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| Ryan's espresso + snack? |
Ryan had blown the fly in a pair of jeans, so we also stopped by Uniqlo nearby (all 11 floors of it!) and despite some Chinese pushing in line for the elevator (very uncharacteristic for Japanese, so it was easy to tell!) Ryan successfully purchased 2 pairs of pants. Who knew they would sell them big enough for him?!
So back to the hotel so Kirsty could collect her bags, we waved her off and headed off ourselves to a nearby little playground, little being the operative word. They don't seem to be big into playgrounds here, and the ones that are here seem to be pretty small and basic. But children seem to be revered in many other ways, like when dining out Willow gets her own little bowl and plastic cup of water, and sometimes a complimentary bowl of snack and juice. It is very sweet. After a quick play, Willow was pretty exhausted (I think we all were after the last few days) so we bundled her into the pram, and headed over to the nearby main strip of Roppongi. Conveniently and predictably, Willow fell asleep in the dinky stroller en route, so we came across a sushi place and literally rolled in. Ryan had a donburi (sashimi on rice) and I had a platter of sushi. Both came with an egg/tofu custard and miso, and were delicious as well as beautiful. Unfortunately I spied a sign on the wall indicating (I think) that they didn't like you taking photos of the food, and being the law-abiding citizen that I am and not wishing to offend, I refrained from capturing my food's beauty for my instagram.
It was late afternoon by now so we headed back to the hotel for some R&R, naps and blog writing. Then before we knew it, what do you know, it was time to head back out to the bright lights of Roppongi for a wander and then dinner. It was Halloween, so although early there were already some awesome costumes out and about. A lot of places only serve or at least specialise in one particular style of food eg. sushi or ramen or tempura etc. This little place was cosy and had a small menu mainly of tempura and some soba. If the place had some kind of English menu, but only Japanese customers, and had enough room for us with Willow then that ticked all the boxes, so tick tick tick.
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| Tempura and soba noodles |
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| The night lights of Roppongi |
The next morning (with still some Halloween costumes wandering about) was a stunningly sunny day so we wanted to get a bit of an aerial view of Tokyo. There are several towers that have observatories and viewing floors, but one I had read about that wasn't too crowded or expensive (about A$7) was the
World Trade Center. We got there soon after it opened at 10am, and sure enough we were basically the only ones there, for the whole time we were there!! It had a great 360 degree view, but although a sunny day it was a bit hazy so we couldn't see Mount Fuji. As is often the case at observation decks, each side had a photo of the view you could see out the venue with arrows and names of the buildings you could see. Funnily, the tall building on the West side blocking the view must have been built after they had put those photos up, and they were just blocked out.
Next we strolled to nearby Byron Bay Coffee (yes, Byron Bay). The tiny place was full of Aussies so we just got a takeaway and then headed to a nearby park that we had seen from the top of the WTC. I had initially thought it was Hama-Rikyu gardens near the old Tsukiji fish markets that we visited last time, but Google told me it was actually
Kyu-Shiba-Rikyu gardens . Nevertheless they were lovely, and such a nice respite from the hustle and bustle that is Tokyo.
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| Byron Bay Coffee |
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| Fish and turtle |
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| How's the serenity |
We bundled Willow back into the dinky stroller, and sure enough, she was asleep within 5 minutes. We walked to Shimbashi, not too far away, and again literally rolled into a sushi joint. This time I ordered the donburi (and got a photo!) and Ryan had some cod and rice. There was some confusion with his order - was his rice going to be with vinegar? Or spicy? Who knew, but he liked what he got. So back past Ryan's favourite
steam train and back to the hotel for some chill time (blogging, napping, web-browsing, whatever each individual chooses). We headed out into Roppongi pretty early because we thought we might try and get a drink first somewhere, but alas it was the World Cup Rugby semi-finals (NZ vs Wales) so a lot of places were heaving with people. Instead we went for a wander around the bright lights of Roppongi, and then came across a place where Ryan saw the ramen on offer and insisted we go in. The fluorescent lights were a bit bright, but the food was good and cheap. Willow even downed a plate of fried chicken and rice herself! So after some awesome ramen and gyoza, we went for another wander through Roppongi, back to the hotel for another night of deep slumber.
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| Donburi |
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| Shimbashi steam train |
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| Rolling through Roppongi at night |
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