Tokyo Day 14: Last Day & Haneda Airport

I want to take the time to talk about the hotel we stayed in during our time in Tokyo. It’s called ICI Hotel, and we stayed in the Ueno/Shin-Okachimachi-based one. The building itself looks a bit like a domino, and we stayed up on the 8^th floor.

The entire hotel was perfectly clean and tidy at all times and has great facilities which include washing machines, vending machines, really good WiFi, and some lovely air conditioning. In the lobby there is a self-serve kitchen and seating area, billiards table, Gachapon machines, and a small selection of snacks and drinks to buy. You can also borrow hairdryers and hair straighteners from the front desk, and there are communal reusable shopping bags and umbrellas that hotel guests can use as needed. The staff always greet you as you come in or leave the lobby, look impeccable, and are always ready to help with anything (there is also a bowl of sweets on the front desk which I thoroughly enjoyed).

I’ve already mentioned how much I loved our room, so I won’t go on and on. But it was seriously nice – wonderfully clean, bright and modern. The beds were a nice size and ridiculously comfortable, there were plenty of USB ports and electrical outlets, the whole bathroom was just divine, the pyjamas and towels provided were super comfy, and everything was in perfect working order. The view from our window was one that we loved waking up to every day.

Housekeeping was also 10/10. For the duration of our trip, we had the same lady working on our floor which was really nice as we built up familiarity and greeted each other every morning. If you stick the ‘please clean’ sign on your door, a ‘proper’ full clean of the room will be done while you’re out, but even if you don’t housekeeping works a bit of magic. They’ll pop in and straighten up the room, make the beds, change out used towels, replenish toilet paper, empty the bins, etc. It was lovely to come back to a tidied up space every day. You could also put a laminated paper on your bed if you wanted fresh bedsheets. It was just brilliant. As I touched on earlier, all of the halls, lifts, and communal spaces were spick and span.

I really, really recommend the hotel – apart from everything I’ve already said, the hotel is in a quiet and safe area, so it’s really nice and peaceful when you come back to chill out in the room. I can’t remember which day, but my lounge pants went missing, and I worked out that they must have been scooped up with my pyjamas and used towels. I called the front desk and muddled through a conversation about them, and asked them to keep an eye out for them in the laundry. Not only did they find them, they had them sent back up to my room and folded neatly on the bed! I thought I’d lost them forever so this just earned the hotel so many more kudos.

This morning, we sorted out the last of our packing before turf-out time, at which point Caz realised she needed a second suitcase. Neither of us were surprised, her side of the room looked like the contents of an arcade claw machine (which it basically was). We packed all we could, put the rest in shopping bags, and I looked up luggage shops. The closest one was near Ameya Yokocho in Ueno, about a ten-minute walk.

I had a bit of a panic when I went to get my things out of the room safe (which included my house keys, British bank card and British money!) and it wouldn’t open. It didn’t appear to even be on, as no lights were showing. I ran down to the front desk to ask for help, as I thought it’d be easier to tell them about it face to face. I asked that someone come and have a look at their earliest convenience. Instead, the girl I was talking to grabbed an enormous set of keys and came up with me straight away! The Japanese really do pride themselves on good service and convenience at all times. She manually unlocked the safe for me and I retrieved my things, thanking her profusely.

Before we left, I had time to write a note in my basic-ass Japanese, thanking housekeeping very much. I left it on the desk where it would definitely be seen, and we did one last sweep of the room to make sure we had everything. Then we said goodbye to our lovely room, our home for the last fortnight.

We went to the front desk and asked to check out, which was a smooth and easy process. I enquired about their luggage holding facility and explained that we had to make a quick errand before we left properly. They put numbered tags on our suitcases and gave us tokens matching the numbers to hand back in when we returned. They also very kindly agreed to take Caz’s extra bags of things, and laughed when we explained that our errand was to get another case.

The hotel had posters up saying that you could earn a gift if you made an Instagram post about your stay at the hotel. We’d noticed them earlier in the trip and Caz had made a post, so she showed them at the front desk. The gift was a pair of nail clippers with a girl wearing a kimono on the design. Caz picked out the white one with pink flowers, and then they asked which one I wanted! I said I hadn’t made a post yet, and they said that I could also have the gift because we were in the same party. So I chose the one wearing black because it reminded me of my yukata.

