The Ginza

As expected, I slept like a dead person last night. I decided to find a Citibank to see if my ATM card would work there. I had to take the metro to the Ginza district to find the closest bank branch. It was a little far to go for an ATM, but it was an excuse to start getting used to the subways here. It wasn’t too difficult; I did have to ask for directions which forced me to speak with actual Japanese people. Once I found the ATM I felt more relaxed and although having to commute 15 minutes to the ATM isn’t a great long-term solution, it’ll do for today.

I spent the day wandering around the Ginza district which is kind of like our Fifth Avenue in NYC. Lots of expensive shops and fashionable Japanese women. It seems that the big look these days is jeans (cropped or regular), high heels, and shiny bag—hair and makeup done, cell phones blazing. I admit that I took a quick turn around THE GAP. It’s amazing how seeing that familiar blue sign made me feel. It was like an oasis. I almost broke into a run. (By the way, there's a sale going on at Barney's. I still can't afford to shop there.)

Sticker shock alert: a pair of GAP “Long & Lean” women’s jeans was 9,800 yen (or roughly $98.00, almost 2 times as much as in US).

Sticker shock, take two: there was a high-end fruit store that was selling individually wrapped fruit (apples, melon, bananas, etc) at huge prices. A cantaloupe (or “musk melon”) was about $200. A box of cherry tomatoes was $157! They were good looking tomatoes, but really…