We didn’t start early today (something about Tokyo time) .
Michael didn’t get back to the hotel until about 3am after they’d missed the
last train home (About 12:15am which is surprising given the late night activity. They were within walking distance so it wasn’t too bad – it
just meant they stopped for a couple of extra drinks along the way). No-one
else seemed to be in a rush and given Caroline, Thomas, Emily and I hadn’t
reached the hotel until about 12:30am I wasn’t about to push too hard.
Having missed Itoya the day before, that became our first destination ahead of
a visit to the Samurai Museum and a trip to Shibuya to have another look at the
scramble crossing and finally, a trip back past one of the Pokémon centres so
that Emily could pick up a shoulder-riding Evie that she’d seen in the first
two that we’d visited but that hadn’t been in the third.
Along the way I stopped and picked up some Whiskey and saw this delightfully narrow building, its size standing out due to the absence of its neighbour to the right.
Itoya was as amazing the second time around as it was the
first, though having seen it before we didn’t spend quite as much time sifting
through the floors as we did last trip. We picked up some pens and paper and
the like and then headed for the Samurai museum.
At the end of the tour there was a short katana wielding
demonstration which while a bit on the try hard side of the scale, was still
fun to watch.
Our next stop was Shibuya where Thomas wanted to get a
time-lapse of the scramble crossing from the Starbucks that over-looks it. We
ordered hot chocolates, watched the crossing for a bit and arranged to again
catch up with the Telfords for dinner.
Dinner turned out to be a typically Temby Tokyo experience
that we shared with the Telfords. Given it was our last night in the country
there was a desire to find something authentically Japanese, but the options we
were finding either were going to struggle to fit us all, or weren’t quite what
we were looking for. In the end we split the party and ate at a more Chinese
style restaurant than Japanese, but we had at least sated our hunger.
Michael and Thomas headed off with Max to drink, play
Pachinko and try some claw games. Sam, Emily, Caroline and I had a stab at
making it to the nearest Pokémon centre to acquire the elusive shoulder-riding
Evie.
Google told us it was 20 minutes away when the store closed
in 21 minutes. With an ever-increasingly nervous Emily, we rode the train to
the stop and decided to send the two young ones ahead given they’re capable of
running. Caroline and I walked as quickly as we could and made it to the store
to find that it was barricaded off. We talked our way through by way of telling
the girl that we thought our kids were inside. Turns out they weren’t, so we
asked about the Evie only to be told that they’d sold out.
When we met up with Emily and Sam they’d taken a wrong turn
and hadn’t even made it into the store. There was a little bit of devastation
on Emily’s part as we rode the train back to our hotel.
There was but one thing left for the night. Emily wanted a go
at a claw machine. In the times that we’d been previously she’d only had two
turns at the controls and given the way her brothers had talked the whole thing
up, she really wanted to win something herself. So being the sucker Dad that I
am, I took her in to Akihabara to try and win something.
We toured two places before deciding to go to the first one
where we’d been so nicely treated the day before. With a combination of cash,
requests for assistance and perseverance, we extracted a Pokémon plushie from
the machine and Emily was happy.
Caroline was super-amazing and packed ahead of our departure
the following morning.
Michael’s dumpling count: 123
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