We set off for the luggage shop and were immediately distracted by Family Mart. We loved having konbini everywhere in the city, and we’re going to miss them when we get home. I decided we should pop in one last time. We got some snacks and things, and I finally bought something I had been eyeing all holiday. It’s called a ‘sandcake’ – it’s two sponge cakes with jam and cream in between them. So it looks like a sandwich, but it’s a cake! I was so happy to have finally tried one, on my last day here.

Ameya Yokocho, or Ameyoko as it’s known locally, used to be the site of Tokyo’s black market after the Second World War. It’s now a legit marketplace, but still known for its bargain prices. It’s a little higgledy-piggledy set of side streets next to and beneath the railway tracks in a layout similar to Omoide Yokocho. The narrow roads are lined with market stalls selling everything imaginable, and it’s apparently a very good area to find cheap sweets. I would like to explore it properly when I return to Tokyo – the walk through it today was interesting, but we couldn’t stop because we had a time limit and a mission to fulfil.

We soon located the luggage shop I’d found on the map and went inside. It didn’t take long to find a decently sized and reasonably priced suitcase. We took it to the proprietor of the shop, a man who looked like a Japanese version of Iggy Pop, who was really friendly and helpful. He also gave Caz a small discount for no real reason. We decided he couldn’t be bothered to count change, so rounded the price down for us. Whatever the reason, it was so kind!

As we exited the shop and walked back toward the gate to Ameyoko, a light rain had started and the sky was grey. This is literally the only rain we saw while in Tokyo, and I joked that the city was weeping because we were leaving.

We decided to have one last Lotteria because their burgers are to die for. The Ueno one wasn’t far, so we stopped there for an early brunch. As we sat and ate, we both talked about how ridiculously tired we were. We’d had big dreams about cramming in some more sights in before we left, but now we didn’t think we had the time or energy to do so. I wondered if there was somewhere we could nap and started researching on my phone. I’d heard about so-called ‘nap cafes’ in Japan, which is an exquisite idea, but all of them were out of the way of where we were eventually heading. Then I checked out capsule hotels, but they were a bit out of our price range. I even looked up the notorious ‘love hotels’ to see if we could get a room for a couple of hours, just to sleep in. No luck.

In desperation I searched for hotels near Haneda airport and came across First Cabin. It’s a capsule-style hotel that you can book for however many hours you need for a fair price, and is mainly used by people on layovers between flights. We decided we’d stop there for a few hours when we got to the airport and have a rest.

After our final Lotteria (which was just as good as the other times we went), we headed back to the hotel to pack up the rest of Caz’s stuff. The staff were amused by us scrambling to get it all done and out of the way, and my scolding of Caz the whole time. We traded in our tokens to get our other suitcases back and were given a warm farewell from the staff in the lobby. I packed up Sushi into his little pouch and put him in the return mailbag. We found a local postbox to post him in, and actually felt a bit sad about it. I’m going to miss our little gadget – I recommend Sushi WiFi, it served us so well for this trip.

The street that we called home for two weeks.

Our next port of call was Shin-Okachimachi station. The journey to Haneda took about 45-50 minutes. First we took the Oedo Line to Daimon station, and then got the Tokyo Monorail to Haneda’s international terminal. I made the most of looking out of the windows and around me at the train car as it was our last ride on the Tokyo subway. I spent a lot of the journey concocting how to get back to Tokyo as soon as I possibly could. I seriously love it here.

Once we were at the airport, we had to go over to the domestic terminal to get to First Cabin. I shambled up to the desk and asked for two capsules for three hours. The staff were very efficient and had us sorted in no time. We were given key cards to access the rest of the hotel, and they gave us tokens for our luggage, which they stashed away securely. The facilities were really good, though we weren’t planning on using them. The toilets were really clean and fancy, with huge mirrors, toiletries, hair styling electronics and products. There was also a bath room if you fancied having a mini onsen experience!

The sleeping room itself was huge, but luckily our rooms weren’t too far away from the door. The tiny, bed-only capsules weren’t currently available, so we had the slightly larger ‘deluxe’ ones (which are still tiny and cute). It was wonderfully warm and quiet in the sleeping area. It was hard to be silent as we always get the giggles in these scenarios. We soon found our adjacent capsules and said ta-ta for now.

