7th February again!

So Emi had told us that we'd be dining at a good udon restaurant today for lunch, so we would have a small breakfast. She said maybe a piece of bread, and then some bacon and eggs (Japanese bacon and eggs are smaller than Australian). When we got to the breakfast table, it was ham and egg sandwiches and lots of fruits. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was big.

We packed up all our stuff, which took a while. Emi took us out to the 100 yen shop again because we wanted to buy some more lollies for presents. We got stamps at the post office on the way back to Emi's, which took ages because the lady was worrying that we were sending giant postcards.

We went out to the udon restaurant with Emi's parents and her sister's family. Udon is a kind of thick noodle which is served in a soup, like ramen. Emi ordered a small one for me, but it looked full size and I couldn't finish. It was delicious though. The noodles were about two metres long.

Before going back to Emi's, we went to a Japanese sweet shop where we went last time. Emi's parents insisted on buying us four small sweets, that we could eat in our hotel that night. I bought some other sweets too. They're expensive because they're handmade and special. On arriving back at Emi's, however, we were presented with two giant boxes of sweets for our families. Somehow we managed to fit everything in our bags. We went off to the station to catch the Kodama to Tokyo.

Our hotel was Shinjuku Hotel Century Southern Tower, which is very close to the station. In fact, it is on top of the station. So we exited the station and there was a live band busking on the street! They were really good! A real rock band! They were called Bring, and were advertising some upcoming concerts. After they finished, we clapped and the frontman came up to us to talk! We had a conversation in Japanese, and he said that he was really happy that Westerners could enjoy Japanese music. We told him that we're musicians too, and he said he was EMBARRASSED.

We walked 20 metres to our hotel along Shinjuku Terrace, and found that the lobby is on the 20th floor. The lift was glass again, and we could see Tokyo spread our before us as we rose. The view from the lobby was spectacular! Our room was on the 32nd floor. It had an even better view, and we could even see the sun setting over Fuji-san. We spent ages just looking at the view.

We dressed up to go out that night. I put on my Victorian Maiden outfit and new shoes and beret, Charles donned his new trousers and scarf and we looked like real cosmopolitan peeps. We were proud to be seen with each other. We took the Yamanote line to Harajuku to visit KiddyLand in Omotesando street. We had dinner at a Lotteria first. At KiddyLand we had a lot of fun, but didn't buy anything. Afterwards, we walked up Takeshita Dori, where all the shops were closed. We saw a few Decora girls (or boys?) around too, which were bright. We took the train back to Shinjuku and I had to go and change my shoes. It hurt.

We went back out and walked to Don Quixote, which sells everything ever, which is in the night-clubby area of Shinjuku. Despite it being 11pm, the shop was packed. It's a 24-hour shop. I got what I came for - a tiny suitcase that I can use as a lappy case/handbag. It's red. After that we had to leave because it was too crowded. We went back to our hotel and looked at Tokyo at night. It was super!