Adventures in Roppongi

The other day we ended up in Roppongi in the morning, which is quite possibly the best time to go to Roppongi.

The first thing we saw after stepping out of the Metro exit was a young professional, dressed in fine black clothes and jacket, passed out and lying face down on the pavement. He seemed to be breathing. No one seemed to mind him.

Half a block down, another guy was lying in a little roadside flowerbed, his feet propped up on the low railing surrounding the plot. A police officer was standing over him, and not doing much of anything.

After that, in a completely unrelated incident, we were passed by a line of maybe a dozen uniformed salesmen--they were jogging, and had their arms wrapped around large inflatable pill-shaped thingumies advertising credit cards.

Fascinating.

The whole point of the trip was to apply for our tourist visas at the Chinese consulate, and once we got there we noticed that we needed passport photos. Thus we embarked on a merry adventure around Roppongi, which included an investigation of a dilapidated apartment building which, despite the business signs out front, seemed to house no commercial establishments whatsoever (photographical or otherwise). We eventually found what we were looking for on the 6th floor of Roppongi Hills, and while our photos were being developed we took a break to drink some Seattle's Best Coffee and listen to crappy American pop music playing in the background. It felt just like back home.

After we got our photos, we trekked back the consulate, and upon reentering immediately noticed the passport photo booths prominently displayed on the first floor.

Let's hope things go better in China.

In other news, my sister just arrived in Japan today. I was working, but Kate (currently under the influence of some nasty allergies) met her at the airport. More on that later, maybe.