Blue Skies . M&D day 2

After a quick brekkie at Pronto coffee, we headed back on the Yamanonte and Toden Arakawa lines to reach Otsuka. We arrived at my dorm to show them around properly and unload some of the bits and bobs brought from Australia. I opened my collection of Christmas present and was a happy little vegemite. My little cousins G and J drew adorable pictures for me, pleading “please come back”. Next we headed to Sakuramiya as my old man was very keen to check out the coffee brew. T-san and K-san greated us all with great delight and we exchanged formalities before each ordering a coffee and cake set. Mum oohed and ahhed over the ambiance whilst playing with the array kaleidoscopes and Dad sat humbly fascinated with K-san's skills behind the coffee machine. Surprisingly, T-san presented mum with a kaliescope she made just for her, Mum was obviously as overwhelmed by the present as dad was with the taste of the coffee. T-san called the owner K-san and twenty minutes later K-san and M (bearing his Australia beanie) greeted us and sat down. For the next hour or so Dad and I drank another coffee while mum chatted with k-san and T-san. We eventually left  after a touching goodbye and Mum and Dad were positively overwhelmed by the generosity and friendliness of everyone they just met. It was a wonderful and fitting way for Mum and Dad to interact with local Japanese for the first time. After travelling on the Toden Arakawa, Yamanote and Toei Oedo lines we reached our destination of a completely different scale to Sakuramiya; the top of Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. It was a chilly, however crystal clear day and you could see the seemingly endless concrete landscape disappear as far as the eye could reach. Tokyo bay and the distant mountains where in full view. We then whizzed through the Metoblism exhibition as I explained the key ideas and pointed out the key exhibits. Mum and Dad where surprisingly engaged and impressed by the concepts and the exhibition overall. It is a wonderful exhibition however you need two proper visits to get through the information and battle the "museum fatigue". It was approaching half past four and we began our journey towards the Invoice theatre to see the early evening show of Blue Man Group. Pumped! These guys are supremely entertaining and hard to place. Using their trademark PVC pipe apparatus' they pumped out a handful of musical numbers. The show was half a comedic mime always involving stunned but willing audience members and half musical performance. It was a profoundly entertaining, engaging, humorous and skillful show that clearly portrayed these blue men as true showmen. I would definitely not baulk at the chance to see them again. 

A special delivery . M&D day 1

Today was a long awaited and nourishing day. It began by waking up at the crack of noon post a grueling 72 hours at the ASUS helm, clicking away for my university project. My brains cogs spun into gear and I realised I was a little late to meet with the owner of the Sakuramira Cafe down the road. I made myself presentable and dashed out the door. I entered to the delight of T-san and I immediately introduced myself to everybody, ordered a long double espresso and sat down. I met K her husband A and their son M. A could speak good English and we found common ground by sharing our hiking adventures in Nepal. A delivery man entered, whom they all seemed to know well and joined the conversation. After an hour or so, being fed delicious apple pastry, onigiri, receiving gifts and having constant laughs with these generous locals, I really felt quite overwhelmed by it all. To thank my mother for her painting, M made a box set of origami,so I quckly ran home to fetch an Australia beanie to return the gratitude. After another hour or so I left also realising my plans to properly prepare for my parents evening arrival under stress. The next few hours was hectically spent on polishing the travel itinerary and my room. I almost made a huge blunder with the airport express train however my desperate dash across Ueno station saved me. However it was all in vain as my parents flight came in late and they were seated at the back of the plane. As I was waiting in the arrival hall I glared at the televised CNN, realising I hadn't watched English telly since I left Australia. I am not sure whether that's a good or bad thing. Eventually, Big Cam and Mamma Jugs appeared and we warmly embraced. It was mighty fine to see them. We organised ourselves and boarded the Narita Skyliner to Ueno then changed to the Yamanote line to Shimbashi, and after a few bothersome flights of stairs with luggage and getting the analogue train tickets under control, we made it to the hotel. I am so very pleased to be indulging in a spring mattress for the next few nights; my sternum and collar bones can have a rest. We then headed back out and made our way via the JR Yamanote and Toden Arakawa lines to my home in Otsuka to grab my bags and have a bite to eat. However the error in my ways was that the time flew and we had to quickly dash from my room into a cab, straight back to the JR station to not miss the last train at midnight. Luckily we got there and we were on a our way back to Shimbashi with my bags on my back. As I explained to my parents earlier in the evening that the Japanese white collar workers like to hit the drink after work and usually tumble into the last trains. Little did I plan for them to witness it on their first night. There was the obligatory man on all fours spewing his guts out on the Otsuka platform (better out than in I always say) and most of the passengers on the return journey where swaying in a boozy and unconscious manner. We were all famished by the time we got back to Shimbashi and we decided to get the 'gotta try maccas' thing out of the way now to keep things simple. 

So after driving to the airport, two flights, four trains, a tram and a taxi my wide Tokyo-eyed parents made it to Japan.