After we woke up, we went downstairs for breakfast. This was included in the room cost, which was considerably cheaper than Shinagawa (where I normally stay). OK, it’s not a buffet breakfast – there are some rolls, egg, potato salad, soup, juice, tea and coffee. But it is enough to kick start the day.
But today had to be an “all systems go” day for me. We’re intending to roll out Pracware today, but the team didn’t get enough done without me on the phone cracking the whip the last couple of days. So I had to pull it all back in line to get the release across the line. So most of the day was spent in the room. Kaoru went to visit her parents in the morning (they are about a 20 minute walk away), and came back for lunch. We went to get a Bento Box from a place across the road, and brought it back to the room to eat.
In the afternoon Kaoru had to go to see her Facial Massage teacher, to say goodbye. So she caught a train out, and we planned a place to meet near Tokyo station. On my previous trips I had my own Japanese phone (that Dai-san had given me to use). But I had given that back to him, and Kaoru was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to follow her directions, so she called me through the afternoon and gave me a new meeting place (without the walking from the train station gate). I made it there no worries, and after looking for a present, we caught the train to Yokohama to see Rou and Nauko (and Haruka) for dinner. I still don’t know how they do the walk home each day from the train station to their house. It’s an amazing view from up so high, but it’s quite a challenge!
We had Tako-yaki for dinner. Now that Kaoru and I have our own Tako-yaki maker, we were paying more attention to the finer arts of Tako-yaki. Haruka couldn’t work out if she was amazed by me, or scared of me, so would stare for a while, cry for a bit, then go back to staring again. She’ll get used to it sooner or later. Ryu explained that his job has changed, and he is not getting to use his English at all at work these days, so enjoyed the experience of using it again. It’s very easy to talk with them.
It was a longer train ride back to the hotel than it used to be to Kaoru’s flat in Fujisawa. Luckily we had a seat for it. We got back to the hotel and called it a night.