I hope this is OK but here is an excerpt from William Gibson‘s blog … shown here partly ’cause it may interest and partly as archive, so that when (if ever) i finally make it to Tokyo, i'll know what to do!!

Thursday, August 07, 2003 posted 5:01 PM

THINGS TO DO IN TOKYO

Re the recent thread, here, in no particular order, are the things that I‘d be sad if I hadn’t managed to do all of on a given visit:

Go to Shinjuku and hang out in the streets. Do this by day, but also, most particularly, and preferably at great length, at night. Eat things from street stalls. Shinjuku at night is one of the human world's greatest wonders.

Shinjuku Watch Kan, a multi-floor watch depato, for esoteric Japan-only Casio, and, often, clearance prices on discontinued Japan-only Seiko. (The Japanese won't export their coolest watches, for some reason.) I like watches. I also like crazed, in-depth retail operations offering thousands of different varieties of the same object — something the Japanese to with great vigor.

Go to Tokyu (not Tokyo) Hands, a sort of hobbyist department store (and much, much more). if you like the retail experience, and like any of the sorts of things I like, an initial visit to Tokyu Hands is good for about four hours of in-depth browsing and a solid denting of wallet-plastic.

Go to whatever branch of Parco, probably more to marvel than to spend. If you haven't already done so at Tokyu Hands, buy an all-synthetic wallet or shoulder-bag by either Porter or Luggage Label (both brands of Yoshida & Co.). They last forever.

The Akihabara experience. Try to give equal time to the areas that sell last year's stuff that nobody wanted, Soviet-made vacuum tubes, etc.

Kiddyland, near Harajuku. Multi-floor toys. Beyond Hello Kitty. Way beyond.

Harajuku — preferably when the kids are out in force, as this is more a people-watching than a shopping experience (for me, anyway).

Eat. Lots. Okonomiaki, the pizza-looking stuff, which actually seems to be griddle-fried cole slaw (or something that looks like it) is, as one of our posters indicates, not be missed. (If you're in Vancouver and want to try okomomiaki, find a place called The Modern Club on Dunbar.)