Wetter Day in Tokyo

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Up later this morning after our big day and late night, thankfully the weather must have had the same idea as our first three days of bright sunshine have turned to grey drizzle. Head across to Shimbuya for a late breakfast whilst watching the famous crossing. Sadly the crowds weren't quite playing along so the crossroads were a bit uninspiring so instead we turned our attention to all things shopping. As well dressed as your average Japanese girl or guy is, they certainly take things very seriously so the stores don't tend to be the kind of places you can just drop by and pick up one or two things without going for a whole look. There is also the small issue or pretty hefty price tags to keep enthusiasm at bay. Did manage to pick up a couple of cool new t-shirts from a very interesting design store.

After some good sushi we made our way across to the Imperial Palace which has to rank as the most underwhelming tourist attraction going as everything appears to remain locked behind some heavily guarded gates. Finally we crossed to the electronic city to have a look at all the shiny new cameras, phones and laptops. Very hard to tell just how advanced the stuff on display was but the prices certainly weren't anything to get excited about.

The girls decided to take tea at the @ home cafe complete with full on fancy dress maid service which seemed like a pretty kitsch experience. I passed the time checking out some pretty weird manga stores and yet more electronics, robotics etc.

Finally, headed back to meet with a friend of Sarah's who is taking us to Asakusa for a traditional meal so our first evening on the tatami awaits...

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Sarah's friend took us to a great little restaurant close to Asakusa shrine which specialises in old school Japanese food - specifically you order a set of batter mixtures of veg and meat which you then mix and cook on a hot plate in the centre of the table. Not the most outlandish of flavours but definitely a nice experience of old school Japanese cooking style. After dinner we were all feeling the effects of the late night before so just headed straight back to the hotel.

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