Dim Sum at Roppongi Hills

One of the greatest mysteries for me was how none of my friends in Japan seemed to know about Dim Sum. See, after Hong Kong I must say I got an appreciation for Dim Sum and I was sure there would be restaurants serving it in a city like Tokyo. Well it turns out I was right and people does know about it – it’s just it’s called something else in Japanese that’s all :)

So here is the thing – the kanji for Dim Sum is the same in Chinese and Japanese - 点心 but the Japanese read it as ten-shin (てんしん). This particular restaurant I went to is at Roppongi Hills, called “Hong Kong Tea House”. They offer both full dishes and dim sum a-la carte but it seems like, at least for dinner, they restrict you to open buffet if you want dim-sum. Their dim-sum list has 50 items on it and you can order to your heart’s content including most of the usual suspects (for up to 90 minutes and 3 dishes at a time) though it does cost about $40 per person… They also have this statement on there (which I took a picture of) – they charge you extra if you waste food. It’s a refreshing thing to see in this day and age where usually the opposite seems to be encouraged.

Avatar in 3D at Roppongi

Roppongi, just like the other parts of Tokyo, is lit up still waiting to welcome 2010. I was there today to check out Avatar in digital 3D.

I always like to watch my movies at Toho Roppongi Hills since it is a pretty new theater. Being in Roppongi, it also attracts a lot of foreigners so it is sometimes interesting to go just for people watching. Anyway, today was nice – the movie, Avatar, turned out to be pretty good. I had high hopes but I did not realize we actually reached a level of CGI quality where computer generated things on the screen can interact seamlessly with the human actors all the while exhibiting emotions themselves. The technology behind 3D movies also improved by leaps and bounds as well. I remember watching a 15 minute movie at Niagara Falls with 3D glasses and getting a headache. This movie of 3 hours did not give me any such problems at all…

Anyway, thought I would drop a line and check in. More holidays are coming starting the 31st so that should be a nice break from all the work I hope.

Matsuri (Festival) at Roppongi Hills

  Roppongi is probably home to the highest concentration of non-Japanese people in Tokyo, and therefore Japan (not counting military bases of course). Made up of  tall buildings, expensive but good quality shops and restaurants and tons of night clubs, it is one of the last places one would expect to have a traditional matsuri style celebration. Roppongi Hills, which is where this festival was taking place is especially strange as the location since on days of popular movies, it is easy to spot almost as many foreigners as the Japanese people hanging out around the area. Roppongi Hills’ cinema usually plays home to premieres of foreign movies as well. So, you can imagine my surprise when, after watching a movie (G.I. Joe, which really, really sucked btw) I overheard very traditional melodies coming from below the movie theatre.

I did not miss the chance to make a little movie of the affair. I saw something similar in Kichijoji before which had a grander and more authentic feel to it since it took place in the garden of a temple but what actually took place, the singing, dancing, the little stalls, they were all almost the same between the two.

Got milk?

Then you might want to get over to Roppongi, to “Motoyama Milk Bar”. I stopped by before watching Departures/おくりびと purely by luck. The “milk bar” which actually has a quick service window and a sit-down indoor patisserie is very close to Roppongi Hills though it is about a floor lower. You just need to walk into the building on your left when you are standing right at the entrance to Roppongi Hills (where you would be looking directly at the giant spider statue). Take the escalator down one floor and walk outside – you can’t miss the huge cow right outside the “milk bar”. The milk is actually from Hokkaido (it tastes really nice) and they also offer fried Hokkaido potatoes as well as milk and desserts made from milk. Check it out if you find yourself in Roppongi…

False alarm (and Lehman Brothers in Tokyo)

So as it turns out, the hurricane did not really pass over Tokyo today. In fact it was quite sunny for the whole day, leaving me quite surprised... Anywho, I thought I would post an interesting picture today, something to coincide with the recent crisis in the US. Lehman Brothers has (or may be I should say had) offices in one of the most luxurious buildings in Roppongi - Roppongi Hills. Since the news of their bankruptcy though the lights illuminating their sign seems to be out... Very symbolic I thought.

Revisit to Roppongi Hills (and Tokyo Midtown)

Making use of the extra holiday, (12/23rd was the Emperor's Birthday which they "moved" to Monday the 24th) I re-visited Roppongi Hills, this time the weather was much better. I got a clear view of the Tokyo Tower from the Hills. The area was really crowded - not sure if Christmas played a big part in that but there were also lots of foreigners. I got a chance to watch the second National Treasure movie which was pretty good at Virgin Toho Cinemas, Roppongi Hill. The screen they were showing the movie on is easily the biggest I have ever seen. The pre-movie announcements included something of note too - they explicitly mentioned "No kicking" - this is something movie theatres in the US could definitely use...

As the movie was two hours long it was dark by the time it was over (my original plan was catching an early show but everything was either sold out or had only the "front row" available so I got tickets for 7 pm show). The lights they set up were really beautiful which included not just the lights on the trees in the area but also lights (moving) on the tall buildings as well.