We got in late last night, checked into our hotel, then crashed. We spent today wandering around Ginza and Marunouchi. I’m posting this from a cafe at our hotel in Ikebukuro.
Some initial thoughts on Japan:
– The combination of the Japanese dislike of any fuss, coupled with our inability to speak Japanese, has led to some amusing scenes in shops.
– Japanese schoolgirls actually wear those little outfits. I was worried it was something cooked up by manga and anime. It’s not. This is AWESOME.
– Tokyo public transport works amazingly well.
– Which is good, because Tokyo is enormous.
– The aesthetic tropes of television, advertising, architecture and dress are quite different in Japan, and the sense of strangeness this engenders in we filthy gaijin is significant, and unsettling.
– Conveyor Sushi places are MAXIMUM WIN.
– My mac charger blew up on the first day here, so I went to the Apple store in Ginza and bought a new one. Amount of Caucasians seen on the streets of Tokyo? … Greater than zero, but statistically insignificant. Amount of Caucasians in the Apple store? 25% to 33%. White Folks Love Apple Stuff.
More detail, and pics, later on. Much more, if I can actually convince the hotel staff that the internet connection in our room is genuinely not working, and that I know what I am talking about.
February 26, 2009 at 1:14 am
Most Dotour (can’t remember if that’s the right spelling) coffee shops offer wifi. And very good ham/egg/cheese bagels.