Monday in Tokyo

After a late Family Mart breakfast, several of us headed out to find the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, about a 15 minute train ride away from our hotel. The museum itself was pretty great for fans of Hayao Miyazaki's movies and probably kind of ridiculous for anyone else. The place had a City Museum kind of vibe with lots of nooks to explore -- and of course an insanely priced gift shop and cafe. Photos, alas, were not allowed. See the website for a clearer idea.

We then spent some time walking around Mitaka looking for promising food and found it in an establishment called Ootoya Something.

Only 900 yen -- and then there was dessert, which I consumed too fast to photograph!

We then headed back to the hotel to meet up with the non-Ghibli folk and to locate an ex-STL taiko member living in Japan. Our travels took us to Shinjuku, a part of Tokyo that is half business complex, half insane neon lights and clubs and restaurants.


Restaurant staff stand outside their businesses and sort of mildy harrass you to come inside and eat and drink. We walked through the "red light district" (apparently recently cleaned up and barely identifiable as such right now) and visited a few eating and drinking places amid general wandering around...and ended the night on a karaoke note!

So far I am incredibly impressed with a few things I've noticed in Tokyo: excellent public transportation, clean streets, polite non-in-your-face people, and delicious food. Oh and my tiny tiny hotel room with its oddly huge tub.

See more photos from the day at this flickr set, and photos of the whole trip are piling up at this flickr collection.