We had all decided to have a little sleep in. After a week of snowboarding then a couple of days of tearing around like mad men, we need that little bit of extra sleep that can sometimes seem like a luxury. After waking up and getting decent, we knocked on Mum and Whitney's door to find that Whitney's foot had swelled up even more, and that she could barely walk. Tragedy!?!? In a city like Tokyo where everything is geared around you walking/riding the subway, not being able to walk can be a major headache.
Yoshi had the day off, and was happy to just tag along with what we were doing. So after meeting up with us just after 9am, we walked down the corner to Cafe Pronto, one of the many coffee chains here. Usually at the coffee shops here, you can get a cheap but tasty feed, so for the princely sum of 328Y, I got a muffin with Bacon and cream cheese (toasted) and a coffee. As I've said before, with Japan being invaded by the US post-WWII, it is hard to get a decent coffee. I have noticed though that it is becoming easier. Sure, there is still a lot of places serving horrible blend coffee, but more and more, you are starting to see machines take the place of drip filters. With some food and coffee in us, we were ready to start exploring. Today had been planned as a go-easy day, but it was especially so as Whitney was all but crippled. After getting the subway from Kayabacho to Nihombashi, we got out and up the guts of Takashimaya. This may have sounded easy, but with lots of stairs, (not that many escalators or elevators in the subway) and a sister that could walk, it required a bit of time and patience. More than a few times, Dean and I had to piggy-back her, or fireman chair her just to speed up the process.
To make matter worse, it was a very frigid day in Tokyo. After the night before's rain then snow, there was a lot of ice around. Throughout the morning we had regularly seen workers shovelling snow and ice off the foot path and road, and had also seen some near falls and people going splat. Surprisingly, there were no "steven moments", despite me wearing my trusty skate shoes.
Anyhow, after much grunting, whimpering and lifting, we finally made it to the Bridgestone Museum of Art, which also had wheel chair Whitney could use. Bridgestone was founded by a fellow whose last name was Ishibashi (stone bridge), and he was also quite a collector of art. The display this time was one he had shown in Paris in 1962, as well as a few newer works. We got to see paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Gaugin, Monet and other famous people, as well as other Japanese painters who don't have the same pull as the big names. I have to admit, when it comes to art, I'm a bit uneducated. I like what I like, for whatever reasons, but have no qualms about calling a painting crap if I don't see the art in it. (Pollock and Picasso come to mind). This ate up a bit of our time but by 12.30, we had seen pretty much everything in the small gallery. So we made our way across the street and downstairs to Yaesu Mall. Everyone else wanted sushi, so we headed to the nearest one, which was also very cheap. With fish, fish and more fish on the menu, my choice was limited. I can't eat cooked fish, and can only stomach a little bit of sushi/sashimi, before my stomach turns into a pyroclastic display. I've tried to eat fish a number of times when we've been here, just to see if I can get over it, but every time, the same result. :-(## I stuck with a couple of aburi hotate (seared scallop), and a beer. Everyone else ate well, getting this and that, but when they had finished, I went around and grabbed some Whack Arnolds (google Dave Chappell). In my defense, it was a teriyaki mac (only available in Japan) and a Blueberry Cheesecake pie (more likely cream cheese). By this time, Whitney now had some cabbage wrapping her foot (best thing for bruising I've found) as well as pain killers.
After we were all fed and watered, we were off to our next destination. It was originally inteded to be Nakano, with it's street mall, but even with Whitney dosed up on ibuprofen, we decided to give it a miss and head to Sunshine City Mall in Ikebukuro. After a short (but slow) walk from the station to the mall, we grabbed another wheel chair and set off. Our destination in Sunshine City wasn't the many designer shops, but the Aquarium on the rooftop. I have to admit, I didn't really care about seeing fish. It was included on our itinerary as others wanted to do it, and it was supposed to be a relaxing day. However, for an aquarium built on top of a shopping mall, it wasn't too bad. Not quite the size of Underwater World, but they had a lot of variety, including seals and penguins (which stink terribly of fish). We spent the next 3 or so hours walking around the different levels here, with Conrad shooting his way through the thick perspex. Fish are hard to photograph, as just as you get the focus right, they can then change direction, so rather than getting a broadside, you get a front or rear side shot of them. For a place not ventured to by that many foreigners, there was a japanese-american mother and her incredibly annoying children. After being around the fairly subdued Japanese (even excited school girls are easy enough to block out), a loud, nasally american accent can be heard of the top of everything. The kids weren't even well behaved, so compared to the fairly quiet, disciplined locals (there are some brats, but on average disciplined) they stood out like a sore thumb. Nevermind.
As the sun was setting, it started getting really cold. There was ice still to be found everywhere, and with the wind like a blast from an eskimos backside, we tried to keep warm, before heading downstairs to find something to eat. We were nearly at the stage where you get so hungry that you don't know what you feel like, or can't make a decision. So after quickly checking around some of the restaurants in their restaurant court, we just chose one that had stuff that looked nice. I can't remember what I ate, but it was filling, and along with a beer, it only cost about 1200Y. The one problem I still have with Japan is the smoking. Although some places are getting better (and have been progressively getting better since we first came), smoking is still allowed in a lot of places and a lot of places still don't have a no smoking section. There was a japanese business meeting going on behind, and just one person at the table was smoking, but he seemed to be nearly chain smoking. It was getting to the stage where I couldn't breathe properly (I seem to be having more difficulty coping with smoke this time) I left my money for someone else to pay and beat a hasty retreat back into the mall area.
By this time it was only around 6pm, with a lot of the shops still open, so we had a look around, before heading off. We farewelled Yoshi, (we wear him out with all our walking) and got on a train back to Kayabacho. We had intended to drop by Liquors Hasegawa, but it was already nearly 7.30 by the time we got near Nihombashi, and with our speed reduced because of Bubz, we gave it a miss (it closes at 8pm).
Back to the hotel via the Lawson's downstairs where we grabbed an ice cream and watched some TV, before we retired for the night.... And this was supposed to be a relaxing day.
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