Post by leunas on Feb 25, 2007 2:30:19 GMT -5
By: Brian Ashcraft
Microsoft is a little late. Then again, so am I. Previously, we featured how to get to Nintendo (first) and Sony (second). It wasn't planned to follow the order in which consoles debuted, but it just worked out that way. Fitting.
First question: Why would anyone want to go to Microsoft Japan? Recent momentum aside, the company had its hand in not one but two struggling consoles. And here I am in Shinjuku, looking up a large building that says "Microsoft."
I cross a bridge over a train yard. There is a line of people. Must be twenty or so, but I don't count so I don't know. Everyone is waiting for Krispy Kreme donuts. Who can blame them? This is the only Krispy Kreme in all of Japan. I want to tell those in line that the gas station near my parents' house in Texas sells Krispy Kreme donuts. I want to, but don't.
Everything in the area is new. The sidewalk is spotless. A quick inventory shows some Casio building, an Eddie Bauer, a furniture shop and loads more people lining up for the finest donuts America has to offer. I really should tell them about that gas station.
Across the way, below that big Microsoft building, there is a glass sign out front with "Microsoft" written on it. You know, in case you miss the giant building. Yet that isn't what I'm looking for. Xbox Japan is housed elsewhere I've been told.
I double back towards Takshimaya. There's a breeze way, some signs and potted plants. It's mid-afternoon and despite forecasts of rain, the sun smiles. I end up facing a line of taxis waiting for customers pouring out of JR Shinjuku Station.
There's a bridge over the street. I cross it. Come here at night, and the entire district is lit up with neon. You should see how bright it burns at night.
Down a staircase and following a sign pointing out the Keio line. Off to the side, a short staircase takes me down to a corridor with pictures of bread on the walls. The smell of bread is absent.
People scurry around. Like ants. Another flight of stairs, bigger this time. I shove 130 yen into the machine and a ticket is spit out. I'm going to Daitabashi, a few stops away.
There's a beautiful women in a sickness mask waiting for me on the train. Hello Kitty, too.
Daitabashi Station is tiny. Rural feeling, even. Though, I could probably walk back to millions of people crawling around Shinjuku. Pink posters promoting a DS Lite giveaway dot the platform.
At the ticket wickets, a haze of sawdust hangs in the air. There's pounding and drilling and more pounding. An old lady who works at the station newsstand helps an old man looking for a newspaper. There are two exits, and I take the North one. At the top of the stairs, Sonic waits.
I round a quick corner and come to a Mister Donut. This is the largest donut chain in Japan, and the front is completely deserted. Of course, there is more than one. Way more, actually.
Continue down the street which leads to a large road and heavy traffic. I turn left, passing an old man sitting in front of his flower shop. He must have only three different kinds of flowers. He lights a cigarette, and I continue. There's a small building covered in graffiti. A shed with a Lexus parked nearby. Green, lots of green. Trees and a creek filled with garbage. McDonald's.
There's a convenience store at the intersection. I go left, crossing an overpass. The street is dirty, littered. Yet, I pass a construction site for new apartments — Three bedrooms for the equivalent of half a million US. Paying for location, and what a location.
There's a rusting overpass and a gas station. And behind that, a large building that says Microsoft.
A small side street veers off, and I follow it down towards the large shiny building.
The neighborhood is old, residential with tiny stores that sell things like musty Mohair suits. The area is empty. Facing the quiet residential side, in the window of the Microsoft building, I see a small neon sign.
Look closer.
Across the way, mannequin heads peer out of a barber shop with no customers.
I circle the building, which is wrapped in frosted glass. There's a large stone sign. It says "Microsoft." Once again, in case anyone missed the writing on the building.
The front holds clear glass doors. A security guard stands next to a sign which says "Xbox" at the bottom. I snap a pic and head back down the street, itching for donuts and wondering how brightly that neon glows at night on that empty side street. Pretty bright, I bet.
Article:
kotaku.com/gaming/top/feature-how-to-visit-microsoft-japan-239085.php