Travel: Japan, pt.3 (blast from the past)

Tokyo: Last Full Day | 2006-05-03
It was bound to happen. In a city full of 1-2" shelf-steps all over the place, it was inevitable that the girl with ridiculously loose ligaments would turn her ankle... and fall... while watching her brand new digital camera soar through the air next to her (in slow motion)... then hit the pavement simultaneously. Why don’t they make hard-plastic iPod-like cases for cameras anyway? I was so angry with myself for not paying enough attention and missing that step - I was too engrossed in a window display and taking pictures. Anyway, both the camera and I survived. I landed on my left hip, so I’m expecting an ugly bruise to show up soon, but other than that and the ankle itself I only had a couple scratches on my left hand. I did it first thing in the morning too, so I couldn’t very well let it ruin my day... which was BEAUTIFUL by the way! Gorgeous bright, sunny; warm-in-the-sun, cool-in-the-shade weather!! Anyway, I hobbled around the area we were checking out, and eventually stopped at a drug store and got a Japanese Ace bandage. I can't believe I came all the way to Japan and bought an Ace bandage (when really, knowing myself,¢ I should have packed one). After I got my ankle all wrapped up, I faired much better and stopped hobbling and got to walking again.


This all happened in the Aoyama area near the Omotesando subway station. Right up the street from one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever seen - Prada. From the outside it looks like a quilted glass building - inside it’s all space age and futuristic. The rest of the shops in that area were cool clothing boutiques. We saw tons of them, and after a while they got a bit boring. But we got to see some amazing, and maybe a little out of the way, parts of Tokyo. Including Harajuku (not out of the the way, actually rather popular) and a completely overcrowded market street. It’s been a holiday all week in Japan - Golden Week (not sure what it means, but it obviously meant a ton of people out shopping). I won’t go into too much detail, but I have tons of pictures of all the shops (and the crowds - or maybe a better description would be SEA of people - everywhere).


After many hours finding and perusing various boutiques (clothes, paper goods, books, toys etc), we decided to try to make it out to the Ghibli Museum (Spirited Away, etc.) It was a bit out of the way, but TOTALLY worth it. Words can’t say how amazing it was, a real treat for an injured and super-tired traveler. The tickets are sold-out something like a year in advance for natives - but they reserve a certain amount for foreign visitors. We were lucky to get in at the very end of the day, we only had about an hour and a half by the time we got there, but it was an amazing experience. So not overdone like Disney, just really beautiful down to the last detail.





Once back in Tokyo, we tried to find a good Sushi Restaurant in Shibuya, but it just was not happening. I was so hungry and I needed to eat so badly - we ended up going to (I’m ashamed to say) T.G.I. Friday’s. Ridiculous, I know - but I got a really good milkshake out of it - and that alone made it worth walking in. After dinner we were beat so we headed back to the hotel. I packed everything up, and am looking forward to a relaxing all-nighter (so I can sleep on the plane on ”our” time). What an awesome trip.

Travel: Japan, pt.2 (blast from the past)

Tokyo: First Full Day | 2006-05-02
OMG I am so tired! And my legs and feet HATE me. It is EXHAUSTING getting around in Tokyo! Especially in the pouring rain. :( It was still amazing though. We had a nice breakfast in the hotel, changed some money and headed off for the biggest Muji store in Tokyo (or the rest of the world, for that matter). However, it took a while for us to get there... the train system in Tokyo is fabulous, but NOT so simple. There are tons of stations and transfer options, but there are several different companies that run the trains, so there’s not always an easy WAY to transfer (you have to buy a ticket for each line... for instance, we were on 5 trains today, that required three different tickets). We had an address for Muji, but considering that most streets in Tokyo don’t have names, we knew it would be difficult - we just didn’t know how difficult! Getting to the right area was easy, two trains, two different lines, not a problem. Once we left the station though, it got interesting - or painful... depending on how you look at it. We went into a building close by and asked a friendly looking woman where Muji was and showed her our address for it - she gave us a local map (in japanese) and said it was about 5 blocks away. As we were walking done the street - it began to rain... my co-worker happened to have an umbrella - okay. But then it began to pour. Sheesh!! Eventually, we got to where we thought we needed to be (partially drenched), but no Muji! We ducked into a building and asked for more directions - and where sent back in the direction from which we’d just come! It was still pretty early though, and this building had an underground mall, so we went down to look around and pick up another umbrella. Back on the street, we went to the building right next to the original one we’d gone into, but still no Muji (believe me, it made sense when we were doing it). Luckily, my co-worker asked a young ‘hip’ looking woman (as he put it) that happened to speak english - and she directed us right to Muji (on the other side of the train tracks from where we were looking). So, it only took an hour and a half to get to our first destination of the day (in total).


