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After the funky night of yesterday, the rest of the weekend had to be necessarily soft-toned. However, not quite relaxing. It was all walk, walk, walk. I met M. at the Ginza crossing in the early afternoon. They hadn't read my e-mail, so C. was totally desperate about her "lost" computer... When I told M. that I had it in my backpack she screamed with joy! C. joined us some time later, at the Shinbashi station, to pick it up. She couldn't believe I had it (in fact, when I first saw her I told her "I don't have it, it was a joke!" and she almost fainted...).

Then the last half of saturday started (the night before had trailed so much that I thought it would have been monday already). This time we did building-spotting. We started from the Mitsui Garden Hotel, a strange one, the main lobby is at the 16th floor. You take the elevator all the way up, and while other people are checking in you can watch the waterfront and skyscrapers from high above.

After that, we took the automatic Yurikamome train to Odaiba island. This is a futuristic dream of a place, built in the late XIX century as a defense, and transformed twenty years ago in an entertainment park (see below, highlight of the day). However, the sight of Tokyo's skyline slowly lighting up while the sunlight goes down, is not to be missed. Try to sit at one of the restaurants with terrace view, around sunset, and watch the night taking ahold of the City, which replies by lighting up like a humongous lunapark!

After the dinner with lights, we went back to Shinbashi, and climbed the Caretta Shiodome. Not exactly climbed, rather we were shot like bullets inside the fantastic elevator, all in glass and lighted up in colours, from which one can see the city as if taking off in a helicopter. The feeling of the final brake is just amazing, it makes you feel like being thrown up from the bowels of the skyscraper, flying over in the streets of Ginza!
That was it for the night, but the building-spotting had been contagious...

The day after, sunday, I had a walk by myself around Harajuku, trying to steal some photos of the cosplayers. I got a few ones, but no much luck since it was a gloomy day, waiting for the rain (which happily didn't come). Then I strolled on Omotesando, spending about 7,000 Yen at Kiddyland (...) But I couldn't resist, and I kept going building-spotting again. I went first to the Mori Tower in Roppongi. I climbed all the way up to the 47th floor, which hosts the Mori Arts Center. However, they had on display an exhibition that didn't appeal to me, so I didn't pay the fee and went back down, ground level.

Next, I headed for the Imperial Hotel, in the hope of finding some of the magical spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright still wafting around. But it was a delusion. The new Imperial Hotel has nothing of the lightness and elegance of the old one, it is just a titanic assembly of huge brick and stone parallelepipeds. And the Tower is not accessible, moreover. But I went inside, to see if at least the interior was worth, and in fact some spirit of the great architect is still lingering around, mostly in the decoration.
The Imperial Hotel is mostly a high-prized wedding factory, where one can find everything, from the wedding presents, to the bowtie for the best man. The price of the wedding rooms runs from a 'Cozy Style' option, 420,000Y for six guests, to the 'Baccarat' option, 3,350,000Y for 50 guests (multiply the figures according to the number of invitations).

Notably, I had to pee. So I slipped stealthily to the mezzanine floor, where two separate wedding receptions were going on, all crammed with elegantly dressed people, with many women in traditional kimonos etc. Pretending to be part of the party, I headed to the men's room. Nobody protested. But the best was when I entered the toilet. Lulled by the gentle sound of one of the thousand jingles that you hear everywhere in Tokyo (this one was a joyful music for harp and clarinet), I sat on the heated seat and could get lost in my thoughts. This electronic toilet had a fully controlled apparatus providing air and water jets, with all possible inclinations, pressure and temperature. Now, that a private Hotel may leave free access to 'guests' from the street to use their facilities is already a sign of great civilization. But that it should offer even a bidet, and a full choice of soap types, including an antibacterial (perfumed) alcohol, that exceeds expectations. This is what I call a service, indeed.

And eventually, I went back to the Caretta Shiodome. It was late sunday, about 8PM, so very few people were around. I jumped inside an elevator, and started going up and down and up and down, not less than three times! As soon as I reached the top or bottom floor, I pushed the '><' (close doors) sign, to leave out any hecklers of my private pastime. It was just like going on a rollercoaster, but with the spectacular view of the Ginza skyline below!

highlight of the day: the Joypolis, Aquacity and Venus Fort at Odaiba island, a japanese girls' paradise.
How to turn your date into a wife. The Odaiba island has all that is needed to fulfil a girls' dream of marriage. The island is connected to the city by the Rainbow Bridge (called in japanese with just the english name, Reinbō Burijji !). The whole place is a family resort, loaded with shopping malls, parks, kids' attractions, game halls and restaurants, but with a definite inclination toward cheesy and kitschy romantism. There is a fake beach, a fake Liberty Statue, fake pizza (not bad!), a fake wedding chapel (but with a real bronze bell) and a "priest" (just as fake, and preferably blond Caucasian) who conducts the wedding ceremonies. It is the Partire - Tokyo Bay Wedding Village. Wedding is a big business in Japan and Japanese like to marry Western style! The village, with fake european houses, offers everything for a memorable wedding: bridal shops, party planning, menus, honeymoons. Not far away, the Venus Fort is an elaborate Venice-themed, womens-only shopping mall, complete with marble fountains, artificial sunsets every 30 minutes, and an "Italian mayor" reading out speeches from a balcony. All shops are geared for women, and generally quite expensive, but the fake decoration is stunning. But the really weird thing is that young couples come here, usually on their first date, to start dreaming their love dreams. Now, who would take out a girl on a first date to an entertainment park ?? For the shy japanese boys and girls, the prospective of going out for a date, and not being forced to speak or even look at your partner, is probably the ideal situation. Playing innocent boardgames, taking fresh pictures inside a colour-lighted heart, or walking under the Liberty Statue (public displays of affection are unlikely in Japan, however you will see some couples hand in hand) paves the way to a happy couple, and for those interested, they can start organizing the wedding party well in advance.
But just how shy the japanese youngsters can be, when it comes to approaching the other sex ? (I am writing in very general terms, of course! hope no japanese get offended.) Listen to this. A couple of years ago a DVD called Miteiru dake (Just Looking) came out. It featured various talent/models just staring straight ahead. That’s right, the models on the DVD did very little, other than stare straight into the camera. According to the website, the idea is to get young males who aren’t used to socializing with women, to become more accustomed to making eye contact and/or handle the fact that a sentient being sits across from them, and awaits interaction. The DVD hoped to cure those afflicted with shyness, so that they may rejoin society. In the meantime, japanese girls go dream their dreams (and empty their wallet) at Venus Fort.