“Prime Minister Koizumi invites the world to Japan!”
The English front page of the Japan National Tourist Organization website invites you with this greeting from the PM and a link to his English Yokoso Japan! video, but right underneath it is the notice that the Kyoto Tourist Information Center (across the street from Kyoto Station) has closed. Nice timing, folks. It wasn’t so great anyway, as it was never open on Sunday, even though many tourists pour in on that day. “Duh!” says I.
Coincidentally, I often walk past the TIC on Sundays, and end up fielding a few questions from less-than-bemused travelers standing in front of the locked office. Maybe JNTO should just pay me as a field agent? A Starbucks is under construction in the office space next door (even though there is already a Starbucks outlet about 50 meters away), so maybe the TIC will become a cozy nook with those checkerboard tables. I hope the counter girls know where all the hotels are, because I think they are going to get a lot of questions unrealted to double Frappachoco. A few weeks ago I went into a Starbucks in Shiga and ordered a double espresso. The clerk (can’t call her a barista) looked at me as if to ask, “Do we sell that?” Then her supervisor stepped in and handled my off-the-wall request.
Anyway, if you do come into town at The Death Star (Kyoto Station), there is an information counter with English speakers (I hope) on the second floor pavilion inside the station. If you are going out of the main entrance facing Kyoto Tower, go up the big escalator on your left, get off at the second floor and walk straight past Cafe Du Monde and Mister Donuts. The information office is on your right. There’s also a cash machine that takes credit cards there.
0 comments
Gen says:
Mar 17, 2004
The Death Star!?!? I love it! THat is priceless! And so accurate too.
What a freaking abomination that thing is. So ugly and inappropriate for that city.
mark says:
Mar 17, 2004
double espresso?! you crazy man. at the coffee house near my place i order double lattes and 75% of the time they give me 2 cups, and when i protest they have to get special permission from the manager. but starbucks? i mean it’s even on the menu, extra shot 50 yen. you might enjoy this article if you have not already read it http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1166528,00.html
nils says:
Mar 18, 2004
Gen, I’m not the first person to call Kyoto Station “The Death Star,” but I can’t remember where I heard it.
Unfortunately, that article is all too accurate, Mark. BTW, last month I moved up from a “toy” DeLonghi espresso machine to a Gaggia, and boy am I sittin’ pretty, coffee-wise.