I didn’t sleep too well. 7ish, we got up and showered. Breakfast was included downstairs – an assortment of bread. And the coffee machine did match au lait! We then went to the post office to send things Kaoru has bought yesterday to Kozue, so we didn’t need to carry them for the next few days.

We locked our bags at the hotel and left to buy train tickets, and get glasses. My eyes have deteriorated 2 levels, apparently. So I picked some new frames, and got tint glasses for taking outside, ready for another rotation.

We went to Starbucks for fruit yoghurt frappe – a special seasonal drink which Kaoru had tasted a couple of days ago. We got our bags from the hotel and returned to Tokyo station, where we bought Ekiben (train bento), and queued up for the train. We only went a couple of stops, to Oyama, and then rushed to our connecting train to Tochigi.

We have come to Tochigi region regularly, as that’s where Kaoru’s parents live. However this was to Tochigi town, as we had a few plans for here. We went to our hotel which was just across from the train station (Kaoru’s planning), but they don’t open for checkin until 3.00 – it was currently about 1.15. So we left our bags and just took the minimum to start our exploring.

After getting our bearings we walked up the road, and along the river, to do a river boat ride. It ran every hour, and it was about 1.40, so we had timed it quite well. We watched the carp swimming up to the boat, and had a nice ride up and down a short section of the river. The sun had really come out, and it was quite hot. Under the bridges there was shade which was really nice.

We wandered around town for a while, looking at various stores, and stopped for some ice cream in one shop, and finally returned to our hotel about 4.00. Once we had checked in, we were both quite tired, so had a sleep for an hour or so, which was really needed. After a bit of work we decided to go out for dinner.

We went to the other side of the station and wandered around. It seemed to be the “residential” side of town – not that there was much on the other side either. But we found a shabyu shabyu Izakaya and managed to get a table in there. And what a perfect pick it was! Tofu salad, sashimi, gyoza and some fantastic wagyu beef and some some pork. At one point we thought we may have ordered too much, but it was actually the perfect amount. A beer and a sake to wash it all down made for a perfect evening.

We walked back and withdrew some money from the 7-11, and bought an ice cream sandwich for dessert, which we had back in the room. A bath and some work, and it was time for bed.