How often will you meet a total stranger and click right away?

How often will that stranger invite you to an art exhibition after knowing you for less than an hour?

How often will you have a meal together with a group of artists, film directors, film curators, hairstylist and trainer from Germany, Japan, Russia, Thailand and Singapore?

That actually happened to us today…

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Today’s Plan:

1. Explore Ikebukuro
2. Reserve seats for our 13-hour Shinkasen + Train ride to Otaru, Hokkaido
3. AZ’s haircut at an unusual salon

And a totally unexpected day unfolded itself…

The day began in Ikebukuro where we went around taking a few shots of the surrounding area…

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“Children, we are crossing the road now…”

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After which, we went to the newly-renovated JR Ikebukuro Station: JR Ticket Reservation Centre to reserve our tickets. For the first time in Japan, my mada-mada Japanese (not up to standard Japanese) was put to use. After a few rounds of broken Japanese, “Hai! Hai!” and sign language, the patient lady serving us finally understood what I was trying to say and reserved our tickets…Haha it was a really classic scene when a gaijin (foreigner) interacts with a Japanese.

Smile!

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A Robot? Machine? to help you carry stuff up the stairs

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Lunch was at a small shop close by the ticket reservation centre. A quick one before we head over to Roppongi for AZ’s haircut…

Hot Soba and Salmon Flakes Don

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AZ had the impression in his mind that the store is located somewhere in Roppongi and we did not have the map to the store so we started to search for the salon based on pure instinct. We went up and down the streets of Roppongi.

Japan, the land where Transformations was born, the land where internet is everywhere, but NO, there were no free internet around including Starbucks! Probably because most of them get their internet connection on their super advanced mobile phones (imagine iPhone on steriods!).

Intersection at Roppongi

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Soft-o Bank Showroom

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FUJIFILM Camera Museum

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19th Century Studio Camera

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Antique Lens on display.

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Antique Camera Accessories (Loupes)

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To be continued…

We will be climbing Asahidake, Hokkaido’s tallest mountain tomorrow!

Will be back with more stories and photos…