Thanksgiving in Tokyo. Bound to be a different kind of holiday. Actually, several restaurants are offering up traditional turkey dinners, but Brad and I both celebrated turkey day earlier in the States, so we were looking for another way to spend the day. We started off bright and early at the Marunouchi Picadilly movie theater in Ginza where we saw the new Harry Potter movie. We were surprised at how many people showed up for the 9:30 a.m. show on a weekday (we had to keep reminding ourselves, Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Tokyo). The theater must have been two-thirds full. In the lobby before the show we perused all the Harry Potter paraphernalia for sale and then Brad purchased a "Harry Potter Combination" from the snack stand: popcorn, soft drink and a collector's card -- everything packaged in Harry Potter graphics. (The popcorn was surprisingly tasty, coke is coke wherever you are in the world, he got Hermione Granger.) Anyhow, we really enjoyed the movie; just as the critics said, it was darker than the first and had more special fx. I especially enjoyed the performances by Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart and the actor who played Lucius Malfoy.

After the movie, we strolled down the Ginza to the Ginza Lion restaurant. I had read about this restaurant a long time ago and have always wanted to go there but every time we stopped by, there was a line out the door. We had no problem getting a seat today, but now I wonder what all the fuss was about. The food certainly couldn't have been the attraction and the art deco decor was curious but hardly remarkable.

After our lunch we continued walking until we got to the no. 86 bus stop at Shimbashi station, but only after Brad had stopped in to peruse one of his favorite used golf club stores. We took the bus to the Tokyo Tower stop. We decided first to grab dessert at Il Pinolo cafe. Much more satisfying than our lunch had been. Delicious coffee and scrumptious cakes. Then on to the Tower. Today was an unusually clear day -- perfect for going to the top of Tokyo Tower for a bird's eye view of the metropolis. The view certainly was spectacular. I never stop marveling at the size of this city. It just stretches on to the horizon, nothing but buildings crammed next to buildings, as far as the eye can see. We managed to pick out a few landmarks. We can see Tokyo Tower from our apt. so we were curious to see if we could see our apt. from TT. With some difficulty (the sun was shining brightly right where our apt. is situated) we managed to identify Homat August, our apt. bldg.