Back in Tokyo

After three fabulous days (and nights) in Kyoto we are back in Tokyo and I have Internet access again -- off to Hong Kong tomorrow but more infos soon.

Tokyo Weekends

Hard to believe we've been in Japan for well over a week -- and my Japanese is not getting any better. Today I had western food for the first time in the entire trip; unless an apple counts. Or a Coke...

The bad weather is over, it's hot (high 60's) and sunny and our group tour began Thursday night and has marched at a rapid pace leaving little time to do anything but collapse come afternoon or evening. Tonight we will all meet in the hotel Club Lounge with a picnic dinner from the food court at Mitsokoshi.

Last night I discovered the two massage chairs hidden in a corner of the Club Lounge and can't wait to return for a kneading. We are re-packing as tomorrow we will go to Kyoto at mid-day and then continue with out Born to Shop tour.

Most of our money has gone for taxis-- yesterday the fare from Ueno to our hotel in Akasaka was $45. We went to the newish Yodabashi store in Akihabara and went wild-- the store carries everything from electronics to makeup, with a huge kids' toy area. We stopped at Love, Merci (once my favorite adult entertainment store) but we were not impressed and left for Yodabashi, passing the girls outside on the curb in their maid outfits handing out brochures. I guess business is bad these days as everyone is cutting back.

We then whizzed one stop on the subway to Ueno for the street market and the 100 yen shop, which everyone loved. Mymotto has always been Ueno is Bueno. When Sarah and I checked it out a few days ago, we were not impressed-- but it was 10AM when we went. For yesterday's visit, at 3PM, things were bustling and it was ever so much fun. We ate chestnuts from a vendor in the street and gawked at the stalls selling Chanel makeup for USA prices-- could it be real?

Tomorrow we go to my favorite 100 yen store, Daiso in Harajuku. The Harajuku flea market has stopped operatingm but we'll be happy with the dollar store...where evrything now costs one dollar twenty.

Moving Day in Tokyo

Dawn again in Tokyo -- i wish I could sleep so this must be jetlag still. Another fabulous breakfast from room service at The Pen-- sublime French toast. We stuffed ourselves and will soon get organized to make our way back to the IC ANA and real life. Soon i must decide if i will dance under the rainforest showerhead in the shower stall, or soak in the giant tub that has TV controls built alongside the wall and a natural stone chimney which is actually the water pipe, delivering water right into te tub with a neat slosh.

The towels here are the largest and deepest pile of any we have tested. In the historical novels I read to learn Japanese culture and history I am learning that the country is famous for small towels. Peninsula has turned the world upside down.

We had a small party last night in our room -- we were expecting ten, but they never showed, so we were four: me and Sarah as well as Simon Johnson and his wife Reiko. Simon is my mentor's son and has lived in Tokyo for 18 years; I was at his wedding reception in Paris some ten years ago -- hard to imagine. It is a wonderful thing when your girlfriends have grown children whom you can enjoy and befriend as well as stare at for genetic similarities.

We were to all eat under the tracks at the famed (and inexpesive) yakatori stalls that few tourists visit, but when the rest of the group didn't show, we went for a more elaborate yakatori eatery in the same area-- although this one required Reiko to translate and query whether we wanted mini-kebabs of chicken hearts, livers and/or gizzards. (No thank you.) We had hot sake, some rice dishes in fish broth-- one with chopped up sour plums and the other with extra seaweed.

I love the somewhat tatty side street along the tracks, the dozens of little cafes and outdoor stalls and the banners and signs and the energy of the streets of Tokyo. I also like that it's all in the shadow of The Peninsula Hotel, so that you can feel and enjoy these contrasts of the town.

We had already planned the after yakatori-dessert party in our room -- Sarah had gone to much trouble as hostess to get goodies from the Pen's bakery and get room service to provide wine glasses. I had bought two bottles of Plum Wine so we could have a Pepsi challenge and blind tasting. Indeed, one more glass and i would have been blind. Plum wine is one of my weaknesses. Choya is my brand.

Without extra guests, it became a family night == we got to dish the elections, the town's architecture and residential 'hoods in Tokyo and then used the Skype phone to call Simon's mother in Paris. We sent the younger generation home with fresh and perfect persimmons (from the hotel General Manager) nand several Peninsula pastries (from Sarah), allgoodies wrapped in their individual cello packs.

They left us wth the glow that part of the wonder of travel is when you know people in a foreign city and they boost you up and stand by with offers to help.

Now we will soon move to the InterConti ANA and be the people our friends know in a strange and wonderful town.

Sunny Day in Edo

It was marvelous to fall asleep with eyes half open to the Tokyo skyline, looking much like NYC, to hear election prattle on CNN and to drift asleep in the best of Peninsula's beds with softest duvet. Woke early to order a true breakfast from room service.

