October 28, 2003
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[#4] Hummingbird in Tokyo
Japan is a place where 90% boys dress in fashion while 90% girls do their make-up and play with their Keitai (mobile-phone) non-stop on the train. Though that's not the point of this weblog.
Living in Tokyo, this crowded city sometimes makes me feel...at home. I came from Shanghai, a big city in China, well it is big but is still only 1/3 the size of Tokyo...with about the same population! So Tokyo is already full of people, Shanghai is 3 times more! Now close your eyes and try to picture that! Are you seeing...hell?
A few major different things.There are more bicycles in Shanghai while only cars in Tokyo (Almost no bicycles in sight. If you happen to find one, maybe that's hay-chan...); more sky-scrapers in Shanghai, more easy/small/low houses in Tokyo; more busy crowded trains in Tokyo, more busy crowded buses in Shanghai; Tokyo is an international city and Shanghai is becoming one.
Oh forgot to say, another different thing from home is that there is more music in the store in Tokyo while more music in life in Shanghai. Anyway, this weblog is not supposed to be about Shanghai but after I came to Japan, one day I suddenly found out there is no one humming to himself as walking on the steet. There are tons of people wearing earphones on the train but it's just like a ritual or something to keep themselves from the world, coz they don't seem to be enjoying, occasionally you'll find someone nodding his head or moving his body against the beat from his headphone, just slightly yet just enough, you will soon know that he is really enjoying his music. Well maybe it's strange for me to put 'humming to oneself as a measurement'. It's true that there are a thousand ways to enjoy music in our lives and in some countries, humming to oneself in public isn't such a polite thing. But I came from where people are always humming something every day, boy and girl, young and old. You can always hear all kinds of melodies walking past by you, floating through the old brick lanes, flying from your neighbor's balcony or harmonizing with the radio (usually old people love to sing Peking Opera with the radio with windows open in summer, so everyone can hear). Nobody is shy there! It's so weird that I have never heard a note on the street or seen one mouth moving, even when people are by themselves here in Tokyo (there are bands singing on the road sides, they are alive, but I'm talking about the robot-like real people). Everything seems so neat and tidy and full of discipline, perfectly matching the busy and quick steps of this modern city and the cold concrete office buildings. Yes, I love humming to myself, not that I have a gorgeous voice or anything like that. It never has to be loud. When sometimes it gets loud and happens to be heard by the 'salary-man' walking ahead of me who stops to stare at me strangely in the eyes as if I'm a miniature of Godzilla walking and singing and taking over the city, I never care. I'd love to walk past him and hum on! Bit silly? Umm...Hopeless, hopeless.
I dun know if this is true. Once I saw from a movie that in Italy, people sing a lot, both publicly and privately. I believe not only Italy, many other countries are like this. To stop them singing (not just humming!) is just like to stop their blood going through their veins. I've never been to Europe but if that's true, I'd love to live in these countries for a while or a lifetime! Humming birds are happier when there are flocks of them around, guess so are humming people!
Tokyo is the city on the top edge of fashion and style. Music is updated every second with the most trendy beat in the world...yet nobody is humming...Such a pity!
Comments (3)
You know I like this. I like what you wrote. You sometimes remind me of me. I have never lived in Shanghai or ever been there but you paint a vivid picture. To me music is everything. I am one of those people on the subway each morning listening to music on my private walkman. In my own world. I go one step further and have the noise-reducing headphones so all I can hear is the music. No distractions.
I do sometimes dance or bop or lip-sync to the music though. Needless to say the music dictates my mood. The past 3 weeks I have only listened to music at work or at home and really miss having my walkman on the subway to and from work each day. Today I revived my MD Walkman and am listening to such a powerful song. I get the feeling it was the wrong day to revive the MD Walkman and the wrong music to listen to after so long without music on the subway. I can't imagine my life without music.
interesting! New Yorkers hum sometimes. They also boogie down with their earphones on on the subway platforms. I'd guess we hear as much whistling as humming.
So I take it that you just moved to Japan? I was just browsing around Xanga and thought that you are cute. Well hope you have fun in Japan. I wish i could move there. Wanna switch places? I live in San Diego, Ca.
haHAha -LadEE j
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