Simon / End of an era

You may have heard the rumor, and it's true. I am now a member of that sorry bunch of people who tote a mobile phone with them wherever they go. I resisted as much as I could, but my boss looked quite upset, and since the company offered to pay for my new top of the line Imode 3000 (or something like that) my pockets are now a couple grams heavier. Unlike many people, I feel no pain to leave it at home, of course my boss would kill me if he called and I didn't have it.

Anyway, I don't have a moblog, but I had a chance to meet up with Simon Parker of Simon Says last night. Here on business from Wales, simon is one of the first users of Mfop, and was quite patient when it worked even less smoothly than now. I took the new phone along to try out Mfop, moblogging to his site here and here.

I must say that I have no idea what people find enjoyable about the whole activity. It took me twenty minutes to send one post. The second one was so hard that I had to break the work up into intervals with a couple breaks between.

I am always nervous about taking visitors out in Tokyo, especially if it is someone I have never met. I know what I like, and what I would like to see, and so I stick with that, but I also know that most people think I live a sad life devoid of fun because I don't tend to go out to trendy clubs and restaurants. Tonight was no different. His hotel was nearby Tokyo Station, so I forced him to get on the train and find his way to the East Exit police box of Shinjuku station, which apparently caused no problem.

I wanted to show him someplace with character, so we went to Omoide-cho and to a cheap, dirty little izakaya, followed by a tour of Kabuki-cho. Although the whole sex-industry there is part of the charm of the area, I was a little embarrassed that the solicitors seemed a lot more aggressive than the last time I was there, and there were many more of them. It was too difficult to just ignore them while walking through and take in in the sights. I hope he wasn't too put off by that aspect of it. (It should be noted for those of you who don't know Tokyo, although Kabuki-cho does have a sex-industry, it is also a lively play spot for all kinds of activities. It's not a seedy back alley with hookers on every corner. as I usually imagine a "red light district").

More photos here