My first mission of the day was to find the Tokyo branch of the Japan Mint store to buy a 2011 Japan coin set, and I succeeded. Most Japanese streets have no names! and the addressing system is quite different from Western ones. It is near Higashi-Ikebukoro station and I had to ask for directions twice. This is the entrance of the store. (I will show the coin set later).
Next stop was Akasaka station. There is a Noritake porcelain show room there that I wanted to check out (sneak picture of porcelain with gold leaf is from there). The Akasaka area sustained heavy damage in WWII and has been newly rebuilt : and it shows. I loved the spectacular curved vanishing-edge building with the diamond window panes. The area is also full of shrines. I walked to the east from the orange area to find the Hie Jinja Shrine (next two pictures). Finally the obligatory self-picture in the subway mirror with my iPhone 4. I see there is considerable disappointment at Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 4S (what? no iPhone 5?!).
