Auld Acquaintance

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Today was a day - our only day - with a set plan. We had an appointment for 12 noon to meet some ex-colleagues from the hotel I worked at in 1983. I didn't know who or how many to expect, but I was excited at the prospect. From yesterday's trip into Tokyo we knew it would take something more than an hour to get to where we were going, so we left at about 10.15. We found that the fast train in from here takes 33 minutes but the non-express ("local"? Is that what they're called in English?) takes 41 minutes. Not hugely different, but the next one due in happened to be an express so that was good. The transfer at Tokyo station is a good 10 minutes or about a 700m walk, from our line in from Chiba to the Yamanote Line, which is the Circle line around Tokyo city, and we only needed to go a couple of stations, to Shinbashi. But we accidentally got on another express that skipped our stop and so we had to get off one stop later, change platforms and come back one. We walked for ages to get the next train line, and I stuffed that one up too: because I regarded it as a normal transfer from one train to another, we walked through a non-wicket lane without being challenged, so when we finally got to the next train, it was a different rail company, but we hadn't signed out of the last one. But the ever-helpful service staff took our rail cards and did some magic, then brought them back so we could swipe our way through the next wicket. Again, we were only one stop from our destination, and we could have avoided all that hassle if we'd taken the alternative of a 7-minute walk from the last station, but this final station turned out to be actually connected to the building that was our destination. So, yay for that.



My old hotel was called Shiba Park Hotel, and 12 years ago they established a sister hotel, called Park Hotel Tokyo, which is 260-ish rooms from the 25th to the 31st floors of the Shiodome Media Tower. The old friend I had expected to meet had caught some infection a day or two ago, but another was there instead, Mr Sato, whom I remember as a lovely guy, very cute, very sweet, and if I'd had a crush on anyone in those days it would have been him. His face is a bit heavier now, a bit droopy, and he doesn't smile as much as he used too, but he invited us to have lunch at the hotel while we chatted. He was on duty, being the Housekeeping Manager at the moment (they have a policy of the managers all circulating around the different departments) but after we finished lunch he took us up to the top floor to show us some rooms. I've just realised while writing this that I took it as a matter of course - when hotel people visit other hotels it's natural to expect to be shown some rooms, but maybe I should have thought it was a bit weird when he offered it. But when we got up there we discovered he was not just showing us some rooms. These were literally works of art. It was amazing. About 4 years ago, some of the managers hatched an idea to get an artist to decorate one of the rooms. It turned out to be such a hit that they had artists work on all the rooms on the top floor. We saw three of them. I hope I'll be able to upload some photos here for you. They're still quite small Japanese hotel rooms, but the art rooms are only about $50 dollars more than a standard room ($250 compared to $200) so if you ever get to go to Tokyo on an expense account, let me recommend these rooms. (God I hope I can upload the photos for you...) Anyway, Mr Sato is going to try to get the gang back together in another week or so, and he said he'd show us some more rooms then too.



He also told us that tomorrow is a holiday, and lots of people will be taking their summer holidays from tomorrow until next Tuesday or Wednesday(!!!).So this will be a good time not to go to some places we were thinking of. But we're not sure where to go instead. But that was some information we were happy to get, just in time. We'll see how it affects us.



From Shiodome, the map suggested we would be able to walk quite easily to the Ginza, Tokyo's shopping mecca. We got our bearings from a staff member and set off, following instructions almost to the letter, with only a little bit of freestyle shortcutting, and we didn't get lost at all! But it wasn't long before we were ready for a sit-down and a cuppa. While at the cafe, I remembered having visited in this area a shop called Hakuhinkan, "The World's Biggest Toyshop", and Stephen remembered it fondly too. We looked it up and found that had we looked for it out the window instead of online, we would have seen it across the road. So that was good, and we spent maybe an hour there, by going up to the top floor by lift,and walking down exploring each floor. We bought a toy or two - educational of course; teaching aids, you know - and we played with a slot car set. Stephen's never played slot cars! Poor deprived lad. This was great fun - about $2 for 5 minutes.



