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Our last couple of days in Tokyo were pretty much perfect.
Meeting my friend Martin's girlfriend Nadika was a real treat. They and a bunch of others had nipped over from Hong Kong for the long weekend.
Keen to cross off all types of Japanese food from their culinary bucket list, we visited a shabu-shabu restaurant that apparently featured in Lost in Translation.
Shabu-shabu consisted of swirling thin slices of raw beef in a pot of boiling water with our chopsticks, and then dipping it in a peanut sauce. It was really delicious!
We ended up meeting the rest of Martin's friends - a really diverse bunch from all over Canada, Europe and Asia.
Despite a small sushi-related ordering mix up at the restaurant, we really enjoyed their company (we had only 5 minutes left to order food before the kitchen closed, and our only Japanese speaker forgot to order anything for the people who don't like raw fish, i.e. me).
After my increasingly enjoyable liquid dinner of plum wine, we hit the sack, feeling excited to know we'd made a bunch of friends we could tie up with again in Hong Kong!
The next morning, feeling slightly delicate, Peet talked me into yet another morning run. I was revelling in my grumpiness until we happened upon a gorgeous park stuffed full of blossoms. It ended up being the furthest I'd ever run ever (6.5k - don't laugh!), fuelled by the excitement of exploring this oasis of beauty.
A few days earlier, I'd fulfilled an ambition of mine and visited a cat café near our hotel, called Cat Magic... I think a more appropriate name would be Cat Heaven - 20 or so cats living in what only can be described as a cat palace, with as much food, water and attention as they could stomach. It was epic!
Unfortunately, it was also jam-packed full of people and the spoilt kitties were a bit sick of being stroked all day long.
Not to be put off, I returned on my last day (Peet politely declined to come with me again for some reason...) and was greeted with the entire place to myself! It had only just opened, so the cats were even pleased to see me.
While out getting breakfast, we got a tip from some other traveller-types that a fantastic place to go was the region of Hakone (which is in the foothills of Mt. Fuji), so that's out next stop. How exciting!
- comments
Jenny Hooray for the cat cafe! I'm glad you managed to see one! Keep up the blog-you're making me feel seriously jealous :)
joan so glad you made the cat palace! your dad only told me today about this site so I have missed the last week or so. All well here A and R eating us out of house and home xx