Hey everyone. Long time no blog post!

It’s the last day of November and it’s bloody freezing in Tokyo. It’s a nice kind of freezing though; a blue-skied, crisp air type of cold. My housemates have taken to setting the heating to 28°C for all the common spaces in our sharehouse, even the unoccupied ones, which infuriates me to no end. As a result–and also because I’m a battery short in my A/C remote control and too lazy to buy a new pack–I’ve been keeping the heating off in my room. It was fine until today. The tip of my nose was cold to touch when I woke up and now as I write this, I am shivering in my booth at work. Winter has finally arrived in Tokyo.

Anyway, this is not to say we’ve had a cold November. Really, it’s been the nicest, warmest-weathered November I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t make it out of the Kanto region this month, but I didn’t need to. I’ve had a lot of blog-worthy moments in November so I thought I’d share some of my highlights.

The biggest news of the month is that I have a flight booked from Tokyo to London Heathrow on Saturday 12th December, which is less than two weeks away. HUGE, I know. My suitcase is sitting half-open and half-packed, as it has been since the day I booked the flight. I haven’t had any Dairy Milk deliveries for quite a few months now (cough cough), but to anyone who was about to pop out to the post office, as I’m sure many of you were, no need! I’ll be back in Waitrose buying my own bars before you know it.

Anyway, on with the show.

On Thursday 12th November, I paid 2000 yen to take a very high lift up to the 360° open-air observation deck on the roof of the Shibuya Scramble Square skyscraper and, oh my god, it was glorious. I went with my friend Ryo and we got up there just in time for sunset. We stayed up on the roof for well over an hour just staring at the view. It was amazing and–I hate to say this about an overly hyped tourist attraction in Shibuya–maybe my new favourite place in Tokyo.

The following Sunday, I spent a hungover afternoon in Shinjuku Gyoen with my friend Mune. Much like Ryo, he has an excellent camera from which my blog posts infinitely benefit. Despite its proximity to my work, I rarely come to Shinjuku Gyoen as I am often put off by the 500 yen entry fee. It’s a beautiful park established during the Edo Period as a feudal lord’s Tokyo residence. Shinjuku Gyoen has lots to see with its botanical garden, Japanese landscape garden and rose garden.

I usually work at the weekends so I don’t really see Tokyo at its busiest, but the park was full of families and couples having picnics and it was a very wholesome sight.

Then on Tuesday I spent the day in Asakusa. Asakusa is a beautiful district in Tokyo, brimming with an older, more retro vibe. It has many traditional craft shops and food stalls surrounding Senso-ji, which is Tokyo’s oldest temple. It’s another one of my favourite places, although it requires changing train lines to get there, so I don’t make the trip as much as I could.

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The next day I met Ryo again in Ueno park. He brought me a suitcase for storing a load of my stuff in Tokyo before my flight back. It was another beautiful autumnal day, so we sat on a park bench, people watching and catching a few rays before we went to have lunch.

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Then, on Saturday night, I went on a night out in Nakano with my housemate Reishiro. We went to a restaurant called Namida Bashi that served the Miyazaki speciality of torisashimi, otherwise known as raw chicken. Yes, you heard that right. Between the two of us, we ate a plate of chicken liver, hearts, breast and thigh. We dunked each piece in soy sauce, ponzu sauce or sesame oil depending on which part of the slimy chicken we were eating.

The izakaya we ate in was tiny. It was smokey and crammed full of people, and nothing was in English, not even the prices. It’s the kind of place I would never find on my own so I was grateful that Reishiro took me there. We also ordered some yakitori and chicken nanban after the main event so we walked out an hour or so later feeling very full.

Next we went to a karaoke bar, which was about two metres wide and three long. It consisted of three men in their forties drinking sake and passing around the microphone until we walked in. The owner, whose name I didn’t learn because Reishiro only ever directly referred to him as Owner-san, had a long grey ponytail and a lazy eye. Reishiro sat and chatted with Owner-san and his two friends whilst I ensured no other customers entered the bar with my rendition of All I Want For Christmas Is You. The men were friendly but as unable to communicate with me as I was with them. Later I sat next to Reishiro as he told them a story. The three men listened to Reishiro intently whilst occasionally turning to me, nodding and smiling, then listening to Reishiro speak again. I didn’t know what he was saying so I would nod enthusiastically every time they looked my way.

It might be worth mentioning here that Reishiro’s two previous girlfriends have come from Spain and Switzerland. Eventually I heard him say the word spanking. I asked him what he was telling them.
“Oh, I’m just explaining the difference between Japanese girls and European girls in bed,” Reishiro explained matter-of-factly. I instantly stopped smiling at the three men and told him off.
“They’ll think you’re talking about me!”
“No, I said we weren’t a couple,” he laughed. “I explained that you are alone.”
Reishiro kept laughing and the men continued to grin at me, eyes wider than ever.

The following week, I took four days off work so that I could embark on a staycation. Really, I had meant to plan an overnight trip but when it came round to it, I wasn’t in the mood to disappear on my own for four days, so I decided to stay in Tokyo and take a few day trips with whoever was around over the course of the week.

Day 1: Nothing

On the first day of my staycation, I stayed at home. I made brownies and started watching season four of The Crown on Netflix. I know there’s been a bit of backlash in the UK over some supposed historical inaccuracies, but I am obsessed. Diana is amazing, her outfits are great and Charles is such a poo. I’m currently on episode seven, so no spoilers please!

Day 2: Nikko

On the second day of my staycation, I drove to Nikko with my friend Nori. Nikko is a small city in the mountains north of Tokyo. It’s known for the Toshogu shrine, which was established in 1617 as a lavish memorial for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founding ruler of the Edo Period. We hoped to see some autumn leaves (which we did see from the car), the shrine, Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji. The shrine was beautiful and we had a great time exploring it.

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For lunch, we went to a Japanese restaurant where I tried yuba tofu, the literal translation of which is tofu skin. Here’s a picture of our tofu, which had a very interesting texture.

After lunch, we got back in the car and headed up the hairpin turns of the mountain to reach Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji. On the drive, we passed a car that hadn’t quite managed the journey. The unimaginable fog and low visibility was slightly unnerving but we ploughed on. Up in the mountains, our view of the waterfall and the lake was not what we expected. We couldn’t really see either, but I enjoyed the eeriness of the clouds anyway.

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Day 3: Fancy lunch and Tokyo Tower

On Thursday I met two of my coworkers for a fancy lunch on the tenth floor of a building right next to Tokyo Tower. The restaurant was called Wakanui and served high quality New Zealand lamb. It’s an expensive dinner but the weekday lunch menu doesn’t burn such a hole in your pocket so we decided to treat ourselves because pay day was only yesterday after all. So I started with the avocado and smoked salmon tartare, although I was very torn between the tartare and the carpaccio. For my main, I went with the lamb chops with potatoes and then I topped it all off with a pumpkin crème brûlée. Oishikatta desu!

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After lunch, we walked around the area before taking the train to Shinjuku in the afternoon. We went up the Metropolitan Building, which–if you don’t want to splash 2000 yen for the view at Shibuya Sky–is the best way to get a free view of the city.

Day 4: Mount Mitake

On the fourth and final day, I took the train with my coworker Drew (who features in Chapter 17) to Mitake. We went in search of some autumn leaves and were once again met with a cold cloud of fog. Nevertheless, we had a great day hiking and I could really feel it in my glutes the next day.

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So this brings me to the end of what may well be my penultimate post of the year. I’ll try to squeeze in another one before I depart from the Land of the Rising Sun, but for now I just want to say thanks to everyone for reading and I will see you all very, very soon!