Cafés

My last full day in Japan for this trip, and I have spent it very wisely. By spending most of it blankely staring out at the sea side. I'm sure people will be quick to tell me that this is something I could have done in Australia as well, but let me inform you: I have seen the current weather conditions over there. And they tell me that I would not be able to do it in a T-Shirt, and even then, I would probably still have to put on sun screen while shivering in my coat.

Coffee is one of those things that really seems to bring people together around the world. And with such popularity, the café chains just spawn everywhere. While the usual industrial waste is something that I leave for other people, they do usually also have chocolate, and make for convenient locations to rest feet and watch other people do the walking.
Japan has its own such chains like Doutor, but the international market has also found its place with the introduction of such chains as Starbucks. As opposed to Doutor, which was established in Japan's new found desire for the black liquid in the 70's, Starbucks only joined the race in 1995, and has since opened 1345 shops on the various islands (319 of those in Tokyo alone!) Doutor on the other hand, with it's significant head start, is only at 716.
So I guess it should not come as a surprise that every time I arrive at some calm place, with a nice view, and start looking for a café, my forehead starts wrinkling in the inevitable spotting of the green logo. I mean, I thought Hot Chocolate was a fairly simple thing, but in this case, it tastes more like the payment for the view rather than the enjoyment. And I'm told that the coffee is similar.

I have a larger trip coming up later in the year (which will of course also be duly blogged), a little bit longer and with a bit more travelling than this trip. As such, I've been experimenting with how to travel, equipment to take with me, and how to transport it. The consequence of which was that all of my duty-free purchases ended up going into bags of one kind or another. Including a new suitcase which should prove useful considering that the small suitcase I used to get here (covered in baggage stickers from half the planet) was cracked on the way here. sigh I guess they're called luggage throwers for a reason, though in this case they also must have been practicing their shot put.

Tomorrow will be a long day, getting back to where we all started, enjoying the last bit of Japan and getting any last gadgets before getting on another overnight red-eye flight back home.