Getting the hell out of Dodge

With everyone well and truly over Osaka, everyone was up for getting the hell out of Dodge, and as soon as possible.

I had my alarm set for 4.55, but my body in anticipation decided to sake up at 4 o'clock, a truly hideous time to be up at.

After unplugging my laptop and various things attached that had finished charging, I packed everything else that I needed to away, which wasn't much as we had done most things the night before. Dean was a little slower getting up though, but as all we had to do is get from Dobutsuen-mae to Shin Osaka before 6.08, it wasn't that bad. After getting everyone ready, we walked around the corner to the subway station. Fortunately, there were no drunks or hobos lying on the pavement this time, as I didn't really want to be greeted by that sight first thing in the morning.

We got a subway and got to Shin-Osaka with about 30 mins to spare. So while everyone else was grabbing maccas (It was early and there was nothing else around, is my excuse), I got everyone else's rail passes and headed upstairs to book the tickets. One thing I found good, was that even at 5.30 in the morning, the staff didn't drag their heels. I had about 5 people in front of me, and it still only took a minute or so to get the tickets before heading back to meet the others.

I quickly ate a hash brown (still tastes yuck, even in another country), before directing everyone to the correct platform. We still had a little time to spare, so we ate the rest while waiting. The wind was a bit nasty as well. It wasn't blowing fiercely, but it was still quite cold so we found ourselves a windbreak or huddled together after eating.

It didn't take long before the shinkansen arrived, and we were all safely on board. It was the first train of the day, so there wasn't many people on, which made maneuvering baggage between the seats a lot better. Soon we were all sat down, ready for the next 3 hours. I still reckon that bullet trains are a fairly civilised way to travel. The seats are comfier than smaller passenger planes, the toilets easier to stand up in, and the drinks are cheaper (110Y for water, 250Y for beer). I listened to music most of the way, while catching up with Monday and Tuesday's blogs. Zoe slept, as did Mum and Paul, while Whitney and Dean played games or something.

We had to stop a few times and let the Nozomi trains leap frog us (they only stop at 3 or 4 stations, compared to our 8), but this just meant the driver had to crank it to make sure we were on time, so between Shizuoka and Shin-Yokohama, he had the thing wide open, cracking along at 300km/h or so.

We arrived at Shinagawa at around 9, and was immediately taken in by the size of the station and the amount of people. Not only has Shinagawa got the bullet train platforms, it also has numerous local lines running through it including the Yamanote line, which by itself moves about 3.7 million people a day. This meant at 9am on a Wednesday morning, there were people going everywhere to get to work, and you sort of had to pick your line and march through the throngs. At least we were back in Tokyo though, with Paul commenting that the air smelt fresher here.

First thing to do was to get to the hotel and dump our bags. We couldn't check in just yet, but so we dumped them there (must have bewildered a few of the young staff) before making our way down to Tully's for a decent coffee to wake Zoe up (she's not an early riser).

The plans for the day had changed a couple of times, and with so much to do and so little time to do it in, I had to keep reworking it all to get it done as efficiently as possible. For starters, we would head to Tokyo station. Whitney wanted to get her hair cut at the salon she usually goes to in Yaesu Mall. This would also be a chance for Paul and Dean as well. Paul was dared by his wife to get a funky hair cut, while Dean was looking like Jackie Stewart (legendary F1 racer), with his cap covering his head and a shaggy mane out the back.

Following that, we dragged Zoe to Liquors Hasegawa, where we tried a few things. We shared them around. Mum hated the special Lagavulin I tried, which I wasn't that into myself, I liked the 20yo rum she tried and we had a couple of tries of various calvados, cognac and other things. Once we had met up with Whitney, who had left to go check out the japanese Lush items, we made our way back to Tokyo station (after getting some food on the way). I wanted a crepe as well, but there seems to be none in Tokyo station now, so Dean and I shared a hot dog, as we weren't that hungry yet.

