Friday in Tokyo

Friday those people in our group who weren't visiting relatives or otherwise staying in Japan for a few extra days left for Seattle.

Ikuko and I wandered around the downtown area for awhile then went to Ueno to check out the Takeya bargain Department Store. It was an interesting place with three relatively small footprint (read low land use) but nine story high (plus one or two basement level) buildings, two of which had interconnecting doorways on three of the floors, and one (ladies store) half a block away. They carried high quality merchandise at low prices, a relatively new concept in Japan. Also the clerks were busy helping people instead of mostly standing around bowing as is the case in many department stores.

Iko had me look at one name brand handbag that was marked down to a rock bottom price of about $7,500 but most of their merchandise was regular stuff that was going for bargain prices. We bought some rice crackers and other odds and ends then made our way back to the Tokyo Station area.

I'm always impressed with the cleanliness of the streets in Japan. No garbage blowing in the wind, not even old cigarette butts, in fact, we seldom see a pedestrian smoking since enclosed smoking rooms are provided in many places including airports and train stations.

The vehicular traffic is well behaved and drivers obey the laws except taxi and bus drivers who sometimes will push the yellow light well into the red area. Pedestrians, on the other hand, are pretty much all in a hurry, striding quickly along on their way to important places to see important people. At least that's the impression I think they are trying to give, especially the older businessmen who sometimes use their briefcases as people movers. I must say they obey the walk and wait lights, even to running to make it across the intersection with the blinking green walk light rather than have it turn red while they're still in the street.

After the excess food consumption of the past few days we were looking for something light so we ended up eating dinner at a Vietnamese resaurant with a bowl of pho for each of us and a shared plate of two deep fried noodle rolls with fresh vegetables. Hard to believe we would have Vietnamese food amid the hundreds of restaurants in this area (most in the underground walkways) but Iko was in charge of picking the restaurant tonight and that's what struck her fancy.