Day 5 – Thursday. After a restful night at the Westin, we awoke to find Tokyo under siege by rain. Its funny waking up in Tokyo as 7AM local time is 2PM the prior day in Seattle and we see the evening news shows on CNN and closing stock prices. Unfortunately the Westin’s biggest shortcoming is the lack of AmericanTV channels – we only get CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg. (Oh no, we won’t know who got fired on the Apprentice until we get home!) We originally planned on going toTokyo Disneyland but after studying the internet weather forecasts we decided to postpone seeing Mickey. This proved to be a mistake as the weather improved andwe had a dry afternoon. We started with a huge and filling breakfast at the freebuffet and decided to venture to Roppongi. By reviewing the subway map (which the concierge gave us in English) we found a direct subway line which could take us from our home at Ebisu to Roppongi, then Ginza and also the Tsukiji fish market on another day. Unfortunately the JR passes don’t work on the subway. We ventured out into the drizzle, to the subway station. In Japan, people generally are in a hurry – waiters, concierges, and people just trying to get to the subway – they scoot along in a race walk. Maybe that’s why there are no panhandlers – nobody would give panhandlers time to make their pitch. While most of the time people walk on the left there are many exceptions especially at thesubways in the crowd – sometimes the stairs are marked with arrows although people ignore them. When on escalators and moving walkways you are supposed to stand on the left and walk on the right. Anyway, no matter what rules you are playing by there are always near collisions. You also have to get used to getting pushed and bumped all the time in the crowds. Japan has a reputation of being orderly and polite (people wear surgical type face masks when they have colds!) but it can get a little rough on the subway. At least in New York people have to be careful who they bump! But in Japan people are more the same size (and don’t have guns). It must be frightening for the very old – you see them try to navigate the crowds which is difficult. In the US there are buses and handicapped zones but in Japan everybody is at the mercy of public transportation. While there are priority seating and special areas for the elderly to wait, its still great distances in the stations often without the benefit of elevators. A second observation I’d make is even though we stayed in an American branded hotel in an area known for foreign tourists, it is rare to see non-asians (It would really be tough for Al-Qaida to move to Japan!) We headed for the subway for a one stop trip to Roppongi, a neighborhood known forforeigners – most of the embassies are located in that area as well as many nightclubs. There is a massive new development called Roppongi Hills that was featured on the Discovery channel – it’s a huge office complex with an adjoiningshopping/restaurant area and twin housing skyscrapers along with a sports arena, movie complex and museums. It is also the headquarters of TV Asahi. Despite the clouds and mist we made it to Roppongi and went to the top of the main tower and paid the $20 each sky view and museum admission – The view from the roof was kind of disappointing due to the clouds, what was interesting was all thesecurity guys guarding the roof. After completing this tourist task we went to the Crossing Roppongi modern art exhibit at the main museum – it was basically collections of modern art from the interesting to the repugnant to the silly and stupid. War protest, Andy Warhol rip offs, some modern stuff that could only be described as silly and some pornography all stimulated the senses. There were some neat exhibits though – all the patrons got ballots and we voted on our favorite exhibits – I voted for the collection of war protest T-shirts that someone put together and Traci voted for a room exhibit that was a neo-classical collection representing everyman’s living room. Anyway, on the floor below the Crossing Roppongi exhibit, there was another show of an artist who liked using polka dots liberally. Having completed our art fix, we then wandered around the quite impressive complex which includes a nice little park complete with emerging Sakura (Cherry Blossoms). We then found the subway again and headed forthe holy grail of shopping – Ginza!
Ginza is one of the most famous shopping areas in the world – like 5th Avenue in New York or Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills. We bought another 160 yen subway ticket from the vending machines and took the same subway farther east fromRoppongi to Ginza station. When you actually pay to use the subway you buy a ticket based on the distance from your starting point, then put the ticket in a scanner before boarding the subway. Your ticket is scanned again as you leave and if you don’t have enough money the subway locks up and all the people behind you give you angry looks as you schlep over to the ticket machine to add value. We exited the station and found ourselves in front of the Sony Tower. Sony hasan amazing 7 floor showroom with many of their latest gadgets. They have a great 60” flat screen TV with a beautiful picture for a mere $15,000 US. (Imagine how much that would cost to ship on the airplane!). The next generation of digital video cameras that record on memory cards not tapes are very small, about thesize of a package of Top Ramen. I played ball with the digital robot dogs – it’s pretty sad that there are so few dogs in Tokyo. Once in a while you do see a big dog, but the majority of dogs, rare that they are, are small. It is good there is no dog poop to step in, however. Sony has a new professional line of digital camera – it’s about 1 inch wide, ½ inch thick and 4 inches long with interchangeable lenses and takes beautiful photos (they had several blown up and they do look professional). It costs a mere $4000 for a set including several lenses. There is a duty free section where presumably they have goods for sale with English directions and use 120 volt power – but good deals were hard to come by. BMW, for whatever reason, has a showroom on one of the floors at Sony and are showing a nice large convertible, the 635. The final floor of Sony has playstation games (in Japanese). We play some strange game where you are a boulder picking up trash from the city. More fun is a“cockpit” of a race car where you can play one of the new racing games. I’ve seen these cockpits at other stores – race cars or space ships for about $1000 and they are cool….After Sony, we enter a store called Wako and Traci finds a pink purse that matches her pink i-pod mini. She decides not to buy it even though it’s a mere $80 US. Of course at Wako there are $500 purses as well along with $300 T-shirts (but designer labels of course). We decide to leave Wako with wallets intact and head further down the Ginza. You see the things you’d expect to find – lots of designer boutiques, fancy jewelry stores, cafes with $10 coffee and $20 pastries. There are also 7-11s, vending machines with $1.50 cokes and Starbucks look-alikes with $2 lattes. I actually think shopping is better at other neighborhoods we visited with 4 + major department stores are lined up. Ginza is fun to look. Shopping is an interesting concept in Japan – there are sales, but infrequent. Regular items aren’t cheap but they aren’t really expensive either. My thoughts are that the Japanese seek value – their homes are very small, they have to use public transportation to get things home, and they don’t use credit cards – all of these things cut down on consumerism that is found throughout America. You don’t have to pay $285 for special Levis on the Ginza – there are plenty of moderately priced stuff available. There are a slew of 100 Yen stores (the equivalent of our dollar stores) in many areas including some department stores – so American marketing is having an impact. I knowCostco has at least a few Japan stores, I don’t know about Walmart – but I’d be surprised if either becomes widespread successes since the Japanese can’t/won’t buy lots and lots of stuff and are willing to pay extra for value rather than just finding cheap goods. Farther down the Ginza we find a new famous fixture, Apple Computer’s showroom. As you would expect there are all the latest laptops and desktops on display, plus a very large store where you can buy whatever you need – software, computer equipment, even i-pods. Although they have dozens and dozens of I-pods, they do not have any i-pod minis. Apple does have a free internet café and we do a little surfing before leaving the store. Having gotten our window shopping fix, we find the subway station we started at and buy another ticket. Now we spent 160 yen to get from Ebisu to Roppongi, 160 yen to get from Roppongi to Ginza but am uncertain how much it costs to get back to Ebisu. The list of stations and their fares is all in Japanese. I find some friendly looking woman and say Ebisu and point to the list. Fortunately she points to 190 yen and we are on our way. Traci noted that people tend to not stop and help obviously lost souls although this may reflect the fact that everyone is in a hurry all the time. When you ask people though they tend to be very interested in trying but sometimes give directions of dubious value. When we get back to the Westin we decide to get a workout at the “Club at Yebisu.” You don’t see very many health clubs in Japan, also you don’t see a lot of fat people either. Since I’m quite sure they aren’t all on the Atkins diet given the price of beef, I assume it must be a healthier diet including fish, and also avoidance of one of America’s scurges – soft drinks. Coke is readily available but it seems to be a minor purchase often relegated to the side of 7-11 fridges and occupying a minor place in most vending machines. I was interested to see what someone gets in a Japanese health club – I was kind of disappointed, even though we got in for free, thanks to the Westin. The most popular activity seemsto be hitting golf balls into a net. Their weight room was only marginally better than most business hotels. The cardio machines were fine and not in particular demand even during the busy after work time. Its funny to run on metric treadmills – although runners are familiar with metric distances – 5K,10K, etc…the speeds are quite different – 10 kilometers per hour is only 6.1 miles per hour. Most of the people at the health club aren’t in very good shape, such a contrast to our usual workout locale – the Seattle Club. I’m sure the busy Japanese life has something to do with that, plus the $2000 initiation fee/ $200 per month dues. You don’t get a whole lot for that money, although the pool is quite nice – long but somewhat narrow (6 lanes). Some people are doing some sort of Yoga or Tai-chi in the pool, others are walking down the lanes. Few, like Traci are actually swimming laps. The locker room is interesting as ladies clean the mens locker room as men dress and shower. After the workout, we go down to the Westin lounge for happy hour. Drinks in Japan tend to be very expensive, at “hostess bars” where businessmen drink and converse with a female attendant who serves drinks it is not unusually to rack up at $1600 bill in just a couple of hours. At the Westin two drinks will set you back $30. Even cokes cost $6.50. Fortunately the Westin gives us free drinks from 5-7 pm each night, a treat not to be missed. The lounge has a wireless network and we do all of our e-mailing from my laptop each evening. After the happy hour, we head to Shibuyato get food. It is about a 10 minute walk (all within the covered Yebisu complex) from our hotel to the JR station, so it’s a bit of a pain but we are hungry. In Shibuya we go to a department store and get some takeout food – I buy some salmon rice balls for about $1.80 each. We also want to go to a place called Beard Papas which is supposed to have the best cream puffs in the world. They recently opened one up in New York. Even though we know its location we spend several minutes racing around the south entrance of the station looking for the small food stand. We find the place and I get 4 of the $2 cream puffs to go. We go back to the Westin to enjoy our food (the problem with department store purchases is although they are cheap, there is no readily available place to eat them). Some restaurants actually give you a 30% discount for take out over their dining in menu. The food is good, and I like the cream puffs but wouldn’t say they are the best I’ve ever tasted. Once back in the Westin, we think about making a reservation and splurging on a weekend dinner at theTeppanyaki restaurant (where the chef cooks food at a community table on a grill and entertains patrons with fancy knife tricks) on the top of our hotel. However, checking out the menu – it would be about $220 per person for the multi-course dinner salad, fish, beef, etc and all you get is 5 oz of beef! Kobe beef may be very good, but only 5 oz??? I don’t know if the Japanese ban on US beef has affected the prices, but they seem rather excessive since we could eat 4 times at Seattle’s best steak place for that price – so we pass on that chance. As long as you don’t order anything with beef in it the prices a pretty comparable especially when you take into account that tax and tip are included in listed menu prices. But 22,000 yen for 1/3 the steak you get at a US steakhouse is crazy. No wonder all Japanese tourists want to do is eat at steak houses in the US.
Continued
