.With the heavy rain pelting down outside, it all felt rather gloomy.
The queue was short at immigration. At the counter, there’s a little device where you are supposed to place your two index fingers, push hard and then look straight into the camera. It’s hard to know when you’re done but the woman officer kept saying to me, “Push harder.”
I did, so hard the device shook, and she burst into a smile.
During the taxi ride into the city – I found two fellow passengers and we agreed to split the fare (the rain was just too heavy to think of trains and buses) – the driver spoke once. “Tokyo Disney,” he pointed as we passed by the theme park.
I was told that tickets to the theme park were selling well with local Japanese because people were so depressed and since they weren’t travelling overseas as they used to, this was a good stress-reliever.
I checked into a very quiet Rihga Royal in Shinjuku. The first thing one has to do in Japan is to figure out how the toilet works. There are so many buttons on the left hand side – with very cute pictures, may I add.
I tried one which looked like a flush. Except it only sounded like a flush but you don’t see any water movement. I tried again, and then realized it’s only a “camouflage” flush – so people don’t hear you doing your business.
The real flush, my friends, is that big steel knob on the side of the tank where it always is. You just get fooled by all those fancy buttons so you miss the obvious.
At the Park Hyatt, where we dined at the New York Grill (the place made famous by the movie “Lost In Translation”), I am told the toilet has a button which shows an image of powder puffs. I wonder what that does.
This is what I remember best about Japan – the little quirks that make it so unique. It looks like a global city but scratch the surface and there are local idiosyncracies everywhere and in this world of globalization and same-ness, I find this rather refreshing.
As a traveler, it really feels like you are in a foreign land.(The picture, in case you are wondering, is that of a birthday cake we got at the Grill)
The Park Hyatt, I learnt from talking to the staff, is running at 35% occupancy. There’s lots of candles in the lobby which lends a soft, romantic glow to the place.
The Grill has a stunning view of the city and yes, I will say it again – the city isn’t as bright as I recall it. This is a city that’s still healing after a major trauma to the country.
I am told that outbound travel is beginning to pick up again and while the recent Golden Week was nowhere near usual levels – they say about 40% down on last year which in itself was a slow year – at least there’s a glimmer of hope that the Japanese, such avid travellers, will soon start venturing abroad again.
Business travellers are the first to pick up their bags and travel. Because people aren’t coming in, like they used to, they have to get out.
You hear different stories from different people you speak to. One says business should get back to normal after September and October. “Tokyo’s a big city, people have to come back to do business here.”
It’s the discretionary leisure travel market that will take the longest to recover. There are just too many choices for travellers today and it seems to me that if Japan really wants to kickstart its tourism industry, it needs to take some bold measures and this is the perfect time to do it.
Speaking selfishly, the first thing it should do is remove visa requirements for its neighbours from Asia – this is the region that’s on the move and will be the first to return. Yes, I finally got my visa and guess what, it’s a single entry.
