Oyasuminasai

Not sure which day it is as when I talk about yesterday, I mean Saturday but it’s Monday night here in Tokyo and Sunday seems like it was just this morning. But Bert and I arrived safely on an uneventful but fairly pleasant flight and were met by Uncle Bert and Sophia at Haneda airport. Fantastic airport – not too busy, clean and new. Very efficient. We queued a bit for the JR pass and tickets but were swiftly whisked away in UBert’s large white vehicle. Given we couldn’t check in to our hotel till later, we spent a few hours in UBert’s castle – which has a roof terrace and parking. Great to see Yuko and Sammy too. I tried some fermented soya beans – really delicious although there is a special way of eating them which will take practise.

Jet lag started to kick in big time but we held it together – I zoned out a few times. We headed to the hotel and checked in and went to a crazy sushi place where you order everything on an iPad and it comes swooshing round on a conveyor belt.

Overcome by complete jet lag we went back to our hotel for a nap. Falling asleep took seconds and we both woke up fighting the urge just to fall back to sleep, knowing the consequences of being awake at 2am when most of the world is sleeping.

We made our way to a coffee shop that I had found in one of my many searches of good places to try out when in Tokyo. We walked past it a few times but then I took the plunge and entered a door which seemed it might contain a coffee shop. What a fab place. Beautiful chinaware behind the bar. The barista ground the coffee beans fresh to order and it was like a performance art watching the whole process. Had read that the chiffon cake was also not to be missed – so I chose a cinnamon one and Bert had a banana one. It was delicious and maybe could be our breakfast stop tomorrow (if I can persuade Bert not to go to McDs)…

Meeting up with UBert, we went in search of ramen and found a tasty local place where I chose heavy noodles for health and beauty…it all helps, these days. Beer was good too!

We wandered around and visited some great shops selling weird but wonderful things – I will definitely have to buy another suitcase for the journey home.