It’s cleaning day today, so I’m not allowed to have a shower as it has already been “cleaned” for when the cleaner comes.  I had breakfast and addressed a couple of small work things, and then the 3 of us left the house.  Mio had to go to the dentist, so we went up to the shopping centre; Kaoru and I went to Starbucks and had a drink, and then went and did some shopping.

Mio met us at Daiso, and we went to a Ramen restaurant for some lunch.  At 11.30 we still had to wait in line for 15 minutes or so.  Unbelievable!  But the lunch was delicious and filled a gap!  We then came back home. After doing some work and getting a quick power nap in, we were ready to leave about 3.00. We walked to the station (Mio wanted to drive us but i showed her how low my step count was) and got off at Harajuku.

We did our usual visit to meiji jingu shrine and could see how the works are progressing. We then went to the scetchers shop as i thought a new pair of sneakers would be good and these would be tax free. Plus i like my current pair. They had 20% off a second pair but Kaoru couldn’t find a pair that she liked.

We were getting a bit hungry so we walked down takeshita street and bought a crepe each. Kaoru said they remind her of her childhood. Once finished we went to togu shrine but as it was after 5.00 we couldn’t go in to pray. We were able to walk around the lake though.

We had some time to kill so went to chrome2 – the place i found last time i was here that i met Gary at. After a beer we headed off to dinner. We met Gary out the front of the same restaurant they took me to in June. We were taken to our table which already had our first course laid out. So we ordered a beer to get started.

Rikuko arrived about 10 minutes later. She was held up at work. We enjoyed the evening. Kaoru and Rikuko got along great. They have much in common as Rikuko is a kimono sensei (among other things). We had one of the dishes we ate last time – it had tomato on bottom and pureed carrot on top, with a delicious juice. It was very refreshing on a hot day. A few more beers and some sake (poured the proper way – where it overflows into a saucer underneath), and also some pike (which is currently in season, and was delicious), and before we knew it, it was time to go. Gary and Rikuko had to leave early for Hokkaido with Rikukos aunt tomorrow.

We says goodbye and caught the train and walked back to Mio’s. She and Yoichi were still up so we had a beer with them and called it a night.