Last Of The Tokyo Tidbits

To make up for being so lazy, Janet is going to make this a big post with lots of photos.  After we finish with her trip to Japan, we need to move onto Mr. Baby's visit!

They spent a far bit of time (money, anyone?) at Nippori Station which is a huge fabric neighbourhood.  In Tokyo, several businesses of the same type will be located in one area.

The largest of all the stores was Tomato and they had several stores in this area.

Rolling the fabric onto a bolt.

Janet's purchases:

Generally speaking, they said the fabric was very reasonably priced.  Second to the left is Liberty fabric.  Bronwyn requested Hello Kitty fabric and wants Janet to make her a quilt.  Three of the fabrics of Hello Kitty in them.

They were very kindly invited to David and Poo's riverside home for dinner.

Poo made a whole table of tempura and it was delicious.

Poo, their son Matthew (Toshio used to say Ma-chew!) and his buddy.

They were also taken to an incredible Sushi restaurant by Yuki, his wife Wendy and Yuki's mom Etsuke.  Etsuke is a childhood friend of the mom whose son is the sushi chef and owns the restaurant.  It was beautiful.

Wendy and Etsuke in the background.  In Karen's hand is a piece of fresh wasabi.  Several years ago, Phil bought fresh wasabi at Uwajimaya and a piece about 1 inch long was nearly $20.

It was an incredible experience.

Fancy sake cup.

On the second last day of their visit, they went to Kinshicho Station, which is quite close to where Toshio and his family used to live.  They had lunch at a tempura restaurant that Janet and Phil have eaten at often.

Right across the street from the station is a movie theatre.  When Janet was running for "Mother of the Year" award, she dropped 5 year Meg off at the theatre and came back to get her when the movie was over.  Not sure if Meg remembers, but she watched "Doraemon".

Tempura chefs hard at work.

In the same shopping centre, there was a machine to heat up your baby bottles and a room to feed your baby in.

Toshio's old house was torn down and this sparkly new house now sits in its place.  Given all the times that Janet and Karen have collectively visited Toshio and Toyoko's house one wouldn't expect they would get lost.  Wrong!

Side view.  It looks really nice.

Back in the day, take away food was delivered in a covered container on the back of a bike.  The restaurant food was delivered in real dishes and when you were finished, you set the dishes on your doorstep and the restaurant came back to pick them up.  This is how it's delivered nowadays and Janet is uncertain if they still use real dishes.

Oh oh!  The train might be a little crowded!

Both Janet and Karen spent $40 to stay in their rooms until they were ready to take the train to the airport.  They spent the last day wandering around the hotel neighbourhood and had an early lunch.

This lunch was about $10.  Both of them decided that it was a very affordable vacation.

Sashimi bowl on rice, Chawan Mushi custard soup, salad, piece of tofu and some Japanese pickles.

Oh dear....now it's time to go home.  This might be a problem!

Inside the new Boeing Dreamliner.

In all of Tokyo, this was Janet's favourite sign.  And, there are a lot of really interesting signs in Tokyo!  If you can only read English, you are screwed six ways to Sunday.  You now know there is going to be an allergy issue, but have no clue if it pertains to you!

Once again, Janet's photographic skills are highlighted!