Tales From the Anthill

The city itself is home or work to no less than 15 to 20 million people. It boasts the planet’s busiest and most efficient public transportation system while maintaining one of the world’s lowest crime rates for a major city. But you can get all that from entering “Tokyo” into Wikipedia -trust me I just did it- but what does that actually reveal about the city?

Along with New York, Paris, London et al, Tokyo is considered a hub of fashion, commerce and (sometimes) artistic endeavor. It’s impressive to tell non-Tokyoites you live in Tokyo but you have to say TOKEEYO and dare not explain some of the lesser-known gems in the city for fear of getting that glazed over expression in return.

I’ve seen those glassy eyes; they appear while your listener files through the stock footage in their head, mixed with stale notions of bright lights and opulence. Challenge anybody beyond the glittery image and try to explain the idiosyncrasies of life here in the "Big Mikan" and you surely will suffer a similar fate.

In “Metropolis” the movie, the Fritz Lange masterpiece, or yawn fest depending your perspective, the workers file towards their daily drudge like zombies in a procession. They stare in a daze and follow the worker drone ahead. There are moments here, usually during rush hour, when train stations seem to house endless lines of drone ants, and the trains trains are packed like hives.

Consider the intricate mazes dug under all major train stations and watch people dart around, sometimes in lines though often not. Hardly a bump or stutter in step interrupts urban professionals as they transfer trains and rush off to “the grind.” Outside Tokyoites scurry through streets and tunnels and then into the bellies of skyscrapers ostensibly unaware of their surroundings.

It’s what I call "The Anthill." But with so many millions of inhabitants and variants to match, such as rich housewives and homeless drunks, police officers and yakuza gangsters, drunk salarymen and studious high school girls not mention countless other polar opposites, you have to question the notion that Japan-at least in Tokyo- is really so steeped in uniformity. The polar opposite of rush hour, last train often smells like the bar you just left and is much more lively and fun.

Much like my films, this blog will introduce sectors of Japanese society never mentioned in the tourist brochures. Publishing is open to fellow Tokyoites, or others who to want write about their own anthills, but only to those who have a different slant on life in their city. My slant just happens to be “foreign filmmaker in Tokyo” but often that won't relate.

I’m basically open to any submissions/subjects with merit.




Let the tales begin!