The sights of Tokyo?....

Even in my slightly jet-lagged state the sights and scenes in Tokyo provided reassurance that Japan continues to be the interesting place I knew it to be.
Michele and I headed out from the apartment with the intention of going shopping as it was raining and was going to continue to rain for the next three days! Darn- however intrepid explorers that we are nothing will keep us from the shops, galleries and other indoor activity. We caught the subway with a couple of changes of trains and "slapping down" of the Suica card. We went to Tokyo Midtown at Roppongi Hills. This involved taking the train and then a scuttle through the rain and we were at a large architectural treat.
It was far too cloudy and grey to even bother to make the effort to go up to the viewing area at the top of the tower (57th Floor) we just enjoyed the ambiance of the circular courtyard and the many sculptures despite the constant drizzle.



One of the many joys of Japan is the fact that they continue to use processes seemingly sticking to the theory that "if it aint's broke don't fix/replace it" the traditional 'birch" broom here being a good example of it.
Our tour of the complex took a bit of a different turn as the shops don't open until 11am and it was only 10:50 so we made a slight detour outside our eye being caught by the eye-catching sculpture in the garden surrounding the building. Red and white polka-dot skittles- no idea why the artist chose this particular shape but the contrast between the green grass and the art work made for great photos. Trying to get all of the pieces in was a bit like trying to get all the rocks in at the Roan-ji a temple in Kyoto. Perhaps a bad analogy but it was a struggle that I think I overcame- not in this particular shot as there were 5 of them.


I know, I know I am supposed to be really polite and discreet but the visit to the toilet in the building was too much for me. It was wonderful to know that my memory of things Japanese wasn't wrong and that innovations occur everywhere. Also in the light of the comments made on our AUSSIE PD day by Alan November and his experience of the micro-chip in the toilet at some model house at an exhibition in Japan, the toilet facilities in the Midtown Building just added to my conviction that nothing is to be omitted from the tourist photo collection. I had to snap the selection of buttons available for use on the side of the toilet. They included a flushing sound to camouflage any unwanted sounds, the bidet whose speed could be increased or decreased, heating of the seat and the water. Not sure of the order in which one was to use them and the synchronizing of the actual flushing of the toilet- needless to say I stuck with conventionality and just took a photo of it all.
Later in the day when we were traversing the train stations in the bowels of Shinjuku Station (bad timing of the use of that phrase so perhaps I should say beneath) therefore when we were traversing the passages beneath Shinjuku Station Michele pointed out this particular attraction- a glasses cleaning point. There are instructions on what one does. You dip your glasses in the solution then wipe them with the tissue provided for that purpose. What Michele hadn't realized in the past was that one presses a button in the lower left on the front of the bath this causes some sort of whirring noise which we decided was magnetic force or magic that went on for a minute. You then rinse the glasses in the bath (silver) at the front of the table and then dispose of the tissue in the bin in the middle. So Michele and I did parallel glasses cleaning. Our glasses were certainly sparkle-larkle-larkling by the end.

Just a couple of the lovely differences and surprises that brought our day together. We didn't buy anything but had a lovely if exhausting day walking around the shops in the building and then out to dinner all in the rain . If only some of the rain would fall in Australia!