Ginza Red, oui oui
Mar. 26th, 2011 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astillarAnd all the love
On earth
Was suddenly there
On the lips
Of that girl from Ginza
Today started off shittily stressed. I was running low on cash yesterday and knew I’d have to find an international ATM today to plump up my wallet. Remember, Japan is a cash-only country, so plastic is no help most of the time. The ATMs I’d tried yesterday didn’t cooperate, so I thought maybe I was just using the wrong kind of machine. But this morning the international ATM said my card was ‘invalid’. I’d gotten money from one at the airport when I arrived, so I thought perhaps my bank had put a hold on the card, if they thought this was ‘suspicious activity’. So I hiked to the train station to use the international phone to call the 24-hr service number on my card. But even the payphones labeled ‘International’ were telling me I couldn’t make that call. I wasted an hour trying to get through. Okay, screw the ATM card. I could get a cash advance off one of my credit cards at a one particular bank, according to my guidebook. It would cost me some fees, but I really needed cash. But when I found that bank, I discover that it’s fully automated; no human tellers. How am I supposed to get a cash advance by using a machine that only works in Japanese? Huh huh huh? Then I remembered that the one ATM that worked at the airport was a Citibank one. If I could find a Citibank, it should work again, right? Luckily there was one in my neighborhood. But I hiked to that bank only to find that it’s under renovation or something. There were construction guys working there and all the ATMs were turned inside out. What the hell?
At that point I was really starting to stress. I had enough cash for another day or so of food, but that was it. By now it was 10:45 Saturday morning and all banks close at noon. I didn’t have much time left to get some cash. I had to find a Citibank; the guidebook says there’s one in a few select neighborhoods. So I spent some of my remaining money to take the train to Roppongi, known as the fancy/foreigner neighborhood. If that didn’t have a bank for tourists, I might have to go all the way back to the airport.
I found the Citibank and the ATM there gave me attitude. When it didn’t work, I was like, "I’m fucked." I could check my balance and see that I had hundreds of dollars, but every time I tried to make a withdrawal, it kept saying ‘insufficient balance.’ Finally though, I found out that it would let me withdraw $100 at a time. Shit, that’ll work. I did that 3 times and got the hell out of there. So yeah, that's how I wasted my morning.
I was relieved to have cash in my wallet. Now I could go back to being a tourist. I was in Roppongi. Tokyo Tower was down the road a ways. I could see it . . . and see that it was farther than I wanted to walk. Nevermind. I checked out the architecture and shopping malls of Roppongi Hills and Tokyo mid-town. Very impressive, but a bit rich for my taste.
I took the subway to Ginza next. That’s an upscale shopping district, not normally somewhere I’d go to, but there were a couple places I wanted to check out. There were so many women out shopping, it was as if the entire neighborhood was perfumed. I played around in the Sony showroom for a bit and as I was headed north to central Tokyo, I got sucked into Tokyu Hands again. This time I had to buy something. I like to think I restrained myself well.
I stopped at the Tokyo International Forum on a whim. I recognized that iconic place from a Pizzicato Five album cover. I couldn’t remember the artwork well enough to recreate the scene (hell, I wasn’t even at the right end of the hall), but I was amused to add this spot to my P5 pilgrimage.
I went to the Imperial Palace next. The actual palace isn’t open to the public, but the eastern park is, and it offered a few pleasant peeks at the palace. Once again, I was awestruck by the sheer size of the construction, walls made of granite blocks the size of SUVs. Honestly though, there wasn’t much to see besides the ruins. Just as I was about to exit the park an old Japanese man struck up a conversation with me. His English was pretty good; he said he learned it on the radio. He told me that he hadn’t seen any foreign tourists for a couple of weeks, so he hadn’t been able to practice his English lately. Had I not heard about Japan’s atomic problems in America? Yes, I had. Why had I decided to ignore everyone’s advice and come to Japan? Because I don’t like being told what to do. Etc etc. We talked about some US/Japan stuff and he educated me about THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN JAPAN (it’s not where you think). It was fun to talk to him. He said my Japanese pronunciation (of the ten words or so that I know) was excellent. Ha ha. After about 10-15 minutes he said goodbye and continued on his walk through the park.
