Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Tuesday, January 3, 2017

*DYLAN*
Woke up in the morning expressing our grievances to each other over another night of poor sleep due to snoring. After we had left snorlax behind in the mixed dorm I was hopeful that would be the end of our snoring troubles. Turns out he has infected our tour guide Callum, and now he has been snoring as well during the night. Thankfully after discussing it the snorlax jnr he has informed us to wake him up whenever he snores again. Hopefully this will be the last we hear about the snoring.

Following the snoring toolbox meeting we had to head into shinjukoooooo station to purchase one of our future train tickets. Once this task was over each couple had a different plan for the day so we all went our separate ways.

Maya and I firstly headed into the Shinjuku district for a walk around and some shopping. Before we knew it, we were in another Zara store. Exact same clothes and prices as every other Zara store we have visited around the world but still Maya spent her obligatory hour in there and I grabbed a coffee from Starbucks. From there we went to check out the imperial palace and once again it was closed...our website opening information had stitched us up.

From there we decided to check out the roppongi hills region. It was a more upper class highbrow area. We had a very nice 5 course lunch served by up there with one of the best waiters we have ever had before. He was serving around 30 tables at once and knew exactly what we wanted and when. As I was thinking to myself I would like a touch of pepper on my food, he was right there next to me with the fresh cracked pepper.

With lunch sorted we had heard of a hedgehog cafe in the area. We made our way there and found Blake and Lou who were ready to leave. Having been there for 15mins they had had enough of Harry the hedgehog and were keen to leave. We took our seats from Blake and Lou and were soon to discover what it was all about. You pay the relatively expensive entry fee to have a hedgehog excrete its bodily fluids on you. Within the first 10mins, Maya and I had both been used as a toilet by our hedgehog. We put him back in his shoebox and were off. They were cute hedgehogs but not very cuddly or nice to hold but what happens in Tokyo only happens in Tokyo so we were glad we did it.

After this we met up with Cal and Ash at the Christmas illumination lights show in shiodome. With 10mins before the show started we decided to grab a quick beer. As we are learning, bars and pubs are sneaky at placing a cover charge on entry into their establishment, so our pints of beer ending up costing roughly 20$each, ludacris price I would only expect to pay in an out of touch city such as Perth. Apart from the beer we had some of the most tender and best tasting meat as a snack here.

After the lights, Maya and I headed into the so called red light district of shinjukoooooo. We found our way to some baseball batting cages and slugged a few balls coming down at 80km/h. Maya smoked multiple balls out of the screws and looks to be a young female Babe Ruth in the making. She managed to do a better job than Blake did at his attempt in the cages but he had his ball speed set at 100km/h, justifying why he wasn't able to perform. Just to make sure you read that properly i will repeat it; yes Blake had his pitching ball speed set at 100km/h.

After the batting cages and some bball games we grabbed a quick kebab from a fella who we had seen a few times on the trip and given us a warm smile so we made his day and grabbed a kebab as business seemed slow for the bloke.

Back to the hostel to pack our bags before heading for Kyoto tomorrow morning.

Cal and Ash's day consisted of a wander through shinjukooooo red light district, a visit to a nature park that has been left untouched to grow as it likes and surprise surprise it was closed..., watched the Christmas lights illumination show and went to the Hyatt New York bar on the 52nd floor with amazing views of the city.

Blake and Lou's day consisted of shopping in Shibuya, a visit to hooters for lunch were Lou hoped they would have a good view of Shibuya but all the view they got was of some big sets of tooters much to Blake's approval. A visit to the hedgehog toilet room, sunset drinks on the roof of hostel and drinks at the Hyatt New York bar with the newlyweds.

Weather report: As good as could hope for this time of year. Sunny day, clear skies, mild temperatures and minimal wind.

Snow report: No snow of substance but with fingers crossed could be getting some good snow later in the week.

As I sign off I will leave you with this piece of Japanese wisdom - Life is about the journey not the destination.