Tokyo–March 24, 2016
It was cold and rainy, so I decided to go to a co-working space in the Ginza district and catch up on some work for a few hours. Ginza Hub is small, but quite nice. The internet connectivity is very fast, and the price is excellent; ¥500 for an hour or ¥2000 for the day. The people there were quite helpful as well.
The rain stopped later in the day, so about 1 PM I went out to the nearby Tsukiji fish market, looked around a bit, and had some sushi for lunch. Here are a couple of photos from the market area. (Sorry, no pictures of dead fish.)
Hongwanji Temple
Near the market is a very large Buddhist temple, Hongwanji:
Ginza Area
From there, I walked to the Ginza metro station.
Kabukiza
Along the way I saw the Kabukiza, the premier Kabuki theater in Japan. When I was here 35 years ago, I went with a Japanese friend to see kabuki. It is definitely an acquired taste, and not something I was eager to see again. There were, however, lots of people waiting outside for the theater to open at 4 PM, so it must be very popular.
Pen Station
No, that’s not a misspelling of New York’s famous Penn Station. It’s a museum and café run by the Pilot Pen company. Clever name, interesting exhibit:
Kite Museum
Unlike the grand, elegantly curated museums I have been to in the past few days, this is a small space on the 5th floor of a building on a side street. It is barely curated,which adds to its considerable charm. Well worth the ¥200 admission price! The last picture is a photo of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake; the picture was taken from a “captive airship 600 feet above Folsom between 10th and 11th.”
Miscellanea
Some artwork on construction fences. I like the last one the best.
An interesting set of bridge girders and a curved street:
Close-up of design on a wall
Sidewalk Tiles
These were interesting; the design of the first one is made of identical tiles, cleverly arranged. The second one has tiles with the same pattern as the first, only octagonal.
Sewer Grates
On the way back to the hotel, I glanced down and saw these small metal plaques on the sewer grates.
Today’s Signage
You don’t need to read Japanese to understand this one: “Don’t run for the train as the doors are closing.”
Most unhelpful metro sign ever. Great; it’s a subway entrance—but which station?
A very elegant stylized letter K.
Great advert for Tokyo Denki University (an engineering school); the main image is Astro Boy, one of the original and most famous Japanese manga.
Uncle Sam the Clown makes another appearance, with Miss America at his side!