Omotesando Up Close

While doing errands on Omotesando, I sometimes worry I've become inured to Tokyo life. Sure, I gaze up at the zelkova trees, and I look a little long at the luxury goods shop windows. It's a prime people watching location, too, with wide-eyed visitors, and fashionable Tokyoites. 

Sometimes I think I've seen it all, and the crowds get a bit much. So the other day, I retreated to the top of Tokyu Plaza, the startling mirror-faceted building at the corner of Meiji Dori and Omotesando.

Don't stand too long in front of it on a sunny day. It has a death-ray effect. It gets really hot while you're waiting at the crosswalk.

At the top of the building there is a Starbucks and the rooftop garden. I thought I'd take a break there for a bit. The garden was decorated for Halloween.

At the entrance, I noticed this sign. 

The Omohara bunko, a tiny library of novels, coffee table books, picture books. All kinds of books.

I browsed a bit. You cannot borrow, but you can pick up a book and sit in the garden to read. Omohara Bunko invites readers to fill out a little card with their impression of the book they read. 

I liked this one, Nihon no Utsukushi Sato. It has images of satoyama, the places where cultivation and wildness intersect. The images of farms, gardens and semi-wild areas are from all over Japan. I filled out a little card and put it in the jar. 

The keepers of the Omohara Bunko library respond to every message on the cards. It was a treat flipping through the album, seeing readers' impressions, and then the comments. 

It's amazing in this huge city, you can get this tiny, up close interaction with people and places and things.