Non-stop, nonstop, non-stop to TOKYO!!!

After a decidedly underwhelming three days which featured dinner at a fancy restaurant for Christine's birthday, possibly the worst lessons known to man at school and being patronised by people who who I thought knew better, my sanity was restored by a whirlwind visit to Tokyo. Having planned to spend time with Eugene I was looking forward to the change of scenery, the buzz of the city and the opportunities for excitement.

And it was pretty much like this all the way. Last Thursday at 10pm in Tsuyama I boarded the cocoon-like nightbus (all grey and brown curtains with subdued lighting and more curtains to make your seat feel like an enclosed space- a mobile capsule hotel perhaps) where I was soon falling in and out of sleep and wondering what the other passengers were going to get up to in Tokyo. The best thing about the bus is that it drives through much of Tokyo before it gets to it's drop off point, so on Friday morning, albeit at 6:20 am, I was able to start enjoying the Tokyo scenery (tall buildings, blue skies, tall buildings, ginkgo trees, even taller buildings) and get excited about being a real city...

I made my way to Eugene's via a real bakery in Shinagawa station which sold beautifully crisp crusty bread (it's been a long time) and we caught up and discussed our plans and options for the weekend ahead. The first stop for me was predestined as I had arranged to meet friends from London, Paul and Kasumi, in Harajuku, so after a quick shower and change of clothes I headed back onto the trains.

Now, although we only saw a few people who looked like escapees from a time machine accident where some 80's goths had been sent to 2005 via the 1800s, Harajuku was still fun and cool and trendy. With unfathomable shops and strange architecture and bizarre shop signs and posters it is certainly unique. We talked and walked and walked and talked and headed to Shibuya via a wild toy shop, a sophisticated cafe and a lunch stop at a trendy cafe (where I got confused over cutlery- where are my chopsticks?) and the condomania shop which was obviously hilarious but was also had the best soundtrack of any place we'd been in (a healthy dose of SalSoul and a Loleatta Holloway sound-alike. Maybe it was her?) Paul and Kasumi are great company and it was a treat to be able to spend time with them having not seen them for over a year, but with them being on a two week holiday they had lots of other people to meet, so they trundled off to see a friend of Kasumi's perform in an all Japanese Gospel chorus. I would have loved to have seen that.

Back to Eugene's with a stop on the way to buy some more bread, and at the stop I almost fell over myself. Eugene told me which bakers to go to- a 3 minute walk from his house ("it's called 'Paul'", he said) and my mouth fell open when I saw it. Paul's, the same as the French patisserie in Covent Garden and probably in France and elsewhere and with beautiful, glowingly tasty cakes. Once I'd picked up my jaw and wiped away the drool, I bought bread and headed off, making plans to have at least one of their lemon meringue pies before I left Tokyo.

I'd told Eugene I wanted to eat Turkish food and he found us a restaurant for dinner. We cycled from his place to the centre of Shinjuku, largely on the roads which was slightly dangerous as I was soon becoming mesmerised by the lights of the shops and buildings. But the restaurant was gorgeous. It was 'Bosphorus Hasan' in Shinjuku's sanchome area and we missed the belly dancing but didn't care because the food was so good. Yuko has recently been to Turkey and thought the food was better at this restaurant. And after filling ourselves on Meze, grilled fish, bread and with lamb for Eugene and Yuko, Eugene and I headed out to the next part of our night, Club Loose in Kabuki cho.

We were a bit stupid for not understanding the clue in the title, but fortunately due to dilly-dallying on the door we were let in without cover charge. The club was a bit rubbish. It became clear we'd come to a gaijin bar, and it also became clear that it would turn into a meat market (if any "meat" would have bothered to show up- they all had more sense). So we had a few drinks, waited until we realised it clearly couldn't get better and went home.

Saturday started slowly with a trip to Paul's where I gorged on a lemon meringue pie, and from there the three of us went on a walk around the imperial palace gardens, through the craft museum, around Tokyo station and the Central Post Office (at my request, although I don't think anyone understood why I was so adamant about going to the central post office. I'm not sure I understood either...) and then to Ginza where Yuko took us to the best food hall and we tasted lots of cakes and I bought 4 Godiva chocolates for 1,200 yen (6 British pounds! And I wonder where my money's going...) Well, we tasted them over a coffee at Starbucks and then headed further into Ginza to a tea shop called Mariage Freres where we sniffed and oohed and aahed at many different teas. Then onto Shinokubo, Tokyo's Korea town. Now, having been told that Korean's are louder and more brash than Japanese, I was expecting a night of harsh service from waiters and people shouting in the street, but it was nothing of the sort. The restaurant was recommended by a Korean friend of Yuko's, and the company was great. Lot's of Yuko's friends came and I'd met some of them before at Yuko and Eugene's weddings. I was especially pleased to see Nao who is such a funny and warm person, but everyone was friendly and talked to me, and I'm not sure what happened, but my Japanese ability suddenly increased because I was able to talk right back to them (albeit with the wrong verb forms and lots of gestures). It was a really fun night with some memorably spicy food and strong drink, and as all good nights do, it ended with Karaoke! Yoshi, his girlfriend Kiyone, Eugene and I ended up in Karaoke until maybe 4am and had a great time. Yoshi and Kiyone love all the Japanese music I love and introduced me to loads more stuff- they even offered to take me on a Shibuya-kei tour of Tokyo on my next visit (Shibuya-kei is a style of music made famous by Pizzicato Five, Flipper's Guitar, Cornelius, Round Table, Capsule and FPM). Such good people!

Sunday was a quieter day but again a good one. Eugene and I headed off to Asakusa to see the famous temple (I've been before and I LOVE it!) via Paul's as I was demanding to eat more lemon meringue... Asakusa was busy as always, but our first stop was a paper goods shop where Eugene bought some gorgeous printed paper as presents for people and I bought some beautiful writing paper. We were walking around the temple, taking in the hustle and bustle and wafting ourselves with incense for good luck when we spied a couple on a rickshaw (or whatever they call them in Japan) who had just gotten married. So we joined the crowds and I took photos and we clapped when we were supposed to and then one of the wedding party started talking to Eugene thanking him for clapping and was very polite. They continued talking for a while and then she handed him some photos as a present. This seemed rather nice, if odd, as the pictures appeared to be of a family. It must be the newlywed's family I thought. I was wrong. Eugene pointed out to me that it was the Imperial family. This seemed even more strange. Why would a woman have an envelope full of pictures of the Imperial family? And why would she give themout like that? Still, it was friendly gesture and she was very polite and pleasant.

We headed to Shinjuku for a late lunch in a rooftop cafe whose name I can't remember and then we parted ways as I headed off for a skulk around the gay district of Tokyo, and then headed back to Shinjuku for a skulk around the bright lights of the city after dark.

Dinner at Eugene and Yuko's was a home made extravaganza of Japanese and Italian dishes and was finished with a taste and compare session on Japanese chocolate where Eugene suggested the Cho-Pan chocolate was boat like and would float and I agreed. Until I put it in my cup of tea and it sank. D'oh. But fortunately Yuko was on the ball and noticed the time was getting late so I had to rush and get to the station to catch the night bus back.

And what a nice way to start the journey. I love the Tokyo tower, especially at night, and we seemed to be driving past it again and again, getting closer then further, then closer. And after an hour of this (which saw me trying to take pictures unsuccessfully from my bus seat) we finally headed out of Tokyo. We arrived in Tsuyama at 5:45 just in time for my train back to Katsuyama and I started my new school at 8:20. It was a perfect, if tiring way to end the momentum of a big city break.