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INOKASHIRA LINES ( ZEN INSIDER COLUMNS)
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This is another travel guide for foreigners who would like to enjoy Japan at a different level. It is also a guide for my own self discovery.
A ONE MAN SHOW
Inokashira line runs from Shibuya to Kichijyoji and is 12.8 kilometers in length.
It takes about half an hour one way. You can take this train for an enjoyable short trip.The conductor announces "Thanks for riding.Welcome abroad"When the train begins to move. This custom is not unusual all over Japan, Although there are always a few free-riders.
Zen thinks that this kind of announcement is not so wrong, however, sometimes they are a victim of this noise. Blocking it out by sleeping( or pretending to doze) is the best policy.
Wait ! Wake up ! Show is on the road ! What show ?
Listen to the conductor's voice carefully if you understand Japanese language.
He/She might be an actor/actress. After the train goes through Shibuya tunnel the conductor says "Keio's workers ( Keio is the name of this railroad company) appreciate every passenger, because you always love our Inokashira line."
This signals the beginning of the Keio show. In the middle of this short-lived performance, the actor/actress manages to create a mood with his/her professional monologue.
When the train approaches the woods of Inokashira park , He/She declares the end of the show with a relief in their voice. All the passengers except Zen ( the sole active member of the audience ) are satisfied with the show, because the admission fee is only \190.
THE SCENERY
You can enjoy a lot of graffiti everywhere ( walls, telegraph poles, signboards, shops, even private houses ) from the train window. It looks like snakes. These artists' works are created with coloured spray-paint. Such illegal artists complete the most spontaneous art works in the world, careful not to be caught by someone ( police ! ). Shrines, temples, and graveyards are preserved as the future canvases for the " post-modernism " artists. Oh, well, maybe they believe in animism.........
THE PASSENGERS
If you hope to check out what middle-class Japanese are. Zen recommends taking the Inokashira line. The line runs mainly through Setagaya and Suginami wards.
The percentage of middle class residents is very high in these areas.
Drawing images of the Japanese middle class is not my 'business' . But there is a certain impotence or ignorance amongst these passengers. That leaves them vulnerable, just like the victim of poisoned-gas attacks.
SIGHT SEEING
The Inokashira line was named after Inokashira park. The big pond in the park is the source of the Kanda river which once provided Tokyoites, "Eddo-ko", with their living water.
The small shrine devoted to the water snake is hidden away at the north edge of the park.
They say if lovers go boating on this pond, the two are torn apart. Zen has never rowed there.
It is hard to verify this because ex-lovers are not willing to talk about their bitter memories.
Hm, it is just a foolish superstition.
THE TERMINAL STATION KICHIJYOJI
Kichijyoji seems to be an unique commercial area in a business analyst's eyes. Vigorous, independent small shops abound. Many commercial areas in Tokyo's suburbs have declined.
Large scale department stores and shopping facilities have taken over in every city.
Traditional type stores and mam & pop shops gave in to financiers. Shop management moved away, meaning defeat, for independent traders. But the case of Kichijyoji is exceptional. Small shop unions work together to fight against Tokyu, Isetan and Parco.
Competition and coexistence between rivals results in commercial prosperity for Kichijyoji.
You can see minor but active shops survive and thrive among big commercial buildings in Kichijyoji.
Greedy Japanese consumers, fanatical about new products, pack into the trains. It eases out of
Kichijyoji station bursting at the seams with the crowds and their full shopping bags.
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