The room was small and cosy, with light and heating controls. I bumped up the heat just a tad more to get really cosy, and shut the door, which was actually just a sliding screen with no lock. I didn’t feel worried or insecure about that though, Japan has proven itself to be such a safe place and no one could get into the sleep area without a key card. The bed felt really hard when I first got onto it, but I soon warmed up and felt comfortable and managed to get a couple of hours sleep.

I felt so much better when I woke up, and there was still a half hour left of our booking. After having a nice big stretch, I curled up in the bed again for a little while. When I was ready to collect Caz, I got my backpack and put my boots back on before creeping next door. I went in quietly in case she was sleeping, but she was sitting up on the bed playing on her phone. She hadn’t managed to go off to sleep but also said she felt way better after having a quiet couple of hours to just rest and be alone. We both felt really ready to take on the airport process, and the long journey home.

We got back to the international departures terminal and were blown away. It was huge and spacious and had ample seating. There was soft blue mood lighting with projections of leaves, which reminded us of onsen, and it was so quiet. Airports are usually loud and bright and stressful, but Haneda was like an oasis of calm. Japan is so awesome.

We still had a little while to wait for bag check, so we found some seats and I decided to wander off and explore the airport. Usually in airports, most of the shops and things appear after you get through security. In Haneda, though, there’s quite a bit to look at. There are three main sections of shops and eateries – one is old Edo-style, one is called ‘Hot Zone’ and looks like a jungle setting, and the last is the ‘Cool Zone’ which is space themed! It’s such a cool airport, and I wandered around for some time just taking it in.

There was a mini Don Quijote and I couldn’t resist having a look. I found a little lollipop that was neon green and shaped like unko (a poop). I simply had to buy it for Ethan because he’d find it hilarious. In another souvenir shop, I found an onigiri-shaped decorative plate with a ‘walking tour’ map of Tokyo and cats on it. I bought that for Caz’s mum because she loves decorative plates and cats so it was perfect. I found some stickers for the scrapbook I plan to make, and a notebook that looks like a Japanese passport. I also got another hamster-themed Gachapon prize – this one is a yellow squishy one.

When we had checked our bags, we went through security. It was a total breeze, and by some miracle neither of us set off machines this time! Airside, there were more shops and things that we wandered by and idly looked in. We spent a long time in the duty free shop, making last-minute purchases. I got a bottle of umeshu wine, some Hello Kitty plasters, a tin of baked cinnamon and chocolate Yatsuhashi, and a box of Tokyo Banana flavoured KitKats.

It was about dinner time, and it’d been a while since we’d had our Lotteria brunch, so we stopped in a little food area. I got a lovely big ramen bowl, which was warming and filling. Caz had a soba noodle bowl, which was so huge she couldn’t finish it, and some prawn tempura. We felt a bit sad again because this was the last meal we were going to have in Japan (until next time).

Seriously, I just want to reiterate how brilliant Haneda airport was. It was such a stress free experience. The whole place was quiet, warm and spacious. The staff were all really friendly, helpful and efficient. By the time we got to the gate for our flight, we felt so relaxed and ready for the long journey we were facing. I’ve never had an airport experience like it. I can’t wait until I’m able to return to Japan!

Tokyo Day 4: Yanaka & Ueno

I woke up quite early this morning and felt surprisingly well considering the full-on day we had yesterday. I suppose being on buses for a lot of it helped conserve more energy. I decided I wanted to get out soon and have a good walk in the neighbourhood.

Instead of having a shower, I tried out the bath. It’s shorter in length than what I’d called a ‘standard sized’ tub, but really deep. I filled it all the way up and just basked for a long while – it was total bliss! I came out feeling squeaky clean and relaxed, with my muscles all warmed up and ready to go.

Caz wanted to lie in for longer, so I set out on my own. Sometimes I actually prefer to do walks on my own, because I walk with terrible purpose and often leave whoever I’m with in the dust (especially Caz, with her tiny short legs). It was another nice day in Tokyo, with the sun shining and a chilly wind. I had a few places I wanted to see, but I took my time and felt no rush.

