Got up early this morning and got prepared for my little adventure to Ginza. I made sure to take a subway map that Michiko gave me of the tokyo area which also includes land rail-lines and is in both English and Japanese. Having it in both languages is very useful as a lot of the train stations only have names displayed in Kanji. You need to check the rail maps before going on a journey in order to see what line to take and how much the fare is.
Got the JR Yamanote line from Nippori to Ueno. I was able to use my JR rail pass card for this. When I got to Ueno I found my way with relative ease to the Ginza line which I took as far as Ginza station. When I came out from the station I wandered down the main shopping street which is called "Chou-dori". There were many many high end shops on this street and it reminded me of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago! The main road along this shopping street is closed off on Sundays to traffic and it was strange to see people sitting out on chairs in the middle of the road drinking coffee!
I found my way into the Abercrombie and Fitch store which was pretty cool.. It is a 10 storey store with loud music, dark interior with brightly light stairways... and some pretty cute Japanese ladies who were either dancing to the music (because they were obviously told to do if they weren't folding clothes) or they willing to help you out with any questions! Lots of really nice clothes.. but nothing you wouldn't see in any A&F store in the U.S. and there was little or no Japanese influence apart from the people. It is an unbelieveably impressive store but I was a little disappointed... It would be cool if A&F could have exclusive clothes for the Japanese market.
I did wander into the Adidas store and I did see a lot of cool things here that were exclusive to Japan.. Runners, tracksuits etc. Will give a shout back there someday. I didn't realise until I got back to the apartment that there is a Sony Building in Ginza as well that stocks the latest electronic gadgets. I'll give a call back here the next time. I'm sure I'll bring Mam and Dad to Ginza for a few hours when they come out.
Got the trains back to Nippori. No problems and I was happy with my "little adventure". Once you know the line you need to get in a station and the direction of travel it is hard to get lost! Spoke on Skype to home (my parents and Nana) and a couple of other friends in the evening time. Will be up early tomorrow morning to work on my research. I will train in the evening for two hours. Kagawa Sensei, Nagaki Sensei and Kai Sensei should be teaching I think. I trained last Monday morning with Nagaki Sensei and it was really enjoyable but research takes priority tomorrow morning I think. Mam and Dad will be here 4 weeks tomorrow so looking forward to that!
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