Divine Comedy

If Japan were a word, it would be an oxymoron.

In Tokyo thrives a subculture of pop cuteness, right under the nose of hardcore tradition. And when it comes to cuteness, interweb would have you know- cats rule. No wonder they are a national obsession.

The moment you alight at Narita, the Maneki-nako (literally Beckoning Cat, also known as Lucky Cat or Fortune Cat) souvenir with it's iconic waving-right arm greets you in its various avatars. And she would be the last one to wave you goodbye when you leave.

Cats are revered like local deities at every shrine in Japan.

The Cat Priestess at Atago Shrine, Tokyo

Time Travel in Downtown Tokyo

In every city, there exist portals to another time for those who can find them. Tokyo has several. 

Atago Shrine is one such. I find it tucked not too far from downtown Tokyo, although a century away in the past. 81 steep steps to the shrine, as some suitclad young men eye me suspiciously, a mildly overweight Indian man solemnly soldiering up, and give me collective thumbs up when I look back panting from the top.

The shrine is an olden Japanese structure clad in old trees and a kind of hush, a sleepy cat lording over this shaded kingdom. (The priestesses of Bast, or perhaps the kin of Hello Kitty, are everywhere in Japan.)

Alongside the shrine is a pond rippling with huge well-fed red, orange and white fish, that swarm and fight like a pack of street dogs to earn scraps from the visitors.

I would love to spend an hour or two, but there's so much to see.

The gates of Atago Shrine

A peep down the stairs

The Fish Pond at Atago Shrine, Tokyo

The fish flock to the feeders

The Wheels that turn Tokyo

Tokyo is quite densely populated. A boon then, that the residents love to move around on bicycles as colourful as the fish in Japan sea. And if the destination's too far, well, they just chain their bicycles along the road and dive into the subway.

Tokyo on Wheels

The Sun Never Sets

2am in the empire of neon-lit skyscrapers. The mightiest of them all exhales in the heady fumes of the insomniac city. Tapering into a needle, sewing stars in the black satin fabric of the night sky.

Empire State, 2am

The Spires of Gotham

I drift out of the Grand Central and there it stands- the spire of Chrysler stabbing the hazy sky of New York. Like a Steampunk rocket bound to Saturn. Perhaps the sky will bleed all over Lexington and 42nd tonight.

Immortalised in movies- from Woody Allen's classics to Spiderman and Daredevil,The Chrysler is perhaps the most popular icon of New York's Art Deco skyline. It sets you in 'Phantom of the Opera' kinda mood right away.

Oh, and did you know that Batman's Gotham City is inspired by NYC. To quote New York Times journalist William Safire, Gotham City is "New York below 14th Street, from SoHo to Greenwich Village, the Bowery, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the sinister areas around the base of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges." Writer/artist Frank Miller has stated, "Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night."

The Chrysler, NYC

The tree that travelled

For the longest time, I lived in familiar places.

Only recently have I taken to travel, like an Irishman to whiskey.

Still new to it, I prefer to travel in my own company. I walk the city and soak it in. I try anything I can. I notice things that only a stranger in a strange place can. And I collect experiences, that I hang in here to dry.

Most of these travels are as a representative of Tristar Holidays, India, hosted by various travel bodies across the world.

All the words and images in here are the property of Tristar Holidays and myself, covered under creative commons.