Denny's Was Better
Asia Trip Journal #3
Marriott Courtyard hotel, Ginza, Tokyo - 7:30am Thursday, 26 March 2009
Tim and I felt lame about going to a Denny's in Tokyo yesterday, so we tried breakfast at the hotel restaurant this morning. Although the hotel is Marriott Courtyard, an American chain, it was a Japanese businessmen's hotel for 20 years. In fact, cabbies still know it as the Ginza Tobu Hotel even though it's been a Marriott for about 3 years now. Well, whatever the name, breakfast at the hotel sucked. It was twice the price of Denny's and not half as good. Tim explained to me that breakfast in Japan basically sucks. Japanese do not have a tradition around going out for breakfast foods like Americans do. That's why Denny's is one of the few restaurants here open at 6am.
Day One of this trip (yesterday) was fairly easy. We're out here to provide product training for our new partner, so we have basically 9-6 hours at the office and no stress about solving technical problems on tight deadlines-- which is what I'm usually doing when I travel overseas.
Tokyo is becoming more familiar. This partner is in the Tokyo neighborhood of Gotanda. It's much closer in than the previous partner's office. From my hotel in the fashionable Ginza we hop on the Yamanote train line that loops around central Tokyo. It's maybe a 15 minute ride to go a few miles. Throw in a half mile of walking on each end, and the commute's a reasonable 35-40 minutes total.
We could stay closer to our patner's office, in Gotanda, but there are no decent hotels there. There IS a hotel right near their train station, but it rents rooms by the hour and has an adult novelty store on the ground floor. I swear I know this only because there are huge signs in both Japanese and English advertising these facts.
Marriott Courtyard hotel, Ginza, Tokyo - 7:30am Thursday, 26 March 2009
Tim and I felt lame about going to a Denny's in Tokyo yesterday, so we tried breakfast at the hotel restaurant this morning. Although the hotel is Marriott Courtyard, an American chain, it was a Japanese businessmen's hotel for 20 years. In fact, cabbies still know it as the Ginza Tobu Hotel even though it's been a Marriott for about 3 years now. Well, whatever the name, breakfast at the hotel sucked. It was twice the price of Denny's and not half as good. Tim explained to me that breakfast in Japan basically sucks. Japanese do not have a tradition around going out for breakfast foods like Americans do. That's why Denny's is one of the few restaurants here open at 6am.
Day One of this trip (yesterday) was fairly easy. We're out here to provide product training for our new partner, so we have basically 9-6 hours at the office and no stress about solving technical problems on tight deadlines-- which is what I'm usually doing when I travel overseas.
Tokyo is becoming more familiar. This partner is in the Tokyo neighborhood of Gotanda. It's much closer in than the previous partner's office. From my hotel in the fashionable Ginza we hop on the Yamanote train line that loops around central Tokyo. It's maybe a 15 minute ride to go a few miles. Throw in a half mile of walking on each end, and the commute's a reasonable 35-40 minutes total.
We could stay closer to our patner's office, in Gotanda, but there are no decent hotels there. There IS a hotel right near their train station, but it rents rooms by the hour and has an adult novelty store on the ground floor. I swear I know this only because there are huge signs in both Japanese and English advertising these facts.