Tokyo, January 12-13, 2012

In Ueno, we reserve seats to the airport for the next day, take a taxi to Jimbocho, check-in at Sakura hotel, do some laundry while finishing last of Shiga Kogen beers, and reserve a table at Ate for our last night in Tokyo.

The guy in the restaurant does not speak English and we don't know what reserving a table is in Japanese. He is like "Any other languages?". We start naming all languages we know (Swedish, Finnish, Italian, French, German ...) "Ja, German!" So, we book a table with this Japanese guy in German.

Then we are on our way to Popeye. To our delight, Popeye is totally non-smoking restaurant.

40 beers on tap! For instance, Yona Yona on hand pump and Hitachino Nest English bitter on gravity. To finish the night, we taste some winter beers, the most interesting of them being Rogue's Nurubin (hot beer! hotto biiru!)

The last morning in Tokyo (and Japan) starts with a run before 9am. We have a clear blue sky and about minus two degrees of Celsius.

A clear blue sky and the temperature of two degrees below zero makes it a perfect weather for running.

We run once around the imperial palace. It takes us 45 minutes.

Even if it is a weekday morning, and not too early, there are many runners, although not as many as we saw on Sunday three weeks ago.

The plan of the day is to vote in the first round of our presidential elections. In order to do that we need to find the Finnish Embassy. On our way to Jimbocho station we find a Teahouse Takano hidden in the basement on one of the narrow streets. What a lovely and quiet place!

The Japanese prefer to wear black in winter.

From Jimbocho we take Mita line to Shirokane-Takanawa station. Soon we find ourselves at a coffee shop for coffee and matcha, which looks and tastes like cream of spinach.

And soon thereafter we buy a cuppa espresso from a coffee van. Probably you have already guessed that it is really chilly.

We take a stroll through a fancy residential area to the embassy, and get lost on narrow streets.

The Finnish embassy in Tokyo is a bit fancier that the one in Singpore, where it resides on the 21st floor of an office tower next to a mall.

After voting, which goes smoothly, we start walking back north. It is getting warmer now that the clouds are gone and the sun warms the world.

Just by accident we spot August Beer Club on the other side of the street. It is still pretty early, but the place is open for lunch.

The restaurant has five taps of craft beer. We have Black Bitter and Toshi's IPA.

Since it is lunch time, we also order pizzas: leek & green chilli pepper, and turnip & salami. We also get tasters of rest of their beers: Snow Blanche, Maduro Dark Lager, and August Pale Lager, all of them very good.

On our way back we walk through the fancy Roppongi Hills, one of the Japan's largest integrated property developments -- integrated meaning that it is a place for people to live, work, and have fun.

"Mega-complex comprises of office space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, a museum, a hotel, a major TV studio, an outdoor amphitheater, and a few parks." (Wikipedia)

When back in Jimbocho, we check the local Patagonia store.

Young womens' winter fashion in Tokyo.

There is a Singaporean restaurant next to Sakura hotel.

However, we don't choose it but Ate, a wine bar next door (which we booked in German last night) As apperitif we have strawberry sparkling wine.

The menu and the wine list are in Japanese only, but our server does a great job going through all of them with us and translating them to English. Her English is not perfect, but willingness to serve is.

Ate is a nice quiet place, as we like our wine bars. The service is excellent, and the final bill reasonable.

Next day it is time to fly back home in Singapore.

Buying snacks is easy, since you don't need to guess what the contents look like.

Before boarding we have sashimi salad at Narita airport.

We also have some sushi.

This concludes the journal of our lovely three-week winter vacation in Japan. Stay tuned, our journal of the two-week Summer trip to Hokkaido will follow shortly.

Singapore.