Forgive the fragmented nature of this email, I don’t think I’ve had time to process the varied stuff I did over the weekend.

Weather’s gotten cold, rainy, windy and dark. Feels heaps better to get into a warm concert hall & listen to some jazz during the London Jazz Festival. Southbank’s beautiful in the rain huddled under an umbrella and wrapped in a warm coat.

Went barn dancing for laughs in London in a kitschy town hall with cherubs and chandeliers and an all-english country western band. Steel capped boots would have been handier than the prescribed cowboy hats and gingham togs.

Feeling horrified by the (admittedly very good) Holocaust and the Crimes Against Humanity exhbitions at the Imperial War Museum.

Laughing at the Camouflage exhibit.

Feeling bored at the V&A museum, then impressed at the broad spectrum of exhibits and then loving the cafe with the high ceilings and beautiful lights – the most stunning cafe I’ve ever eaten in.

And all the normal Friday & Saturday night shennenigans.

And titled “1 experience never to try in London” is dropping your Ipod onto the tube tracks, having a train pass over the Ipod and lying on your chest on Waterloo platform to pick it up. No, I don’t know why if you do touch the metal bit you do not turn into a smouldering cinder. Possibly the dumbest thing I’ve done in a long time. Yes I deserve a good scolding.

Stupidity aside…

I’m going to Malaysia and Australia for 3weeks from xmas, so really looking forward to warm weather, clear waters, the sun setting at 7pm and sunshine.

Have fun viewing the pic
Shi

Hey there

This weekend passed in a blur – last weekend in Tokyo for a bit. Going away dinner for me and another colleague who is being posted in another prefecture (different area in Japan).

Went to see hanabi (fireworks) at Sumidagawa River (’tis the season for hanabi..) with D, a Dutch expat who’s been in Tokyo for a while. It was pretty good, not as crowded compared to other hanabi, and all the Japanese girls were in yukata, which was really pretty – so we had a good time admiring girls’ outfits , but my all-time favourite, I think best of all the outfits I’ve seen in Tokyo was the goth yukata. Even her obi (sash) was all goth, with lace and teardrop pearls. Very cool. I wish we went in yukata too, but it’s a really difficult thing to wear and tie properly. Drats. Fireworks were great! 1 hour of fireworks (and sitting on newspapers on the road), there were some like golden streamers, star bursts, crazy alien rockets but the most stupendous was one that sounded like a great waterfall, and then the whole sky would turn red as a fountain of thick columns of light (about 10 storeys tall) gushed out…I love fireworks. As usual, there were police with megaphones telling people where to sit and walk – it is really common in Tokyo. Which is good, because there are so many people at these events that it would be chaos if there weren’t. Everything was really orderly and clean plus no garbage on the ground after. Finished up with a tops dinner (thanks to D’s superior Japanese skills) and cocktails in Japanese restaurant before going home.

Odaiba on Sunday for the Miraikan museum – long name is National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Coolest museum for little kids, you get to manipulate a 2-storey high globe with LCD screens showing changing weather patterns, temperatures, change the planet… and just swivel the whole thing, fast forward the years..and of course other stuff like Assimo (freaky how humanlike he moves), spider robots kids can manipulate with Playstation controls, VR…I think the Malaysian science museum has something on tadpoles turning into frogs. Hmm. And the Fuji televion building had some summer festival at the bottom with the weirdest giant elephants and celebrities heads, policegirl uniforms for Japanese girls to take photos in (although being Japan, the skirts stop ½ inch below the butt) And the Statue of Liberty with the Rainbow Bridge in the back. Dancing Elvises also on tour in Odaiba seaview deck.

Went to Omotesando on a mission to find Herzog and de Meuron’s Prada building before leaving Tokyo – and found it. It is now one of my 3 favourite Tokyo buildings. Love the treatment of the façade, the intersital spaces where stores rooms can be hidden yet appear if needed, the slanted planes with images projected at an angle so that person on the street can see catwalk show projected from the 5th floor, uber-cool creamy white honeycomb structure and custom made glass panes. Love the effortless cool. Then cooled down the hot Tokyo night with green tea frappucino on the 2nd floor while people-watching the Shibuya crossing.

Tired now. 3 days left, working till I leave. Will let you know if there is a second chapter of this Tokyo tirade.

Later,

Shi.