We woke up a bit more refreshed today. Breakfast wasn’t as busy downstairs, even though it’s a public holiday. We’re expecting people to be travelling back to their home towns today.

After some kanji study, and a casual morning, we left for todays adventures. We caught the train to Tokyo Station, arriving around 9.30. We had some time to kill until the Zoff (glasses) shop opened. So wandered around the food court area 🙂

Kaoru did an eye test to have some glasses made up, as it was a shop that came recommended by her work colleagues. I had a look at some of the frames, and ended up chatting to another older man who was in to get his glasses adjusted; and said how popular this shop was. I ended up getting my eyes tested there too, to get some new glasses. They went stronger by one point on one eye, and two points on the other eye. In the end, Kaoru bought 3 pairs (including prescription sunglasses) and I bought one pair, all for < $350! Kaoru needs to wait for hers to be ready, but mine will be ready later in the day.

Once we had finished, I had to haul arse, to catch the train to Gaienmae station, which involved a change on the way. Easy peasy. Kaoru stayed in Tokyo, but my plans (as of yesterday) were to catch up with Kenichi again, and go to Oktoberfest. So we met at the station, and it was then about 15 minutes to walk to the venue.

It was really enjoyable. There was a stage where a german band were playing, and we had several beers. Lyn had sent some jerky with me, so I decided it would be a good place to share that with Kenichi – it went very well with the beer! We also ordered some lamb, and sausages, to eat to keep us going.

It was quite a hot day, so drinking out in the sun was quite warm. Luckily after our first round we managed to find a seat undercover. But around 4.00 we were ready to call it quits, so made our way to Shinjuku, where we met up with Kaoru. She had enjoyed an afternoon shopping by herself.

Once we met up, we made our way to a ramen festival in Shinjuku. There was a marketing person there giving tastings of various beers, that they sell in a “kegerator”. But nothing of the level we are used to. The bottles (of beer) that they sell are probably 1.25 litre bottles, so not much in each – for 4000 yen! Very expensive. But they had about 150 different beers, so must have a good range. We tasted a couple of their IPA’s which were nice.

We then queued up for (different) ramen’s, and met up to enjoy eating them together, as well as another drink to go with it. It was quite a small serve though, so we were all still a bit hungry. Kenichi had a suggestion of a good ramen place to go to, so we wandered back through Shinjuku to eat some more. It was nice, but I couldn’t finish mine. Kaoru was happy to lend a hand, as always!

After dinner we made our way to Shinjuku station, and said goodbye to Kenichi. Kaoru and I got the train to Shinagawa, and went to the convenience store on the other side of the train tracks. It was empty, so much more enjoyable than 2 nights ago! At the station, we found Japan had taken vending machines to a whole new level – they are no longer just for “drink now” or “eat now”….

We came back to our hotel room, watched some TV, and had an early night, enjoying some sake and desserts.