Spent another day in Tokyo on my way to Bangkok. I always enjoy these stopovers, despite the way the overwhelming intensity of Tokyo interacts with the grinding jet lag.
I am fond of saying that I can't tell whether Japan is a country that's really far away or a planet that is relatively close. The restaurant experience is one example of what I mean.
 |
| Many downmarket restaurants use this scheme to order. Rather than order from a menu, you make a selection from a vending machine, which then dispenses a ticket and/or announces your order via speaker to the kitchen/waitstaff. |
 |
| A close-up of the vending machine. I don't generally have a very good idea of what I've ordered until it arrives; sometimes not even then. |
 |
| Young women dressed in French-style maid costumes outside the Akihabara JR station, trying to steer business to competing "maid cafes", where similarly-dressed colleagues will serve refreshments to men who otherwise aren't very likely to encounter women. |
I'm in Bangkok now for a week-long meeting.
