A charming little Japanese lady served us a breakfast of salad with mayonnaise, and eggs and bacon. Very Japanese!
We set out in the crisp morning air and caught the train back to Shinjuku. The train system is phenomenal! Trains every few minutes. Saturday morning and people everywhere. Lots of school kids too - apparently Saturday morning cram school is common in Japan.
We spent the day wandering around the shops in Shinjuku and a nearby trendy area called Harajuku (just a short train ride away).
We split into two groups in the afternoon and Jim & I went up to the Observatory on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. Three Buddhist monks in saffron robes accompanied us on the trip down so we thought if anything happened, we'd die peacefully.
The view of Tokyo from up there is amazing. It's a bloody big city, that's for sure!
We all met up again at the hotel but Jim and John went back to Shinjuku by train to look at watches and had dinner at the top floor of a major department store - where all the best restaurants are.
Jane and I went for a stroll near the hotel and visited a bizarre and rather sad pet store.
There was a dog grooming salon with 5 dogs being clipped and primped - and apparently this operates all day every day. Who would have thought there were so many unkempt dogs in this city!
There was also a lamb in a box dressed in Christmas gear, a chinchilla in what looked like a teapot, a hedgehog, a squirrel and a bizarre nude cat.
We spent the day wandering around the shops in Shinjuku and a nearby trendy area called Harajuku (just a short train ride away).
We split into two groups in the afternoon and Jim & I went up to the Observatory on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. Three Buddhist monks in saffron robes accompanied us on the trip down so we thought if anything happened, we'd die peacefully.
The view of Tokyo from up there is amazing. It's a bloody big city, that's for sure!
We all met up again at the hotel but Jim and John went back to Shinjuku by train to look at watches and had dinner at the top floor of a major department store - where all the best restaurants are.
Jane and I went for a stroll near the hotel and visited a bizarre and rather sad pet store.
There was a dog grooming salon with 5 dogs being clipped and primped - and apparently this operates all day every day. Who would have thought there were so many unkempt dogs in this city!
We ate at a little restaurant with a machine at the door with pictures of all the food on offer. You paid your money, pressed the appropriate picture and a little ticket popped out which you are then supposed to give to the waitress.
I ordered more by guesswork than real knowledge. Everything is in Japanese with only the odd words in English. And I find most people only speak a few words of English - unless it's in a hotel or at a station.
Still, it's amazing how much you can communicate by sign language - and everyone is unfailingly polite.
Station staff and waiting staff often bow to you. I've decided I rather like it. I wonder if we could introduce it in Australia?
I found I had ordered some kind of dumplings and a rice and egg dish for dinner. Both perfectly acceptable.
When the boys returned, it turns out they had found an excellent little Italian restaurant in Shinjuku, which they raved about.
At least the pets are not for eating, or is that a racist remark? Trust the boys to go up market. Let me guess - they bought watches!
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