Last night I thought it was Friday so I didn't write. Fortunately I did work on the next batch of photographs so I do have some to upload. This was the day we toured the Ginza shopping area; it is known for very high end stores (and prices!).
This is the only store I really wanted to go in, but our guide was power-walking us to the destination she had in mind. I figured I'd better keep up!
Here you can see the Mikimoto building in the distance.
In this store, all the manikins turn 90 degrees every few minutes. It's a real eye-catcher!
Almost anything you can think of is sold on this street!
Here is one of the street signs - very elaborate - and Piaget in the background.
The Omega store and next to a wall of live greenery. We saw this kind of thing quite often in the the newer, higher end areas of Tokyo. Smart building!
The notice on this "box" says, "Give your coins to the Lion of Goodwill. They will be used to help unfortunate people." My eye was initially caught by the lovely design so I looked closer and read the notice. Clever!
Even here there is an area set aside for people to sit and relax and for children to play. It doesn't look like what I think of as a park, but it is clearly new so trees haven't had a chance to grow and flourish yet. It didn't matter to the children we saw playing here.
As we left (with no packages in our hands!) we passed this shop again and noticed far fewer bikes. It was time to go home - for us it was back to the hotel.
So much of the Tokyo we saw was new construction - very new, very modern, very forward thinking with all the plants, parks, and water features. It took me a while to realize that this is a country that has many earthquakes. What they are doing, I believe, is razing old buildings when possible in order to build safer, stronger buildings that may be able to withstand earthquakes. Of course, there were much we did not see so there is probably still much of old Tokyo.
Oh, I'd have been tempted to say -- but it's Swarovski !!!!! Beautiful buildings and what a smart thing to do - especially since some of them are so tall !!!
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