Finally got out!

So I took a chance today - which is no surprise to people who know me. I made an assumption that if I could make it to Roppongi, the foreigner night spot - I would surely find an ATM machine that would take a US card and sure enough *ching* *ching*, I'm in business baby! I was pretty much putting it out there and took a cab to the area via Amex - I knew at least THEY wouldn't let me down.

Roppongi itself isn't too much to shout about. Its like a one street French Quarter from New Orleans - just with more signs and people. Yes I know there are many side streets and such, but Roppongi is a lot smaller than I expected. But then again, I come from a party town. With money in hand I decided to go to a coffee shop and grab a snack. I noticed some local young girls sneaking a picture of me - I'm touched.

After lightly exploring Roppongi proper I headed down to Roppongi Hills. If I have anything to say about the Japanese - they don't do anything small in Tokyo! Roppongi Hills is a MASSIVE shopping and entertainment complex at the base of Mori Tower. Mori Tower is one damned impressive structure. While there are probably taller buildings in the world, I'm not sure any of them have as much meat on them as Mori Tower. At Mori, there is an Art Museum and Tokyo City view. Since I was there I decided to have some pictures taken for family back home. Next time, I won't be coming to Tokyo alone.

The Mori Art museum had an exhibit for Le Corbusier, so I decided to stroll through that. Couldn't take pictures though. That was a bummer, but the exhibit is pretty good. Tried to find some stuff for my brother-in-law, but there wasn't anything there of particular interest that I would have wanted him to have. He in going into art so maybe I will just get him a pass to the art galleries in Mobile or something.


At the Mori Tower is also Asahi TV. I went in there to see what they had coming out and lo and behold I see a store selling Crayon ShinChan merchandise - not much of it mind you, but enough that I ended up leaving some money behind :) Have no idea what the stuff says. Also ran into something that is either Japanese humor or the strangest display of 'circumstance' ever. Then again, this is the country that originated Pedobear so I guess anything is possible.


After leaving Mori, I felt that I had to make up for yesterdays Wachovia fubar, so I walked down to Aoyama Cemetery, something that caught my eye when I was up on the 52nd floor of Mori at the Tokyo City View. Its a very interesting place. I mean its a cemetery so it isn't much different from others all around the world, but there is certainly a different ebb and flow to the place. I haven't deciphered the meaning of the sticks/posts that I see at a lot of the graves. I am assuming that they are prayers or some sort.

On the way back I decided to press my luck and took the Japan rail system. I'm not sure why people think this system is so difficult, its actually pretty straightforward once you spend some time trying to figure out how its designed to be used. I didn't have any problems getting back to Shimbashi station from Roppongi.