The great thing about traveling from west to east is that the jet lag actually works in your favor. You’re exhausted by 10:00 p.m. but up and ready to go by 6:00 a.m. Or, in Ivon’s case this morning, 5:00 a.m. As an added bonus, he didn’t need to waste time deciding what to wear because, as documented in yesterday’s blog, thanks to Air Canada he’s in Tokyo with only the clothes on his back.
Ivon decided this trip was going to be all about the waking, so we took the twenty minute stroll from our hotel to the Tsukiji fish market where we enjoyed a sushi breakfast comprised of an unbelievable tuna platter, some sea eel and tamago.
Afterwhich we did the walking tour of Ginza.
We stopped by Akemi’s old workplace, the Pierre Marcolini Cafe, where I caught up with the gals and Moro-san, who was enjoying her day off, left a message for me in the form of a welcome back coaster…
We returned to the hotel for an hour where I experienced all sorts of computer-related issues. First off, I was unable to use my skype mobile because, for some reason, it tells me that my iPhone isn’t connected to the internet even though its connected to my computer that IS connected to the internet. Is there some sort of setting I’ve failed to switch on/off? I eventually settled for a computer skype session with Akemi and, after several failed attempts to connect (my contact list kept informing me that she was off-line, even though she wasn’t, and that I was off-line, even though I wasn’t) finally succeeded – although, again for reasons unknown, the audio wasn’t working. I could hear skype dial, hear the messages being received, but couldn’t hear Akemi. And she couldn’t hear me – until she donned earphones. What gives? I blame this new Sony Vaio travel computer I picked up that, it turns out, is about half as slow as the six year old version it replaced. Serves me right for buying a PC. Never. Ever. Again.
We met up again and hit Roppongi in atypical fashion, skipping the bars in favor of the Mori Art Museum where we checked out the planetarium, the sky view, a Japanese blond, and an awesome exhibit of the works of Odani Motohiko that proved infinitely impressive, mesmerizing, and, at times, deeply unsettling.
We then headed over to Midtown where we sampled some twelve dollars strawberries (video to follow). Ivon’s resolve gradually faded and, before long, we were avoiding the stairs in favor of the nice, lazy escalator ride down to the subway platform.
Back at the hotel and getting ready to head out. Tonight, we eat the shit out of Birdland!
Jelly heads into surgery tomorrow morning. My poor gal.
Today’s blog entry is dedicated to MightyStarGazer.
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