1 June 2009

Wow, today is already June 1st! That is so crazy, since time has just flown by! There are only ten official days of Cal Poly study abroad class left, and my final group project is due in four days. Everything is just coming to a close so quickly! My group met with Don at 9:30am this morning and discussed our project one last time before our final is due this upcoming Friday. He seemed really pleased with our progress, so I’m hoping it’s because he actually liked our design and not because he knows we don’t have time to change it, but whatever. It is what it is. After meeting with him, Norio and I walked to a small coffee shop across the street from the NOMYC. I tried an iced almond latte, and he got his usual coffee. We made plans to visit Shinjuku then Ginza that night to take photos, but we both wanted to take a nap before going out again. We walked back to the NOMYC and decided to meet back up around 3pm. I used the time to mainly catch-up on my blogs and emails, but I also found time to nap for about an hour. When I woke-up at 3pm, I went and woke-up Norio as well. Derrick had originally planned to go with us too, but he was too exhausted to go out. Instead, John asked to go with us, so the three of us headed out toward Shinjuku on foot.
It was slightly raining when we first left the NOMYC, but it stopped after about 10 minutes of walking. We first went up the observatory tower in the Tokyo Government Building by Kenzo Tange, then we went and explored the ground level of the Cocoon Tower, also designed by Kenzo Tange. Afterwards, we had originally planned to go straight to Ginza, but since it was still light outside, Norio wanted to go see an installation in one of the nearby subway stations. We hopped on the subway and got off at Iidabashi Station. The installation consisted of bright green pipes forming linear shapes based off of algorithmic formulas, and Norio said it was done by Makoto Watanabe Architects. It wrapped along the ceiling of the station as the escalators climbed higher and higher to finally reach ground level. The even better part was that we didn’t have to exit the subway gates since the installation was completely contained with the gated areas. Norio, John, and I used it as an opportunity to go somewhere else with the same prepaid ticket. John ended up getting a headache however, so he got off at Shinjuku, and Norio and I proceeded to go back to Roppongi. Norio wanted to photograph the Louis Vuitton store by Jun Aoki since the façade consisted of many clear tubes. I had already seen it, but I took a few photographs anyways. We grabbed a quick dinner at Wendy’s, and I ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and chili set for 690 yen. It was really good and really filling. After finishing dinner in Roppongi, we finally got on the subway to Ginza.
Once in Ginza, I was completely amazed by how beautiful the area was at night. The buildings all look completely different, and many of the less aesthetically pleasing buildings during the daytime were completely transformed at night. We walked around for a couple of hours taking photos, and I’m glad the weather was agreeable as well. By the time we finished, it was around 11pm, so most places were closed. Since we were both thirsty and didn’t want to return to the NOMYC, we took the subway to Shibuya so we could grabbed something to drink and eat at Saizeriya. I ordered the Chef’s Salad for 299 yen, along with a voucher for the unlimited drink bar for 180 yen. Norio ordered a bacon and sausage pizza and also got a voucher for the drink bar. That was the second time I went to the drink bar at Saizeriya, and I enjoy to its fullest every time since I love soda and tea so much. We lost track of time while talking so we didn’t end up leaving Saizeriya until around 1am. What a long day! We walked back to the NOMYC and went our separate ways. I took a shower then worked on organizing my photos from earlier. Tomorrow we meet with Klein Dytham Architects at their exhibition in Gallery Ma, so that should be interesting. We also get to change our sheets every week, so we have to turn in our sheets tomorrow morning at 10:15am and get a new set. What a hassle…