The best places to sit in Tokyo for 2001 (A personal list)

1. On a stool at the chipped wooden counter of Daimatsu, under the tracks in Imagawa Koji in Kanda, listening to Shinda-san, who's poured beer here for 37 years, as she laughs (more like a cackle) and chats with senior managers and vice-presidents she's known since their fathers introduced them to this favorite drinking hole.

2. On the low plank seat in the prow of the one-man ferry boat at Yagiri No Watashi as Sugiura-san slowly rows across the quiet Edogawa river to Matsudo. (Shibamata)

3. On a zabuton in the "Yuki" tatami room of Yamamoto-tei teahouse in Shibamata drinking a 500 yen bowl of green tea and viewing the landscaped garden framed by the opened Taisho-era shoji. (03.3657.8577)

4. On a bench at a table under the bare light bulb illuminating Ginraku-san's yakitori shop under the tracks in Yurakucho as her 58-year-old son pops off another beer cap with his famous flourish.

5. On a chair at the bar in the dark sanctuary of 3rd Radio watching the tuxedoed bartender make a perfect champagne cocktail. (Minami-Aoyama 03.3402.2668)

6. On a grassy hillock under a pine tree in never-crowded Kyu-Shiba-rikyu park in Hamamatsu-cho.

7. On a chair at the corner of the hinoki counter in Matsukan watching Shinya-san make his revelatory sushi. (Kichijoji 0422.54.6292)

8. On a piece of cardboard under an April cherry tree along the Chidorigafuchi moat. (Near Kudanshita station)

9. On a seat in any car of the new Oeda subway line just for the fun riding a new train.

10. On a bicycle seat riding along the Kandagawa river from Kichijoji down past Waseda station and the Arakawa line. An afternoon trip along a linear park lined with trees, benches, fountains, and statuary.

11. Against a railing in front of Kunitachi station waiting the yaki-imo man heats up a sweet potato under the smooth river stones heated by the oak log sticking out of the furnace door.

13. On a bentwood chair at the 10-meter pine counter of Satei Hatou coffee shop as Taguchi-san crafts a cup of Mandheling coffee. (Shibuya 03.3400.9088)

14. In the barber chair of Unique BarBer shop in Ochanomizu as one of the all-female staff of oba-sans, scissor-cuts your hair while she chats about the weather. The cheapest haircut in town at 1200 yen. (03.3295.3448)

15. On a café chair streetside at Le Café Doutor opposite Wako in Ginza nursing a café crème and watching Tokyo high and low pass by.

--mjk