Well, I did it again. Saddled up the backpack, with my cameras, a bottle of water, a couple of magazines for the train and headed down to the East Imperial Park in Tokyo adjacent to Takebashi (???? station on the Tozai line. There a joined a few thousand others and walked around the park. Its a great place to do Hanami (??? also known as sitting on the grass, drinking beer and enjoying the brief beauty that is Cherry Blossom season here.
Leaving via Otemon Gate
The area around the palace is beautiful any time you go, but particularly this time of year:
Cherry trees near the Palace
It is also a great place to watch people While sitting and sipping a cold Asahi I did come up with a few random observations on life and my favorite subject women!
First, on the way out of the park heading for Otemachi, I saw my dream combination. Western guy, driving a BMW convertible , HOT looking Japanese babe in the passenger seat ( remember its backwards over here…she is the left seat!). Sign me up for that! I knew instinctively that, there has to be a story here. Suspect it involves money, sexual favors, and a lot of Louis Vuitton purses and jewelry changing hands.
So inspired by my dream, I waltz on over to the Mototmachi Building, as the basement shopping mall there is a good way to while away the time. Make the circuit of the shops including the Chinese Delicatessen ( Its a front for the expensive Chinese restaurant on the 36th floor Foo Luck Lamm or something like that….). Sigh, no free Shumai samples today!
OK enough is enough, I’m starving! So I wander through the connecting tunnel into Tokyo Station ( ???? hop on the Tokaido line and engage in another of my favorite sports: watching the girls on the train and figuring out which one I would really like to sleep with. Expat at Large’s recent postings on the Ladder Theory provided an interesting backdrop to my mental imagining, plus it keeps me awake and from missing Yokohama station where I need to get off.
In reality there is not a one, I’m sure….but its great fun, especially the Goth wannabe who got on in her black Pippi Longstocking dress with striped socks that went all the way up…..
( I am short of breath just thinking about it while I type this!)
Speaking of Expat at Large, he tipped me off to an interesting dialogue on AsiaXPAT where some bonehead man ( “Guards…Off with his head(s)!”) posts to the women’s column that all Western men in Asia want to boink anything that moves. Maybe that’s true ( about 90% true in my case..) , he’s an idiot for posting it. Its kicked off a firestorm of disapproving replies from resentful Ang Moh, Gweilo and Gaijin shrews. Moron.
“The one” gets off at Kawasaki, leaving me alone and still crammed into a seat. At last, I hear the welcome words that Yokohama is shortly arriving ( e.g. we are arriving for you grammar nuts…the Japanese grammar literally translates the first way.) Time to get off and fight the crowds and my increasingly growling stomach.
I know where I am going to go to dinner as its were I am supposed to meet Harumi, but first decide to go window shopping at Takashimaya. That gives me the opportunity to practice one of my favorite spectator sports, watching women shop for shoes.
This is a combination of girl watching, maintaining a safe distance, and not being observed while doing it. The best place to do this sport is the first floor of the Keio department store in Shinjuku. There, the women are brutal. They look for shoes in a way that would do Imelda Marcos proud. I’m serious, these women move about picking up the shoes, looking, slipping them on and then pushing each other out of the way to get to the sale table. The young ones are by the HIGH ( and I mean High heels) heel shoes (Also known as F*%K me pumps“) The older ladies are fighting over the “sensible shoes”. You see a lot of well dressed tuna when in Takashimaya and that’s ok with me.
Alas the time comes and I cannot put off meeting the S.O. ( significant other…….e.g. that which both excites and torments me……). So off I head to Ootoya which as least has the benefits of being both cheap and tasty. More on that some other time.
So many women….not enough time!
Skippy-san
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