Shiny Golden Week

     Suddenly the meandering roads of Azabu Juban have gone quiet. Allez France is producing fewer baguettes, and the queues are shorter at Daimaru Peacock supa (supermarket). Just as with Memorial Day in Manhattan (and Easter in London) the natives seem to have fled the scene. That's right, it's time for the annual exodus that begins on 29th April (Emperor Showa's birthday) to 5th May (Boys' Day): Ogon Shukan (Golden Week) is taking its toll on the population. To honor boys, kites in the shape of carp hang at the entry of the important shrines. With half of Tokyo on holiday, many companies shut down and flights for Hawaii, Guam and Seoul are fully booked. The "golden" bit of the week describes the sunshine that drenches Tokyo during the first week of May.

    "Never travel within Japan during Golden Week, since hotels and restaurants always put up their prices at that time," tomodachi advised me since Day One. Fine, I think, I have the whole town to myself. En route to a board meeting for the women's intercultural club on the Monday morning before Showa (aka Hirohito) Day, a smattering of commuters rode the Hibya sen  to Nakameguro, the cool cousin of New York's SoHo. Plenty of seats in the Ladies Car, so designated during rush hour to keep women safe from the men who take advantage of the crowd to cop a feel. Today's meeting focused on the excursion to Ashikaga Flower Park 50 miles north of Tokyo in three weeks time. "Could be the cool spring will keep the wisteria in bloom for our tour," speculated our program organizer, referring to the oldest wisteria in the country.

    En route home I checked for landmarks around Nakameguro Eki (station). Bals Tokyo Nakameguro continues to display Japanese house furnishings in black, white and red tones, as well as stunning table settings. Alice will be sorry to hear that Iroha Sushi, where we shared a memorable lunch, is history:  All the shops beneath the tracks have been gutted and covered by standard issue white fencing. Wanda, I didn't have the heart to walk to Junkadelic at the end of the tracks. (In any case, a second Junkadelic opened in Akasaka and a hot Mexican joint called Frijoles next to the yuubin kyoku (post office) in the Juban is the go-to place nowadays.)  From Hiroo eki I walked past Arisagawa Koen (a park, originally a stately home) and the Kankoku Taishikan (Korean Embassy) at midday, both deserted. How satisfying to find our local vegetable stand open and selling avocados at half a dozen for Y 200 (about $3).