Going to the toilet in the middle of the night was tricky, as I forgot that this Toto opens its' lid for you on approach...frightening in middle of night. Alas, it does not flush itself.

We are off to run more practice trials for our tour group -- to Ueno, Akiabara, etc. Tommorrow we'll do Harajuku preview befor heading back to the realities of Akasaka and the InterConti.

Being in The Pen teaches you the value of your big bucks-- there is no way to put a value on the luxury, the glamour of the other guests, the location, the ability of the staff to speak English and to synthesize your questions and respond helpfully. When we checked in, I hobbled on my cane. The bellboy took me to a seat in the check in area than took my place in line so I could sit. When our turn came, he brought me to the desk. Now that's training.

It was worth the price of admission just to stare at the other guests when we arrived-- a young man in early 0's, gai-in, with leather backpack and Don Johnson good looks, a casual elegance of money and style as if he was doing business here and would never go to the real world outside this hotel.

This Tokyo -- near Ginza and Chanel and the heart of the money land-- is so different from other parts of town and yet so exciting and important to see and experience. If you have only one life to live, or only a few nights in Tokyo, this is the place to be. But maybe come next week, when more of the leaves in the trees across the moat will be in fall colors.

It's only 8:30 AM and we have no place to go-- most stores open at 11AM, depatos at 10AM. If you get to Ueno too early, the stores and stalls will be closed. So we will watch Anderson Cooper and the USA election projections and save our strength for a new assault on a new day in Japan. Obiously we must search for a Moshi ice-cream stand-- Moshi is a brand with distribution in the U.S. that sells ice cream donuts (better than bagels for breakfast). They have over a dozen flavors (better than Starbucks)-- you let the frozen ice cream donut thaw for a few seconds, then bite into it. This alone is worth the price of airfare to Tokyo and a few nights in The Pen.

OMG

The morning was spent researching Kyoto sights for possible inclusion in our tour (forget the Textile Center-- a major TT) and then we arrived at the station for the extra-fast train (nozumi) back to Tokyo. I cannot be the only person to note that Kyoto and Tokyo are the same letters in different orders and have similar kanji...nonetheless, we were not lost and easily got on the train and then into a taxi to The Peninsula Hotel.

I was concerned about actually getting to the hotel because we do not have a taxi card or an address in Japanese, but the taxi driver understood and knew The Pen. Amen.

A new-build, and open for only about two years, the Pen here is modern and more gorgeous than any art gallery. We just looked at each other and mouthed OMG...we seem to be in a different Tokyo than the one we left behind.

We have a junior suite overlooking the gardens of the Imperial Palace. We are just a few hundred yards from the famed railroad tracks so we had yakatori -- bento boxes on the train were duds-- and then checked out BIC Camera, the local version of Best Buy and then went in search of Frank Lloyd Wright who is, according to WIkipedia, in a museum and not much even in spirit in the famous Imperial Hotel.

The stroll along the tracks between The Pen and The Imperial is a visual and emotional treat. It's really Tokyo in all the contrasts you want to see-- gorgeous chic women and dives for chicken on a stick, banners flapping.

We stopped at 7-Eleven to buy Coke Zero for our room, but returned to find the General Manager had left a bottle of a 2004 Bordeaux in the room. That will take the edge off the travel weariness and go great with the spaghetti from room service. OMG indeed.

Japanese Hotel Dreams

As we finish up one just about perfect day in Kyoto, yet dream of our return to Tokyo tomorrow to test out the newish Peninsula Hotel, we reflect on the good and odd things about the hotels we have already met:
InterConti ANA, Tokyo:
* first stop on the shuttle bus from Narita (like);
* fabulous heated toilets (ditto);
* excellent personel and buffet at Club Lounge (amen);
* smallish rooms;
* nasty check in at front desk on 2F;
* worst exchange rate in world;
* free wifi in Club Floor rooms;
* Starbucks nearby;
* marvelous gourmet supermarket a few doors away.
Okura Kyoto:
* excellent location amidst shopping;
* great shopping in basement 2 level subway station arcade;
* must pay for water in room as well as instant coffee or tea;
* wonderful exchange rate, all things considered;
* walking distance to Starbucks;
* difficult to manipulate TV for English language, moshi-moshi;
* free wifi in room (like)!
* breakfast not included-- no lounge floor or special amenities. Stunning breakfast buffet offered atop hotel with great view of Kyoto at $36 per person, USD. Secret bakery with great croissants in sub-basement 2.

On to The Pen, always our favorite mantra.

Sunny after Sunday

The rain has stopped
the sun is out;
some autumn leaves,
not many.
the rate of exchange here is 77.

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