First, to one of my favorite bookstores, Tower. The first six floors are given over to music and DVDs, and the in-store music this time is the Michael Jackson classic, “Beat It.” His posthumous documentary, This Is It has become a flying-off-the-shelves bestseller here in our Japan. But my path is around Michael and the moonwalk, straight to the seventh floor bookstore. Looking for nothing special, I browse the shelves and aisles, happy enough with that; spend a few minutes looking at Moleskine notebooks, almost tempted to buy a large sketch book, but the ¥3,400 ($38.00) price, along with my less than favorable feeling about Moleskin paper puts the stopper on that. I was hoping to get a look at the new Moleskine Passions series, but those aren’t in stock at Tower yet. A new Ian Baruma book (The China Lover: A Novel) catches my eye, but a quick read of the first chapter turns my mind elsewhere. A writer I’ve long liked is Irishman John Banville, and I spot a small paperback titled The Lemur, (Banville writing as Benjamin Black) published in 2008. This one I buy.
Walking up Aoyama Dôri I’m a little surprised to see that Office Max is gone, replaced by a men’s suit store. A bit farther and around a corner brings me to what I believe is the best place in Tokyo for a hamburger, the Hawaiian chain, Kua Aina. It should surprise no one that good hamburgers can be had in Tokyo at several different places. Freshness Burger makes a good hamburger (despite the store name), and their hand-cut, homemade French fries are the best. There used to be a place in Shimokitazawa called the Rock ’n Roll Diner that for many years made the best burgers, but these days nothing beats Kua Aina. It’s a little pricey however, and today I pay the equivalent of $15 for a ‘sandwich set’ which includes a hefty bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and onion, French fries and a medium iced coffee. Despite the price, you can hardly beat it for flavor.
I head back toward Shibuya Station and a small shop called Croissant that stocks a bath soap I like. The Shibuya area has no shortage of quality soap emporiums, such as L’Occitane and The Body Shop, but my preference is for a generic type of plain unscented, mild white soap that I find at Croissant, a bath & kitchen shop located inside Tokyu Department Store. Six bars of soap later I’m all done and passing through the Itô-ya stationery store downstairs. I consciously avoid the ink counter because I’d rather not be tempted by the Iroshizuku colors I don’t already have. The ladies working there are too nice, too helpful, and for this customer at least, altogether too convincing in their enticements. A train home is the best bet for me.
I didn't know there were homeless people in Japan. Also I love the word mulligrub.
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