We caught the train to Hamamatsucho station and walked from there to Hinode pier. Here we bought our tickets and boarded a ferry boat for our 40 minute ride along the Sumida River to Asakusa, a place we had visited on our last trip to Tokyo and enjoyed very much. We had a drink and a snack on the boat and enjoyed the scenery, especially the large number of very different and interesting bridges along the way.

We disembarked at Asakusa but were distracted by the sight of the large and imposing Tokyo Sky Tree and decided to go there instead. We set off to walk and it was much, much further than it looked! We made it eventually and, once again, were very lucky because we could see from the short lines at the ticket office that this place would be almost unbearably busy in summer whereas it was fairly empty now. In fact we had not realised that, without pre-booking, we might not even have been able to go up the tower at all, something to remember for another time.

We went up to the viewing platform and were delighted by some beautiful views of the city, well worth a visit. We spent some time up there and left just as the lights were coming on over Tokyo. It occurred to us afterwards that maybe we should have stayed a little longer to see Tokyo at night but we were ready to move on.

Now it was getting dark we decided to give Asakusa a miss altogether. At the station beneath the Sky Tree we caught a train to Hibiya and then walked through the subway to come out by Yurakucho Station. Immediately we were part of a fascinating and lively neighbourhood, people, lights and many welcoming little bars and restaurants nestled under railway arches. They were all very busy as it was Friday night and we dodged inside the first one to get out of the cold. It was full of atmosphere and plenty of people too! We drank cold beer and chose a few snacks. Some were much better choices than others but we were very brave! After the beer we moved onto hot sake, very good!

We decided to move on and followed the line of the railway arch, looking for a little place we had sat outside on little stools and drank with the salary men on our last visit to Tokyo. We found it! Not looking as it did before, but all wrapped up in plastic like the bars in Shinagawa! Again we were lucky to be allowed in as it was pretty full and they were turning people away. We sat on a bench on a shared table, drank cold beer and ordered a selection of yakatori skewers, all of which were absolutely delicious. As before we finished off with hot sake before venturing back out into the cold night.

After a bit of a wander we caught the train back to Shinagawa and finished off the evening of our last night in Tokyo with a glass of red wine in the Atre Bar, so conveniently placed!