Dorothy-chan, We are Not in Roppongi Anymore

Roppongi is known as the seedy foreigner’s spot – even one of my forum members, who has been in Japan for 15 years, says that he would rather not go there. I have been to Itaewon in Korea, which is the seedy foreigner spot, and I have to say Itaewon is a lot dirtier. Why? There is no such thing as Roppongi Hills in Itaewon.

But before I get to Roppongi Hills – I finally met up with Maki after about a year! It was a lot of fun and we spent the whole day together, most of it spent in Roppongi Hills. Before I met up with Maki, I figured I would get some time to go to Shibuya and witness/take part in the infamous “sukoranburu kossaten” – “scramble traffic crossing.” It is a Barnes Dance and in order for the pedestrians to cross in all 5 directions, vehicular traffic literally stops. Music plays too so that people know when and when not to cross – pretty much the same in Kyoto but more important here.

Right across the street from the main part of the kossaten is Starbucks, in the Tsutaya building. That building is famous for its electronic billboard – in “Lost In Translation,” the billboard above Charlotte’s shoulder had a dinosaur, which is the same billboard that I saw. I have come to the conclusion that Tokyo is damn noisy. You are being bombarded with information, lights, and media, right and left and to the –nth power, much worse than in New York. I felt it right there in Shibuya with all the noise, the digital billboards and the neon. While I sat on Starbucks – which has its seating area on the 2nd floor – I snapped some pics of people crossing the kossaten, as I had a great view. The Shibuya kossaten literally defines “rat race.”

Rather, the whole Tokyo rush hour defines “rat race.” I left early in the midst of rush hour mainly for one reason – to get on the “Women Only” train cars. Not that it is really that important for me to ride it but the fact that the train systems in Japan (mostly subway) have designated cars for women during rush hour so that they feel safer is something else. (Side note: during my whole trip, I was never grabbed by a chikan, a “groper.” Thank god).

At 12, Maki and I met up at the Hachiko Statue, a famous meeting spot in Tokyo. Then off to Roppongi for Greek food. I found this place called Spyro’s doing a random Google search and I am glad I found it; according to some sources and Deena’s own experience, the other Greek restaurant in Shibuya called Aegean is not that great and is expensive. Maki and I headed off in the wrong direction at first, but we finally reached it. The lunch set was great, though I wished the salad had feta in it – in lieu of a Frappe, I had Greek wine. Our waitress was Greek and while she was hearing Maki and I talk in Japanese, she asked me if I was Greek too. Real good fun.

But the fun REALLY began in Roppongi Hills . It is like the Time Warner Center but on bloody steroids. It’s almost 3 times as big and has way more stuff – for example, the Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View. These two are on the 53rd and 52nd floors of the Mori Building (a guy named Mori made Roppongi Hills) and let me tell you, even though it was cloudy that day, the view was amazing. Imagine at night or on a clear day, when you can actually see Mt. Fuji in the distance. It’s actually a popular spot for marriage proposals. Cue in the collective, “Aww…”

Mori Art Museum doesn’t have a permanent collection; however, the current exhibition “Le Courbusier” (spelling? Link!) was actually good. It was funny though, the audio guides were free, provided by Bloomberg.

After the museum, Maki and I were a bit tired so we wanted to go to a café or something. Luckily, we both had the floor guide and I remembered Babbi, this new gelato place. It was amazing – I had pistachio and caffe, which are my favorite gelato flavors. The view was nice too; we were in the part of Roppongi Hills that faced the residential area and right across the street from the apartment buildings, so it was actually new, quiet and really clean. I totally felt that I was not in seedy, gross Roppongi, it was as if I was in another world.

I actually got my Birkenstocks in Roppongi Hills – I have been thinking about getting a pair and with the yen weak against the dollar (123yen to a dollar, bad for me when I convert dammit) I did the conversion of what $110 Birkenstocks be in Japan at 9975yen…$81 WITH tax. Of course I am going to get a pair here! (Just like how I will get my new Herve bag here too). I got the Kairo in black patent leather; I saw a girl this morning in Shibuya with them and thought they were cool. That, and the store didn’t have the Gizeh in the mango color in my size. I am a 40 in European size; Japan being Japan, it is next to impossible to find shoes in my size. They don’t even do shoe sizes unless they are shoes in department stores/foreign designers/sneakers or just damn expensive – they are just SS, S, M, L and L is ONLY 24.5cm. I am 26-26.5cm. Discrimination! I can’t get cute shoes here.

I was seesawing a bit on getting them now, but I realized that yes, while Kyoto does have Birkenstock in Fuji Daimaru, the question is, and will they have them in my size? Tokyo has more foreigners, so I figured it is more likely for me to get stuff in terms of clothes here than Tokyo. I am not in the mood to spend $15 to schlep to Osaka and run like a chicken with my head cut off for shoes (although I would do it – I ran down to the Kate Spade store in SoHo the day of the Senior Cruise in May 2006 for a gold handbag. My aunt was totally aghast. But I got it.).