A Midnight Walk: from Asakusa to Kamata in 5 Hours
Sometimes, the greatest adventures (or stupidities, depending on how you think about it) occurs under the most unexpected circumstances during the most unusual timings. And yesterday was definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime out-of-the-blue experiences that I will probably never have the chance to do again (nor would want to do again). The story starts with my visiting my relatives up in Saitama Prefecture for some dinner and conversations. I depart around midnight, expecting that, since it is the New Years holidays, the trains will run much later into the early morning than usual.
In a way I was right, I managed to catch the empty last train from Saitama to Asakusa in northeastern side of Tokyo at about 5 minutes past midnight, drifting in and out of sleep as the train slowly pulled itself toward Asakusa terminal. The arrival time was half an hour past midnight, and the little historical neighborhood was deserted. The subways (the only public transportation in and out of the place) was (to my moderate "shock") completely shut down and no one, except a few foreigners praying at the towering Senso Shrine, was present on the cold, pitch dark streets.
I had two options, to take a taxi that will probably cleanse every penny I got in my wallet at the moment, or...walk. Being the cheapest traveler (and person, for that matter) I know, I automatically chose the option that is...less costly. I probably had no idea what I was getting into until I visited a nearby hotel and asked the guy at the front about directions. And there I approached with perhaps the most ridiculous question I have asked in all my travels, "which way is, eh, south?"
The guy asked me where I was going. "Shinagawa direction," I said, without telling him that Kamata, being another half an hour by train south from Shinagawa, was my final destination. A look of unbelieving yet friendly smile spread over his face (I am probably not the only crazy guy to walk in at midnight and say something like that), and he simply tells me to head east until I hit Ueno Station and then just follow the train track all the way south.
Departure time: 12:40am. The first leg from Asakausa to Ueno was not at all difficult. Wakened by the freezing winter breeze, I concentrated on walking and looking around to make sure nothing strange is approaching under the dim street lights. Speed walking was the only way for me to keep myself warm enough against the 5 degree Celsius weather. The fast pace allowed me to clear the 3km to Ueno in less than 15 minutes. The usually crowded and noisy station seemed so deserted, the silence broken only occasionally by the patrolling policeman, the movements of the homeless in their makeshift shelter, and....me.
The more I walked, the more my optimism started to surge. Akihabara was cleared in another 15 minutes, and Kanda and Otemachi stations in less than 20 minutes. The always lit skyscrapers of central Tokyo were in full view and my body is seeing no sign of tiring. The "lets walk a bit until I can catch the first train in the morning back home" attitude was quickly replaced with "pssh, this is easy, I bet I can get home before the trains start back up again."
Yet, doubts began to grow as I entered that forest of skyscrapers. The elevated train tracks departed the main avenue, and walking underneath it was definitely not the most pleasant phase in the trip. The coverage offered by the tracks have made the little neighborhood a haven for the homeless. Hundreds of them crowded together, forcing me to breath down a continued olfactory barrage of pee + body oder as a walked around them, careful not to wake them up and cause any sort of situation.
The faceless skyscrapers around Tokyo stations gave way to cold appearances of Italian- (i.e. "luxurious") looking buildings of high-end restaurants and bars in Ginza and Hamamatsucho. The time was quickly approaching 2am, and counting the number of stations left until Kamata was only making cold sweat flow down my body in total anxiety. Walking down the little side streets parallel to the train tracks, I felt the distance of the stations becoming further apart and even Shinagawa becoming further away.
3:30am, Shinagawa Station. The major checkout point on the trip has finally been achieved. But staring down the dozens of parallel train tracks leading into and out of the station only made my presence feel even smaller. The signs on the 1st Keihin Highway was hurrying me to the south. "Omori 3km," it says, referring to the last station on the JR line before reaching Kamata. "Not too bad, just a couple more miles," I thought, reflecting all the other long walks I have had in various places before.
4:10am, Aomono-yokocho Station. My usual commuting station felt so familiar yet so different. It was not a place to stop and carefully examine; my feet were getting numb and I know I am reaching the end of my endurance. Well, at least I know the train takes 20 minutes from this station to Kamata. Seriously, how bad can it get, home no longer seemed that farther away....I am already in "my neighborhood" and a little more effort is all it will take.
Man, was I wrong. The last hour and half of the trip proved to be toughest mentally. The numbness of my feet was all the sudden replaced with face-twitching pain every time take a step, my eyes can barely open in the cold wind, and worst of all, few stations down the walk in Samezu, the first train of the morning blew past me as I continued to walk the highway parallel to the tracks. Suddenly, I just wanted to give up, take a train, and go home for long-desired sleep.
But at the end, it was all about pride. A trip would not have a good finish if a "wimped out of continuing" was the ultimate conclusion. And if I walked for four hours already, what difference would another hour really make? And it is simply because I want to sit here and tell you (as well do for many years to come) that I walked (COMPLETELY and NONSTOP) from Asakusa to Kamata that I really did have no choice but to continue the very last leg to its very end at my apartment's front door.
5:40am, my apartment in Kamata. A pair of (still) nonfunctional legs ad feet, 21.8km, and about 5 hours 10 minutes later, the destination was reached. Even though at that time, the only thing on my mind was sleep, the walk did shape up my toughness once more (even more the Shanghai 8-hour and Seoul 6-hour walks I did before). It is about thinking on your feet in the worst of circumstances, about focus to complete something grand and seemingly unreachable, and most importantly, about never setting your own limitations and never abandoning something because of slight inconveniences. Well, lets hope that I can really translate this sort of attitude into work and anything else I take up in the future.
