Always a sad day when we know we have to leave. I woke up about 6.30 and went to the main house, where everybody was already awake (of course). After breakfast, Kaoru and I checked Otosan’s email and finished setting up his google account, knowing we could now recover the password should he ever lose it. We did our teeth and a final pack, and then passed time in the main house, watching TV. The typhoon had brought lots of water / flooding with it.
The taxi arrived about 9.25, and we were at Kuroiso station before 10. A 10.20 train to Nasushiobara, and then 11.05 shinkansen to Shinagawa. At Shinagawa station we managed to find the elusive vending machine, with the peach flavoured drink in it. It’s a special being done by JR East at the moment, and the drink is only available from certain vending machines. We had found one in Nasushiobara, but they had sold out. But this one in Shinagawa station was stocked, so we both bought one to drink. Over-rated, but that’s marketing!
We took our bags to the hotel, and I filled up my camel back for the day. We then went to a good sushi place for lunch – it was the best I had had on this trip (it would want to be at $50/head). But as it was Kaoru’s and My time, it was worth spending a bit more money to enjoy our holiday together. We actually had to wait outside for 15-20 minutes for a table, as the place was so busy and popular.
After lunch, we got a train to Harijuku, and walked up Takeshita street – which was as busy as ever – turning off at the familiar crepe stall to go to Togu shrine (where we had our shinto ceremony) for our customary visit and pray. We also went to Uniqlo so I could buy some Airism shirts (and also a couple of T-shirts). Then it was off to Meiji Jingu shrine – our other regular shrine as it was the first place Kaoru took me. Then we went back to Shinagawa, and a bit of a wander around the station, before checking in to our hotel.
We went to our room, and I walked in to the bathroom to empty what was left in my camelback – there was a disgusting smell in there. So Kaoru went back down to reception to tell them, and we got moved to a different room. We settled in to the room, and it was getting time for dinner. Our plan was to meet up with Andrew and his wife for dinner, but unfortunately he had to cancel due to being in call (as a result of the floods from the typhoon). So we had a date night! We went across the other side of Shinagawa, and off to a Korean BBQ restaurant for dinner. We had some delicious meat, and because it was too meaty for Kaoru, I got quite a bit extra. And she had some noodles. And of course a couple of beers to make the meal complete.
We made our way back to the hotel, but looked in the supermarket above the station. I found some hoppy beers there and bought a couple, plus some sake. But they didn’t have much in the way of desserts, so we went back to our hotel via the supermarket next door. There we found an eclair, and I also bought some meiji chocolate. We went back to the hotel, showered and ate our desserts while watching some TV.