The name Muji stands for ‘No Brand’. But for not having a brand, it has established a very distinct look. The store itself reminded me very much of a Japanese version of Ikea. Every thing is very clean, simple and basic. Great design, neutral colors. More clothing than furniture. It even had ‘Muji Meal’ - a restaurant inside the store (we ate lunch there - I had a salad that came with soy sauce on it - weird, but good!). The store is three floors, so we spent a fair amount of time there - it really was very impressive - totally worth the trouble getting there.


Next we headed out to Tokyo Hands (the creative life store - or some tag line to that effect) in Shibuya (retail center of Tokyo). They might as well call it the ‘Everything Under the Sun Store’, because it is 7 floors of literally everything under the sun! No kidding - gardening tools, plants, beakers and test tubes, compasses, bikes, toys, cosmetics, furniture, storage, stationery, art supplies, bags, every single tool I’ve ever heard of and more, lighting, ball bearings, fake nipples, warning signs... I couldn’t even process it all. We were there for at least 3 hours. Of course, it also took us a while to find that as well, but we did it faster this time, and after that I’d gotten the hang of it and we found just about every other place on our list. We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening going in and out of various shops. We saw some amazing things! And I kept buying these socks with toes on them (like gloves for the feet), and I don’t even know if I LIKE them, but I can’t help it because they’re so WEIRD!


And every Japanese woman I see is a work of art - they all have amazing fashion sense and dress so creatively.


For dinner we had - get this - Tex Mex! HA! We saw it and we had to go - it was too funny. It was called Zest and it was actually pretty good. I’ve found I like to order things that we have pretty regularly in the states and see how it’s different here. I ordered cheese fries and it was an experience. They coated the fries in powdered cheese! I felt a bit like I was eating fry shaped, less crunchy cheese doodles. But it wasn’t horrible! I ordered a veggie fajita thing, but had to send it back because they put mushrooms in it (I’m allergic) even thought they said they wouldn’t - so I ended up going with a Mexican Burger (cheese burger with a bit of chili) and it was pretty good! We collected our thoughts a bit, then headed back to the hotel in the middle of nowheresville (literally an hour from anywhere we need to be on the trip).


And you know what - it’s COLD here! I checked the internet this morning and it said it would get up to 71 - it was no where NEAR 71 all day! The rain let up and was on and off all day. Coming home tonight was almost torture because I wasn’t dressed for the cold! Watch, I’ll dress all warm tomorrow and it’ll actually be hot and sunny out! At least I hope!


I feel like I’m not taking enough pictures! I only took 171 today (really not that much when you consider that 2/3 of them are work related).

Travel: Japan, pt.1 (blast from the past)

Three years ago, I went to Japan on a business trip. It was all market research, which basically meant I went shopping for three days. With the release on Ponyo, I've been thinking about that trip a lot, because I got to take a single afternoon away from the craziness that is Tokyo and all the shop-shop-shop-hopping, and visit the Ghibli Museum. I thought it might be fun to share some of my thoughts from old emails I wrote to friends and family at the time with some pictures. It was such an amazing and inspiring trip, and feeling nostalgic about it just makes me want to share:

Tokyo at last! | 2006-05-01
And now I can fully relate to “Lost in Translation“. Maybe it’s because I haven’t really traveled on my own in a while (my co-worker doesn’t count, he’s never been here before either), or the fact that whenever I’ve come to Asia for work before there was always someone to take us around - but it’s tough here. Far less people speak english. Oh, and our hotel! While being beautiful and luxurious - it’s in the middle of NO WHERE. I got a Tokyo travel book and its blurb says ”Luxury hotels don’t come more luxurious than this... The only real drawback is it’s location: Odaiba is great for a day out, but as a base for touring Tokyo it’s inconvenient.“ There’s a fantastic view of the Tokyo skyline from the top floor (along with $80 - $100 a meal dining options), but there’s no quick way into the city. To top it off - we started looking up all the stores on our list of places to go - they’re all on the opposite side of the city! Anyway, this should be an adventure - cause we have to take the trains and subways and the map is the most complex thing I’ve ever seen. I’m excited though, it’ll be a challenge and I love maps! I feel really isolated in this hotel, there doesn’t seem to be many foreigners here - I’m really looking forward to getting out and about!
There’s a huge mall across the street, so we went out for Sushi dinner (of course!). It was a local place too, they didn’t speak a word of english, we had to point at pictures on the menu - but it was all good. I also got miso soup - unlike I’ve ever had before, and some sura-mame (gigantic bean, kind of like edamame). We also found a Cinnabon and Starbucks for dessert. ;)
I’m a little exhausted. I must admit, my legs are KILLING me. Walking for two days straight in Hong Kong and then sitting on a plane for 5 hours DID NOT help. ;) I would LOVE to get a massage before I leave. :) I’m aching!!! Ouch.