Saturday March 26th, 2016 Tokyo, Japan

Our last day in Tokyo and we’ve got some prep work to do prior to flying home tomorrow. One of our traditions on long haul flights is to avoid the awful in-flight meal service by taking on our own food. Tokyo is famous for it’s large department stores many of which have really good food halls located in their basements – we’ve found these places to be great for providing a nice alternative to the airline food.

We took the hotel shuttle bus to Shinjuku station then walked to the Isetan department store, one of the crown jewels of shopping in Tokyo.  Arriving a little before opening time we joined the small group of people patiently waiting to enter the store. Peering through the glass doors I could see the smartly dressed shop workers all lined up and attentively listening to last-minute instructions from their supervisors. Presently music began to play in the lobby outside the store and at the appointed time two shop assistants emerged from the store and proceeded to greet the crowd with a speech; I had no idea what they were saying – maybe it was details of todays special sale items, but it sounded more formal than that. Then at precisely the correct time the doors opened and the small crowd began to enter in a very orderly fashion. All the shop workers were lined up at their appointed stations and each of then gave a deep bow as the customers walked by.

The food hall at Isetan is absolutely amazing; it’s like Harrods but more down to earth – actually more reminiscent of the old food hall in Lewis’s department store in Glasgow, but with Japanese-themed food. To my surprise I was quickly admonished for taking pictures – I guess the food purveyors want to guard their intellectual property. We wandered around trying to decide what to buy and eventually settled on some great sandwiches, cakes and we even found a cheese counter where, with the help of a very friendly English-speaking customer, Sandra was able to satisfy her need for well-aged cheddar.

With the in-flight grub all sorted, we found a coffee shop in the department store and gorged on fantastic cappuccinos and cakes (I was at last feeling a bit better) and then walked back to the hotel where we stored our purchases in the in-room fridge.

For our final afternoon in Tokyo we went out in search of antique Kokeshi Dolls; originally from northern Japan they are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. Sandra had watched a documentary about Kokeshi dolls a while back and I had bought her a couple of the shiny airport-shop versions on previous trips, but we thought it would be fun to track down some old original versions. After a bit of Googling I read about a place in Tokyo that might have some older Kokeshis, and so we worked out the subway route and set off. 

On the way to the store from the subway station we encountered an anti-nuclear rally that involved hundreds of protesters in an orderly march down the main street – the anti-nuclear movement in Japan appears to be very strong.

The Oriental Bazaar is a souvenir shop in Harajuku/Omotesando district of Tokyo; it’s a really good place to pick up original Japanese goods many of which are consigned there from artisans all over Japan. The shop has three floors and the older stuff is all on the top level. Our expedition was rewarded when we came across a table covered with about 40 original Kokeshi dolls of various sizes. The great sorting process began. Each doll was picked up, inspected, put back down, picked back up, reassessed, put back down and eventually we picked out the two best mid-sized beauties. 

Back at the hotel we finished our packing in preparation for the flight home tomorrow. We’ve had another fantastic trip and already have ideas for our next big adventure.

Post Script: On arrival back home we received an email from Cunard informing us that the ship had been hit with an outbreak of the dreaded Norovirus right after we disembarked. Subsequent testing revealed that I did in fact have the bug - this explains a lot!