A day full of being lazy and playing with Coco. We had a short walk with Coco outside for the first time in his life. I think it was a strange feeling for him. He walked, jumped, run, stopped, and most of the time just wanted to sit still close to us. It must be scary with all the new things and smells.
In the afternoon we spent a lot of time to watch the fifth season of 24. Phew… Again. It’s difficult to stop watching once you start.
Time to leave Tokyo for a New Year in Tokorozawa. And finally I can have a chance to meet Coco, Chie’s mother’s new dog. He is a toy poodle.
We went by car around 9:30 am or so. It was not much traffic. I think we went before it. Which was lucky since a few years ago it took us more than 3 hours to get to Tokorozawa which usually takes 1 or less than 1 hour.
In Tokorozawa we got a warm welcome by a cute fluffy energetic little dog. Most of the time he could not be still. Running, jumping, biting his toys, shaking them, running some more, jump, jump, jump, licking your face, run, run, jump, jump…
In the afternoon we drove to the fish market in Tokorozawa to buy tuna and more for the dinner and for the new year. It took us maybe one and a half hour to drive the few kilometers to the fish market. It was crazy. It seemed like whole Japan was out buying the final things for the New Years celebration. Or maybe they were just driving around in their cars to annoy us.
Again we went to IKEA. This time to buy the missing door. We ended up with a few more things as well. As you always do when you go to IKEA. Just try go there without buying a thing… Mission impossible.
Then it was back home to do some more assembling. The new door. A drawer for Yoshiki-san. An hour o two later, with soar hands, I was finished. But Chie continued with her organization of the bookshelf.
Meanwhile I took a bath. And read a book. And relaxed. Until it was time for us to leave for dinner.
We met Mina at the Naka-Meguro station and walked from there. A long way towards Shibuya. Our destination, Kan. Not the same Kan as in Ginza. This Kan is spelled Kan with romaji whereas the Kan in Ginza is spelled with hiragana (ã‹ã‚“). It makes all the difference in the world.
We had a great dinner at Kan and were totally full. Still we decided to go to Huit for dessert. So we did. At Huit I had a tarte aux fruits (or however it is spelled in French). Yummy. And a cup of jasmine tea, which turned out to be Earl Grey but OK anyway. Chie had Rum and olives and Mina had Rum and a cake too. But I think she got a little disappointed when she saw mine. Because she really wanted the whipped cream I had.
Most of the time today was spent assembling Billy bookshelf in Chie’s apartment. At first it was chaos with all the stuff from the old bookshelf spread around the apartment. But in the end it looked really great. Still there are more work to be done. We only bought one door so we need to get back to IKEA to buy another one. Don’t ask me why we did that… We just did. Two more shelfs are needed as well. We also need to throw out the old shelf but that is not until next year.
I did most of the assembly in the morning and by 1:20 pm I met Chie at Bals Tokyo to have lunch at Huit’s. I had pasta and Chie had a salad. Tasty. Then we went home to finish the bookshelf work.
For dinner we went to Naka-meguro and Irohasushi. A great cost-performance sushi-restaurant under the Naka-meguro station, which is above ground even though it is a subway station – actually it is a commuter train station too.
After dinner we went back home. Chie continued organizing in the bookshelf and I took a hot bath. After the bath I had to do some work for Eurostep. They had run into some problems in my part of the code :-(. But hopefully it is now fixed :-).
Was inside waiting for a delivery in the morning. By 10 am IKEA came with Billy bookshelf, a coffee table, and two dining chairs for Chie.
Then I was off to Heat to cut my hair. I been to this place several times before and always is amazed at the amount of people working their. Today it was surely 8 or more people in the salon when I arrived and I was the only customer. But you get great service, including two hair washes, and a massage. And of course a haircut.
After the haircut I went directly to Misoichi for a lunch. Ramen. Spicy ramen. Yummy.
Next stop was Kinko in Ebisu. I had made a calendar fro Chie’s mother for the new year. Kinko has a printing services. Strange name for a printing company maybe and I have no idea if it is Japanese or not. But if it were Japanese the name could be Gold Mine or Balance (both are pronounced kinko with a long o).
After Kinko I went to Bic Camera in Ginza again. It is a fun place to be if you want to check electronic things like TVs, computers, cameras, and software too. Last year 95% or more of all the TVs on display was flat screen TVs. Today I could not see one thick TV, only flat ones.
By 5:45 pm I met Chie at the Sony Plaza. We went to Kan in Ginza to have a dinner. Fortunately Chie had made a reservation so we could get two chairs at the counter. Just after us a couple arrived and they could get about 40 minutes at a table before a group of people came for their reserved table. They told us they were full tonight and that Chie and I were the last couple to get in. Lucky us, because the food was very nice.
I asked two old men to the left of us if i could borrow their menu to order. It was OK and as friendly and polite Japanese always do they make a comment on how good your Japanese is. From there we continued to talk about a lot of things. One of them traveled to Europe every summer but had never been to Sweden. So I told him he should visit during the summer time. We had a fun time and had a lot of good food.
