After a huge weekend it was time to say goodbye to Jimmy once and for all. We headed to a now famous “Last Supper” venue of Mo mo Paradise for some rejuvenating Shabu Shabu…..that stuff is so good!
Dave, Kumi, Eri, James and us had a quiet dinner and said our final goodbye’s to Jimmy as he headed off for some new adventures in South America.
Good luck buddy…. May see you in London!Dinner in Pimpin’ Hiroo and Karaoke
On the Wednesday night, Cam’s old next door neighbour had been living in Tokyo for a while with her husband. So we went to their’s for dinner in Hiro-o. The husband, Alex, has been working for a big finance company: Goldman and Sachs.
After a little mis-communication we found Kate at Hiro-o station (one stop from Roppongi). They lived on the top floor of an apartment building with an amazing view of Tokyo. A gorgeous huge apartment/penthouse, a very nice change to the small houses in Japan. With Kate and her friend being both pregnant, Sophi and Kate’s mother finished off all the white wine, while Cam and Alex finished off all the red wine. It was great to enjoy a home-cooked curry meal and some homely surroundings for a change. The furnishings were all western and it felt like home. We left at a very late 1.30am and had missed the trains. With a few drinks under our belts, we decided to go solo to Roppongi and hit up Karaoke! (again).
We arrived at the karaoke joint, and rather than going to our own room, we just jumped on board with a big group of Japanese people (Cam gave them no choice as to whether we would be joining them or not!) who were than happy for us to join them!
Once Cam tried to steal the show and choose English songs a little too repeatedly… the gig was up, and all the Japanese guys suddenly decided it was time to go home, a very abrupt end to the night!
On the way home, a nice prostitute tried to take Cam back to her place, but luckily Sophi was there to step in!
They were loving itTobacco and Salt Museum
Right under our noses in Shibuya was the Tobacco and Salt museum. Interesting that such a common daily thing has such a large area dedicated to it. Understandably though, the history was interesting with the evolution of tobacco in Japan and the millions and gazillions of ciggie packs from all over the world over the decades. Particularly the fact that the Japanese have the ability to always find a way to create an art form out of every thing. A tradition that always fascinates Sophi. Smoking tobacco, with beautiful sets of several lacquered boxes all set on a lacquered tray all for rolling tobacco. The ancient pipes another art form themselves. Another museum under our belt, we were done and done.
A ‘quiet’ Sunday night
We organised to meet Kumi and Dave on Sunday afternoon, which once again turned into Sunday early evening, which turned into Sunday night! We started off with THE BEST BURGERS IN JAPAN!!!! The Kua’ Aiana Hawaiian Burger!! After discovering them in our trip to Disneyland we had found another branch in Gotanda near Sophi’s work. Perrrfect! The previous night we tested it out, got addicted and wanted to go back for more.
So hence we went back the next night with Kumi and Dave and we were definitely NOT disappointed. Our favourite burger in J-land had now been established.
There is a place in Shibuya that caters to everyone’s needs all in one building: Bowling, Ping Pong, Billiards, Karaoke, darts. What more could you need for a night out on town in Tokyo….. this was real Japanese style!
We started the night with a few games of DJ Air Hockey, where if you score a goal you get to scratch it up on the table….weird!
In this building there are 5 levels of ten pin bowling! 2 of which are neon bowling, unfortunately we missed out on neon bowling, and got landed regular bowling….
This turned out to be in favour to us, as there is no staff on that level, and you can just bring in your own drinks which leads to a much cheaper night out…. Or so we always try and tell ourselves!
Cam was the outstanding victor of both games… although Dave will probably try to dispute this. Sophi and Kumi the less co-ordinated had some retarded moves indeed!
Dave, Kumiko and Sophi
HOT!Next level: Ping Pong. We paid for half an hour, so we could share it around… but Cam and Dave played the whole time and then with 5 mins left decided to give Kumi and Sophi a go. Such gentlemen. The chu-hi’s were starting to take quite an effect now, so skill levels were diminishing.
Next level up: Billiards. We paid for half an hour again, and this ended up not being enough time even for 1 game, so we left….quite uneventful.
What a pro!We actually decided to the leave the all-in-one building as Karaoke was way too expensive. As much as Dave was reluctant to show of his vocal cords, we managed to force him to after sinking down a few more drinks. Once again we sung the same songs, in the same off-key pitch, and again, with no tune what-so-ever….and once again we vowed to stay till first train, and got over it and ended up getting a cab home anyway half an hour prior to the train.
It looks better than it sounds!
No comments:
Post a Comment