The day I drank my face

It’s not often that you can drink your own face. Or a Nissan GT-R sportscar. But that’s possible at a fascinating car place in the middle of Tokyo’s swanky Ginza shopping area.

In among the Gucci, Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton luxury stores, there’s a new attraction called Nissan Crossing, which is a multi-storey building overlooking the Ginza’s famous 4-Chome Intersection.

The top floors are tenanted by restaurants, bars, shops, and offices, but in a shrewd marketing move Nissan has reserved the first two floors for itself – the ground floor features new cars, concept vehicles, a theatre, and an interactive wall, while the second floor features Nissan-themed cafes and retail areas.

And a fascinating attraction at one cafe is a state-of-the-art coffee machine, which can duplicate anything you like in chocolate dust on the froth on your cup of cappuccino.

From a list of Nissans on a menu, I chose to have a GT-R sportscar in my froth. The lady behind the counter duly obliged, put the coffee under a machine that operated very much like a home computer’s printer, and soon presented a perfect illustration of the vehicle in my drink. Then it was pointed out that it’s also possible to have your face replicated. So I downed my first and ordered another. This time the lady used an ipad to photograph me, and handed over a coffee with me on top of the froth. And then I drank my face.

What a fascinating facility. Nissan used to have its head office in the Ginza, and from about 1963 it operated the bottom floors of a building at the nearby 4-Chome intersection as the Nissan Gallery, which became famous for its allfemale staff, dubbed Miss Fairladys.

About eight years ago Nissan moved its headquarters out to neighbouring Yokohama, and the Ginza showroom eventually closed down. But now the brand is back on the two floors of a revitalised and distinctive building with a mesh facade that overlooks one of the world’s most famous intersections.

There doesn’t seem to be any Miss Fairlady beauties around, but there are plenty of great