Afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason in Tokyo

After a hectic few weeks getting ready for the start of the semester and entertaining visitors we find ourselves without plans this weekend and it feels fantastic!

I have been doing some research-related work, but I have also found time to enjoy the sunshine, do some shopping in Ginza and have afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason in Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi. Bliss. Here is a picture of me peering through the stand full of goodies (I didn't eat all of these - I had to share with Kazue and we almost finished everything!)

Challenge Vilja

We have set Vilja a few more tasks as she has apparently completed all but the game show one (which my mum thinks is cruel because everyone knows that there are no rules).

1. Feed some deer and avoid getting attacked
2. Crawl through the hole of enlightenment behind the big buddha in Nara
3. Feed some carp

Tasks

We have set Vilja some tasks to complete while she is off on her own in Japan - she's doing really well. We saw photographic proof of a hot coffee purchase from a vending machine yesterday. The baumkuchen challenge is proving difficult, but we did end up with some nice pastries instead.

Japanese toilet

This is one of Vilja's photos... I am over the novelty, but they have made quite an impact on our guest so this picture needs to make the blog...

vending machine fun

Bean jam roll anyone?

Ami and her Guitar

We have a rock star friend called Ami who was playing a gig at "What the Dickens" and we went along. Here are pictures of Ami performing and Vilja (after half a pint of Yebisu stout) plucking up the courage to ask her to autograph her CD and dedicate it to Tom and William. Ahhhhh.
http://amiguitarra.com/

Sushi in Shibuya

Vilja's husband Pete warned us that Vilja didn't eat sushi. We thought we'd pop into the standing sushi bar in Shibuya just to make sure. Pete - you are wrong. We witnessed Vilja devouring o-toro, bin-toro, katsuo, kohada and shrimp and loving it!

Meiji Shrine

After a coffee and a warm-up, we ventured into the much more sedate Meiji Shrine. I love that place. So serene compared to Yoyogi and we even saw a wedding!

parklife

We pushed our way through the crowds into Yoyogi Park and watched the rockabillies for a bit. No tour of Tokyo would be complete without them. We then wandered through the park admiring the cherry blossom and getting into the party atmosphere. Barely an inch of grass was visible as it was covered with blue tarp and picnickers.

Harajuku crowds

Today we introduced Vilja to the crazy side of Tokyo. The tour actually began in a convenience store where the snacks were endlessly entertaining. We then took the train to Harajuku but were disappointed not to see the teenagers dressed up. Actually, Harajuku was packed full of teenage girls going to a J-pop concert. I have never seen such crowds. Vilja was wondering whether this was a normal Tokyo Sunday. Um, no.

Night out in Roppongi Hills

We arranged to meet everyone under the spider at Roppongi Hills. We thought this would be a good (random) introduction to Japan for Vilja and a nice way to end the adventures of Matt, Mandy and Livi in Japan. Our friend Kazue also came along and recommended a really fun Chinese "all you can eat restaurant." This is dangerous as we can eat a lot. There was a note on the menu in English that they would charge us for wasted food. Although the goodies kept coming and coming, we did manage to polish off the lot.


The Spider at Roppongi Hills

Me, Vilja and David posing in front of Tokyo Tower

The Thornes and Tokyo Tower

The lovely restaurant - we had our own private room!

Vilja arrives!

I went to the airport to pick up Vilja today and she is excited about all things Japan. In the arrivals hall she was filling me in on her adventures thus far which included cross cultural misunderstanding at customs, fishy breakfasts on the plane, reading glasses for loan and (of course) sophisticated Japanese toilets. It's brilliant having visitors as you remember how fun Japan is.