Ginza is nothing special

Today I went to Ginza but it was just as soulless and bland a place as the other "hot spots" I've visited in Tokyo. So, I left quickly and returned to Akihabara. To be fair, I did have a fun time in the Sony Showcase listening to remixed opera music on their very high quality headphones. But the place was not very different from Fifth Avenue in New York.

I guess I didn't mention my trip to Ueno the other day. I got there by accident when the subway ate my ticket. The Ueno market is a colorful place, complete with but I was really struck by lunchtime. I got there around 11:50 and ordered my rice bowl in the largely empty place. At 12:00 exactly, a stream of salarymen came in and ordered cheap food. They all had business suits and ate twice as fast as me.

In general, whereever Kyoto has been welcoming and special, Tokyo has been quite pointless to the extent of existential angst. At times the subway, which is famously crowded, seems like a steam engine that simply pushes people in and out of the city on a daily basis. Everyone leaves work, gets on the train, and gets home at exactly the same time. The entire setup is like that of a well-oiled machine. Akihabara feels like an endless saturnalia growing out of the insanity of that sort of life. Speaking of which, today's find:

Here is delicious ramune (cream soda), but it is not normal flavored ramune. From left to right: green tea ramune, kimchi (spicy pickle) ramune, wasabi (horseradish) ramune, and curry ramune.