Tokyo ...the last few days

The visit has been a bit of a blur so far. Our body clocks have been adjusting, but we've managed to sightsee and eat and drink quite a lot.

Thursday:
We had breakfast at a Dennys across the river in Asakusa - our apartment hotel, Bon Tokyo Asakusa, is actually across the Sumida River in Azumabashi. It's like a 5 minute walk, and the neighbourhood is much quieter than the heavily touristed Asakusa. Our breakfast of eggs, French toast and pancakes, and bottomless drinks was ¥1470 or around $15.

We took the Ginza subway line to Shinjuku, and we had a look at some shops before heading to Shinjuku Subnade, an older underground shopping arcade. The weather is still a bit rainy, so sticking underground is a lot easier.

We had some lunch at a pork katsu restaurant where we each had a crumbed pork loin set. I love the 'set' - rice, cabbage, and miso soup. This is always on our dining list when in Japan. We returned to our apartment on the very hectic subway to rest up. Well, Gayle snoozed, and I found a bar in old Asakusa subway to rest up instead.

In the evening, we had our requisite whiskey soda and rice snacks we picked up from the seven eleven. Dinner was at the The Juicy Dumpling Manufactory, where we dined on some share plates of gyoza, fried chicken, edamame, and fried cheese triangles. As our body clocks are weird, we turned in for a quiet night after dinner.

Friday:
We had breakfast at Tully's - a coffee chain that makes drinkable coffee and light snacks. We've been to many Tully's on our Japan visits, and I do enjoy a breakfast hotdog - judge me if you must.

We jumped on the subway to head to Ginza, which is a posh shopping area. Most of the shops weren't open as their opening hours were from 11am! We looked at a Swatch store that required access via a funky glass lift - it just went to the swatch store! We went to Itoya stationery shop, a multilevel complex just for stationery; we did buy some cool Japanese gifts.

We returned to Asakusa for another sneaky Mos Burger - it'll be a while between cheese burgers, so we're getting our quota.

In the afternoon, we got ourselves freshened and tarted up - we're heading out for cocktails and then to Chez Olivier's for dinner. We took the subway to Asaka-Mitsuke station and then to the 36th floor of a hotel complex to go to Sky Gallery Lounge Levita. The views across Tokyo are spectacular, with great views of Tokyo Tower. This is a bit of a repeat of our visit last year - if it's good, go back is our motto.

A few cocktails later, it was time to take a short taxi ride to Chez Olivier's. We were greeted like old friends - the chef and wait staff remembered us from our previous visits. The degustation meal that followed was tremendous, and we had the sommelier choose our wines. It's a place we will return again, I'm certain.Leia mais