Apple Store Ginza on Leopard Day: Words and Pics

Japan’s Apple Store in Tokyo is in the high-end shopping district called Ginza. Specifically, Block 3, or Ginza 3. The location is a bit intimidating for the budget-conscious among us, since it’s ensconced in a place where across the street is Tiffany’s and Bvlgari, but the prices seem to be roughly the same as in Manila, my home base. Its advantage is that everything is there.

It’s roughly in the middle of the enormous shopping area, and only the Ginza subway line goes directly there (the cab flagdown rate is Y660, so that option was out). You’d have to know which exit to get out of to avoid walking a lot. I was told to find exit A13 which pops out right across the street from the store, in front of the classy Matsuya Department Store.

The Ginza store has the distinction of being the first Apple Store to open outside of the United States, and I was excited to go there. I had broken off rooting for stuff in Akihabara (something I could have happily done for weeks) Friday afternoon to go to Ginza for the Leopard launch, not realizing that being an authentic Apple Store, they’d shut it down for a couple of hours before the 6pm release.

I was there 4:01.

There were some guys at the door, and oblivious me tried barging in only to be stopped by one of them saying in rapid Nippongo that I should line up like everyone else, or something like that. I took a look to one side and saw the forming line and it dawned on me I wouldn’t be able to get in for a couple of hours yet.

After the Apple guy realized I didn’t speak Japanese, he managed to explain that they had just closed in prep for the 6pm launch, and that I should line up. I went to the end of the line, which was nearly a block long already, and waited. The people around me all had white earbuds on, and they were all just calmly looking around. I realized I was among my kind and relaxed. (I did cause a bit of attention when I pulled out an iPhone to listen to music - their phone system requires 3G, so an iPhone was a rare thing over there.)

I have to explain though that October 26 was a very rainy day (which is why some of the pics are spotty - the lens UV filter kept getting sprayed on), and the average temp was 16 degrees centigrade. I had a waterproof jacket and an umbrella but it was still looking like a miserable two hours ahead.

Twenty minutes later I figured I should get out of the line since I wasn’t really buying Leopard yet, and I still hadn’t found my Japanese wife’s Shiseido moisturizer. The two hours could be put to better use. I jumped ship, and bought all the stuff my family had asked me to find. I tramped through the rain for an hour and got thoroughly soaked, and came back at 5:30.

The line was four blocks long already.

The rain was pouring buckets, but no one was budging. I got to the end of the line and tried not to visibly shiver. Apple guys came up periodically to babble some reminders or something that I couldn’t catch.

Pedestrians looked at us like we were loonies for standing out in the rain. One businessman-type stopped to ask one of the cops watching over the line what was going on, and they spoke briefly. The man’s last reply was in English, and he said in a scoffing, incredulous tone: “Software?!?” That’s the story right there. Small conversations like this were probably occurring in front of Apple Stores all over the world.

At precisely 6pm, a bell tower chimed the hour. Behind me the line had lengthened a further half block. By 6:02, we had started moving. Amazing Japanese promptness and efficiency. In stops and starts, we moved ahead, and by 6:20, I was in front of the doors.

It seemed like there was a riot inside. Music was blaring, there were two TV crews taping, one in and one out, and there were a pile of Apple employees crowding the cordoned-off entrance as guards.

We were ushered in, and as I entered an Apple guy shoved a free black special edition t-shirt in my hand, a giveaway for the people who waited in line. The next guy up shoved a copy of Leopard in my other hand and pointed me to the nearest cashier. I stammered, “English version?”, and he took the box from me, shook his head and pointed me up to the second floor.

So I stumbled into Apple Store Ginza, which today for all intents and purposes was having a rave party. I didn’t know what to do first, so I climbed the stairs to the second floor which had the Genius Bar, where a DJ was spinning on two vinyl turntables, two CD platters, two iPod holders and some other stuff. It was hard to move around, but I managed to go through the low shelves and looked at the goodies being sold, a lot of them I haven’t seen in Manila. I wanted to get a [Product]Red shuffle real bad.

I went through the other floors, six of them. One whole floor was iPod-centric. All the Macs on display were being hogged by the crowd, leeching off the bandwidth. (Strangely, my iPhone couldn’t get on for some reason.) One entire floor was a gigantic theater full of fanboys, and an Apple employee was getting ready to deliver a Leopard presentation. The floor above, the accessories floor, was a bit more manageable, but it took every once of self-control not to pick up anything.

I went down in the legendary all-glass elevator, which was completely button-less. There was no way to pick a floor; it just went casually up and down, stopping at each of the floors. Steve really does hate buttons.

I gave myself an hour in there, no more, but was open to an extension. But with no sign of the frenzy abating, I reluctantly squeezed out at 7:30, since I was still to figure out the daunting task of how to get back to my hotel clear across town on the confusing subway system during rush hour on a rainy Friday.

I got back to my room at 8:30, tired and shivering, but elated at my first wait-in experience and the thrill of being in a real Apple Store. At least until I realized that all I had to show for it was a lousy t-shirt.

GALLERY:

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