Most travelers dread spending hours waiting in air terminals. The seats are uncomfortable, the food's mediocre and there's nothing worth buying in the duty-free shops. But everyone loves the new, temporary passenger lounge in Roppongi. It's a destination in itself.
After checking in or touching down, visitors have a hard time deciding where among the many inviting places to sit first -- on the marshmallow white sofa or in a low-slung yellow chair with a sledlike base? Both allow you to recline just enough to gaze at the entrancing cloud-shape lights which inflate and deflate overhead. Underfoot, a cordless vacuum-cleaning robot -- a shiny maroon lozenge -- scurries around tidying up.
OK, there aren't any regular flights in or out of Roppongi. "A Trip to Sweden" is an air terminal-themed interior design exhibition in the lobby of the Swedish Embassy. It serves as cafe, information hub and nerve center for Swedish Style, the third annual expo of Swedish design, fashion, food, music and art. According to the Swedish Trade Council, the country's creative industries account for almost 10 percent of its GNP. Through next Tuesday, they show Tokyo why and how.