La Pianta in Sakurashimmachi Ends Christmas 2010

I have the most unfortunate news... One of - if not thee - best Italian restaurants in Setagaya-ku is closing their doors for good on Christmas 2010... Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the place I just blogged about a few months ago, La Pianta, is closing up shop after 15 great years in Sakura Shinmachi on the Denen Toshi Line.

I love this restaurant. I don't know what we are going to do without it around. 


The food was great; it has parking; it was the place we always had family celebrations! No!!!!! Keep La Pianta alive!


But... It is decided.

If you have the chance.... Go to this great restaurant before it closes its doors forever.


La Pianta (Tell them you are Mike Roger's friend!)

La Pianta is a 4 minute walk from the west exit of Sakurashinmachi station. To get to Sakurashinmachi: Take the Den-en-Toshi local subway line from Shibuya station towards Chuorinkan. 4 stops to Sakurashinmachi. When you get to the station, go out the west exit. 

See La Pianta's homepage here: http://www.lapianta.jp/

Map: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g092901/map/#figure

La Pianta Address: Sakurashinmachi 1-21-15, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo-To, 154-0015
Tel: 03-5477-7890
〒154-0015 東京都世田谷区桜新町1-21-15
電話：03-5477-7890

The Best Coffee Shop in Tokyo - Free Refills!

There's a coffee shop in Tokyo that I've found that must be the best kept secret in town. This place blows Starbucks away by a mile.

The restaurant is inside of the Grand Arc Hotel (next door to Tokyo FM) about a 2 minute walk from Hanzomon station on the Hanzomon line (take Exit 1). The name of the restaurant is Restaurant Patio. It is right across from the Imperial Palace!

Inside of Restaurant Patio

Restaurant Patio features smoking and no-smoking sections as well as very wide seating. Inside the restaurant seats well over 100 people and there is a fantastic outdoor patio area that is completely surrounded by trees. It is hard to believe that this place is right in the middle of Tokyo and it is not packed everyday.


The patio area is total serenity...

Patio Restaurant outdoors... Seats about 50 people

Of course, the Grand Arc Hotel seems a bit like a business hotel and Restaurant Patio doesn't seem like the lush sort of coffee shop you'd find in a five-star hotel… But it is much nicer than most Starbucks... Besides that, what makes me think Restaurant Patio is the best coffee shop in Tokyo, you ask?

It is quiet. It is perfect for a business meeting. It doesn't have music blaring like Starbucks does; you can easily have a nice quiet conversation. And, the kicker is that, coffee only costs ¥420 a cup!

¥420 a cup and free refills until the cows come home!

"Wait a minute, Mike!" (I can hear you say) "A cup of coffee at Starbucks costs about the same. What's the big deal?"

Well, I'm glad you asked… Because a cup of coffee at Patio is ¥420 and you get all the refills you want. Seriously! I've sat there and had 5 or 6 cups before! 

There's no place else that does that excepting noisy family restaurants like Jonathan's.

In fact, I'm sitting here drinking coffee right now. 

I LOVE this place!

So next time you have a business meeting and want to have it in a nice quiet respectable environment, try Restaurant Patio at the Grand Arc Hotel.

Restaurant Patio 

Business hours: 7:00 am ~ 10:00 pm

Tel: 03-3288-1636

Address: 1-1, Hayabusa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0092


Access: 
2 minutes by foot from No.1 Exit at Hanzomon station of the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon line - take Exit #1. Or 7 minutes from No.1 Exit at Kojimachi station of the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line.

Hotel URL: http://www.grandarc.com

Patio Restaurant webpage: http://www.grandarc.com/restaurant/?c=rest&restaurant_pk=1

Map:

Bizarre Japanese Surveys: 72% of 20-some-year-old girls would date men over 40!

In Japan, surveys are very popular. The Japanese love to know just what percentage of the population they fit into. Be it where people like to go or what they like to do or what they think about this or that, the average Japanese, it seems, finds comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their views... No matter how silly the surveys get.

Here's one that was done by the Japan Times that had two things that I thought were interesting. See if you can find the two:

• 72% of women in their 20s who were polled by Yomeishu Seizo Co. replied that they would consider a relationship with an older man aged between 44 and 62 years old.
• 71% of those who responded to a survey by ishare Inc. said that they have already purchased the necessary equipment to view digital television.
• 68% of respondents surveyed by Japan.Internet.com and Goo Research said that they do not read the license agreements before installing new software.
• 44% of women who responded to a poll by Nikkei Woman Online said the first international destination they intend to visit from Haneda Airport’s new international terminal is Paris.
• 33% of people in a survey by ishare Inc.  said that they had something that was discovered by their mothers that they didn’t want to be found; 39.6% of this group responded that what they didn’t want to be found were books.

