About four years ago, I stumbled upon a video about the world's shortest escalator. I found the small escalator fascinating. Since I was already set on moving to Japan, I put it on my bucket list. A few years later, I finally have the chance to go see it. A lot of anticipation had been building up surrounding this little machine. My girlfriend was less than impressed but said she would oblige in helping me find it.
After some travel in and around the Yokohama area, we take a peak. There it was in all it's glory. Truth be told, I really was excited to ride it. The smile you see on my face is of pure joy. I almost yelled at the escalator when I first saw it. Now, the reason I wanted to ride it was because it's a fairly unique site.
Since living in Japan, I've been bombarded with advertisements to see all of the famous sites. I've been so flooded with images that when I eventually see these sites, I'm let down. The Shibuya crossing and Harajuku were two of these sites that were a huge let down upon first seeing them. Neither of these were a surprise to me. I saw countless photos in Japanese media and videos online, before my trip to Japan. When I finally had the chance to see them, it was nothing special and wasn't a surprise at all. My first journey to Japan was to Sapporo, during the snow festival for this very reason.
At Harajuku, there was a catch. No body told me about the greasers in Yoyogi park, just a football field away. This was a much more enjoyable surprise, compared with kids dressed in silly clothes.
I like the path less traveled. Even though, I knew exactly what to expect with the World's Smallest Escalator, it was still a joy to me.
