Go Greased Lightning........

Up bright and early on Sunday morning I decided to make use of the facilities at the Mandarin Spa – which are free before 9:00am, and headed on up for a steam, sauna and soak in the vitality pool to try and restore some feeling to my legs, which were aching a touch from all of the walking the day before.

Fully refreshed, and after a light breakfast we headed out on foot to take in the sights of the Imperial Palace – well, the outside anyway as you cannot get anywhere near the actual building itself. From the Imperial palace we made our way into Ginza (again) for some more shopping. This time we had a deal – every hour spent in Seibu would be traded for an hour in the Sony building, which kept the time spent shopping down a little.

After queuing for a well deserved waffle, we left the upmarket shopping area of Ginza and headed on over to Shibuya. The first thing that you notice when stepping off the train at Shibuya station is that the place is absolutely packed, particularly if you leave at the exit by Hachiko’s statue, along with everyone else. (If you have ever seen pictures of thousands of people crossing a busy junction in Tokyo, that will be Shibuya). After a final purchase of the day walked on up to Shibuya park to take in the sights. Here, on a Sunday afternoon, a whole selection of rather eccentric types gather to do their ‘thing’ in the park. This ranges from live band performances, juggling, dance acts, Rockabilly routines, parading around in your finest cosplay outfit, through to the rather more regular activities such as badminton in high heel boots. It is quite an intriguing site all in all which reminded somewhat of being in the outer fields of the Glastonbury festival.

From the park we continued on down (and up) through Omote-Sando, stopping momentarily at the novelty condom shop (no – I did not buy anything), before finally staggering onto the Ginza Line train back to our hotel, fortunately waking up a couple of stops before we needed to get off.

After quick freshen up, it was time for dinner. Again avoiding any recommendations in the Lonely Planet we checked with the concierge for any good places to eat Japanese food. A tapenyaki restaurant was soon booked and we were on our way (by taxi this time as we were both shattered), to Roppongi.

The dinner was one of the best meals I have ever eaten (and I have eaten a few). It was, without doubt, the most expensive meal I have ever had – by a long way (even in comparison to booking the Chef’s table at Gaddis in HK). It was rather excellent and all cooked right in front of you by a team of chefs working a large semi circular hot plate. Food done, and completely broke, we managed a quick beer in one of Roppongi’s less upmarket establishments, before heading back to the Mandarin for a final nightcap.

So to close the Tokyo trilogy, a couple of points to note – be careful when asking for a good place to eat (you may be wise to mention your budget). And sadly the Sony building is now rather disappointing – gone are the Playstations and rooms full of ‘toys’ for you to try out, only a few Vaios, flat screen TV’s cameras and stereos remain for you to play with.