After the toy shop we continued down the road. This was Tokyo's Oxford St - all the big names, and at the main intersection were Japan's big-name department stores. We had one or two things that we thought we might be able to get at a department store, so we went in to Mitsukoshi with a very specific shopping list in mind. I used to love to buy watches in Japan, because they have some very cute and funky and cool ones, and Stephen wanted a new strap for a Seiko I got him for his 50th birthday, and the Seiko outlet store the other night suggested that a department store might be our best bet for a good one. So we went to the watch department on the second floor - but no. These weren't the watches we were looking for. We are not Bvlgari or Patek Philippe people. They did have a Seiko counter, but the woman said we needed to go to the "Watch Clinic" - out the back and round the corner, where they did have straps available, but not the right size. This 26mm watch is too old now (5 years!) and they don't have the straps in stock. But the lady (again, ever-helpful!) called a discount electronics store down the road, and they did have some in, so since that was in the direction we were planning to go anyway, we followed her suggestion. We went out through the Tiffany and Co section (just to have a look - I'd never been in a Tiffany's before) and set of towards Yurakucho Station, our first point in the homeward leg.

Again,we must have spent an hour in the electronics stop (it's bang up right next to Yurakucho Station), what with choosing and buying a watch strap, then having to go back in 20 minutes to pick it up; then me looking for a watch, although after a bit of looking it occurred to me that the best purchases have always been serendipitous - just seeing something at a market or in a little boutique somewhere that cries out to be bought by me. The mainstream ones don't appeal greatly. I saw one I liked a bit, and if I get to the end of the trip without hearing anything call out, then I can get one of those. Also on the list of things to buy at this shop were speakers for the laptop (instead of TV we're sitting at the kitchen table watching programmes on YouTube, but the laptop sound isn't great, so Stephen wanted to get some small but excellent USB speakers. Which he did, for about $12. Okay, maybe excellent is an overstatement, but they work. That's good, right? And the final thing was a tripod, and this place had plenty and what's more, they had them in stock.



It was now after 6, and it was well worth staying in town for dinner. Under the railway arches here are some wonderfully old-fashioned, tiny little traditional restaurants, the kind of place every traveller dreams of discovering and eating at. The one we went into had about a dozen tables for 2, and we were the only foreigners, which surprised and gladdened me. And wow, it was good. We didn't know what they served going in, but it turned out to be a ramen shop. I have some good memories of ramen meals in Japan, but mainly of the experience of the ramen meal. The dish itself, I can take it or leave it. But this was jaw-droppingly good. The soup was tasty, the noodles were a great texture and flavour, and the pork: it was the definitive pork flavour. The fatty bits were heavenly! I felt like Anthony Bourdain. This was street food that restaurant food aspires to be.



And that was it. Across the road to Yurakucho Station, one stop to Tokyo (again, we could have walked. Didn't) 10 minutes and 700m walk to the Keiyoo Line platforms to get back to Chiba (ordinary train, stopping every station.) (Or is that the name? "Ordinary"?) A spot of shopping at the K Station shops, home, cuppa, this. Done. About a 10 hour day, 10.15am to 8.15pm. Sore feet again.



Oh I forgot to tell you yesterday though, we were much more tired after yesterday's jaunt, so we ran a bath. Japanese style, you press the buttons on the wall unit, and it runs itself, with the water at 40 degrees filling then stopping automatically. You shower first, soaping and rinsing thoroughly outside the bath ( the Japanese usually do this sitting down, but Giang doesn't have a bath stool) and then get in the bath, whose water is deep enough that your getting in slops it over the sides. And then you just lie there. (By lie, I mean you can put your head back, but you are sitting up, because the bath is somewhat cube-shaped. The sides are higher than a western bathtub, but you sit like 3/4 of a W. Or you can put you feet out and up on the end, so you become a square-root.) Yesterday, this was fabulous. The tired leg muscles, the aching feet, the sore back... all gone. You get out all perked up, but relaxed, and then you have a lovely long, deep sleep until after 8 in the morning. Definitely recommended.

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Photos

Art Room, Park Hotel tokyo
This rooms got "Wow"s from both of us when we walked in.

Art Room Wardrobe
Some, not all, of the rooms have had their bathrooms painted, and some even have decorated closets.

Hakuhinkan Toy Shop
Playing with the slot cars

Yurakucho
Evening, nearly time for dinner at a quaint and tiny restaurant

Yurakucho
Ramen restaurant, underneath the arches