We have recently returned from our holiday in Japan. As with most countries that I visit, I tested many forms of transport, including the bullet train, the suburban train, taxis, buses, chairlifts and skis.

We were travelling with our former next-door neighbours who are now our landlords. This could have been a recipe for disaster. The wife in the pair is Japanese while the husband is Australian. Very convenient for us as anything we said could easily be translated and we always knew what we were eating.

Prior to leaving HK, we bough a JR Pass (east) which gives unlimited trips on four days over a ten day period on the underground rail network (including the bullet train) covering the eastern side of Japan. Only tourists can buy it so our Japanese de facto tour guide needed to buy tickets whenever we travelled.

Arriving at Narita Airport on the Saturday, the three of us with the rail passes went and had our seats allocated, bought beers and ran for the bullet train. Our Japanese friend had arrived earlier in the week to visit her parents. We sat back and enjoyed the one and half hour trip to Tokyo watching the various housing estates as we sped past.

We were staying in a hotel in Ginza which is a major shopping district in Tokyo. Tokyo has about nine areas which are considered ‘downtown’. This gives a bit of an idea about the size of the place. In Ginza, some roads are closed to traffic over the weekend and smoking is only allowed in designated areas outside. The really interesting part of this is that smoking is still allowed in most restaurants and bars that are fully enclosed.

Shopping in Ginza is like shopping in the IFC. It seems to be mainly high-end flagship stores. Great to look at but very expensive. That is, until the back streets are discovered. This area has a wide array of what can only be described as ‘stuff’. It included a bakery that had huge bagels acting as door handles.

On the main road again, we could hear music pumping out of a massive store signed ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’ (check this link and you’ll get an idea of what I mean). It sounded like a nightclub and looked like a nightclub so we thought perhaps the brand has diversified and now it is also a nightclub. The two bouncers on the door seemed to confirm this theory but the people walking out of it with children in their arms added to our confusion. Naturally we had to go in.

Inside, the place reeked of aftershave and there were male models with no shirts on (great six-packs but that pooncey model haircuts that they all seem to have currently), wearing tight jeans. We had entered into the packed foyer area. Looking up, there was a massive spiral staircase with alfresco style paintings (definitely not real alfresco because no-one in Japan would have had the time to use this technique to decorate a relatively new looking store) up the three or four storeys of wall space. There was a statue of David with one of the models draped over it. It could have been a nightclub except for the children that were there (many taking photos) and the clothing sold on the few floors above us. Stinking of a very sweet smelling aftershave, we left to return to the fresh air. Luckily there was a no smoking area in front of this store.

Ginza is also where we found the largest stationery store I have ever entered. Nine floors of writing implements, cards, storage solutions, various paper types, knick-nacks, traditional Japanese bits and pieces, school bags, writing pads and diaries (they’ll emboss your name for free), calendars, photo frames and so on. I was in heaven and restrained myself by only buying two pens which can be erased (without putting a hole in the paper) and filing clips – I plan to write on these with one of my new pens so I can erase it when I need to change my filing.

I liked Ginza a lot, but I couldn’t live there – too expensive and the apartments would be way too small for our dog. The place is incredibly neat, the people are understatedly very fashionable and there’s a great vibe to the place. The food is also fantastic but the coffee…. well, it is a country better know for tea ceremonies.

* Thanks to Billy Joel for the title to this post.