The side-streets of Tokyo are filled with hidden gems. Gorgeous residential homes, shrines and cemeteries, plants and greenery, all hiding in plain sight. It’s an absolute joy to just wander through the streets and see what you can spot. I also met a woman walking her Shiba – I asked if I could pet him and she graciously accepted. The dog was enjoying the fuss and was so fluffy and soft! As you can imagine, after a short while of walking around (and meeting a dog), my mood was buoyed and I was feeling content.

The first place I wanted to visit was fairly nearby – Sōgen ‘Kappa-Dera’ Temple. Named for the Japanese folklore water demon Kappa, there are several statues of them dotted around the grounds. People often leave offerings of cucumber – a favourite food of the Kappa – at these statues, presumably to appease them and keep them from causing mischief.

The 17^th century temple buildings were pretty and traditional. I couldn’t get inside at this time (I think it was closed), but apparently one of the buildings contains a real mummified Kappa arm. I’m very interested to know when and how that was acquired.

Off to the side was a small cemetery. There are a lot of these smaller ones in the city, as well as sprawling necropolis parks. I suppose this is so people can be laid to rest in their local areas. Because most people in Japan are cremated after death, lots of graves can fit into a small area. The tombstones are usually narrow and sleek, and can contain several people’s remains.

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I love a good cemetery. So I had a quiet turn around this one. Some of the graves had flowers or recently-burned incense. Others had drinks offerings – cans of coffee and beer, cups of tea and water. I imagine these were the decedents’ favourite drinks in life. Perhaps their loved ones come and share a drink with them sometimes. Some graves had multiple drinks, which I took to mean that there was more than one person interred there. It was so beautiful, thoughtful and terribly sad in the graveyard.

I made my way vaguely towards Ueno, by way of higgledy-piggledy back streets. Walking kept my body temperature up enough to keep the worst of the cold away, and the sun still shone. Ueno is a really cool area, super modern and busy. I got roped into a cute bakery by the Lotte company, named ‘Wholesome’. They had lots of different bread with sweet and savoury fillings, and it was all really cute. I decided to get one to go – it took me forever to choose, but I eventually decided on a bread cube with a strawberry cream filling.

The walk over to Ueno Park got quite hilly, so I slowed my pace to conserve energy. I was thankful that I’d had the foresight to pack a water bottle before I left the hotel. This is seriously one of the most important pieces of advice I can offer when travelling – always, always have water on you. Even if you’re in a big city like Tokyo, where there are literally millions of vending machines.

As I was walking up the last hill before arriving at the park, I stood aside on the narrow pavement to allow an older couple to go by. They both smiled and bowed and the lady said, “Thank you!” in English, which was so sweet. I smiled and bowed back, and went on my way feeling warm and fuzzy.

I got to Ueno Park and almost walked my stupid self right into Shinobazu Pond. The dead lotus plants from the winter were standing densely in the water and disguised the pond, so it wasn’t entirely my fault. Apparently when the lotus bloom in the spring, they cover the whole pond in a lush sea of green leaves. I was sort of enjoying the barren feel of the pond while I was there, though. It was still beautiful, but in a different way.

I strolled along the bank of the pond, looking over the plants and water to the skyscrapers rising beyond. My eye was soon caught by a bright red temple sitting in the middle of the pond. Enraptured by the beautiful colours and traditional architecture, I crossed the stone bridge over the water to access the grounds.

This temple was named Shinobazu-no-ike Bentendo. It’s dedicated to the water goddess Benzaiten, hence why it’s situated in the middle of the pond. The main hall of the temple was originally built in the 17^th century, but was unfortunately destroyed during the Second World War. Luckily, the statue of Benzaiten survived the air raids and was enshrined in the restored building in 1958. The hall itself is bright vermillion and stunning. Outside is a large statue of a lute, said to be Benzaiten’s instrument of choice.

Out front, there was a large incense burner gently smoking. It’s believed that incense has healing qualities, so I stood next to the burner and fanned the fragrant smoke over myself.

There was a seating area overlooking the pond and it was mostly empty, so I sat there to eat my bread cube (which was bloody delicious by the way). A man stood nearby feeding a gaggle of chirping birds and a girl was sitting next to the water with a bento box. A few people wandered in to take a photo of the pond and look out at the city, and I was so at peace that I stayed here for a long while after I finished my snack.

