Emma and Ruben's Visit to Tokyo

Last weekend of February Joss' sister Emma & her partner Ruben stopped in Tokyo for a whirlwind 3 days. They had been visiting family & holidaying in Australia before returning to Italy/UK via Japan.

We caught up with them on the first night at an izakaya called Za Watami not far from our place. It had been over 4 years since Joss had seen them, and was the first time Paul & Emma had met, so it didn’t take long for the alcohol to flow. And it sure did flow. We ate a ridiculous amount of tapas-style meals along with beer which was quickly followed by about 6 bottles of sake. Ouch.

JH: And I had to work the next morning with 2 year olds. Double ouch

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Here are some photos from Paul’s fancy new camera.

Emma and Joss
Paul and Ruben with one of the many sakes.

Joss met up with Emma & Ruben the following day after work and took them to ramen and shopping before we all headed out to a Kaiseki restaurant that we had discovered on the net. Kaiseki is where you get several small tasty dishes – ours was 8 courses. It was a delicious meal which was made all the more special by the fact that it seemed we were the only Westerners ever to have gone to there! (well they made us feel that way anyway!)

One of the many tasty dishes

Out the front, where one of the very friendly staff offered to take a photo of us after they all walked us out!

JH: On the Friday I had the day off, so the three of us went to Kamakura for the day. Kamakura is an old, quintessentially Japanese town with lots of temples & gardens etc, and is only about an hour away from our place. We had a very leisurely day taking in some temples & the Great Buddha and a super long lunch.

PM: I was a bit disappointed to miss out on the lunch.

For our last dinner together Emma & Ruben were keen to go to a Yakiniku restaurant (where you cook your own meat). So we headed to Ebisu and a Yakiniku restaurant on the 38th floor of a the Garden Place Tower called Jojoen. YUM! What a great night. We had a ball - not only was the food delicious, but the view was amazing. Was a fantastic way to end their 3 day trip.

JH: Least I know that it won’t be another 4 years until I see Emma again – we are heading to Italy in late August to stay with her. Can’t wait!

Ruben, Emma and Joss in Kamakura

Emma, Ruben and Joss in Shibuya

Some of the great food grilling. Looks like Scallops, Ox Tongue and some yasai (vegetables)

The view from the 38th floor.