Three in one

Today we visited three different districts in Tokyo, starting off with Roppongi, which is where the Tokyo Tower is situated.

It's inspired by the Eiffel Tower but reaches 13 metres taller than the French version thanks to the antenna on top.

The tower broadcasts signals for Japanese media outlets including NHK - the one we visited on Sunday.

Walking around the streets of Roppongi we saw lots of fancy car garages. There was one in particular featuring Ferrari F1 cars which drew George in.

We started off the day with a lovely curry from CoCoICHI which was recommended on Tripadvisor. There was a good deal on - if you ordered a half portion of food, it was a lot cheaper than a full portion and you got a free drink included.

We both went for the breaded pork hirokatsu curry with rice, plus miso soup, and shared an iced coffee, and a mango lassi. When the plates arrived we were so glad we'd only ordered "small" portions as they were still huge!

It was very tasty and I'm glad we got to eat here having considered it a few days earlier in Shibuya. The bill was only £8.50 with all of the food and drinks included. 

I found the sign saying "no sleeping" very amusing, although after all of the tasty food I can see why people would insist on a nap!

We then made our way to Shimokitazawa which is known as the cool, hipster suburb in Tokyo. It's full of great coffee shops, bars and vintage clothes shops.

The Japanese take really good care of their clothes and belongings and everything was in great condition. 

There was a store called Hard-Off that could be compared to Cash Generator in the UK - full of second hand electrical goods, musical instruments and toys at amazing prices.

George told me he was going in for a quick look so I said that I would wait outside - after 20 minutes of waiting I gave in and went to find him! As you can see from the picture below he was extremely happy browsing this shop.

We had a near drama on the way to Shimokitazawa. George was on Google looking for the best coffee shops and I was daydreaming on the train, which resulted in us missing the stop. We didn't realise until 2 or 3 stops on.

However, when we finally arrived we were at least sure of what coffee shop to go for.

We ordered cappuccinos to take away from the famous Bear Pond Espresso and walked around the corner to a souffle pancake shop called Flipper's for a "pancake pie" to accompany them.

For dinner we went to Jackpot Oyster Bar and arrived here for our booking at 5.30pm which is during their "happy hour".

The oysters were at a reduced price of 190 yen, so George ordered four of these for himself and one extra for me to try. I had never tried fresh oysters before and was a bit apprehensive about the experience.

They came with a variety of dressings to choose from, including tabasco, rice wine vinegar, ponzu and Bowmore whisky.

I went for the fried panko oysters served with homemade tartare sauce which were delicious.

The food was great, but this was the first restaurant that we have been to in Tokyo that allows people to smoke inside and I found this a bit off-putting. 

Just before we left Shimokitazawa we passed a mall that had a 100 yen shop inside, which is the Japanese equivalent of a pound shop. George has been desperate to look in this place as he loves a bargain!

We spent a lot of time (and not a lot of money) in this shop and had a good chuckle at some of the things that they tried and failed to translate into English.

On the way back to the hotel we got off at Shinjuku to connect to the train to go home.

We still have a trip planned there on our second last night in Japan but I thought it might be nice to have a sneak preview. It is absolutely stunning and full of beautiful skyscrapers. Sore feet stopped us from exploring too much, but it has made me very excited for our trip there.

Tomorrow should be a fun day as we're off to the Tokyo Dome, a famous venue with its own entertainment complex in the Bunkyo district.

Lucinda