#i don't remember if we don't sell ginger ale at all or if it has caffeine in it now but i can't have it either way

[invisiblyvisiblejay]

my sister got me a sprite i can almost forgive her for giving me covid

[chaletnz]

Shinjuku/Harajuku Once Again

The other guests in the hostel were less disturbing on the second night so I was able to get a decent night's sleep. I went for the French toast again in the morning and then had a quick coffee at Yokohama Coffee Stand before I took the train with all of my stuff to Tokyo's Shinjuku station. My heavy bags were ditched in a locker for the day and I headed out to Kintan with just my day bag to meet up with Tomoko and Yuki for a yakiniku lunch. We all went for a mixed meat plate, although I decided not to go for the beef this time as it was way too chewy last time! So for me, just pork and chicken. They also weren't serving alcohol due to the Japanese government's restrictions around coronavirus so we made do with water, or perhaps I had a ginger ale - I actually don't remember! Lunch was delicious though, I'd probably head straight back to Kintan for a meal next time I find myself in Japan... whenever that may be. The three of us went for a coffee and a chat at a nearby cafe Syndicate, which was very hipster and appropriately expensive for Shinjuku. The lattes were about 700 yen each, but as I had provided some fancy chocolates for us to snack on discreetly without the staff seeing us, Yuki was kind enough to pay for the coffees.

We said our final farewells, took selfies and then went our separate ways for the day, or for life - I don't know when, or if, I'll see them again! It was the weekend so Harajuku's Takeshita Street was actually bustling and energetic as I had remembered it from the first time I had visited in 2015 with Bryce. I wandered up and down the street to enjoy the atmosphere and also browse for some souvenir T-shirts to take with me but nothing really took my fancy. I ended up in a mall filled with shops selling the quirky alternative "Harajuku girl" type fashion, and others doing a Cup Noodle fashion collaboration range which was quite fun to look at. There was also a Pingu cafe where I came very close to buying a milkshake but for 900 yen it was simply too much! My last and very important stop in Shinjuku was at IKEA where I bought one more cinnamon roll and filled up my water bottle for the evening's adventures.

I headed out on the metro to buy the requested Shiseido goodies for Jo from the flagship store in the heart of Tokyo's upscale neighbourhood, Ginza. On my walk from the station however I got distracted by the giant 12 floor Uniqlo and couldn't resist going inside for a look! I wandered around inside for about an hour and ended up buying a hoodie for 990 yen, two shirts for 500 yen each and a T-shirt for only 190 yen! Apparently it had a fault with uneven colouring but I couldn't tell, even up close so a cheap T-shirt was all I saw! I definitely didn't really need any of it but I couldn't resist - Uniqlo always has really good stuff on clearance to take advantage of. I ended up arriving at Shiseido at just after 7pm, expecting that it closed at 8pm as written on Google maps. Unfortunately all the lights were off and the sign on the door said they had closed early today so I had just missed it. Over the road there was a "Shiseido Parlor" so I went in for a look around and bought Jo a little Shiseido tin with cookies to add to her order. I then took the metro all the way back to Shinjuku station to pick up my bags from the locker but I had such a struggle finding exactly the locker I had left it in! I was running up and down stairs and escalators looking for the set that contained all of my bags but eventually a map led me to them. With the bags secured it was another long train ride across Tokyo city from Shinjuku in the west to Asakusa in the north east and then a long walk from the station to my (not so conveniently located) next hostel, The & Hostel Karumae. It was a decent place however the room with ten or twelve beds only had two toilets and one shower for everyone to share. Luckily it wasn't full thanks to our friend corona! In a normal tourist trip I probably wouldn't stay here again due to the location being far from train stations, and the bathroom situation but for now it was nice and they also gave me three free drinks at their cafe that I never got around to using as Tokyo provided many more better coffee opportunities!