Velimir Grgić

In June 2007, I had finally saved enough money to fulfil a lifelong dream: I visited Tokyo to simply wander around, crawl into every nook and cranny of its concrete, neon and cherry blossoms. I spent 10 days in Tokyo, but immediately realised 10 years would not have been enough. I went to all the neighbourhoods: the fashion glitz and pop culture of Shibuya, the night life of Shinjuku, the Akihabaru anime centre, Ikebukoro to take a picture on the same bench where the characters of my then favourite Japanese TV series "Ikebukuro West Gate Park" lived, then Ueno and the Zoo with pandas, the tradition of Asakusa, a stroll through Omotesando, Roppongi full of Westerners... I slept in a hotel in Ginza, not far from an impeccably organized subway that took me to all the highlights: eating sushi in the market at dawn, samurai armour in the museum, old cemeteries and palaces, underground comic shops, octopus and garlic ice cream... Shibuya's Harajuku is impressive as a fashion and cosplay centre, ideal for a visual experience of Japan's pop culture aesthetics, and to top it all Shinjuku and its Kabukicho, a nightlife hub and a neon hive, which fulfilled all of my movie-fuelled expectations. There I also saw yakuza in action in their natural habitat – what more could one wish for? Tokyo is the yin and yang in ideal balance – on the one hand, the busy pavement and frenetic urban topography where you feel like the ball in a pinball machine, and on the other, Zen gardens of complete silence and delightful green tea served in a wooden hut on a lake. I had enough prior knowledge that few things surprised me, but the truth is that when you come to experience everything you've seen in documentaries and read about in books, nothing really prepares you for the culture shock: from positive shocks like orderliness and cleanliness to the ubiquity and complete mainstreaming of the Lolita complex. That's why I like to say that Japan is the only place I've been – and I've been to many places – where you literally feel like an astronaut who's landed on some completely unknown and utterly fascinating planet.