Tokyo's Metropolitan Government Office Building: Better than it Sounds, More Boring Than it Needs to Be

Love a Free Government Service
Tokyo's Metropolitan Government  has 13,000 office workers and houses them in offices just east of the sprawling Shinjuku train station in two very impressive buildings co-joined at the base like Siamese twins.   The primary building shoots up 48 stories and hosts such adjunct services as  tour guides for the building, a specialty tourist office with multi-lingual speakers for  the entire nation of Japan,  and all manner of local Japanese Government goodness and services.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building 1:  Free Observation Tower

View from Government Building

When they designed and built the building complex in 1991, a brilliant indulgence was to allow the entire 45th floor of Building 1 to be a free observation tower with 360 degree views of the city.  Not only is access free with its own dedicated elevators,  it is fully and generously staffed, as many things are here in Tokyo are-- from alleyways so vehicle traffic and pedestrians do not have to fight out right of way amongst themselves, to metro and train stations where everyone is already on his/her best behavior.  Tokyo is well-guarded.  All this without guns.

It should be mentioned that Tokyo is no slouch when it comes to the the number of high rise buildings and structures where tourists or anyone with time and/or some yen can finagle a ride that will put the viewer in a bird's eye view of the city.  i.e., I went up on the Tokyo Sky Wheel yesterday, purportedly the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, though I  have not checked the latest Guinness Book entry.  Regardless, it was a marvelous view and the continual rotation was paced just right.  

There is also the Tokyo Sky Tree, which I have been debating over whether or not is worth the $30 to go to the almost-top, but then they squeeze another $12 out of you to go to the very, very top where, I understand, one can also enjoy an overpriced dinner and, of course, buy souvenirs.  

Tokyo Sky Wheel

I am not a person motivated to go to the peak of anything just for the view, remembering the lyrics  and lesson of an early childhood song, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain..." and the bear's subsequent experience as to what he discovered upon reaching the mountain summit.   That said, I do like going up high and seeing the city laid out before me.   I just don't know if it's worth $42. That's lot of wine.  My friend, Carol, might have some advice about summit views and such.

One enters the tourist office of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building with little, if any, direction.   It's a bit unruly with no apparent focus--just racks of brochures in different languages and a lot of bad lighting.   But today, I was lucky.  I ventured in, was immediately greeted by a Japanese woman who spoke excellent English and, when I mentioned I wanted to tour the building, she nearly jumped out of her uniform and volunteer badge.  She said that she could not find anyone today who wanted to tour the building and that she was very happy I was interested and would I follow her right this way....I inquired as to a time for a group tour, assuming that such excursions went off at appointed times. She would have none of it and proceeded to escort me out of the office and into the great hallways and off we went.  

My guide, whose name I am embarrassed to admit I never fully absorbed, had lived in Sunnyvale, CA from 1989 until 1995.  Those were part of the early years of Silicon Valley's emergence as a world wide technology center.   Her husband worked for some company, it was never clear what he did or the name of the company, and she was a housewife and not allowed to work but she loved California and says it is a "magical place."  All true.  She is a volunteer guide at the building, commuting about an hour and half away, and  does it so she can keep practicing her English--something I am becoming well aware of in Tokyo.  I have had all sorts of people help me and follow me and escort me to what I suspect are highly inconvenient places, just to talk to me in English.  Many of them have never been to the US or any English speaking country--they just enjoy the experience and want to practice their English.  It's charming actually.  Happy to oblige.  

So my guide spent the next 2 hours taking me on a tour of the building that is supposed to be about 45 minutes. The tour is rather boring--nearly everything but hallways and big windows are off-limits to the public-- but she was such great company and so enthusiastic and upbeat.  We talked and talked about everything from the problem of hosting the Olympics (Japan will host the Summer 2020 Olympics)  to the challenges of Silicon Valley and how much Sunnyvale has changed since 1995.  

When we got to the observation deck, she handed me over to the lead observation deck guide who I think ignored the other tourists in my favor because he too wanted to practice his English.  So while I  commanded the attention of  two guides, everyone else on the floor was left to fend for themselves.  I kept saying that I was afraid I was taking up too much of their time, but they stuck with me for over a half an hour, taking me to each window and pointing out the important city buildings that were, frankly, in the photo legends on the surfaces in front of me.  Their favorite building, according to both of them,  was the Park Hyatt Hotel featured in "Lost in Translation," which they both said was one of their favorite movies.   I was compelled to take several photos of it, if only to quell their insistence that I photograph it. The early morning tour guide said that at the end of the day she loves to go there for tea and recommended that I do the same.  I didn't.  I'm so afraid I'm going to get stuck having to watch one of those endless "Japanese Tea Ceremonies" that just frankly bore me to tears.  All that  needless stirring and hot water pouring just doesn't do it for me.  I should have been raised in a religion that relied more on ritual I suppose.  

Going French at Isetan Department Store

After extracting myself from these two guides and at the suggestion of the Sunnyvale expat, I headed out for the Isetan Department store on the west side of the Shinjuku station.  Finding it was another exercise in Japanese indulgence vs. American ignorance, but I did finally find it, though I suspect one of the guards along the way sent me several blocks out of my way, just for fun.  On the other hand, when I say "Isetan" and point to it on a map, he may not understand either my verbal request nor the geography as presented from a guide written in English. 

$1750 Children's Leather Jacket, 3T

 Isetan is, I think, the equivalent of Neiman Marcus times 10.  It was suggested that I go just for the basement food court alone but I ventured off to the housewares level and wandered into the children's section on the fifth floor where I found a $1750 black leather jacket, a perfect fit for my granddaughter.  

I took a photo, which was a much of a commitment to such a thing as I care to make. It's really cute, though I fear that if Charley were to wear it, she might look like Olivia Newton John in one of the late acts of "Grease."    

Isetan Food Court 

In the basement food court--something I can't even talk about it was so magnificent--I indulged myself in a nice bottle of French Bordeaux,  passing on the American "Bogle" for $30.  Same for the $32 bottle of Kenwood that I buy at Safeway for $10. I am a quick study in the balance of trade deficits when pricing wines.  Chile, I understand, is the best of the deals, but somehow in a Department store like Isetan, the French seemed like the right country to side with.  Besides, I have been saving so much money by eating street food, it seems like a nice Bordeaux with my spicy tofu and mystery vegetables would make for a satisfying evening; and so it has.

So that was how I spent today, trying to recover from the beating the Dems took in the mid-year elections.  I voted absentee so long ago, I can't even remember which side of some of the CA and local propositions I voted for and against, except the soda tax which was, sadly, defeated.  But not in Berkeley.  It was also a day to mourn the death of Tom Magliozzi of Car Talk.  One of my only claims to fame--other than rooming with Jerry West's sister in college--was that I got to be on Car Talk back in 1996.   Tom Magliozzi's death reminds me that we only pass this way once.

A day to side with the French