On earth
Was suddenly there
On the lips
Of that girl from Ginza
Today started off shittily stressed. I was running low on cash yesterday and knew I’d have to find an international ATM today to plump up my wallet. Remember, Japan is a cash-only country, so plastic is no help most of the time. The ATMs I’d tried yesterday didn’t cooperate, so I thought maybe I was just using the wrong kind of machine. But this morning the international ATM said my card was ‘invalid’. I’d gotten money from one at the airport when I arrived, so I thought perhaps my bank had put a hold on the card, if they thought this was ‘suspicious activity’. So I hiked to the train station to use the international phone to call the 24-hr service number on my card. But even the payphones labeled ‘International’ were telling me I couldn’t make that call. I wasted an hour trying to get through. Okay, screw the ATM card. I could get a cash advance off one of my credit cards at a one particular bank, according to my guidebook. It would cost me some fees, but I really needed cash. But when I found that bank, I discover that it’s fully automated; no human tellers. How am I supposed to get a cash advance by using a machine that only works in Japanese? Huh huh huh? Then I remembered that the one ATM that worked at the airport was a Citibank one. If I could find a Citibank, it should work again, right? Luckily there was one in my neighborhood. But I hiked to that bank only to find that it’s under renovation or something. There were construction guys working there and all the ATMs were turned inside out. What the hell?
At that point I was really starting to stress. I had enough cash for another day or so of food, but that was it. By now it was 10:45 Saturday morning and all banks close at noon. I didn’t have much time left to get some cash. I had to find a Citibank; the guidebook says there’s one in a few select neighborhoods. So I spent some of my remaining money to take the train to Roppongi, known as the fancy/foreigner neighborhood. If that didn’t have a bank for tourists, I might have to go all the way back to the airport.
I found the Citibank and the ATM there gave me attitude. When it didn’t work, I was like, "I’m fucked." I could check my balance and see that I had hundreds of dollars, but every time I tried to make a withdrawal, it kept saying ‘insufficient balance.’ Finally though, I found out that it would let me withdraw $100 at a time. Shit, that’ll work. I did that 3 times and got the hell out of there. So yeah, that's how I wasted my morning.
I was relieved to have cash in my wallet. Now I could go back to being a tourist. I was in Roppongi. Tokyo Tower was down the road a ways. I could see it . . . and see that it was farther than I wanted to walk. Nevermind. I checked out the architecture and shopping malls of Roppongi Hills and Tokyo mid-town. Very impressive, but a bit rich for my taste.
I took the subway to Ginza next. That’s an upscale shopping district, not normally somewhere I’d go to, but there were a couple places I wanted to check out. There were so many women out shopping, it was as if the entire neighborhood was perfumed. I played around in the Sony showroom for a bit and as I was headed north to central Tokyo, I got sucked into Tokyu Hands again. This time I had to buy something. I like to think I restrained myself well.
I stopped at the Tokyo International Forum on a whim. I recognized that iconic place from a Pizzicato Five album cover. I couldn’t remember the artwork well enough to recreate the scene (hell, I wasn’t even at the right end of the hall), but I was amused to add this spot to my P5 pilgrimage.
I went to the Imperial Palace next. The actual palace isn’t open to the public, but the eastern park is, and it offered a few pleasant peeks at the palace. Once again, I was awestruck by the sheer size of the construction, walls made of granite blocks the size of SUVs. Honestly though, there wasn’t much to see besides the ruins. Just as I was about to exit the park an old Japanese man struck up a conversation with me. His English was pretty good; he said he learned it on the radio. He told me that he hadn’t seen any foreign tourists for a couple of weeks, so he hadn’t been able to practice his English lately. Had I not heard about Japan’s atomic problems in America? Yes, I had. Why had I decided to ignore everyone’s advice and come to Japan? Because I don’t like being told what to do. Etc etc. We talked about some US/Japan stuff and he educated me about THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN JAPAN (it’s not where you think). It was fun to talk to him. He said my Japanese pronunciation (of the ten words or so that I know) was excellent. Ha ha. After about 10-15 minutes he said goodbye and continued on his walk through the park.
