Recovering from the Weekend

Monday and Tuesday, September 5 & 6
Going to work on Monday was painful, mentally and physically. Every muscle was aching from our weekend of "mountain climbing." Truth be told it was more likely that the multiple train/bus rides and the sleeping mats at the ryokan were to blame. I was expecting to spend Monday finishing up a new business presentation that was supposed to take place on Tuesday in Osaka. When I got in, there was a message that the pitch had been postponed until later in the month.

I worried that I would have an empty day ahead of me, so I lurked around the Aussie's office for a while. I've noticed that if I'm in his line of vision, he puts me to work. It paid off. I was soon armed with a project to create a new workflow plan for the agency based on the western model. Well, technically, I'm not going to create it as much as I'm going to rip it off from RCW and every other modern advertising agency in the world.

Joanna and I had lunch with Yuki at the Tram Street Cafe, which is right next to my apartment. It's an adorable place, but it's only open from 8-5 so I rarely go there.

The afternoon flew by with more meetings with the Aussie. He brought in a few market research agencies to give capabilities presentations for a major client project. One guy was really interesting. He's a foreigner who's been living in Japan for over 30 years and he's written numerous articles about the Japanese and consumerism in Japan. Obviously, he has a lot of knowledge. Unfortunately, he's a grumbly old goat. We took him to meet the client the next day and they hated him.

I got a restaurant recommendation from one of the girls at work, so Jo and I braved the rain to go to Cita Cita, a cute multi-Asian place in Marunouchi. We had a delicious meal and a great bottle of wine.

Tuesday morning, Joanna was up with the birds and out for a run. She's training for a marathon so she wanted to keep training during the trip. Like any good American in Tokyo, she got lost. The rain was steady at the beginning of the week as Typhoon Nabi lumbered through Asia. Even though we couldn't find much info in English about the typhoon, we knew it was close and that the rain wouldn't leave us until Thursday at least.

It cleared up a little in the evening, but the heat and humidity came back full force. I'd been wanting to go the the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku (where the bar scenes in Lost in Translation were filmed.) After a typically difficult navigational experience, we finally found the place. The New York Grill was a delight. There was a sassy jazz trio playing and we met a fellow traveller, an Australian, who was chatty and engaging. He was also easy on the eyes which is a big plus in my book. It was a big splurge, but it was worthwhile to see the views of Tokyo and get a real drink.