Notes From Afar

Month: January 2006 (page 1 of 1)

Tokyo : Day 1

My flight was very good. I only watched two films as the film selection was rather uninspiring: 40 Year Old Virgin (6 out of 10) and Mr and Mrs Smith (5 out of 10).

We arrived at our hotel early afternoon on Saturday and decided to have a few hours sleep and then to head out into Tokyo.

Sadly when I woke up after my nap my cold had set in with force and I felt terrible so I spent my first night in Tokyo sleeping while my colleagues went out.

It’s not quite true to say I spent the night sleeping, more like the evening. I slept until about 11pm when I woke to have something to eat. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to get back to sleep since and it’s 5.55am on Sunday morning as I type this…

Thankfully the evenings sleep has helped my cold to lift but it’s not helped me to adjust to the time difference.

Anyway… today is Sunday my only full free day here so I’ll be sightseeing whatever my body wants to do about sleeping.

I’m planning to try and see the view from the Metropolitan Government building which is supposed to be very good, the Imperial Palace and the Ginza district. We also want to try and get to the Park Hyatt hotel which is where Lost in Translation was shot and has another great view from the bar.

As you can appreciate I’ve seen little of Tokyo so it’s difficult to form any real opinion yet. On the way in from Narita it could have been any other modern major city except that the roads were strangely reminiscent of those in Gran Turismo.

Tokyo : Day 0

OK so I’m on my way to Tokyo – I’m currently sitting in the Virgin Clubhouse waiting for my flight to be called.

It’s been a hell of week getting ready for this trip but we are as ready as we’re gonna be; I just hope our Japan team is.

With perfect timing I have a cold settling in so I expect that to make travelling a joy… I have 12 hours ahead of me during which time I intend to see how many films I can watch.

Stay tuned for more Tokyo updates…

I’m Going to Tokyo… No Really I Am

I have wanted to go to Tokyo for years and now I am.

I don’t travel much for work so to have my employer fly me Upper Class to a dream city is a bit of a treat. OK, so I have some serious work to do whilst I’m there but hell I’ll deal with that then.

So will Tokyo be a real life Blade Runner set? Will I be Lost In Translation? Who knows…

I’ll be in Tokyo for almost a week so jet lag allowing I hope to be able to post thoughts and pictures whilst I’m there.

Have you been to Tokyo? Where should I go? Where’s the cool technology shopping?

Jonathan Ive CBE

Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design overlord, has been awarded a CBE in the New Years Honours list.

It’s fantastic to see the importance of design being recognised.

Jonathan Ive is responsible (with a little input from Steve Jobs I’m sure) for the iMac, Cube, iBook, Powerbook, Mini and of course the iPod range.

Apple are renown for their industrial design – design which is led by Jonathan Ive.