Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

Maybe thinking the jetlag was over was a little ambitious, I:ve just woken up after falling asleep at 3pm.

I went for a wander around this morning, it seems this district is something like our very own Docklands, with a similar set of over grandised office/coffee shop atria. I:ve found a couple of MacDonalds within easy reach of here so theres no way I:m going to starve. Well, not yet anyway. I failed to get any power cables though, so another night without computerised entertainment (baring this net cafe).

Each of the resturants seems to have a little plastic model of each of its dishes either on a table outside or in a window display. There are some which appear to have real food rather than plastic models, I:m assuming they:re the posh ones. I can:t work out if its a good thing or a bad thing, but I:m sure it:ll be handy when I get a bit more adventurous with eating here.

The revolving doors on the front of the hotel are strange too. Mainly because they:re not actually revolving doors, they just look like they should be, they:re round and have that revolving door feel to them, but they:re actually a pair of sets of sliding doors.

Todays second breakfast was a pizza at the 24 hours spagetti and pizza place at the front of the hotel. There was nothing remarkable about the pizza itself, but the garlic potato starter was an odd cross between chips and roast potatoes and was almost entirely devoid of garlic.

And tomorrow I:ll explore the subway system. Wish me luck.


6 comments

  1. I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere that there’s an entire industry devoted to making little plastic models of food for window displays. There’s certainly a few Japanese restaurants in Soho with the little plastic models, but I can never remember what the precise reasoning behind using models as opposed to pictures actually is. I always thought it was dinky and rather cute myself, which seems with Japanese popular culture to be reason enough in itself…

    The doors sound very funky. Are you working on getting a place of your own, or are you likely to be taking up residence in the hotel for a while?

    Enjoy the subway. Watch out for Aum Shinrikyo types.

    • I:ll be getting my own place sometime, but for the first couple of weeks I:m staying in this hotel – the company are paying for the moment. I:ve got bigger things on my mind right now, like starting work on Wednesday, and, with luck, there:ll be someone there with a spare room or somesuch.

      • if i recall correctly, the underground has no signs in english for the stations… so you’ll probably have to count the stops and follow the colours. and learn your exit signs!

        • It does seem a little scary from the one station I:ve seen so far. I:ll try to get a travelcard-like ticket so I can have a bit of a roam around. Though I:m not sure how wise that:ll be if I cant figure out what station I need to get back to.

  2. So I’m told. And saly, plastic sushi costs an awful lot more than the real stuff. Although, erm, these tables outside restaurants; is the plastic sushi attched to them in any permanent way? And if not, can I have a souvenir of your time in Japan please? :-)

    • The models do look rather intricate, and, from a brief look, specially made for the resturant (though I may be wrong about that, back home we:d mass produce them then make the meals themselves any which way we pleased and tell people they couldn:t expect them to come out looking the same). Not sure how permanenty attached they are, I:m not yet brave enough to experiment too much. Will try to find appropriate souvenir for you though.

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