The hotel offers a good breakfast - everything you can think of from cereal to croissant to pasta to Caesar salad to noodles to rice concoctions to tiramisu ... food stations everywhere. I'm amazed at the amount of people having great slap-up desserts for breakfast!! The carrot/orange juice is very good.
I have a tour of the hotel with a charming Japanese lass - I see the various room options including smoking floors and a Ladiies only floor - the rooms have extra touches like facial steamers and foot massage machines. The hotel is two years old and is a smoothly run machine, part of a big hotel group with hotels all over the country. They have given us one night comp and the others at special media rate and I'll be profiling hem in my article on Tokyo.
Soon enough we are off to explore this big city - it's a bit chilly outside but not too wintery. A short walk to the labyrinth that is Shinjuku Station. A city within a city. We follow signs and think we are probably heading in the right direction ... we want the Yamanote line which circles the city. There are miles of shops; stairs, escalators, elevators in all directions; a million different lines going in all directions; people everywhere. I've no idea how many levels the place is. I pick up a map of the station which actually just adds to the confusion.
We find our line soon enough, buy our SUICA travel cards and soon we are on the correct platform, heading east. The green train comes, all new and gleaming and it whisks us to Ueno where we change to the Ginza line. We are headed for Asakusa on the far side of the city and are there in next to no time.
There are pleasant little lanes with fake cherry blossoms and lots of trinkets. They lead us to the Shentoji shrine, the oldest in Tokyo. There are women in colourful kimonos everywhere, and men in traditional black robes. I wonder if they might be keen on making a quick buck to have their photo taken with you. But, no, they are not hassling for any such thing. Turns out there is such a thing as a Kimono Walking Tour and these people are clearly doing this experience to be all the more authentic. It adds a nice touch although there is no doubt that white geisha socks are not at flattering.
We make our way back to the station, calling into Burger King en route. Brett needs a burger! It's a quick easy scoff in the least authentic way possible but it does the trick. Brett has read of a place called Pigment which he thought I might be interested in - a Japanese art shop where you can create your own paints and inks in the traditional way. Yes please! So we head to Shinagawa, in the south of the city.
Pigment is located in an area of canals and new buildings, near the Marine University. It appears to be part of a newish complex focussing on Creative arts. We wander along the canals and over bridges, there is barely anyone about. It's very peaceful and a most pleasant stroll. It almost felt more like London than Tokyo.
We find the shop easily enough and OMG, am I in heaven or what! Now this is my kind of paint shop. There's an entire wall of vials filled with powders of all colours. Another wall of Japanese brushes. Another wall of inks and watercolours, and another wall of animal gum; used in making paints it looks like resin.
I choose a couple of beautiful brushes, some ink sticks, a special ceramic ink dish and some bamboo paper. With these lovely goodies I am all set for further ink experimentation! Thank you Husband, for a fabulous bit of research in finding that place, well off the beaten track.
We leave, it is dark, and we pass a huge poster of David Bowie. Closer inspection revealed that the "David Bowie Is" exhibition is on right here in Tokyo. Right now. And right HERE in the building we are standing outside!!! I squeal with delight and we go in. Aches and pains are forgotten as I work my way around the exhibits - handwritten lyrics, original artwork, old albums, his costumes, video footage ... and a constant medley of songs. I am captivated and could have spent all day there. As it was, we were there for well over two hours. OMG, of all the things to stumble across in an obscure part of Tokyo. How perfect was that!! Bowie had a great affinity with Japan and its style was a big influence on him so it was very fitting to see the exhibition here.
This lovely couple had lived in Tokyo - he was the Finnish ambassador, now retired. They were back for some diplomatic celebration. We talked for hours and even made a plan to go visit them and go to Lapland to see the Northern Lights. We drank more, laughed more ... and then we bid each other farewell and somehow we staggered back to our room where zzzzzzz were the order of the night.
OBSERVATION OF THE DAY: sometimes it pays to wander far from the crowds, in a small Neighbourhood, without tourist traps ... you never know what you might find!!! Bowie - brilliant. I am forever happy having seen that exhibition. He wore a lot of knitted and rather uncomfortable looking costumes, that's for sure. Amazing to see them right up close. (And a few hours later, I see he won at the Brit Awards for his brilliant Blackstar). RIP DB
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