The morning in Tokyo, then train to Kofu

One of the things we're getting tired of is restaurant meals. More specifically, finding ones that suit our tastes and our budget while keeping Ruth's gluten free status in mind.

It's truly a job, especially in some of these Asian countries. So for breakfast yesterday, we kept our expectations low and did the hotel buffet.

The price was actually quite good... at 2,000 yen ($17.30 CAD, $12.30 USD) per person if you buy it the night before. And considering that includes tax and there is no tipping... we were happy. And the food was not bad either. I didn't get any photos.

The view from our 26th floor hotel room. But we were about to go much higher!

I did some research of things to see and do in our area, keeping in mind that we only had the morning. I found an observation deck on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building. And amazingly, it was totally free! Even more amazing is that it wasn't that busy. If this had been in any major city in North America there would be a lineup and a high price.

This is not where we are going... just an interesting building along the way.

This is where we're going! It's a fairly impressive looking building.

There was no lineup, and we were put right on an elevator with a group of Dutch tourists and zipped up to the 45th floor in 55 seconds!

But the 45th floor doesn't put us much higher than many other buildings.

Looking towards central Tokyo.

The building on the left is also impressive.

Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. Similar to Central Park in New York.

We were actually in Shinjuku, about 7 kms (4 miles) from central Tokyo.

Back at the bottom, looking up. A helicopter came and landed on the roof.

Probably a government big wig.

Scenery near our hotel.

We saw a big outdoor sports store and Ruth has been looking for a new pair of shorts. So we went in and had a look around. It was like 7 floors of high quality gear. One floor designated to golf, another to camping, another to hiking gear, etc. But all high quality stuff. She couldn't find anything she liked, but I found a shirt I liked. I've been wanting a good quality button up lightweight long sleeve shirt since my Tilley one gave out that I had for over ten years. 

I tried on a few, but if I'm going to spend that kind of money, it had better be perfect. Ruth found me one to try on, but she warned that it's expensive... 15,400 yen ($133 CAD, $95 USD). However then we saw the tag that said it was 30% off! So that made it 10,780 yen. Made by Millet, a well known French outdoor brand.

I tried it on, and it was perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. At the cash, the girl (sorry, young lady!) said that there was a tax rebate desk on the first floor. We had to pay the 10,780 yen by card, but then they rebate 785 in cash downstairs. And that's exactly what happened.

So the shirt cost 9,995 yen ($86.50 CAD, $61.50 USD). Very happy with that for a top quality shirt. No photos yet, but you'll see it on me soon! If I can get ten years out of it like the Tilley one, it's pretty low cost per year.

From there, we went back to the Shinjuku train station and bought tickets to Kofu. Cost was 4,000 yen ($35 CAD, $25 USD) each for the hour and a half train ride.

Walked about ten minutes from the Kofu station to our Airbnb where we have a 7 night stay booked at 10,482 yen ($91 CAD, $65 USD) per night.

By the way, the Japanese yen is one of the very few currencies that has actually done worse than the Canadian dollar over the past few years. So Japan is one of the very few countries that has actually become cheaper for Canadians on a currency exchange basis.

Self check-in with a lock box and we were inside. It was baking hot outside... 36C (97F) and the air conditioner hadn't been on so it had to work hard to cool things off inside.

Kitchen.

Laundry and shower room. The toilet is in a separate room off the kitchen.

Living room.

Bedroom.

It's a kind of an odd design, but it's well stocked with everything we need, and super fast internet. It will do fine for the week that we're here.

And since we have a decent kitchen, we can get back to some of Ruth's home cooking. Only thing we need is a grocery store, and fortunately there are two fairly large shops within a ten minute walk. But shopping in a new country is always fun... it takes us forever to google translate labels looking for gluten free items.

Everything here cost a total of 9,264 yen ($80 CAD, $57 USD).

Most people were saying that Japan would be expensive, but so far from what we're seeing, Canada is more expensive than Japan now. The wine was on sale if you bought two bottles. For the two bottles of wine and two half liter cans of beer it was 1,777 yen ($15.40 CAD, $11 USD). So the food was 7,487 yen ($65 CAD, $46 USD). Considering there's fresh salmon, chicken breast, thick Greek yoghurt, etc... we think that's pretty good.

So the alcohol was far cheaper than Canada... I'm going to say the groceries are probably on par with Canada, but then we haven't been to Canada since last October!

We needed a quick snack so we bought some grocery store sushi!

We're actually not big fans of sushi, but then you'll probably tell us that we shouldn't be buying it in the premade grocery store aisle! 

So, we're here for a week, but it's not looking like the weather is going to co-operate. We're in for another baking day tomorrow, and then it's going to cool a couple of degrees, but with lots of rain. Oh well... the only thing you can change about the weather is your attitude towards it!

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