So, back home again after 6 nights in Tokyo.

Very long days each day Monday through Thursday, starting at 9 AM, no lunch break, out for dinner with the same people each night, back to the hotel around 10 PM. Not a lot of free time until Friday, when things slowed down quite a bit.

As previously mentioned, I had the good fortune to be staying at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at the Tokyo Midtown complex in Roppongi. The hotel’s lobby is on the 45th floor and then there are 7 or 8 floors of rooms above. Mine was on the 47th floor, giving me spectacular views both day and night.

This is looking out towards Shibuya.

And over towards Roppongi Hills.

The same two views by night.

Several of the meals were fantastic but many of them were with, well the kind of people where I wasn’t comfortable pulling out a camera for a bit of food blogging. Monday night at Maya, in the Hibiya area, for the best shabu shabu on earth (for a price of roughly US$200 per person). Tuesday night was at a sushi place in Ginza – we were told the restaurant was 150 years old but it didn’t look it, aside from our waitress that is. And actually the sushi was not the best I’d ever had. I skipped the Wednesday night dinner at the tempura restaurant at the Imperial Hotel because I’d been there once before and wasn’t impressed.

Thursday night was at a popular Italian restaurant called La Bisboccia, not quite sure if it’s in Ebisu or Hiro-o. Most of the staff working there was Italian and most of the ingredients were imported. They had many dishes laid out on a serving counter and would carry these huge (maybe 10 pounds? 10 kilos?) wheels of cheese from table to table to scrape off cheese to top your dishes. It was quite different from the top end Italian restaurants in HK and I can’t really say but it seemed more of a rustic style. The walls were lined with graffitti and autographs from previous customers dating back at least 10 years – I spotted Jeff Beck and also what appeared to be an original drawing by Keith Haring. The prices here were quite reasonable for Tokyo – most of the main dishes were in the US$30 range – I had a veal cutlet topped with prosciutto, mozzarrella and chopped tomatoes, in a simple sauce of olive oil and garlic, and it was great. I really need to do a week in Italy.

The final night, I took my team out for dinner to a seafood place in Shimbashi. The set dinner consisted of 17 courses – some just tiny bowls and others big platters like the two pictured below. We also consumed massive quantities of beer and sake. Dinner worked out to roughly US$90 per person, including all the drinks, and I’d gladly go back again. Sorry, I didn’t get the name of the place.

Friday afternoon walking around Akihabara for a couple of hours. Bought a couple of Casio watches. Camera prices were comparable with HK but I couldn’t decide between 3 or 4 different ones and so decided to wait.

Apparently maid clubs are the big thing in Akihabara now.

Maid club supplies here.

Friday night, after recovering from all the booze at dinner, I decided to go out around midnight, not to a bar but to the branch of Tsutaya in Roppongi Hills that stays open 7 days a week till 4 AM. And it reminded me why I now hate Roppongi. I had to run a literal gauntlet of African guys trying to drag me off to sex clubs (“Hello my friend! Long time no see! I know what you want tonight, a quick happy ending, right? Come to my club!”) and another gauntlet of mainland Chinese women trying to drag you off to seedy ripoff massage parlors.

The book prices at Tsutaya were simply ludicrous, though I suppose normal for Japan. I saw some books there that I wanted, some that would make good gifts. But I sat down in the Starbucks there, whipped out the iPhone, discovered no WiFi that I could connect to and bit the bullet and paid international data roaming prices to check the book prices on Amazon. Glad I did, because the books I liked that were US$100 there were $40 on Amazon and the $150 book I liked was $90 on Amazon.

Finishing up there, decided to take a taxi back to the hotel rather than run that gauntlet again.

Back home in Hong Kong in time to judge the China finals of Global Battle of the Bands. Three bands – previous winners from Hong Kong, Shenzhen (Bolt Action) and Shanghai (Dovetail Joints) competing. Oddly enough, both the Shenzhen and Shanghai bands consisted of westerners, the only Chinese band was the Hong Kong entry Killer Soap and I’m pleased to say that Killer Soap won. They go on to represent China in the finals which will be in London in December – 38 bands representing 38 countries, grand prize is US$100,000.

Later I was interviewed for a video that might end up on YouTube. Asked what I was looking for as I was voting, I told them that aside from the enjoyment factor itself, I was looking for a band that I would pay my own money to go see live and for a band that was hopefully unique enough to stand out in a crowded competition. And I think Killer Soap fits the bill. (Go to their MySpace page where you can stream the tracks from their demo CD.)

Props to Chris B for working so hard to make this a success in China. There are so few opportunities for independent rock bands in Hong Kong to be heard, too few venues, big ups to all the bands who are trying and those promoters (including Chris B & Underground, BC Magazine, Time Out HK, Fringe) for helping.

Oh, and btw, last night was the Lan Kwai Fong Carnival. LKF was mobbed, as was Cavern Club. So many freaking hot women everywhere, a fresh heart attack every 3 seconds.