Tokyo:


I’m a little jaded. I remember the first few times I came to Japan and I was sooooo excited. Now I’m a little more used to it and I’m still excited, but tonight I try to sleep on the hour and a half drive in from Narita to the hotel instead of staring out of the window to look at everything… Of course, I can't. And instead tick-off the landmarks in my head. the hotels near Narita, the Ferris Wheels, the site of Summer Sonic, etc, etc...




Our hotel is in the heart of Shibuya. With The Strokes we stay in a different part of town but this time we’re back in the middle of Shibuya. It’s good. I like Shibuya. I remember coming here 12 years ago and spending a fortune on Pizzicato Five CDs at HMV when I was on tour with Pulp. 12 years ago, Jaysus....

After we arrive there’s a brief Production Meeting and Label Promotion Meeting. Both are very traditional Japanese ways of doing things. It’s where we go through the schedule and the details for the forthcoming week. Today it’s quick and easy. Back in the day they would last a long time and be much more formal. Things seem more relaxed these days, which is good and bad, I suppose. Maybe it's to do with my perception of things here but I remember it used to be a lot more formal; now its more casually professional.

Afterwards, I go for a walk through rainy Shibuya. It’s busy (It’s 9PM on a Saturday night) and full of young people. It’s exciting, but I’m no longer curious about what’s in the stores: the mobile phones will be worthless to me outside of Japan; the record stores sell the same stuff as I can get in New York; the clothes will be too small for me. I’m waiting until the morning before the promo to go to Tokyu Hands – the best store in Japan for just 'stuff'….no doubt I’ll come out with too many nice pens again.





I eat at a noodle bar. The ordering process is great: you select your meal from a machine outside (pick a number for your meal); you pay the vending machine and get a ticket; you go inside, and give the ticket to the staff (who all shout out a greeting in unison everytime a new customer comes in); they serve up boiling hot noodles in minutes. My bowl of Pork and Noodles was amazing and cost about US$7.50. The glass of iced water was so cold and the noodles so hot I gave myself a wicked toothache for the first half of the meal…it reminded me of where I was. I think things in Japan are frequently extreme in weird ways. Maybe it’s a jetlagged perception but the noodles seemed super hot (how?) and the water was very cold. It’s like nothing’s done to a half measure here (Its an observation not a gripe, btw). It’s good to be in a place where people are polite, and sometimes--I feel--especially so because I’m a foreigner and speak no Japanese. Staff at the noodle shop and Starbucks (I know, shame on me. What can I say? I need coffee. I gots me a case of that jet-lag…) are all very solicitous and helpful, making sure I know how the ordering and paying and waiting in line system works. It wouldn’t quite happen the same way in Manhattan…




Back at the hotel I was impressed at the small football field I could see from the elevator on top of a neighboring building above Shibuya Station. Tomorrow’s schedule is busy for some of the band with promo. We’re all going to the label offices in Harajuku for a press day. I’m exicted, I haven’t been there for ages. And the best thing is, that’s where Gwen Stefani comes from. I wonder if there's a statue of her there or anything...?