Ginza

The day before yesterday we went to Ginza
for a couple of hours after work. There were
a lot of department stores and boutiques – most
of them of the more expensive brands. Ginza felt
a little bit like New York’s 5th Avenue. We went
into a couple of shops and bought some clothes,
but nothing spectacular. We didn’t have time to
explore the area more since the shops closed at 20.

Yesterday was Wednesday. It’s a new tradition
that they are not allowed to work overtime on
Wednesdays, so the office became half-full a little
bit after 19 when a Japanese message from the speakers
asked the people to leave. At first I thought it was
an emergency situation since there began to be a bit
stirring in the office, but then came the English
version of the message, and then I realized it was
Wednesday. There were still a lot of people left though
and I don’t know how many of them who left were just out
for dinner. Anyway, we left a little bit after that.
We were supposed to go bar/restaurant-hopping in Ebisu.
Emma, our guide for the night, knew a good French
restaurang and a cool Fixed Gear bar in that area.

Oh, yesterday at lunch, Mathias took us to a great
restaurant that served Korean BBQ - Yakiniku. It was
very good! A mini BBQ grill was on the table and you
got to order the meat you wanted. The restaurant was
only a couple of minutes from the office, but in order
to come to this place, you had to walk through a couple
of alleys of different narrowness. The last alley was so
narrow that one could hardly walk through it without touching
the walls of the houses on both sides of it. These alleys
were very clean though. I have not seen any dirty alleys
yet. I guess they have to keep them clean as there often
are restaurants and shops in the alleys. The people here
say ”There are no dark and dangerous alleys in Tokyo. There
are only dark alleys.” Maybe they’re right.