So much for good nights sleep. There must have been an accident at the station work site across the road during the night, as I lost count of how many ambulances we heard stopping during the night. I woke up around 7 and was still quite tired. But we decided to start the day.

I checked emails while Kaoru had a shower, and had a work problem to deal with. Luckily that wasn’t too bad. We went downstairs for breakfast, and came back up to get ready for the day.

We started the day with coffee at the walkway above Shinagawa station. They had a coffee shot which Kaoru enjoyed. I had a lemonade, which was a refreshing start to the day. We wandered around the grocery store up there, looking at all the yummy food for sale, and also compared the prices for whisky (it wasn’t as good as other places we’ve seen). But it killed some time, before making our way to Ebisu.

The multiple travelators from the station were great! We were in no rush so just rode them, looking outside along the way. We then wandered around the shops, having a good look at a camping shop, and a DIY shop, to see the types of things available in Japan. We then went up the Ebisu Garden Place tower to have a look over the city. It was beautiful, and we could see for miles!

We then headed downstairs to Lawry’s restaurant, where we were having lunch with Mio. I came here many years ago for dinner with the Yoneda’s, but don’t really remember it that well. For lunch you could pick how much beef you wanted (65g, 130g, 3x65g) and it included the salad and dessert bar. So the girls had 65g and I had 130g. We started with the salad bar, and eventually the guy came over with the beef, which he cut to our liking (medium rare, or medium). Apparently he is so good that he doesn’t need to measure the meat – he knows he is giving you the right amount, and just does a single cut. Meaning mine was a bit thicker (I wouldn’t have said twice as thick though).

After lunch we said goodbye to Mio, and Kaoru and I headed to Yebisu Tap Room. Ebisu is one of the few places where the product came before the town. So Yebisu beer started there (in the late 1800’s), and the train line was built to distribute the beer, and the town built around it. As for the difference in name (Yebisu beer, and the town Ebisu), we can only theorise that there is no Japanese Ye sound. Anyway, I enjoyed a tasting paddle of their beers.

A combination of sleepless night, the warm room for lunch, and the beer had left me a bit tired. So I went back to the hotel, while Kaoru went to Shibuya to do some shopping. After about an hours sleep I got in touch with Kaoru and made my way to Shibuya to meet up with her. I managed to take the wrong exit and end up at the wrong end of town in Shibuya, but it was still enjoyable. I eventually found the Shibuya Scramble (which was crazy-busy – at 5.45 on a Thursday afternoon) and found Kaoru outside the Starbucks. We went to the Nintendo store to have a look around, and then made our way to dinner. Tonight we wanted to try a “yokocho” – Japanese food alley. There is a new place which tries to imitate the traditional yokocho, but cater to the westerners, so we gave that a go. There were stores from all different areas of Japan, and you could take your pick. But none of this was in English, so for foreigners, it was lucky dip. We picked a place tailored to food from Hokaido, and I ordered a number of dishes, and some beers to wash it down. The people on the table next to us had two drinks delivered each, and we made a comment about “efficiency”, which started a conversation with them. They were from New Zealand and had never had a “sour” before, so were enjoying them immensely!

After dinner we walk past a real “yokocho” and could see most of them were full (ie 4 or 5 people) of westerners. We headed back to Shibuya station.

and made our way to Shinagawa. Once there we went to a food court above the station, which served American beers, so I had a nice hazy to finish the day. After stopping at the shops above the station (since we were there anyway….), we returned to our hotel room, and I decided to have a bath, some sake, and call it a day.