Midnight Drive

Last night was a Friday so Rob and Rob's friend Kazuya invited me to go for a dinner at a nice 回転寿司 (kaitenzushi) place which is a restaurant where the sushi goes round the centre of the tables on a conveyor belt and customers just take what takes their fancy, or order it from one of the chefs if they want it fresher, and then add up the price of the different coloured plates at the end of the meal.

We went to an expensive one, where the food was really delicious, and then decided the price was getting too high, so then drove round the corner to a cheaper one! We're on a budget...

After dinner, we all felt like doing something, so Kaz drove us to his home. It was such a nice house! Despite his protests that it was very small, it was a very spacious new home. It had a very Western atmosphere, with a lack of tatami mat flooring and shoji sliding paper doors. It was a lovely place!

We had some tea there, and then drove to a nearby clothes shop because Rob wants to buy new things. We spent a few minutes there, but he didn't buy anything. Back in the car, we didn't have a clue what to do next. It was about 10pm by that time, but we didn't feel like going home.

And then Rob suggested Odaiba, the man-made island in Tokyo Bay. I'd been there three times before but I really like it so I agreed, and Kaz wanted to as well, so off we went singing "Woah, we're going to Odaiba..." (We're so cool.)

I'd never been driven through central Tokyo before, and it was absolutely incredible. You get a completely different view of everything from the roads, and you see how things connect physically, rather than just on a train or subway map.

We basically followed the Chuo line's route into the centre of Tokyo, and then into the centre of Shinjuku. There were so many lights!

After we left Shinjuku we followed the road into Roppongi, where we saw Tokyo Tower all lit up!

From there, it wasn't long until we were on Rainbow Bridge over Tokyo Bay and parking on Odaiba. I'd been over the bridge on the road once, when I first arrived and I took the Limousine Bus from Narita Airport to Shinjuku. I'd been over it lots of other times on the Yurikamome monorail though.

Once we'd parked, we walked down to the beach and went to the end of the little pier they have. A very nice Japanese man offered to take our photo with Rainbow Bridge, although you can only see the lights!

Here's me with the bridge and Tokyo in the background. It was gone midnight but it looks really light in this photo!

We walked further inland and saw the Statue of Liberty, Japan version. I remembered taking a photo of my youngest brother with it when my family visited me last year. In fact, I associate a lot of Odaiba with my family, because I remember our visit there very clearly.

We wandered a bit more, and saw more of the island, but then started to get hungry. We stopped for a snack at Sizeria (サイゼリア), a cheap Italian restaurant. After that, we were all quite tired, so we walked back to the car.

We passed a couple of places I remembered from last year. You can rent a dog for a couple of hours and walk it up and down the beach, and then go to this restaurant and order something for you and something for the dog! This place is actually crazy!

Kind of an animal theme going on here.

We got home at about 3am, and I was really tired! But when else would I have the opportunity to be driven all the way across Tokyo to Odaiba? Tokyo is such a great city!

Tsukiji & Ginza

Yesterday four housemates and I went out for "lunch" in Tsukiji. I say "lunch" because we waited so long for everyone to wake up and get ready we left at 5pm. I hadn't eaten anything so I was really ready for some food.

I'd never been to Tsujiki (築地) Fish Market so I was very interested to see it. The actual market was closed because it operates mainly in the morning but the restaurants were all open and ready.

On the way from the subway station we passed Hongan-ji Temple (本願寺). It's obviously a Buddhist temple, and looked very Indian in its style. Because we were all so hungry we didn't go in but it was interesting to see it from the outside.

As we crossed the road, a man approached us with leaflets for a sushi place called Sushizanmai, which I'd never heard of, but apparently it's quite famous.

We went up to the third floor, admist loud, energetic cries of 'Irasshaimaseee!' The atmosphere was very fun and lively. We had to put our shoes in lockers, taking a wooden board out of the door, which then locked it. It was interesting that a piece of wood acted perfectly as a key.

We looked at the menu, and ticked off what we wanted on a piece of paper, which was then collected by a waiter.

It took about 10 minutes to arrive, but it felt like much longer because our stomachs were growling away.

All the sushi we ordered came on a lacquered wooden board, but there was no time to appreciate the aesthetics. It was food time!

We ordered several helpings of different types of sushi, and it came to Y1,800 for me including a drink. I was full at the end of it, so that was great.

After we'd eaten our fill, we decided to walk to Ginza, which was only about 1km away. We passed loads of nice-looking restaurants, including this one.

We checked the menu outside and there was a スペシャルディナーコース (Special Dinner Course) that cost Y24,000 (£120)! One of my housemates said that when she becomes rich and famous, she'll treat us to a meal there. I'll hold her to that.

Once we were in Ginza (銀座), we went into a couple of shops and browsed. I could have been back in Birmingham in the Bull Ring because everything was the same!

I saw a street performer, perhaps the first I've seen in Japan. He was Western, doing a 'Living Statue' act. If someone gave him money, he would bow and kiss their hand. That put us off giving him any money, but Japanese women were crowding round.

Two of my housemates had never seen Ginza Yon-choume (銀座四丁目), which is a famous intersection in the centre of Ginza. It's the second busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. So we went there next.

Just past Yon-choume, a housemate grabbed my arm and pointed to a man who had just walked by. She told me that he's a famous Japanese actor. Of course, I had no idea who he was. I could have walked past dozens of celebrities and not had a clue.

Then we were hungry again! We walked for a long time, and realised we all fancied cake. We went to Fujiya, a restaurant two floors above a cafe where my family and I nearly ate a couple of months ago.

The cake looked really delicious, so we all ordered something. It took a long time to arrive, but that gave us time to chat and have a good time. We had a great view from our window too.

If you want to go to Fujiya, which I recommend, then it's on Sukiyabashi (数寄屋橋) crossing, Ginza.

Mmm, lovely...

This is the one I had, and it was sooo good.

This is the before shot.

And five minutes later...

Afterwards, we went home at about 10pm and everyone said what a good time they had. The housemate who has been here for the longest time said that this group of people was her favourite, and she never went out with previous housemates. That made us feel good.

One of my housemates is studying extremely hard for a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam in early August, and I'm helping him, so that evening was spent working on pronunciation. Some of the words are so difficult! If I know them, I never use them!

It's nice to go out, because lots of my time is spent indoors, either teaching or studying, so it's lots of fun to be with people having a good time. And I should cherish the times I can be outside and comfortable! Now that rainy season and summer are nearly upon us, I need to make the most of it!