Skip to main content

RITZ CARLTON TOKYO: Purgatory or Heaven?

The Ritz Carlton Tokyo is indeed a fine hotel.  Maybe even worthy of heaven-like status.  Or maybe, like 15 Craigside, at least Purgatory.  All things considered, this is the finest we've ever experienced.  While 15 Craigside has security, the Ritz Carlton Tokyo has tranquility, a higher order of comfort.  

I've thought a lot about the possibility of Heaven, and just cannot believe there is such a place after death.  Nevertheless, I have concluded that if I'm wrong, then Heaven will be what you want it to be, not what God has created.  In other words, there will be a perfect home just for you.  Who will be there is who you want.  My dreams, however, have nothing to do with my present reality, so I hope it does a better job in the afterlife.

After only two days/nights, all this extravagance at the RCT seems to actually be getting boring.  If there is a heaven, that is forever, so how does one maintain continued euphoria?  So is the Ritz Carlton Heaven, Purgatory or just a great hotel on Earth?  Like your afterlife, only you can determine what it is.  Me?  Something close to Heaven, no doubt elevated by Mount Fuji.

Our first day at the Ritz Carlton began with the traditional tea time ceremony.  The harpist is a University of Tokyo graduate.


We invited Tadashi and Mayumi Matsunaga to join us for a drink at the Club Lounge.

I've known Tadashi from his days as a post-doc of a colleague of mine at Miami University. Matsunaga went on to become the first editor of the Journal of Marine Biotechnology, where I contributed a paper in the charter edition and spent two sabbaticals at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where he became dean of engineering, then president of that university.  He went on the become president of JAMSTEC, then a personal advisor to the Prime Minister, which is his present status.
By the end of all that, we were not hungry at all, but went down to Azure45 anyway for a light dinner.
Ended the night at the Club Lounge with cognac.
A light walk day.
Yesterday might have been the most beautiful day ever in Tokyo.  You could see Mount Fuji all day.  Breakfast at the Ritz Carlton Club Lounge is good, but not great.  Of course, the view of Mount Fuji is sufficiently enhansive.
We took a long walk.  Some photos. The cluster of tall buildings is Shinjuku.  To the bottom left is Meiji Shrine, which is next to Harajuku, our intended goal.
Outside of the Ritz Carlton, and first some flower arrangements.

Entrance to Meiji Shrine.
Some fall colors
A sign said, The Great Santa Run.  Looked more like A Tiny Santa Walk.
Blue flowers.
After a shower, back to the Club Lounge for music, sunset and more food/drinks,
An outstanding day with 12,338 steps.



Well, after I conclude this posting, back to the Sheraton Yokohama Bay, where we will stay for a night, and the next morning Shinkansen to Nagoya.
-
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases.  Very few are aware that a new one,   BA.4.6,  is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples .  However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6.  Here is a  reference  as to what this means.  A series of two injections is involved.  Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab  co-packaged with  cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on  subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome.  This strain has also been spreading in
Post a Comment
Read more

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics.  Thursday was my pandemic day for years.  Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments.  All these  subvariants  derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms.  One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell.  From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant,  BA.2.86,  also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to  lose hair  for several months.  This is caused by stress more than anythi
Post a Comment
Read more

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been
Post a Comment
Read more