Tokyo

We had a great day walking around Tokyo on Saturday.

Actually I should start with Friday first.

Sonia arrived in Tokyo at about two in the afternoon. That is, she arrived at the airport. By the time she got into town it was after four - it's about a 1.5 hour bus ride if everything is working properly. I was out of the office at a meeting, so Sonia decided to wait at Starbucks. In Japan, the automatic doors are slightly less automatic that you and I are used to. You need to touch a vertical strip on the door in order to instruct it to open. As Sonia stood there trying to figure it out, with the staff attempting to instruct her from behind the counter, someone else was leaving and opened the door. So Sonia managed to get in and obtain a coffee (and yes Paul, it's still called coffee, even at Starbucks).

I had arranged earlier for the consultants to head out for a drink after work to make sure they all get to know each other (we have a few companies working in the project). In the end they had turned it into a dinner instead. They were very concerned that it was at a local Japanese place and wasn't "flash and expensive". It was great to get the feel for the place - there were only four westerners there (Sonia and I, plus two french Accenture consultants). So Sonia had her first taste of Japanese business culture!

On Saturday, as I indicated earlier, we walked. And walked. And walked. And took the subway (you know - the one you see on TV where they push people on during peak hours). We started by walking from the hotel up into Akasaka, then across to the Imperial Palace grounds, and around to Tokyo station. By that stage it was time for more coffee at Starbucks, then off to find the subway.

We visited the Meiji Jingu shrine (most famous shrine in Tokyo, in honour of the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken). It's in a suburb/district/prefecture (not sure what the correct term is) called Harajuku. Coincidentally it is the place that the teenagers dress strangely, which adds to the atmosphere. We have a few photos around there, including the gardens inside the shrine's park (Yen 500 per person to enter) where an older gentleman was playing the leaf!

Then we walked from Harajuku to Shibuya, with Sonia gaa-gaa'ing over the cute Japanese toddlers along the way. Given the low Japanese birth rate there weren't many, but those that were visible were cute.

The main intersection in Shibuya is the site of a great sequence in the movie "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift". When I get the photos off the camera you'll see the mass of people crossing the intersection and you'll know which scene I'm referring to.

Then this morning we took the subway to Giza - expensive shopping area. Way expensive.

Sonia was packed off on the bus to the airport at 2:30, and I went to the gym. Exciting stuff.

I'll post photos here once I get the camera (Sonia's taken it back to HK with her).