Saturday 8th
October 2016
I
woke up from a pleasant night’s sleep quite early too due to the fact Tomoko’s
cat was purring and jumping on top of me. I was quite satisfied too once I got
ready and not feeling any unpleasant light headed feeling due to jet lag. We
headed down for breakfast and at the table was a heavenly view of different
breads and croissant. As we were eating we became curious about a peculiar
screen on the table and with numerous attempts, we switched it on revealing it
to be a small TV. We flicked through the channels and came across an anime
cartoon. It was mind blowing, edge of your seat card battles with no clue what
they were saying. We also made plans of visiting a place called Kawasaki
We
made a quick trip to ‘Summit’ to grab snacks for the day and then arrived at
the wet station of Nishi Kunitachi. Once again, we had boarded a very quiet
train for the long trip to Kawasaki. What was great was that we didn’t have to
transfer to other trains so we could sit and relax watching the landscape and
buildings pass by at such speed. Along the way, there were sections of forest
hills close by to us with a tranquil misty look due to the bad weather. Time
went on with countless station stops and then finally it was the end of the
line for us as we had arrived in Kawasaki
We
eventually walked to the opposite side back indoors immediately welcomed by
countless shops with brand names known and unknown to us. We made our way
through and up to the next tier and as we set foot on the walkway area, there
was quite a wonderful view of skyscrapers in the distance. What was great was
that there were 2 specific buildings miles apart and at the point we were
standing at, it merged into the shape of what looked like a huge ship when
lined up. We eventually decided to leave the shopping area as we were men and
men don’t like shopping so we headed the opposite way. Along the way, we caught
sight of a huge children’s play area with an arcade too. I wanted to dive in
and play on the games however, we continued like the grown-ups we were.
We
headed back along the opposite way out of the train station and straight onto a
brick laden pathway. We soon came upon a type of sheltered shopping area full
of bright, vibrant and flashy Japanese advertisements. There was also a very
beautiful designed glass ceiling too, which also brightened the area up even
though the rain became torrential at this point. We plucked up the courage and
headed back out into the downpour on our search for temples and shrines. We
soon came across one soon after but no luck for us trying to get in to it. We
continued walking with the rain surprisingly becoming worse. We had to stop for
a moment to cover our bags from the rain and then we noticed the huge amount of
spray coming from the fast vehicles driving along in the rain. We were praising
the fact we brought umbrellas and pleased it wasn’t a cold day but still quite
warm.
We
took a wander around the streets with no luck finding other temples and shrines
so we decided to head back towards the train station and look for somewhere to
eat. We seemed to have wandered around for a long while in the shopping centre
looking for food until we found somewhere worth trying which was called ‘The
Glass Dance’. We walked into a rustic restaurant with very large wooden barrels
overtaking the whole room from the ceiling. The place looked quite quiet too
but we had to sit as though we were in a waiting room until we were soon called.
We were both escorted to our table right in the front corner and we were both
given a free glass of water. We soon picked out what we wanted to eat and we
waited for someone to show up to get our order. 20 minutes went by and we were
still waiting whilst everyone else was getting served when we didn’t. I was
becoming quite irate at this point as was Craig who eventually stood up to get
there attention not looking happy. We eventually got seen too and no sooner did
we place our order did we get our food right in front of us. Despite the bad
service, we really enjoyed the food that was placed in front of us.
We
took our leave heading back to the opposite side of the train station and on
the map, we noticed a few more temples and shrines along the route as well as a
river; by this point the sun was out and shining bright. Time passed and then
we came upon the first temple, which was closed in around the larger buildings
surrounding it but it was very interesting to view especially the gravestones
along the side. We eventually left making our way to the river tama with a good
feeling we were on the right track. We walked up alongside a freeway bridge and
then we were welcomed by the absolute beautiful huge river tama. There were
skyscrapers to our left and a huge white bridge spanning the river far to the
right of us. Because the sky was cleared of clouds, the whole area filled up
with a pure colour of sky blue. We walked half way across the bridge looking
out for the several cyclists passing us by and then we stopped to admire the
views surrounding us.
A
moment later after stopping, a speedboat was heading towards us with a skier on
the back drifting along the water causing a lot of spray. Just before they went
under the bridge, the skier acknowledged us, which was brilliant. We eventually
made our way back towards central Kawasaki
We
were still overwhelmed with how busy the station was but we were growing
accustom to it. We easily found our platform as at this point of the trip we
had become train station Jedi. We took our seats straight away for the long
journey ahead and relaxed swaying with the train along the tracks. Over time,
the train began to fill up quite drastically and quite often, Craig and I were
nodding off but had to focus on our stop. Speaking of which, we had made it
back to the dark station of Nishi Kunitachi. Finally, we were off the train and
heading to our favoured local shop for one of the large apples they had to
offer. The staff must have loved us coming in as it was something new to them
to see 2 idiot Geordies walking into the shop each day.
We finally returned
back to Tomoko’s house and spent the next half an hour eating our huge apples
and then headed down for our evening dinner; the apple was just the starter to
us. A lovely spread of rice and raw salmon was made up for us along with macha
green tea. All the while, we were all having a great conversation with Tomoko
about anything and everything with laughter. We were praising her for all the
hospitality she was providing as well as the comforts of home too. It was
really late at this point and so we both headed up for a well deserved rest for
tomorrows final full day in the Tokyo
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