I’m getting better at sleeping in. It’s definitely a trade-off of waking up early to do things, and enjoying some relaxing time on holiday. And also getting to breakfast when it’s not too busy. We went downstairs at 8.00, and there was quite a crowd. We managed to get a couple of seats though.

I had a shower and did teeth. We didn’t really have a plan for today, other than to just wing it. We did think we were going to catch a few JR trains, so bought a one day pass. And off to our first destination, which was at Yurakuchou station. We went to the “Art Aquarium Museum”. It was about $25 to get in, and we didn’t really know what to expect. It was quite amazing, seeing lots of different types of goldfish, in different types of environments.

After about an hour of looking around, we headed out and walked around the department store the exhibition is in. Then down to the streets of Ginza – the fashion area of Tokyo, which basically means anything we’re going to buy is going to cost a heap more. Kaoru wanted some Anpan (anko bread), and there was a particular place that she wanted to eat at; but the wait was 5 people, and we didn’t want to wait that long. So we just bought take-away, and I had a cream cheese pan.

Then it was off to the Nissan Love Story Exhibition, at Nissan Crossing. Over the two floors there were a few cars – one concept car, one “for sale” car, and two “vintage” cars, on display. We had a look around and took some photos. There was a sign advertising that the doors open on the concept car every 30 minutes, for 10 minutes, so we had to make sure we were around for that. The inside made it look pretty uncomfortable for driving!

It was then time for a more substantial lunch. Kaoru remembered an Unagi restaurant she had been to with Mio before, which wasn’t too far away, so we wandered around until we found that. It was beautiful unagi (eel). A bit expensive, as we’re overdue for a “cheaper” day, but I do love unagi.

We then made our way around Ginza Uniqlo for some more shopping. Then a brief stop at a Starbucks, on our way to “I Brew beer”. They had about 30 taps, ~70% of their own beer and 30% imported. I had a tasting paddle, so sampled 3 of their hazy beers. All were very nice. It was amazing to imagine them having all of these beers in such a small space. I started a conversation with one of the staff (which Kaoru then had to translate most of, but I made an effort), and found out that they have 15 litre kegs, and when one is empty in the night, that’s it until the next day.

Then we went to the train station, and caught a train back to Yurakuchou, to visit Tokyo Aleworks Taproom. This was just their taproom – the brewery was elsewhere, but they only had their own beers. I got to talking to the man behind the bar – initially trying to talk in Japanese (when Kaoru wasn’t around) and then found out he was Canadian so preferred English! This made it much easier to find out about the craft culture in Japan. He believed that it was growing before the pandemic, but that killed things. It has been growing again over the last few years, but he thinks it has plateaued.

Another (foreigner) couple walked in while I was chatting to the guy, so they were relieved to be able to order drinks in English. Kaoru and I chatted to them while enjoying a couple of beers – she was a kiwi working on Naroo, and he used to live in the UK but sounded more Aussie.

Eventually we left, and went to our hotel to drop off our shopping (Kaoru also bought some food at the station stall to take to work when she gets home) and then back to the station, to Ooimachi. We wanted to have a look at the hotel Mikiko and Yoshi stayed at, as another option for when we come to Tokyo. And then we went to a shabu shabu restaurant, as that was something else I wanted while I was here. Kaoru wasn’t sure because it was warm, and shabu shabu is more of a winter meal. But she had looked up a chain store and took us there. They had various options of all you can eat (and an extra $15 for all you can drink) for 2 hours – but we didn’t think we would need that much food, so just ordered a few other set meals (their best beef one, and a pork one), knowing we could always order an extra platter if we needed to.

It turned out to be plenty of food, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. A few drinks to go with it, dessert included, and still under $70!

We had a wander around their local supermarket, and bought dessert from there. Then it was back to the station, and return to Shinagawa. It was a planned washing day, but unfortunately somebody was using the machine, so Kaoru planned to do it when she wakes up in the middle of the night.