Japan 2023 - Day 4

Today started with a run. Not everyone’s choice on holiday, but something I have been enjoying when I travel for a while now. On one of our previous trips to Japan when I was significantly fitter than I am currently, I discovered that there’s a loop around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo that’s about as close to five kilometres as one needs. There’s no traffic lights and only a relatively minor change in elevation, so a great place for a run. So I did it twice, because ten kilometres was what I was running at the time. It’s also quite a scenic run, so I had declared that I’d like to fit in a single lap this trip if I could. Thomas was keen to do it with me, while a few other members of the party said they’d be up to walk it.

So we (mostly) worked out the logistics for a start time that would get us back in time for the second group of go-karters to go have their fun. If there’s one thing that’s consistent with travelling with a larger group, it’s the cat-herding effect that even the simplest tasks seem to generate. But we got there. Now in my mind there was a very clear plan. Thomas and I run around the loop and when we get tot the end, we walk back to where everyone else was walking around. That should have had them about three-quarters of the way around and we could all walk the last quarter together and return.

That was what I thought the plan was. And apparently I was right. But the plan changed. I mean it makes sense that when you’ve gone to all the effort of visiting the palace and have the opportunity to go into the gardens, that you do so. Which was fine other than the fact that by the time Thomas and I had walked back to meet them, we’d basically walked 2/3rds of the way around and were getting short on time for the go-kart booking (which Thomas was part of). No issue, we’d just go straight there and everything would be good (other than Thomas not getting a shower and possibly being a little on the stinky side). And at no point did I google map the wrong hotel and nearly send us an hour out the way. Didn’t happen and even if it did, I realised before we got on the wrong train!

So with correct directions allegedly sorted I, being the sanitary one,  opted to return to the hotel to shower and then meet up with the pack later after they’d dropped off the go-karters. I was successful and the other half of the party was mostly successful in getting to the go-karting with only a minor detour.

The rest of us met up with Sam, Michael and Olive and opted for a yummy yakiniku lunch. There were a couple of items on the menu that were listed as having ‘death sauce’ so even though I like a bit of spice, I opted not to try them. Apparently Michael was a little more adventurous, but given we were split across a couple of tables, I wasn’t aware of this until right at the end of the lunch he offered me a bit of death-sauced chicken to try. Let’s just say that it was appropriately named! It’s okay, and by the time we made I through to have crepes some 15 minutes later, I could almost taste mine.

With lunch out of the way, we ascended to the 9^th floor of Yodabashi camera where it turns out there’s both a golf driving range and a baseball batting set-up. It wasn’t something we’d ever tried before so we gave it a go. Pitching speeds varied from 90km/hr up to 150km/hr on the cages we were using. During my turn I started at 110 and managed to scare a few balls before connecting with a couple. On my second go around I ramped it up to 130 and quickly stepped out the way of the first pitch with my tail between my legs. Michael had attempted a 150km/hr pitch and having stood behind it, I really didn’t need to subject myself to that madness!

With our batting cage fun over we linked up with the rest of the group and immediately split up so that Caroline could shop for a new helmet (with me in tow) while others went to visit Senso-Ji and the adjacent market before we would all link up again to visit the Tokyo Skytree (which included a mandatory trip to a Pokémon store, though amazingly compared to previous trips it is so far the only one we’ve been to)! We were up the top of the Skytree over dusk and into evening which provided some awesome views.

Our plan for dinner was to visit a restaurant we’d eaten at twice on our last visit because a) its close to the hotel and b) we thought it could probably accommodate all twelve of us. That part of things was successful.

Jason and I ordered whiskey’s and because I was anticipating a bit of a wait before we’d get to order a second, I suggested we double up, which we did. Then we were asked what size we’d like to which we answered big ones, but given the size of the drinks we’d seen Caroline suggested that maybe we didn’t actually need two drinks each. We bowed to her superior intelligence and attempted to amend our order. Something was a little lost in translation though … we ended up with two each anyway … one with coke, one with soda. And the girls, not to be outdone opted for their drinks large sized too!

We battled through …

Of course the highlight of the meal was the secret delivery of the very special extra dish. It was something I thought I’d probably only ever order once in my life, but given the chance to share the joy with our friends, I ordered it again. Now if you want your friends to eat something and no think there’s anything wrong with it, you either eat it and hold all breath/expression or other sign of anything untoward (like Michael did with me with the death sauce) or you simply eat it with them. What we ate wasn’t overly hot or anything, so that wasn’t an issue.

Bel had a bit of a taste and wasn’t impressed, so left the rest of hers for Jason. Jason ate his and like me, determined that it wasn’t terrible, but neither was it something you’d join a long line to purchase. Which of course was the time to let everyone that was trying it to know what it was they were eating.

Some jokes will never get old. Like Bel letting Jason eat her rectum …

It’s hard to top that for a night out, but we gave it a go. One of the things on our list of stuff to do for the trip was karaoke. Caroline opted for sense and sleep and Sam was good enough to come along to at least get us through the door and set up to sing. Well maybe sing is over-stating things. All in all we had a good time, though I think there was more butchery than karaoke, especially when yours truly was allowed near a microphone!