Woah, its been a while since the last update…and everything is now sorted out with the agent, I think (now I’ve got to fix the bank problems…but thats another rant for another day).
This episode starts with a bit of a foody theme, somehow I managed to make myself totally misunderstood in a Chinese resturant and accidently chatted up their Indonesian waitress (she was quite cute but her English was about as good as my Japanese, which made for something of a quick realisation on both sides that it was hardly a good start for a friendship for life), then I avoided the Starvery and Mange Pie, both of which remain unappealling.
Wandering around Ginza on Saturday I encountered the International Forum, a huge concrete and steel construction containing a series of halls linked together with 70s sci-fi corridors. The event in the main hall (across which a glass sided gantry runs) appeared to be a recruiting fair for some of the countries top schools. Or, of course, I could have entirely the wrong end of the stick.
Then on, in the afternoon, to meet up with minusbat & godgirl in Akihabara. We were acosted by a Canadian who seemed disappointed when we told him his computer wouldn’t blow up if he plugged it in here before heading to the stalls selling mega-micro-switches and genuine Z80s (4.7MHz). After battling our way through shops selling Sparc1s, Indies and the occasional Octane we embarked on a search for coffee. So many geeks, so few cafes? This can’t be right, surely?
Eventually refreshed, we found a little novelty poo & porn shop, with little reason to the relative shelving positions – music CDs segued almost seamlessly into porn DVDs, which could easily catch you out one way or another.
The evening saw another visit to the Christon church themed cafe, where I heard stories of ripping off gulls heads and presenting them to the head of marketing (sic) and other such silliness.
Sunday and most of the main roads around here were closed for a dance festival. Not normally the kind of thing I’d bother with, but the music was so compelling and the dancing so strange. There was a stage and video screen set up on the bridge by Harajuku station, where dance troupes were showing their skills ten minutes at a time. I could have stayed for hours…shopping was necessary though and we dived off to Laforet where they have the finest glow-in-the-dark cyber kimono you’ve ever seen and a golf range I’d not noticed before.
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