My next stop was the University of Tokyo campus, which isn’t far from the west side of Ueno Park. I took a tree-lined path that cuts through Shinobazu Pond. It was a really pretty walkway, but there was no wind cover and there was a terrible chill coming from the wind and the water. I came out of the park and found myself right near the Tokyo University Hospital, which looked about how you’d expect. As I walked further into the campus though, my mind was blown. I was near the Hall of Seven Virtues, a martial arts dojo in a traditional-style building. It didn’t look at all like a university campus from this side – there were trees and hills, with little rocky paths through the area. I explored for a little while, clambering up the steep stone steps. I found a body of water called Sanshiro Pond and sat there for a while. I could hear some students horsing around on the other side of the pond, and a couple of people went by, but no one questioned me. I crossed a little wooden bridge and continued on my way. It was a really pretty place, and I couldn’t believe I was on a university campus in the middle of a capital city. It felt like I was out in some woods.

When I emerged from the trees, I found myself near a more conventional university building, which I later worked out was the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology. I was immediately taken in by the vaulted arches cutting through the building and imagined being a student there. I also liked the main auditorium building when I got to the long path leading up to it, then I cut through the arches of the Faculty of Law building.

This campus was absolutely huge, and I didn’t see nearly half of it, but I loved what I did see. It looks like such a nice atmosphere to study in, and almost made me wish I was a student again! On checking the time, I decided to start aiming for my next destination, which was only about a twelve minute walk away.

Instead of taking a really direct route, I just wended my way through the little residential streets in the vague direction I wanted to go in. It’s really relaxing to walk through empty, near-silent streets. Tokyo is massive and densely-populated but it’s surprisingly easy to find peace here.

Like a lot of people, I really want to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto because of its beautiful vermilion Torii gates. During this trip, we had so much we wanted to see and do in Tokyo that a jolly on the Shinkansen to Kyoto wasn’t really possible. One day I will make that dream a reality, but for now I had read about a shrine in Tokyo with similar red gates, called Nezu Shrine. Supposedly almost two millennia old, Nezu is a Shinto shrine formally established in the 18^th century and the oldest place of worship in Tokyo.

It wasn’t hugely busy when I arrived, which was pleasantly surprising. The gateway to the grounds was also a pretty red-orange colour, as well as the Rōmon gate just inside and the main hall of the shrine. I was immediately enamoured with the place, and glad that I’d made the decision to see it.

I imagine the day was probably still cold at this point, but it felt a lot warmer at the shrine because there was less tree cover and not a lot of shade. I immediately went looking for the Torii gates because I wanted to walk through them. They are a fair bit smaller than the ones in Kyoto, and by ‘a fair bit’ I mean I had to duck to get under them. And I am only 5’5”. Everyone also had to go through them in single-file because they were narrow as well as short. It was almost like walking through a scale model of Fushimi Inari. This didn't take away from how pretty and exciting it still was, though.

After I’d had a little wander, I found a smaller out-of-the-way shrine building that was up a slope and a set of stairs. There was nobody around so I took this opportunity to sit on the steps, have some water and take in the sunshine for a while. I could occasionally hear the other people visiting the shrine, but everyone was keeping their voices at a respectably low volume, and the overall atmosphere at the shrine was easygoing and peaceful. It was one of those moments where you just sit and feel happy to be alive.

I confess that I didn’t research Nezu much before I visited. So when another tourist approached me and asked if I knew what animal was depicted in the statues around the grounds, I had no idea. He thought they might be weasels, I thought they looked more like dogs. Turns out they’re foxes, which are common in Inari shrines. All of the fox statues wore a red scarf around its neck, creating little pops of colour among the stone.

I worked out that I could walk to Akihabara from where I was, and texted Caz to get the Tsukuba Express and meet me there. We planned to go to Yanaka, also known as ‘Cat Town’, for obvious reasons. I got to Akiba station shortly before Caz so I sat on the platform and had a tiny bottle of grape Fanta. I love the smaller soda bottles you can get in the vending machines – I’d also had a tiny Coca-Cola earlier.

