Back to Tokyo again


As it turned out, I didn’t have to wait until 2am for my flight to take off today. I had to wait until 3am for my flight to take off, because the plane was late. Hanging around at Changi at that time of the day isn’t much fun; all the shops are shut, you’re knackered, and it’s drilling time – as most people aren’t around, it’s the right time of day for workmen to operate massive pneumatic drills and renovate bits of the airport.

On the positive side, there were less than 50 people on the entire plane, so I got a row to myself. I could have lain down and slept, but instead I just reclined my seat, put my noise cancelling headphones on, and woke up an hour before arrival. Bliss.

I got to work fairly quickly. This was one of those visits to Tokyo where they wanted to go through my bag and look at everything (although they didn’t get out the big laminated book of Examples of Pornography, Drugs and Offensive Weapons to show to me) but as it’s Tokyo, they were very polite, and about half an hour after disembarking the plane I was in a taxi. It would have been quicker if I hadn’t had to walk about half a mile from the arrivals lounge to find a toilet first. But such things sorted out, I could enjoy being driven around in a taxi with a free wi-fi hotspot.

What brave new world is this? And what kind of terrible person am I, that after five minutes of this automobile internet extravaganza, I was tetchy because I couldn’t download pictures through the Facebook app fast enough?

I got to the office and worked like crazy until three in the afternoon (excluding a taxi ride (with no wi-fi) to a different office for a meeting in the middle of all this), then had the finest burrito that Tokyo can offer, then went straight back to work until 6:45, then went to an Indian restaurant called Nirvana. Yes, I found Nirvana in Tokyo. Then we had a three hour working dinner where we talked a client through the deck we’re going to present to them tomorrow, before my computer’s battery saved us from an all nighter by going flat, after which it was a hop and a skip back to the hotel. I’m staying at the b Roppongi, which is a perfectly serviceable place, although I think I’m in exactly the same room that I stayed in in January, which has no heated bathroom mirror, and a vague feeling of gloom. But it does have a comfortable bed. It’s going to be a struggle tonight between being industrious and fighting off the three beers I had at dinner. I hope that doesn’t count as wrecking my no-sugar February.

I’m sure it counts as wrecking my no-sugar February.

,

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.