Armed with the advice dispensed by the rabble's elders, I fixed up my formal attire, and took my wife out on a date. We went to Tokyo for the weekend, stayed at a hotel and went to a musical -- The Lion King (all sung in Japanese, BTW)... lol

Then, afterwards we went back -- I kept the kilt on but replaced the top portion with a black turtleneck (sorry, no photo of that) and we headed off to Roppongi to paint the town red. On the subway I got more than a fair share of stares, and one young Japanese fellow even had the wherewithal to know the origin of my garb, and in a whisper audible enough for me to hear, told his girlfriend, "Hey... Check out the Scottish guy sittin' there!" I kinda grinned but didn't say anything.

Getting to Roppongi, the streets were crawling with Nigerian nudie club promoters as usual. It was hard to know whether they were eyeballing me from head to toe, or my wife (who still had her evening gown on). Yes, there were catcalls and comments, most of which I didn't hear (or chose not to hear). After supper we headed to the Hobgoblin Pub, where I fit right in. The locals greeted me in my kilt very warmly, and certainly got a few compliments. One fellow did have to mention, that he was glad to be wearing pants... (I think he was alluding to the fact that it was rather chilly outside rather than my actual choice of garb).

Anyway, here are some photos of my first excursion formally dressed (with many thanks to Hassan Geoffrey of Pakistan)...




Here is a view from our hotel: Tokyo Tower at dusk. The hotel was the Tokyo Grand -- quite a fancy place in its day, but an older hotel now. Still very comfortable, fairly expensive, concierge service and many, many amenities, but past its prime in this city. Just for kicks I picked up a 2008 Michelin's guide at a store yesterday, -- and with some of the newer places where a suite can run you $6000 a night, this place didn't even make the book.




Here's us, outside the theatre. I was very much over-dressed for the occasion, which rather surprised me. I would have thought that people going to a Broadway-quality musical performance in an international city like Tokyo would dress up more. I hardly even saw another man in a tie, let alone a suit or tux. For the ladies, most were dressed semi-casual, although a few did choose to dress a little nicer... I wonder if the opera is the same way? Heck, for that matter -- do we have any New Yorker rabble here? Would I look out of place dressing up for a Broadway show? I'm really curious now!




This next shot was taken back in our hotel room. I wanted something a little closer up than what we got at the theatre. Unfortunately, the bad camera doesn't do us justice. At least we have a nice memory to remember the event by. (Oh, btw. the tartan is Black Watch for those who may not know it... It's quite dark, so it tends not to come out very well in many photographs).




Finally, the same shot from our hotel room the next morning, after we got up, well rested. Beautiful day! The rest of the day was great too! Just overall a fine, fine weekend!