It was an easy ride on the Yamanote Line to Nippori Station, and then a short walk to Yanaka Cemetery. It’s massive, and like a park and a cemetery all at once – filled with trees and flowers, with little paved paths through the many graves. We didn’t have time to look at the whole area, as it’s about 25 acres and holds over 7000 graves! Instead, we explored the northwest corner of the park. It was wonderfully peaceful, the only sound being our footsteps and the Tohba boards clanking softly together in the breeze.

There were lots of cool gravestones that had an occasional red character amongst the black ones, which gave us real Fatal Frame vibes. We had a gentle wander through the graves, looking for the famed stray cats – unfortunately we didn’t see any, but maybe it was too chilly to bask on the graves as they usually do. It was so sunny, but still very cold.

The cold scuppered our other plan to have a good wander and look around Yanaka Ginza, the main shopping street of the area. It was a shame as the shops are all tiny and authentic, with lots of cat merchandise. We did stop at one place I’d read about though – Yanaka Shippoya. A traditional snack exclusive to this area of Tokyo is the cat-tail doughnut, a long doughnut with different fillings. Some are even stripy! We simply had to try one, and braved the cold to sit and eat them. Luckily they were delicious and made us happy, so it was worth freezing our butts off.

At this point we just wanted to be inside, so we took a cab over to Harajuku to visit a conveyor belt café that is also an all-you-can-eat dessert place. It’s called Café RonRon (‘ronron’ is apparently the French noise for a cat purring), and it’s so cute. The style of the place is pastel-coloured and vaguely French, as the name might suggest. I’ve noticed the Japanese have a real thing about France, to the point that there’s literally a syndrome almost exclusive to Japanese tourists who visit Paris and find it’s not as dreamy as they built it up to be. There were lots of French-themed places and food in Tokyo, as well as French slogans and themes on clothes and accessories.

Once you get in to the café, you’re invited to get a ticket at the machine. It’s 1800¥ for 40 minutes of all-you-can-eat, and the ticket displays your arrival time so you know when you will be finished. The price also includes a drink of your choice in a cute souvenir Café RonRon bottle! I chose pink lemonade and Caz had some apple juice. There’s also free lemon water provided if you don’t want to buy more drinks.

The food appears on a little conveyor belt on a big table in the middle, and everyone sits on stools at the table and picks the dishes as they come by. The desserts are miniature, delicate and adorable.

There was cheesecake, swiss rolls, macaroons, matcha tea-flavoured pudding, and so many other little treats. Towards the end of our 40 minutes, some savoury bits started to come out too – tiny burgers and little bits of battered potato on a stick with ketchup. I was really impressed by the girl sitting next to us. She was absolutely tiny, and yet she managed to eat more than us! I have no idea how she did it, but it was nice to see everyone enjoying themselves.

At this point we thought we might have made an error with visiting Café RonRon, as we had a dinner booking at Hard Rock Café. I decided that we simply had dessert before our main course, and we ran with that. Anyway, by the time we’d gotten out and back over to Ueno we were ready to eat dinner. Turns out, sugar really doesn’t keep you full for very long.

We got there early, so perched on some seats outside and warmed up (this Hard Rock is situated inside Ueno station, so the ‘outside’ chairs were still inside). One of the staff came out, a white European guy which was a novelty. He asked if we had a booking, and we told him we were about half an hour early. He found my booking and told us we could come on in straight away! We were seated and immediately both knocked bits of cutlery off the table and onto the floor, because we can’t go anywhere without embarrassing ourselves. We picked up our cutlery, but a really cute waitress came over immediately with replacements. The same cute waitress took our food orders when we were ready.

One of the waiters in the place was really fun. He came over to give us our drinks, and Caz happened to be talking about how she kept getting her hotel key out instead of her Suica card. She was staring at them in disbelief and exclaiming “They both feel the same!” and made the waiter fall about laughing. We later caught him smirking at us as he went by to another table, and made him laugh again when he saw us singing along to ‘Take On Me’ by A-Ha. I got to practice a bit of Japanese on him when I went to ask where the toilets were. He understood me, and I was so pleased with myself as I’m not exactly fluent.

