Oh my oh my we had such great sushi last night in Ginza. My old favorites were
really amazing, like maguro and sake and then we ate some crazy stuff like Nori
seaweed covered with Tobiko and other weird gelatinous stuff I don't know the
names of. I guess when you're in japan, what you don't like in america doesn't
count.
Highlight of the day today was renting tiny yellow electric scooters and driving
like maniacs through the streets of Tokyo from Shibuya to Tokyo Tower and Rappongi
Hills. Check being in a Japanese motorcycle gang off the list. Glad I had the
practice on the left side of the road in Turks and Caicos. We went to this shopping
mall in Rappongi (kind of where lots of foreigners hang out) that it took them
17 years to build and had all these crazy fiber optic trees and the biggest
Louis Vuitton store in the world. Apparently over 70% of Japanese women own
at least one item from LV. And you should have seen the way they drool over
all the goods - their eyes pop out like they've wanted every leather bag in
the place since they were 5. And there were 5-year-olds walking with their moms
or sisters just as awed by the place.
Yesterday we went to Meiji Shrine which is a beautiful shinto temple with a
wishing tree out front. We bought a Y500 wooden votive and wrote a wish to put
on the tree. Then we saw a traditional Japanese wedding. The bride was all decked
out in full gear and there were all these handlers to position every last thread
of their clothing so they looked nice for the pictures. They also encouraged
us to take pictures of them (I guess it's good luck or maybe they're just happily
empathizing with us american tourists).
On Thursday we ate lunch at a stand-up soba noodle place in akihabara (aka electric
city). The little old lady greeter with her constant Yurashaimase (sp?) wanted
us to eat lunch there but we were afraid of getting some awful fish soup and
instead wanted chicken. So we pulled out the little "point-it" picture
book, showed her a picture of a chicken and pointed to the plastic soup bowls
in front. She thought that was hilarious and then became our chicken soup advocate,
helping us work the vending machine - you buy your ticket from the vending machine
first, then take the ticket back to the chef who makes what you bought. Why
can't they have airline ticket vending machines?
Akihabara is the geek's dream. It's an entire neighborhood filled with nothing
but computer and electronics stores. Some are 8 stories tall and each floor
sells something completely specialized and different. One had cameras, cellphones
and laptops on the first floor, disks, and other media on the next, toys and
a bb gun shooting range on the next, model trains, books and software, and anime
porn on the top. Most stores sell tons of computer parts, like motherboards,
power cords, cases, cpus, memory, whatever. I just don't know who buys all that
stuff. There are literally dozens and dozens of these same stores, all with
enough equipment jammed into them to build a supercomputer, and all touting
fantastic savings in flashing lights with guys holding microphones pitching
something or other at the lowest prices in Asia.
In Shibuya at night there are literally over 10,000 people in the intersection
every time the light changes. They stop all cars in a square where about 10
roads intersect for 3 minutes and it's mayhem.
I've learned a little japanese, just a few key words and phrases. Apparently
if you make a small effort, it's really appreciated here. Like: watashino namewa
Brettdes (my name is Brett) or tokidoki ooki buta ga tobimasu (sometimes big
pigs fly).
We had a business dinner with some of our investors and their guide from Mitsui.
He took us to a little 3-table restaurant that you have to be a serious insider
to know about and we had all kinds of real down-home Tokyo cookin like giant
cooked radishes, saba (mackeral, i think) with seaweed, agedashi tofu (one of
my san francisco favorites), and of course potato salad (why do they always
have that?)
Booking flights to Korea was an ordeal, apparently it takes a half hour and
consultation with 10 colleagues to figure out if a seat is available. Plus they
still do everything on paper and they don't take credit cards. That's right
- even for $1000 = Y100,000. So you've gotta roll up with a giant wad of cash
in your pocket and deal it out like you're in Vegas. No problem though because
there's basically no crime here.
That seems to be the Japanese way of things. We have a theory that when giving
directions, wrapping something up, reserving flights or whatever they think
it's like launching the space shuttle - you've gotta be really sure you're prepared
before you press the button. And everything generally goes really well. Things
are extremely beautiful, detailed and of the highest quality - everywhere. People
have the craziest jobs, like standing on the sidewalk supervising the giant
line of people waiting to get into stores - yes, there are lines of people out
in the rain, waiting to look at the stuff in a shop.
The Japanese schoolgirls are a bit of a phenomenon. They all walk around in
these blue blazers with gold crests, super short skirts, burberry scarves and
white leg warmers. After school they maybe put on a pink little red riding hood
cloak, complete with little white pompoms and matching pink makeup. Or they
get totally gothed out with all white makeup and these little getups that are
just oh too fasionable. They hang out on the bridge in Harajuku and text their
friends or take pictures of each other with their cellphone cameras. They're
almost as bad as the Shibuya girls who get crazy tan in tanning booths, punk
out their hair like cindy lauper and put on three separate rings of different
colored eye makeup, funny they're not bulls because their eyes look like targets.
The guys are ridiculous too, apparently it's a competition to see who can have
the biggest hair - so 80s.
We met up with our friend June Nagao in Ginza which is the like the 5th Ave
of Tokyo, but I'd say even bigger and more brand conscious. June's been setting
up her mom's new shop called Florentina, selling vintage haute couture suits
from the likes of Chanel (an original made by the designer herself). I guess
the handbags that you'd have to wait 2 years for and set you back $20,000 can
be had for a mere $8,000. It's just so Jackie O. And they're made of crocodile
which has these little dots in the leather that are really hard to fake (unlike
alligator which is so passe). We went shopping around Ginza and saw the most
ridiculous chinchilla scarves and even a coat made completely of mole skins
(may those thousand moles rest in peace).
Tomorrow Nabe party, Monday to Seoul, Tuesday to Kyoto, then Osaka then back
to Tokyo (I think).
Sayonara,
bre++