Of course it is the first two. Really? 72% of women in their 20's would consider a relationship with an older man between 44 and 62 years old!?

Maybe I should start going back to the sport gym! Do you think my wife will give me the money so that I can run around with a girl younger than my own daughter?

"Really? You'd date me?.. Ok, well, can you also lend me a dollar?" 

(writer's image girl - left)

And the second one: 71% of those surveyed said that they had already bought digital equipment to view digital TV. Aha! That is another piece of evidence that verifies what I wrote a few months back that the digital conversion is going to bankrupt TV Tokyo, TBS and TV Asahi.

If you want to read that blog and check the rationale, see here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2010/08/marketing-japan-why-digital-tv.html

Why the Japanese Can Drink Beer Easier

Bits and Pieces shows us why it's easier (and faster) for the Japanese to get drunk drinking beer. It's the cans!

The Japanese even have superior beer can technology (trust that this matters when you are drinking with pals!)

It says, "Why don't we have this in the US? The little dent makes opening the can so much easier on your fingers."

By the way, that's a Sapporo Beer. The two best beers are Sapporo and Yebisu (IMHO)...

Thanks to Bits and Pieces for being on the alert!

Japanese Robot Asimo Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Yesterday the Honda Humanoid robot, Asimo, celebrated its 10th anniversary (shouldn't that be birthday?)


As Honda News reports:


ASIMO has reached a huge milestone and will celebrate its 10th Anniversary on 31st October. A decade ago, Honda created a humanoid robot so advanced it started a revolution in humanoid robot technology. To mark this date, dedicated Anniversary websites and films have been launched today, with new photos, videos, the story of its creation and smartphone apps.

See Asimo's website here: http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/

Get the desktop widget here

Here's a video of the 10th anniversary celebration:

 

Here is the first Asimo TV commercial:





I remember that it wasn't that long ago when Japan was coming out with many exciting ideas and products... When will Japan capture that magic again?

Pokemon Writer Dies at 61

From TellyCafe:


Takeshi Shudo, the 61 year old writer of the most watched animated show, Pokemon collapsed in the smoking area of the Nara railway station in Nara city, Japan after suffering from a subarachnoid hemorrhage. He was immediately admitted to the Nara hospital, where he did manage to get first hand treatment, but eventually collapsed and died. The 61 year old was very popular due to his contribution in the making of the first three features on the anime Pokemon series, and his contribution in the making of the Minky Momo series, and its other extremely popular spin offs too were a rage with people of all ages. 

Read more.


Thanks to News on Japan

Elderly Shoplifting on the Rise in Japan

In another sign of a worsening economic outlook for Japan, it is reported that more and more elderly people are getting arrested for the petty crime of shoplifting.


As the Japan Times reports:

A sad trend is emerging with the all too common crime of shoplifting. Although the total number of crimes recognized by authorities declined to 1.7 million in 2009 from a peak of 2.85 million in 2002 — with shoplifting leveling off at 140,000 to 150,000 cases yearly — more and more elderly people are reported to be shoplifting.

In 2009, 27,000 people aged 65 or older committed the crime — some 7.5 times more than 20 years before.

The author of this article attributes this shoplifting trend to loneliness but I think that is just an excuse that people will say to try to gain sympathy when caught. The article continues:

When elderly shoplifting suspects were asked about their emotional state, 23.9 percent cited loneliness. Half of the elderly suspects said they had nothing to live for. Some 80 percent of articles shoplifted by elderly people were food items, half of which were each priced at ¥1,000 or less. 

I have no doubt that these people are lonely, but, like I said, I also think that people will say anything to get sympathy and penalties lowered once they have been caught and are sitting at the police station.

The real problem here is the worsening economy. In the United States, too, there is a problem with people shoplifting food... Is the common denominator loneliness or a poor economic state?


This about America's shoplifting problem from Lew Rockwell:


Shoplifting is completely and totally out of control. According to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention, every single day Americans steal more than $35 million worth of goods from retail stores.

I strongly suspect that the economy is the driving issue here and that twenty years of raping the public coiffures and putting the public in serious debt is the cause. This problem will get worse.

I wonder if the Japanese government ever asks itself, "where did these people get the idea that it was OK to steal from others?" Hopefully they'd ask that question while looking in the mirror... But that's doubtful.