It was a relaxing morning. Kaoru was already up by the time i awoke at 7.15ish. She had been shuffling our stuff around to see the best way to get our bags packed. We had breakfast of scallops and noodles and then i had some work to take care of.

Kaoru came in and asked if i wanted to see the godzilla statue in shinjuku. Sounded like something i needed to see! So we cleared up and made our way.

First off we went to first kitchen and took a photo of us at the meeting spot from our wedding trip – just for fun. Then Kaoru went to a pharmacy to buy some cosmetics as they would be duty free Hopefully it doesn’t blow our luggage allowance!   During this i remembered my bluetooth headset was playing up so thought it a good time to get a replacement. I had a look at a shop and Kaoru suggested another so we walked around Shinjuku. Then we saw it… So we stopped and took a couple of photos.

A bit more walking, and I was totally lost – despite having spent a couple of weeks in Shinjuku just 12 months earlier.    Kaoru hadn’t been there for just as long, and hadn’t been seriously around the area in even longer, yet was walking around like she owned the place.  I guess she’s done it so much that she knows it like the back of her hand.  So we looked in Bic Camera for my earpiece, but it was WAY too expensive there.  We then had to catch our train so rushed off, and thought we’d come up with a plan later.  On the way to the train, Kaoru found an ATM and was able to do some banking she needed to do, as she has de-citizenised herself from Japan on this trip.

We made the train to Yokohama, and then on the Yokohama subway 1 stop.  We got up to street level and Ryu was there waiting for us with Haruka.  Wow – I saw her briefly at our wedding but that was 12 months ago.  She has grown so much!  She turns 3 in a few months.  She didn’t recognise us, and was very shy.

It was less than a 10 minute walk to Ryu and Naoko’s new house.  Still up hill all the way, but not as steep as their old one.  So it certainly had a tick from me!  Their old house used to kill me getting there!  Naoko was there when we arrived preparing lunch, so we went inside and said Hello, giving Haruka her Australian toy for this trip – a kookaburra that makes noise.  She was a bit freaked out by it – we’ll see what happens over time.  Her possum (from the first time we met her) is looking well loved!

Lunch was another fantastic feast.  Prawns in a sauce, Tonkatsu Chicken, vinegared vegetables…a few beers for Ryu and I… :).  They played a video Ryu took of our wedding which was great to see.  I don’t think I’ve seen any footage of our speeches before.  It was a fun afternoon – they are a great couple, and Ryu’s english is very good, thanks to his work, so I can communicate well with them.  He likes to “cut corners” and get Kaoru to translate when she is involved in the conversation, but when it’s just the two of us talking, he does a very good job.  This is something I see a lot of in Japan – male’s will talk fine in English until there is another person who can speak both languages.  Then they freeze up and utilise the translator.

Time flew and before we knew it, it was time to go.  So they walked us to the train station, we said goodbye, and were on our way to Yokohama.  Ryu had mentioned the shop we had seen for the bluetooth headset has a store in Yokohama so we went there to save going back to Shinjuku.  The lady there spoke very good English (which I congratulated and thanked her for – we were just lucky to have her serve us!) and I picked a unit to buy.  Then we caught the train back to Tokyo, and then subway to Nishikasai.

We called Okasan and Ottosan when we got to the station.  They walked down and then we caught a taxi to the restaurant we went to a few visits ago (sushi train).  It was very busy, and we had to wait for about half an hour for a table to be ready.  It may have been because of this being the end of Golden Week, so nobody wanted to cook.  It was the usual feast and sensory overload.  A nice last meal.

Kaoru and I managed to pay this time!  We then caught a taxi home and did a final pack, had a bath, and then off to bed.