The next point of attack was Robot Robot in Nakano "Broadway" mall, which has a plethora of Star Wars merchanidise, along with other movies and series. We were still using our JR passes, as they didn't expire til Thursday, so after getting on the JR Chuo rapid line, we were there about 20 mins later. We walked up the covered street that leads to the mall (fortunately we have done this a couple of times, so Dean lead for a little while), but we seem to have been thwarted again. Yesterday, it was Abeno Q's being closed, today it was Nakano Broadway. What else??

Despondently we headed back to Shinjuku, before switching to the Yamanote line and heading for Ikebukuro. Whitney wanted to go to a cat cafe, where you can play with cats and stuff. From my googling, I new that there was one on the top level of Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro, and with us wanting to go to Namja Town for food that evening, it was a good way to combine 2 things in one.

After getting there and navigating through the throngs of people, we soon made our way to the Tokyu Hands building, next to Sunshine City. Dean, Paul and I had no intention of sitting around patting kitties, so we made our way outside and downstairs to the B1 floor of Sunshine City. And lo-and-behold, there was a crepe place, staring us right in the face. Not wanting to let this opportunity slip (we've done that in the past and not found them again), the 3 of us ordered crepes and were happy. It would still be a while before Whitney was finished patting cats, so we found and arcade or two and played a game of Initial D 4th Stage and some Wangan Midnight as well. They have some crazy cool arcade games here in Japan, and quite a few of them now use the cards as saved games. There was a cool Gundam one, with foot pedals and hand controls and all, but I didn't get to play that, as well as crazy dancing games. It's gone beyond Dance Dance revolution, it's more towards no buttons, just follow the movements. There was also quite a few bemani games, with various DJ games, and this weird cube one, where you tap and match about 16 squares in front of you.

After playing, we quickly looked in Book Off, before heading back to meet the girls just as they were getting out of Nekobukuro. I found somewhere to sit, because even though they had finished patting, women have an inordinate way of making something simple (shopping) turn into an ordeal for guys. After they were finally finished, we made our way downstairs and out.

Namja Town is a food "theme park" where you can get various gyoza, and other things from various sellers trying to vie for honours. Our favourite gyouza that used to be in Yaesu is here, so we were really keen to get eating. But what's this? Another closure??? I asked a wandering security guard who said that Namja Town is closed for Summer Renovation. You've got to be kidding me!!! By this stage we were all famished, as we had a light lunch in preparation, so we walked around a corner to where some food places were. Dean was still in gyouza mode, so we stopped at a restaurant that had them. It looked chinese in my mind (but seeing as that's where gyouza originated, we'll allow it), but they had a few other things people wanted, so we sat and ate. I found it a little greasy, but we were starving so it didn't matter.

By now we were all tired. It was getting on to 6.30 and we still need to check in to our hotel, so after jumping on the yamanote train (Ikebukuro is nearly at the diagonally opposite end to Shinagawa) we had a 28 min train ride to get back towards the hotel. By this stage, I was getting pretty tired. I usually do, as we always walk a lot, as well as having to think/plan/organise on the fly gets tiring.

We got back to the hotel and checked in. The hotel is the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa, and is on the same grounds as the Prince Sakura Tower and Grand Prince New Takanawa. Combined, they are a 4-star hotel, but this is the oldest building I'd say. Still immaculately clean and well presented, it reeks of old money. It's got gardens, shared between the 2 other hotel buildings, and there seems to be quite a flow of people, business or otherwise staying here. It also has the prices to match, so even though we got the rooms for 40% off, the restaurants and such are still quite expensive.

The room is nice. I'd think it's slightly larger than our one at Takahan, but the TV is bigger, there are nice beds (I've slept a treat the last couple of nights) as well as a desk, some comfy chairs and LAN internet available. After we'd made ourselves comfy, it was all over for the night. We watched some TV (well movie "The girl with the pearl earring"), before it got to about 9 and I was fully knackered. With tomorrow being another busy day in Tokyo, a good sleep was needed.