Last night for dinner I went back to my favorite area in town called Aoyama. It borders on this Champs Elysee type street filled with all the super nice designer stores which pushed up against the edgier area of Harajaku. I think it compares a lot to the West Village-Soho-LES chain in NYC with Aoyama being like a combo between the West Village and Nolita and the main drag there feeling more like Soho with all the high end stores but cool little streets offshooting from it and working its way into the hipper Harajaku. Walking through the area on a Sunday night was perfect and peaceful. Shops stayed open til 9pm and there were still plenty of people wandering around shopping and eating at that point, but just way less hectic than when I was there last. There are so many good looking restaurants here that are all packed as you wander those streets and if I was guiding someone headed here I'd suggest spending the majority of your time in that area. It seems you can't go wrong there.
Afterwards, feeling a lot more relaxed than I had been, I came back for a drink at the hotel bar which is exactly like the one in Lost in Translation. They sneak a $25 cover charge in for the jazz sax player in the corner playing by the waterfall which is annoying as a hotel guest, but it was just a nice peaceful way to end the day.
Today I'll look to go to the Museum district of Uendo and then later tonight I have tickets to see the Yakult Swallows take on the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's subway series which I'm looking forward to since I miss sports a lot.
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