We had a bit of a sleep in this morning. We met Michael and Leila at 9. They had checked out of the hotel so we had a last breakfast together at the bakery. Kaoru got food from the bakery this time but I stuck with my eggs benedict. Michael and Leila did the same as me.
After brekkie we came back to the hotel and Kaoru showed them a souvenir shop. But then it was time for us to say goodbye. It had been a most enjoyable 2 weeks (almost) and we certainly saw and did a lot.
Kaoru and I went back to our room to brush teeth and have a shower and then we left for our activities for the day. We caught the train to Harajuku and walked to a place Kaoru saw advertised on the tv when we were in sapporo. It was a tea museum.
The tour started with us trying a couple of teas. One was certainly more bitter than the other but they wouldn’t tell us why – that’s what the tour was all about! We went upstairs and watched a few slides about tea and then listened to a talk. We were able to smell and feel a few different styles of tea. We were told (as far as i could tell through the translation) that all styles of tea come from the same plant, and the difference is in how it is treated – both during growing and processing.
The final part to our tour was a bit more interactive. We made the two teas that we had at the start. The first thing we did was measured a teaspoon of tea leaves in to each of two pots. We then poured hot water in to one of the cups in front of us. After half a minute we poured it from the first cup to the second cup. The instructor felt the second cup a couple of times and when she thought it was the right temperature we poured it in to the pot, waited 30 seconds and then poured it in to the cup. We then poured boiling water in to the cup, straight in to the pot, waited 30 seconds and then poured it back in to the cup. This showed the difference between brewing with 70 degree and 80 degree water. The taste and look were so much different. The lower temperature one was sweeter and clearer. Amazing to experience the difference.
Our last test was pouring hot water in to the cup, straight in to the pot, and straight back out. This had a different colour and taste again, and was probably my favorite, followed by the low temperature one. So all in all it was a very educational morning.
We left and headed towards takeshita street, looking for somewhere for lunch. We looked in a couple of places but it was all so over crowded with long lines. We found a place that sold japanese style spaghetti for lunch, which was delicious. We ordered a bolagnaise and a mixed (with egg, bacon and sesame) and shared them both.
We did a walk down takeshita street and went in to a couple of shops for some last minute items. We then caught the train from Harajuku to Shinjuku to do some more shopping at takashimaya department store. We took longer than expected, which included a tea stop as well. We didn’t get back to the hotel until after 5.
We had a short lay down but couldn’t postpone the inevitable any longer. We put our suitcases on the bed and got them unpacked and then packed properly for the flight home tomorrow. It took us until after 7.30 before we were complete, and we had some spare space and weight allowance so we were pretty happy with that.
We went for dinner above the train station. We saw people eating meet off a hung skewer, like when we went to the meat and wine co in Melbourne. So we were sold by that. It was a nice meal but not enough. We walked around Shinagawa a while and got back to our room, watched tv for a bit and went to bed.