In a way I was right, I managed to catch the empty last train from Saitama to Asakusa in northeastern side of Tokyo at about 5 minutes past midnight, drifting in and out of sleep as the train slowly pulled itself toward Asakusa terminal. The arrival time was half an hour past midnight, and the little historical neighborhood was deserted. The subways (the only public transportation in and out of the place) was (to my moderate "shock") completely shut down and no one, except a few foreigners praying at the towering Senso Shrine, was present on the cold, pitch dark streets.
I had two options, to take a taxi that will probably cleanse every penny I got in my wallet at the moment, or...walk. Being the cheapest traveler (and person, for that matter) I know, I automatically chose the option that is...less costly. I probably had no idea what I was getting into until I visited a nearby hotel and asked the guy at the front about directions. And there I approached with perhaps the most ridiculous question I have asked in all my travels, "which way is, eh, south?"
The guy asked me where I was going. "Shinagawa direction," I said, without telling him that Kamata, being another half an hour by train south from Shinagawa, was my final destination. A look of unbelieving yet friendly smile spread over his face (I am probably not the only crazy guy to walk in at midnight and say something like that), and he simply tells me to head east until I hit Ueno Station and then just follow the train track all the way south.
Departure time: 12:40am. The first leg from Asakausa to Ueno was not at all difficult. Wakened by the freezing winter breeze, I concentrated on walking and looking around to make sure nothing strange is approaching under the dim street lights. Speed walking was the only way for me to keep myself warm enough against the 5 degree Celsius weather. The fast pace allowed me to clear the 3km to Ueno in less than 15 minutes. The usually crowded and noisy station seemed so deserted, the silence broken only occasionally by the patrolling policeman, the movements of the homeless in their makeshift shelter, and....me.
The more I walked, the more my optimism started to surge. Akihabara was cleared in another 15 minutes, and Kanda and Otemachi stations in less than 20 minutes. The always lit skyscrapers of central Tokyo were in full view and my body is seeing no sign of tiring. The "lets walk a bit until I can catch the first train in the morning back home" attitude was quickly replaced with "pssh, this is easy, I bet I can get home before the trains start back up again."
Yet, doubts began to grow as I entered that forest of skyscrapers. The elevated train tracks departed the main avenue, and walking underneath it was definitely not the most pleasant phase in the trip. The coverage offered by the tracks have made the little neighborhood a haven for the homeless. Hundreds of them crowded together, forcing me to breath down a continued olfactory barrage of pee + body oder as a walked around them, careful not to wake them up and cause any sort of situation.
The faceless skyscrapers around Tokyo stations gave way to cold appearances of Italian- (i.e. "luxurious") looking buildings of high-end restaurants and bars in Ginza and Hamamatsucho. The time was quickly approaching 2am, and counting the number of stations left until Kamata was only making cold sweat flow down my body in total anxiety. Walking down the little side streets parallel to the train tracks, I felt the distance of the stations becoming further apart and even Shinagawa becoming further away.
3:30am, Shinagawa Station. The major checkout point on the trip has finally been achieved. But staring down the dozens of parallel train tracks leading into and out of the station only made my presence feel even smaller. The signs on the 1st Keihin Highway was hurrying me to the south. "Omori 3km," it says, referring to the last station on the JR line before reaching Kamata. "Not too bad, just a couple more miles," I thought, reflecting all the other long walks I have had in various places before.
4:10am, Aomono-yokocho Station. My usual commuting station felt so familiar yet so different. It was not a place to stop and carefully examine; my feet were getting numb and I know I am reaching the end of my endurance. Well, at least I know the train takes 20 minutes from this station to Kamata. Seriously, how bad can it get, home no longer seemed that farther away....I am already in "my neighborhood" and a little more effort is all it will take.
Man, was I wrong. The last hour and half of the trip proved to be toughest mentally. The numbness of my feet was all the sudden replaced with face-twitching pain every time take a step, my eyes can barely open in the cold wind, and worst of all, few stations down the walk in Samezu, the first train of the morning blew past me as I continued to walk the highway parallel to the tracks. Suddenly, I just wanted to give up, take a train, and go home for long-desired sleep.
But at the end, it was all about pride. A trip would not have a good finish if a "wimped out of continuing" was the ultimate conclusion. And if I walked for four hours already, what difference would another hour really make? And it is simply because I want to sit here and tell you (as well do for many years to come) that I walked (COMPLETELY and NONSTOP) from Asakusa to Kamata that I really did have no choice but to continue the very last leg to its very end at my apartment's front door.
5:40am, my apartment in Kamata. A pair of (still) nonfunctional legs ad feet, 21.8km, and about 5 hours 10 minutes later, the destination was reached. Even though at that time, the only thing on my mind was sleep, the walk did shape up my toughness once more (even more the Shanghai 8-hour and Seoul 6-hour walks I did before). It is about thinking on your feet in the worst of circumstances, about focus to complete something grand and seemingly unreachable, and most importantly, about never setting your own limitations and never abandoning something because of slight inconveniences. Well, lets hope that I can really translate this sort of attitude into work and anything else I take up in the future.
I was at Akihabara the other day (Nov) - and was walking and walking... and all of a sudden I found myself outside a print dealer in Ueno where I had bought some handsome Japanese ukiyo-e works in the past... And how well I remember Saitama!! from the earthquake of 5 November!! well, your walk went on a bit to the south!!
ReplyDeleteyeah, I was walking the opposite direction from you...surprisingly, Tokyo is a lot smaller than what people normally think
ReplyDeleteyes I once walked from Lincoln Center (W 65th Street) to Greenwich Village - that was a long hike!!
ReplyDeletedone 125th to times square once, you cant beat me in this one, haha
ReplyDelete