Japan, day five. Kichijioji, Shinjuku.

In Shinjuku, we stayed at Citadines Shinjuku. While the room was big enough to accommodate 5 people in Disney (they must be used to big families), we booked 2 rooms instead in the city. Each night, one kid will sleep with the mother and one with us. We awoke to breakfast at the hotel then after the usual fussing (Have we packed jackets? Enough diapers? Where is Jake's waterbottle? Did you see Kate's shoes?) we finally stepped out.... into the rain.

The on-off drizzle was really the biggest pain through the trip. I was worried that we will fall ill, and it made moving about so inconvenient. The mom had invested in some raincoats while we encountered rain in Disneyland, so those came in handy.

Along the streets of Shinjuku, very near our hotel. Mom with Kate in her red Mickey raincoat.

Adventure to Kichijioji 

Not sure what Jake was doing, but this pic is just pretty cute

Funny Jake - not sure what he was doing, but that's the husband in the background getting our tickets at the transfer point. We had to do a change to get to our destination. 

Kichijioji Station

In my very hasty research before going to Japan, I'd asked friends what to do/where to go and this was one place that really appealed to me. It has so much potential of things to do - read about it here - but alas, because of the rain - no parks, no cool leisurely strolls, no checking out quirky shops amidst departmental stores. All we managed was a quick meal (vending machine style), one son who soiled himself and his father with his poop, and 3-hours cooped up in one very small mall for the whole time we were there. Bummer.

While waiting for the husband to change Jake, we waited by the streets for him to return. And I'd nearly forgotten about this pic until going through my pics... and I snapped this to show how fashionable a Japanese man is even on a wet, rainy day. #standlikemodelallthetimeplease

So within this mall that we chose because it was sheltered and links to the train station, we did some shopping. It was very basic and nothing much at all... but at least we were dry.

A very pleased girl when I agreed to her buying donuts

Her choice of donut - Hello Kitty, Halloween-style

For myself, I was eyeing the strawberry shortcake. Love the cream in Japan - rich and delish.

This is what I had - a very yummy creamy cake. And why are there two boxes of the same? Because the mother and I are telepathic. Turns out that while we had gone separately to purchase our own snacks, we ended up buying the same thing! 

And here's a sneaky pic of them bonding :)

Within the 3 hours, the boy had taken a nap and by the time we left, it was about 5pm. We then ventured back the same way we came.

One of my favourite people on the train 

We exited at a mall again in Shinjuku, and split ways to shop more. We then met up in the evening and that night, we had dinner that we bought from all the little stores at the basement of Isetan. We had skewers, rice, sushi, tempura... quite a lot. After putting the kids to sleep, the kind mother looked after both kids while the husband and I had a chance to venture out on this Saturday night.

We trawled the streets which was surprisingly quiet on a weekend, puzzled over signs with poor English (1 hour = 5000Y.  Girls only bar. What did they mean?! Only girls get to enter, or the bars only have girls (to attract the men), or... we're still not sure now), then headed into a smoky (euw, we stank so badly after!) bar where we watched soccer (the husband) and live entertainment (that's just me being a voyeur).  So let me share abit more about my "live show".

There was a table with two girls beside us. I saw two different men approach them. The first was flatly rejected. He'd entered the pub, walked up to them to speak (I'd mistakenly thought he was their friend) then upon their response, he then walked out of the pub. That intrigued me which was why I then observed the second man's approach more closely. This second guy had more luck - he ended up talking for ages (I was wishing for subtitles so I could understand their exchange) then after many minutes of talking, another guy appeared with drinks all around the table. I found the whole scene highly entertaining. And dodgy. And highly amusing. I was entertained.

One pint each for us. 

After a drink in this English pub (yes, an English pub in Japan) we decided to hit another joint, just because. We ended up in this strange club of sorts where there were people of different nationalities. The bouncers were mostly African, the bartenders Japanese, and the customers were from all over. It wasn't too exciting nor too bad, and after another 2 drinks we left in search for food.

One for the road. Date night in Shinjuku.

Just because. 

We ended up going to the supermarket because it was open. We stocked up on snacks. Plenty. 

Then after much deliberation, we found a place open (it was past 2am) that served beef which was what the husband wanted. 

The night ended with us mildly intoxicated (I made effort to wash my hair and scrub up properly because we stank of ciggies!) and hitting the sack at 4am. It's been a rather, long, day.

Good morning, Shinjuku. Hello pounding headache.