I spent the day roaming the city with my handy tourist map. I walked across the Rainbow Bridge and had great views of Tokyo from afar. I was the only one walking along the Bridge with huge trucks and cars driving by me at 50 mph. The bridge also shakes and rattles and altoghether makes for a frightening experience, but the pictures and shots of Tokyo were worth the scare. I was also able to eat a FamilyMart lunch of sushi on the beach while looking back at Tokyo across the water. Beautiful.
From there I walked back across the bridge and then took a train to the Imperial Palace. It`s smack dab in the middle of the city and the area reminded me a lot of Chicago when you enter into the Millenium Park/Grant Park area. Huge skyscarpers behind you, with spacious green trees everywhere. Except Tokyo has a thousand year old temple, and Chicago has a bunch of metal.
There is a Sony Building that has a lot of high-tech gear that you can play with, but once I found the building I felt unwanted and decided instead on refueling with a Snickers and a coffee at McDonalds. After I came back to our capsule area and checked out the `Electric City` as they call it. Supposedly, this area is also the nerd kingdom of Tokyo with a lot of anime and gadgets being sold, but the bright lights and thousands of faces are fun to watch.
After a quick stop at the capsule I headed for the Park Hyatt - where Lost in Translation was filmed. They serve a drink called the LIT at the bar the movie was filmed in. Amanda, Taylor, Nick, and I tried to go last night, but they have a dress code so we were turned away. However, I was lucky and wore black pants instead of jeans so I could pass. I entered into the hotel and they treated me like royalty, guiding me to the first of 2 elevators I would need to take to the 52nd floor. Once I got to the hotel front desk (42nd) I started to recognize some shots from the movie. It was also one of the classiest places I have ever witnessed and I felt like a poser in my 2 dollar thrift store cardigan. I finally got to the New York Bar on the 52nd, as the elevator opened to tremendous views of Tokyo at night. My night was ende, though, when the hostess informed me there is a 2000 yen (around 18 dollars) cover charge after 8pm. With only 1500 yen in my pocket, I thanked the lady, looked out the window amazed, and headed back to the capsule. Was I disappointed? A little, but it was fun to see where the movie was shot and brush up with the big Tokyo business men, even if it was for 7 minutes.
Nick and I leave for Yokohama tomorrow and will be traveling back to Kameoka sometime Thursday. Everyone enjoy their Thansgiving, and I will post some pictures when I return home.
10 years ago
