Check Out from My Stays was effortless and we made the short walk to the station stopping off at Donq to pick up some breakfast to take on to the shinkansen with us.

Train: Kagayaki 506 Kanazawa to Tokyo
Depart Kanazawa Station: 08:48
Arrive Tokyo Station: 11:20
Seats: Car 5, Seats 16D &16E
Train: E7 Series Shinkansen Maximum Speed 160mph (260 km/h)

It was a calm and straightforward two and a half hour journey to Tokyo Station. The scenery was great and I enjoyed my curry pan and sweet potato pan (not what I thought they would be - I was hoping for strawberry and chocolate), the coffee was not bad either.



















We arrived on time and took the Marunouchi Line to Akasaka-Mitsuke. From there it was a short walk to the impressive tower where our hotel for the night, Prince Gallery Tokyo was located.

Hotel: Prince Gallery, Tokyo
Room: Grand Deluxe Corner King (Club Room)
Status: SPG Gold



We sped up to the top floor lobby and whilst I was getting us checked in Ms Spymon was invited to take a seat in the lobby where she could enjoy the panoramic views across Tokyo. Check in was straightforward and took a little while as we were early and the hotel had kindly upgraded us from the Club Deluxe room we had booked to a corner room which was about 50% bigger and worth a fair bit more.



We were allowed to wait in the lounge and have a drink whilst the finishing touches were being applied to our room. Tired from the journey we opted for soft drinks on this occasion though we could have gone for champagne. Yet again the hotel staff were surprised that we'd already been all over Japan rather than just Tokyo/Kyoto. I commented that it was nice to have a view of the Tokyo Tower after our first hotel had great views of the Skytree. I was politely corrected and shown that I was looking out the wrong window as Prince Gallery also had excellent Skytree views.





The club lounge was small and well-appointed with plenty of seating including some with the amazing city views, there was also a small food and drink area but at this hour only a small selection of snacks were out, including some rather addictive chocolates. We were soon advised that our room was ready and a few minutes later we headed off. Once again we were not disappointed. As we walked down the entry corridor the blinds were automatically rising to reveal a spectacular view of Tokyo. The room was huge and in other hotels could easily have passed for a junior suite thanks to a generous living area with lots of seating space to enjoy those wonderful views. The bathroom was well appointed, though had only one sink. Storage space in the room was also excellent. A small welcome amenity of some biscuits and Japanese sweets had been prepared for us.




















Our plan for the afternoon was to head to the Meiji shrine and Yoyogi park area, perhaps grab a spot of lunch and then spend some time in Harajuku. We left the hotel and got back on the metro, this time leaving via the shopping centre attached to the lower floors of the building where our hotel was housed, making a note of potential dining options for the evening. About half an hour later we arrived at the park that houses the shrine and surrounds.





Filled with tall shady trees it was a welcome relief from the heat. After a short walk we found the main shrine and lucked out as there was a wedding procession. There is always something nice about seeing two different cultures and backgrounds coming together and we enjoyed spying on the procession for a little while.









It was time to do a little something for ourselves and after a couple of attempts we finally managed to find some kindly souls to take our picture in front of the famous husband and wife trees.







After that we left some well wishes on an Ema at the shrine and picked up some omamori for our newly married friends for good luck. We loved the sense of calm that surrounded the shrine, even if the shrine area itself was quite busy.





We walked out of the park and almost immediately found ourselves at Takeshita Street which felt like the worst of Carnaby Street meets the worst of Camden Town. It was overflowing with tourists, tourist shops, tourist food and some dubious tourist attractions.











However, as we headed further along into Harajuku and in particular Omotesando we really enjoyed ourselves. Sadly today it was my turn to get the Tokyo tummy which did slightly ruin the buzz. This part of Harajuku reminded us of the best parts of San Francisco and New York and for me that also meant some amazing shopping opportunities without the awful lines you see in London. Sadly with the amount of money we had spent on the trip there was little left for purchasing which meant that most of the shopping was of the window variety. I was in need of a new hat and that would have to do. Having a slightly large head can make hat shopping a challenge but after trying just about everywhere the BAPE Store in Harajuku came to my rescue and I finally found something that fitted perfectly. Service was strictly excellent or awful depending on your likelihood to purchase an item, however big or small. Next Japan trip if I'm not too old and I will make a confession here, if I can't good a good deal on flights and hotels with miles and points which other than our two nights in Kyoto was the case here, I would sacrifice the difference in cash for the business class flights and 5 star hotels for food and clothes shopping. I think that rule might only apply in Japan!

















We enjoyed a leisurely evening walk back to the hotel past the Akasaka Palace and the Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin Shrine which put us in a really good mood which was just pefrect as it was a shrine to bring happiness.



We had originally planned to arrive back at the hotel to enjoy the cocktail hours at the club lounge but unfortunately I got the hours wrong! Despite the food having disappeared there was still a good selection of alcohol including some quite drinkable champagne so we poured a few glasses and enjoyed the glorious views of Tokyo and treated it as apero time instead of the substitute dinner time that I had planned in.



Feeling hungry, tired and not overly adventurous we decided to check out the mall downstairs and decided upon a soba joint, Koishikawa. Yes I had been complaining about not having ramen the entire trip and as soba are buckwheat noodles which are in theory gluten free Ms Spymon was happy to oblige. Yet again I'm still none the wiser as to how the gluten in a bowl of ramen noodles is so much worse than that in pastries, but as they say you live and learn.

We were offered a table in the corner and an English language menu. We also found the restaurant had put on complementary entertainment in the form of a table comprised entirely of blind drunk salarymen. We ordered two soba sets, one hot, one cold and some stunningly good fried chicken that was crisp on the outside whilst remaining soft on the inside. When I was first returning to a more varied diet after many years of being vegetarian, chicken was one of the few things I never really understood. People would get so excited and you'd try the item, usually roast or fried chicken and outside of a curry it just tasted really bland. In Japan they do chicken right with and without the curry sauce. I washed down my food with a highball (had to have at least one in Japan!) and most certainly even without photographic evidence Ms Spymon had a ginger ale. The food was good but the lasting memory would be of those salarymen, though no doubt they probably remember less of the evening then us. We headed back to our room to marvel at those views and to prepare for checkout the next day. We'd had an amazing day but we felt a little sad inside knowing that our adventure was not far from coming to an end.













Still to come: more 5 star hotel action, more fine dining, more Tokyo and our trip home on QR and BA.