So today was Sunday, the day before we were due to ship out. We had planned on going to the meeting, but as the meeting wasn't on until 12.30 and we had already bought clothes, it meant that we could sleep in. I've been having a lot more sleep ins this time, as usually I'm up at dawn then have to amuse myself until the others get up. Doesn't matter though. The shops don't open til later and a well rested Steven is a happy Steven.
Well, today, we were dragging the chain compared to the girls, who were hungry. We said that we'd meet them at Jonathan's, so after they had already been seated, we brought up the rear. Today though, a bacon sandwich wasn't going to suffice, so I ordered the full-sized breakfast for 598Y. That included 2 eggs, a thick bit of toast, bacon, sausage, salad and drinks bar. I ended up getting 2 double-shot espressos from the machine, and it kept me alive and alert all day.
After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to get ready. I was in dire need of a shower shave, so I enjoyed a decent one, before putting on my Sunday bests (well, actually they aren't my Sunday best, just a pair of chinos and a shirt I bought at Uniqlo). Hella comfy, as the chinos were 100% Cotton, as was the shirt, with a silk tie I bought for 987Y. Unfortunately, I didn't find any shoes in my size for cheap, so I had to make do with cleaning my etnies, which stand out like a sore thumb being bright white.
I received a message from Yoshi saying that he had a fever, so wouldn't be able to make the meeting, so he asked me to call another brother called Kiyoshi. I phoned him before we got the subway, but soon we were on our way to Asagaya, a suburb west of Shinjuku and Nakano. After letting Mum get changed in the station toilets (It was too cold for her to wear a skirt), we soon met Kiyoshi and another couple of brothers, who then guided us through a few left and right hand turns before we came across the little kingdom hall. If Nundah hall is small, this place was positively miniscule, as there were about 60 of us in attendants with only 1 or 2 seats free. We soon found out, it was Kiyoshi giving the talk, so we were glad we hadn't held him up by being late. I was so glad to be back at a meeting, but the different thing was, for an English congregation, there was probably only 4 or 5 native speakers. There were a couple of brothers that had gone to the French group before it was disbanded, but for the most part, they were Japanese who were just trying there best. Kiyoshi wasn't a bad speaker and actually used an illustration that I might flog should the situation arise. There was an English brother conducting the Watchtower study, with a Kiwi (who had a slight american accent) doing the reading. Not much else to report really, but it's great to know that anywhere you go in the world you can immediately have 60 new friends.
Kiyoshi guided us back to the station before returning to the hall, but by now it was nearly 3pm, so we were getting a little hungry. Not wanting to repeat the Mos Burger problem of the day before, we decided to stop anywhere we could find. (Silly thing is, after having so much difficulty trying to track down a MOS Burger, we saw 2 or 3 the next day). There was a soba place at Yotsuya station where we were changing trains, but although there was a steaming pot and it was supposed to be open, the door was locked, so we got on a subway train headed for Ginza.
Dean and I had been to Ginza about 3 years ago (when we sat in the GTR), but hadn't really explored the area. Ginza literally means Silver Mint, and was where the reserve bank and coins used to be located. It's still a pretty flashy area, as a lot of your high end European fashion companies have their flagship stores here, as well as a few upmarket department stores. We wanted to find somewhere cheap to eat though, so after finding an ATM, we decided on a Korean place in the basement of Marui City (OIOI). The food was awesome, Dean, Conrad and I got a Kimchi meat thing set which while Dean said it wasn't the very best he's had was still fairly close. The price was good too, though the service was a little lacking. The head waitress/maitre'd wouldn't shut up, so Whitney couldn't even ask about the seperate booth that wasn't being used or reserved, so we had to split up. Another thing about Japan is that they don't tend to cater for groups of more than 4 people. Most places will happily join tables together for you to seat 5 or 6, but on average most have only 2 or maybe 4 seat tables.
The whole reason why we had gone to Ginza was to check out the shopping, but with prices in general being higher than everywhere else, we didn't really care to hang around. So after catching the Maranouchi subway line to Tokyo station, we walked through some of the shops there, before heading through Yaesu to Liquors Hasegawa. After trying quite a few different things, Dean, Mum and I eventually bought a couple of bottles towards our duty-free quota. It may seem silly to buy it here, where we still had to pay 5% tax, but even then it was still cheaper than Duty Free at Narita, and probably about half of what Duty free in Australia would have cost.
We made it back to the hotel in one piece, but we were all running low on funds. I had got some money out, but had kept enough to get on the train the next day and buy some food, but not much else. So after all the walking and whatnot, we decided to head to Yoshinoya again (well, this was Mum and Whitney's first time, and the one we had gone to was over 80km away). After having some difficulty with the door (I didn't realise I had to press this tape strip. I was tired OK) we got in. We had only had lupper (lunch-supper) about 3 hours before , so weren't absolutely hungry, but knew we needed to eat anyway. I got a small bowl this time (payed only 380Y for a set) but Mum and Whitney had got normal size bowls, not knowing that there's more than enough in them to fill a ravenous sumo. Doesn't matter anyway, as with it only costing pocket change, you don't mind leaving some if you don't feel like eating.
Back via the 7-11 and Lawson's (Dean and I went to 7-11, but the others didn't follow) for a couple of chu-hi cans and an ice cream (cornetto type thing or 128Y) we retired to our room. As we had nowhere early to be the next day, we put on some music, had some drinks, strawberries, chocolate and stuff in our room. We got a couple of bangs on the wall (probably some drunken businessman trying to sleep before work the next day) before we got too tired and turned in about 10.30. We still had to pack, but after a busy day, we needed sleep.
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