We had a bit of a sleep-in on Sunday morning, catching the train two stops to Harajuku at about 11am. The small arcade-like shopping street in Harajuku was one of my favourite places to be when I was in Tokyo first time around and a revisit didn't disappoint. Dad managed to do a heap of souvenir shopping for the 45-odd people on his gift list and as he did so I ducked into countless little boutiques to nab some bargain clothes, shoes or accessories. Funnily enough his favourite store ended up being Daiso - which is essentially Japan's MUCH higher quality version of the Aussie two buck shop. I made it a point to munch down a Harajuku crepe for breakfast - this time around opting for the custard apple variety. It was delicious!
Refueling on Harajuku crepes after a serious shopping sesh!
All shopped out we made our way to Shibuya to meet up with one of my ex-colleagues, Rick, and his Japanese wife, Ayano. We met them at the famous Hachiko statue - a common meeting place in Shibuya, right near the multi-directional crossing made famous in films (and what my Dad kept referring to as Tokyo's Times Square). Hachiko was a Japanese dog that used to wait for his owner to return home at a train station every evening. The dog was so loyal that long after the owner died, it still used to wait at the station every night. Dad was beside himself with excitement, having seen the Richard Gere film adaptation of the story, and couldn't wait to get to the front of the queue to pose for photographs with the bronze dog.
Ayano was kind enough to take us shopping for a few of the harder to find items on Dad's wishlist and afterwards took us to a tempura restaurant where we tucked into a set meal that included a small portion of battered whale. I have to say, despite being very against whaling while I lived in Australia, I feel like I might be coming to see the Japanese side of the story and must admit that the small portion that I had was undeniably tasty.
My tempura set lunch featuring whale (centre right).
After eating our fill and drinking a couple of cheap lunch beers, the four of us headed back to Shinjuku and towards the Municipal Office Towers to get an all-encompassing view of the city from the 43rd floor. There are two large towers here and tourists can choose to ascend either one for a free-of-charge look out over the whole of Tokyo. It took one whole minute to get to the top in the elevator and the view from the top was spectacular, if a little hazy. Unfortunately there was a little too much cloud cover for us to be able to see Mt Fuji clearly, but we could see all the way out to Disneyland near Chiba and also scope out the new Tokyo Sky Tree (standing at over 600m tall). We bought some souvenirs here - like the tourists we were - and then moseyed on back to our hotel to drop off all of our shopping.
Shinjuku Municipal Office Towers
Still a little to full from lunch and a tad too early for dinner anyways, Rick decided to take us to a nomihodai joint where we could start our drinking portion of the evening. Turns out it was the lower storey dining room of the same place Dad and I had stumbled into on our first night here, which was pretty cool and made us feel a little less like tourists for having found a local haunt so soon! We settled into a table and for 1200yen (or 15AUD) embarked on a 2-hour all-you-can-drink journey. At the end of our two hours one of the waiters asked us if we'd like to extend for an hour for 500yen each (6AUD pp) and after agreeing we began to order some food too. Most of the food was tapas style Japanese pub-grub, which was delicious, though I think Dad went a bit overboard in ordering enough for everyone to share. Pretty soon we were all full again and now also starting to get a little drunk. It was good to catch up with Rick and get to know Ayano (who speaks fantastic English) and not wanting the night to end we agreed to extend our nomihodai package by one more hour!
By the time we were done and Dad had (insistently) paid for the bill, it was time for Rick and Ayano to catch a train home to Chiba (about an hour away) as they both had work the next day. Dad and I decided to kick on and ended up at a British pub chain called The Hub watching soccer on the big-screen and talking about what we'd do if we won lotto. They kicked us out at closing (about 1am) and we stumbled into a nearby combini to buy hip-flasks of whiskey and 600ml bottles of coke to mix it into. For a while we sat on the edge of a wishing well/fountain and talked shit before eventually making it back to the hotel to pass out. Needless to say, I was well and truly hungover the next day and it is with regret that we decided to forgo Disneyland in favour of easier-to-handle shopping around the local area.
The Hub - a popular British-style pub chain in the major cities of Japan.
Dad posing with the naked fountain lady at the end of a big Sunday night out in Tokyo, haha.
On Monday night I had made plans to catch up with my friends Erin and Brian (who are from Colorado in the US). I met Erin and Brian in Tokushima last year while Erin was working as an Assistant Language Teacher on the JET Programme. Instead of recontracting like I did however, Erin applied for and received a scholarship to study post-grad at Tokyo University. This means that the lucky couple recently got to move to Tokyo! First they took us to the Isetan Department Store which is famous for its gourmet foodie basement. Imagine a David Jones or Myer food section and then times it by a million in terms of variety and quality. We were in heaven walking around and drooling over all of the foods on offer! We each bought some tidbits to takeaway and made our way up to the rooftop beer garden. The beer garden was beautiful - perfectly manicured lawns and gardens with a view over Shinjuku and a selection of beers on tap! We sat on the grass (I had to - grass is very rare in Japan and this patch was particularly lush!) and settled in to catch up over our beers and deli delights. As we were preparing to leave, Dad decided to take a video recording of us and at that exact moment and earthquake rumbled through underfoot! Dad's video features the three of us excitedly exclaiming about the earthquake (the first my Dad has ever felt) and describing how it felt beneath us (kind of like a giant was rocking the building back and forth slowly). It was a small earthquake though - 3.4 on the scale - and in a city so prone to experiencing them, there was no damage anywhere. In fact, most people didn't even look up from their beers! After that little excitement we headed back downstairs to the street and wandered around Shinjuku for a little while, ending up in a small family-run bar/restaurant for a small meal and some more drinks. The food was a little odd (potato crisp chips with tomato sauce and melted cheese on top masquerading as nachos anyone?) but the service was impeccable and nobody seemed to bat an eyelid at the fact that four foreigners were taking up a quarter of the floor space. We left Erin and Brian relatively early as we knew we had a big day up ahead of us on Tuesday - checking out of the hotel early and then making our way to Mt Fuji for a night climb...
Erin, myself and Brian - still smiling shortly after the earthquake!
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