What with our planned trip to Matsumoto called off because of the fact that it would take three hours to get there (no shinkansen access you see) we decided to stay within the boundaries of Tokyo instead. A lie-in started the day, and then a visit to the excellent Toyota Amlux building - a metallic blue modern structure that was basically a six storey showroom-cum-museum. All of next year's new models were there at prices that would make Arthur Daley wince. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours in there trying out all the cars (and out of the steamy 29°C heat outside) but we were soon on our way to Tokyo eki whence we were going to walk to the Sony building. However, on the way, an amusing incident occurred, although since it will almost certainly be lost in the translation to plain text, I shan't bother to transcribe it here.*
We'd been told by the Rough Guide that the Tokyo International Forum
was best seen at dusk, but it was about 2pm when we walked past so we ignored it for the time being in favour of lunch and Sony. Being that we were in Ginza, one of the most exclusive and expensive shopping districts in the world, we skipped over a lunch which would have set us back a minimum of forty quid anyway and headed straight for Sony instead.
I have to say that it was a bit of a disappointment. With the obvious exception of some mad Japanese PlayStation games and a dead stylish CD player, there wasn't that much that was groovy there. No PlayStation2, no Aibo (Sony's robotic dog) except a static one in a display case, and no obviously next-gen tech. Oh well.
When we got back to Ikebukuro Fiona was keen on pasta for supper, so we had the bizarre experience of going to a Japanese Italian restaurant. The food was okay, but the meal ranked as our most expensive yet at more than 7,000¥! I think that when people say that eating at a Japanese restaurant can be expensive, this may be what they are talking about...
* We spent ages trying to remember the "amusing" incident at a later date, so we decided to write it down so we wouldn't forget it again. It involved Fiona deciding to rummage in a bag she was carrying on the Yamanote train between Amlux and Ginza. What she forgot was that she was holding an opened, ice-cold, 500ml can of coke in the hand she was also holding the bag in so that, as she rummaged, she managed to pour about half this can of coke down the front of my trousers! I blame the parents myself. Tsk, tsk...
We'd been told by the Rough Guide that the Tokyo International Forum
was best seen at dusk, but it was about 2pm when we walked past so we ignored it for the time being in favour of lunch and Sony. Being that we were in Ginza, one of the most exclusive and expensive shopping districts in the world, we skipped over a lunch which would have set us back a minimum of forty quid anyway and headed straight for Sony instead.
I have to say that it was a bit of a disappointment. With the obvious exception of some mad Japanese PlayStation games and a dead stylish CD player, there wasn't that much that was groovy there. No PlayStation2, no Aibo (Sony's robotic dog) except a static one in a display case, and no obviously next-gen tech. Oh well.
When we got back to Ikebukuro Fiona was keen on pasta for supper, so we had the bizarre experience of going to a Japanese Italian restaurant. The food was okay, but the meal ranked as our most expensive yet at more than 7,000¥! I think that when people say that eating at a Japanese restaurant can be expensive, this may be what they are talking about...
* We spent ages trying to remember the "amusing" incident at a later date, so we decided to write it down so we wouldn't forget it again. It involved Fiona deciding to rummage in a bag she was carrying on the Yamanote train between Amlux and Ginza. What she forgot was that she was holding an opened, ice-cold, 500ml can of coke in the hand she was also holding the bag in so that, as she rummaged, she managed to pour about half this can of coke down the front of my trousers! I blame the parents myself. Tsk, tsk...
13:24 |
Category: |
