Yesterday I went to Roppongi Hills for the
first time. While I have been to the club scene in Roppongi twice before (and
didn't really like it), I've never been to the famous Nouveau Riche area. I
went to see the Harry Potter Exhibition that was held in the Mori Building.
The first thing I saw, even before officially
leaving the subway station was a group of people filming a Gangnam Style
parody. I was already happy. After that, I was greeted by a giant terrifying
spider statue which I've seen near the Louvre in Paris a few years ago, so that
was an amusing surprise (I'm avoiding the word 'pleasant' considering it's a
statue of a giant, terrifying spider).
The Area is really beautiful, the buildings
are tall and clean and there's a feeling of luxury. The Mori Arts Museum
entrance is a few steps away from the station so it wasn't hard to find. We
stood in line and it felt like Disneyland. At the end of the line, there was
always another line. It was crazy.
Before you even reach the exhibition hall (on
the 52nd floor), you get to take a picture in front of a green
screen that later you can choose what background you want to have (such as
Hogwarts Castle, Hogwarts Express etc.). Right after that you get into an
elevator with the buttons 1, 2, 3, 5 and 52. That's it. At the top of the 52nd floor you
once again stand in line and wait to go in. They bring small groups in at a
time because at the beginning you have a Japanese man dressed as Harry Potter
that quickly retells the plot outline and then picks 2 people from the audience
to get sorted into their favorite house. After that the group moves into the
actual exhibition hall. It's really beautiful and filled with outfits and props
from the movies, as well as a few set replicas. You can sit in Hagrid's hut for
example or try your hand at shooting some Quidditch balls. It progresses less
in a chronological order and more in a thematic order which is interesting and
before you know it, it's over and you find yourself on an escalator going down
straight to the gift shop. The souvenirs range from small and decently priced
to huge and extremely expensive. For example, you can get a chocolate frog for
500yen, or you can get Hermione's time turner for 9,000yen. There are T-shirts
for all houses as well as scarves, hats, ties, pens, magnets etc. There are a
couple of posters and other things. The guide book comes in both Japanese and
English, which is great!
All in all, that was a fantastic experience and
I'd love to go again.
After the exhibition, we went into Mori
Building which is actually a big, super fancy mall. I got a little worried when
I saw an Alexander McQueen store, but we were hungry and it was way too hot to
wonder around aimlessly. We went to the restaurant floor and saw there was a
burger place. We went in and it was HUGE and super super fancy. The entire
staff spoke English and had made-up American names. Our waiter's name was Nicky
and he was very nice. We spoke a lot about anime because my phone has a couple
of Rurouni Kenshin charms on it. The food was delicious and surprisingly
decently priced. We came out completely stuffed and satisfied.
We decided to end the day by going to watch a
movie but as we were walking it started to rain and we were trying to find a
way to reach the cinema that did not require walking in the rain.
Unfortunately, there is none so we ran up the stairs and reached the cinema.
Apparently, we were not the only ones with the same idea and so when we went to
choose a movie to watch we saw that almost all movies were sold out (!!). Not
only that but apparently it was a special day for the cinema as all movies were
1000yen (usually a ticket is 1,800yen). We decided to go watch After Earth
even though were would sit in the very first row (my poor poor neck).
Since there was still some time until the movie
started, we walked around the cinema and I realized it was the same cinema from
Hana Yori Dango!! I got very excited of course and took a picture. In general,
that cinema is gorgeous so it was really nice to walk around.
After the movie, the rain stopped and we went
home.
If before, my perception of Roppongi was of a
dirty place that I didn't like, I now know that it's just the club area that is
like that. Roppongi Hills makes me want to be filthy rich so that I could live
there…
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