We had a bit of a sleep in, which was nice. I went in the shower about 8.00, and then we went for a walk to a restaurant for breakfast, which Kaoru had found and wanted to try. Again, we were in very gaijin area – all westerners. I had a benedict, which had American cheese in the middle!
After breakfast we had a wander around Koishikawa Korakuen – a lovely park nearby. It cost 300 yen to get in, but there were some beautiful gardens for us to see.
We then went back to hotel – it was already warming up! Luckily we had a 12.00 checkout, so we packed my new suitcase (the old one fit in it, which was a bonus!), filled my camelback, and checked out, leaving our bags at reception.
Kaoru had found an onigiri restaurant she wanted to go to for lunch, so we headed there. Unfortunately we were greeted with a line outside of 4 or 5 people, and inside had seats for about 5 or 6 (all full), so we would have been waiting a while. Instead we went back to the hotel, and on the 3rd floor there was a restaurant which Kaoru used to go to 20+ years ago. It was a cheap, family restaurant, so very loud, with a 70 minute limit. We ordered a hamburg steak and seafood pasta, but there was another dish I wanted to try. Kaoru said the serving sizes were small so we would get it to share. Plus 2 “all you can drink” packages, for < AU$16! As it turned out, it was too much food for us, so we were full by the time we left.
We returned to the hotel to get our bags, and then made our way to the train station. It took us a while to find an entrance with an elevator, since my suitcase was quite a bit heavier now. But eventually we found one, caught the train a couple of stops, changed lines (again, an extra 250m walk to get to an elevator, meaning we missed our connecting train and had to wait another 20 minutes for the next one), and finally arrived at Seijogakuen-mae station, and walked to Kozue and Kenichi’s house.
After saying hello, Kaoru wanted to go shopping, so we walked up to the local supermarket (which had a Bic Camera upstairs, of course), and wandered around. I saw the smallest dishwasher I have ever seen!
We returned to the house and I had a nap while Kaoru and Kozue chatted. At about 5.40 we all headed back to the station and met Yukari and Minami, and Youichi was there too. Arisa arrived shortly after, and then we all headed to the Yakiniku restaurant nearby, where Mio was already there waiting for us. The next 2 hours was eating dish after dish of food – too much, as always. But oh how good it was! I talked with Yukari to help her practice english – she is off to France for 9 months of study in a few months, so is quite excited about that. I also spoke a bit with Minami and Arisa (again, all in English) for some practice.
After dinner we all went back to the Nakao’s house, and Kenichi opened some of the beers I brought over for him. He and Youichi enjoyed the idea of drinking 9 and 10% beers! Youichi, Mio and Arisa caught a taxi home, and the rest of us stayed up talking for a while. By the time we had all had baths, it was about midnight that we finally went to bed. It was great that everybody could make the time to see us, and we can enjoy a great night out together.