Rain then sun, then more sun, and more rain

Yokohama waterfront

On Friday night I was a super-cool, non-gaijin, Tokyo local. I met up with a friend of a friend who's been living in Japan on and off for over ten years. I'd asked him to take me to somewhere that your average tourist would never find so we arranged to meet at Ebisu Station at an appointed spot and go to a bar owned by a friend of his. It was only when I got there that I realised I had no idea what he looked like - the only thing I had to go on was a name and a facebook profile photo that's very, very small! I did know that he wasn't Japanese, but it turned out that there were rather a lot of us foreigners hanging around Ebisu Station at 9pm on a Friday evening. I was just about to start going up to random men and asking their names when a guy approached me asking if I was Abi. We had found each other. We quickly spotted his boyfriend too, and the three of us wound our way through the little streets round the station until we found the place we were looking for - a tiny bar on the fifth floor of a building. It could have been somebody's lounge and I would never have found it on my own. It's decked out with a motley assortment of furniture, small table lamps and dark, Persian-style carpets. Brilliant. I spent the next couple of hours picking the brains of my companions about anything and everything that sprang to mind. It was very interesting to have the perspective of both a Japanese person and a non-Japanese person on life in this country. And we drank many beers, which was excellent. While we were in the bar there was a torrential rainstorm outside. It stopped before we left though, and we emerged back into the street to be greeted by warm, steaming air and the mélange of lights, sounds and smells that is central Tokyo on a Friday night.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, without a trace of the typhoon that had been forewarned by the downpour the previous evening. Simon had been looking at the map of the city and decided he wanted to check out the feat of engineering that is the Rainbow Bridge so we pottered off into the humid hotness of the day, heading east towards the water. After walking for a while we started getting close to the bridge and tried to work out how to get up onto it and indeed, if this were possible at all. It starts with a huge loop that rises up into a triple-decker monster that spans the gap between the mainland and a small island that has been entirely reclaimed from the water in Tokyo Bay. It's really quite amazing. In the end we couldn't see how to get onto the bridge on foot, so caught the train across to Daiba Station. From the train it’s much easier to see how to get onto the bridge walkway so that’s something for another day. When we got to Daiba we were greeted by a huge shopping centre. Starving, we headed for the food court and, hidden round a corner away from the MacDonalds, we found a small Japanese restaurant that looked interesting. We decided to play Russian Roulette with the menu and went for two dishes written entirely in kanji so we had no idea what would turn up. Both were delicious: Simon got sashimi on a large bed of rice while I got fried chicken with lettuce and rice and an amazing sweet vinegar/soy sauce with loads of spring onions. After lunch we wandered along the promenade outside. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was around 33 degrees. We saw Tokyo’s own Statue of Liberty, some large anchors, and a very sweaty-looking beach volleyball tournament. The afternoon then took us onwards to Akihabara, which is known for its proliferation of electronics stores. It was heaving and you appear to be able to buy anything from transistors and parts of old desk fans to top-of-the-range computers and mobile phones. Threading our way through the mass of people, we carried on along the huge Chuo-Dori Avenue to Ueno Park. We cooled off in the shade outside a lovely café with ice-cream and iced coffee, listening to the relaxing sounds of ukulele music wafting from the speakers.

Sunday brought even hotter, even sunnier weather. It also brought a lovely lie-in – the jetlag appears finally to have worn off and we’re no longer waking up at 5am! We caught the train south to Yokohama. It’s only 30 minutes away and costs about £3, which is a complete bargain. Once there we headed straight for Chinatown to find some lunch. This area is amazing. It’s the biggest Chinatown in Japan, and is completely rammed with restaurants, shops and, on a beautiful hot Sunday, people. Hundreds and thousands of people. After lunch and a spot of shopping we waded through the people-sea to the waterfront and spent the rest of the afternoon strolling along, taking in the sights and sounds. Yokohama was generally pretty busy as Monday was a public holiday so people were making the most of the long weekend. In town that day were a huge punk rock gig, a triathlon along the waterfront, a street performance festival and a beer festival. And it was the grand opening weekend of the Cup Noodle Museum. Oh yes, Cup Noodle has been going for 40 years this year and hordes of people were lining up to get their free sample, and to buy their hermetically sealed cup-noodle-cup-in-a-bag. Some of you lucky people may receive one of these for Christmas…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that wherever you are in the world, when there is a public holiday on a Monday, it will rain. I had been looking forward to catching some rays on another blazing hot day but this was not to be the case. The morning started sunnily enough, but as the day wore on it became more and more overcast and muggy. Simon had to work so I went to meet him for lunch near his office in Tsurumi. By this time you could feel the moisture in the air sitting on your skin: leaving an air conditioned apartment in this weather is like walking into a warm, wet blanket. It’s wonderful for the complexion! Lunch was excellent – delicious tempura, rice and miso soup.

Monday evening brought with it rain and it’s been drizzling on and off all day today. Coming from the UK, this is more like the weather I’m used to! But it’s all set to be sunny at the weekend. It’s another long one, although this time the holiday is on Friday so fingers crossed universal truths do not also apply under these circumstances.

Until the next time…