I have to talk about the lady sitting at the table next to us. She was really put-together and had an air of elegance about her. We believe it was her first time at a Hard Rock because she was asking the waitress what she’d recommend on the menu (obviously they were talking in Japanese, but we got the gist of it). She opted for a big burger and, when she got it, she was glancing at us digging into our food. We pretended not to notice, as it was clear she was trying to work out the best way to eat it. She saw Caz cut hers in half, and did the same, and then watched the way I held the burger to keep the fillings in before she picked it up. It was so cute watching her figure it out. 

When she had finished and got up to leave, she turned to us with a little smile and bowed! She knew that we knew that she was getting tips from us. We bowed back in delight, and it was just such a lovely moment between strangers. It’s these kinds of moments I love most about travelling – tiny slices of community with people you’ll probably never see again, but will always cherish. I hope she had a good experience too, and went on to have a lovely evening.

The food was fine, the standard Hard Rock Café fare. Nothing to write home about, but good enough. We had a really nice time though. Good music was playing, and it was nice to be out of the cold and in a social atmosphere. Aside from our lovely lady, most of the other tables were full, and there was a lively work party going on in the corner. We had a fab time.

Braving the cold again, we walked over to Sango Street to find a little bar I’d read about named Mr Kanso. It's a chain of bars that began in Osaka, that also sells loads of random foodstuff in cans. It was so weird and whimsical that we had to see it. Unlike the flagship and other branches, this one is a little cosy pub, which I love. I knew it was on the third floor of its building, and was trying to look out for the sign on the ground floor that would alert us to its presence.

After about five minutes of Google Maps being no help (we’ve noticed that our Sushi WiFi doesn’t like being too near train stations and the signal can be weaker there) and walking under the railway tracks and back again, I spied a couple of men at a van who looked like construction workers. I figured they were local, and said something like “Sumimasen… *gesture* wa doko desu ka??” while showing them the address on my phone. It was a pretty broken question but they understood, luckily. One of them had a look at the address and said, “Kanso bar?” He walked me to the right building, then pointed at the sign I’d missed, asking if that was what I was looking for. It was so sweet and helpful, and I thanked him profusely. Honestly, I keep saying it, but everyone we’ve encountered has been so friendly and ready to help us out. We’ve been so welcomed and made to feel really comfortable.

When we walked into the bar, there were about five people in there. Two people at a table left not long after we arrived, and there were two men sitting at the bar, shooting the shit with the bartender. We were warmly welcomed, shown to a table and the menu. I wanted to try some umeshu, which is a sort of Japanese plum wine, so I opted for that. Caz was excited because she could smoke in the bar, something you can’t do in the UK since 2007. She doesn’t even smoke that regularly, she was just excited about the novelty of sitting inside with a cigarette.

I popped up to the bar to order. I managed to do it in Japanese, which was really well received. As he got the drinks, the barman asked where we were from and I told him. He said, “Wow, England!” and one of his mates sitting at the bar said, “Cricket!” I laughed and said, “Oh, no cricket for me thanks.” We all had a little laugh together and it was another of those lovely moments.

We spent a long time sitting in Mr Kanso. Umeshu is absolutely delicious. I’m definitely glad I tried it tonight. We had another drink afterwards, and Caz smoked another cigarette. It was so nice in there – it’s a really small place, but has such a local, homey atmosphere. Little authentic places like this are where I’m most at home. It was a good wind-down from the long day I’d had.

When we decided to leave, we had a good look at the shelves with the cans. The barman came over to explain the pricing of them, and to help us identify what was in some of them. We had a real giggle at some of the strange things. Caz lost it when she spotted canned bear meat. She already has a can of bear from Finland, brought back to her as a souvenir. So she bought it, just so she could say she now has a collection of canned bear. We were laughing so hard that the guys all started to laugh too. I think the barman was glad we enjoyed ourselves so much; he stood in the doorway when we left and gave us a deep, respectful bow. Such a lovely send-off!

Back at the hotel, I downloaded Tinder for a laugh and we had fun swiping indiscriminately on random Japanese guys and foreign tourists. I matched with a guy called Hiro and he’s delightfully nuts. We had a funny conversation with him before turning in.

I’m beat – I apparently walked 22,707 steps today and I’m aware I’ll probably regret it in the morning. It’s been a lovely day though, I managed to pack a lot in.