In Tokyo... Day Six – saying goodbye

It's 0620hrs on Saturday morning and I've been awake for about an hour. My mouth is dry and, fortunately, there's a bottle of mineral water in the room, left by the housekeeping staff. There's some kind of kerfuffle going on. I think it's outside of the building, but I can't be sure, somebody shouting, raised voices, some kind of altercation, but that's not what woke me up; for the past week or so I've had a dry mouth and a sore throat, not to mention a dry cough too, nothing a sip of mineral water won't cure. Either way I'm not ill – meaning I don't feel ill – and I don't appear to have a cold on the way, so all is well.

Friday (yesterday) was my last day in Tokyo. I had some business to attend to in the morning (in Osaki) but then the rest of the day was free, my job done.

A last chill-out in Precious Coffee Moments

Breakfast was at a coffee shop on Ebisu station, a quaint place, where I had a French toast and a mint tea, both very pleasant if a little unhealthy, the latter being dusted with icing sugar. When your hotel doesn't do breakfast, the only option out on the streets is to eat 'rubbish'. I say it's rubbish, that's not strictly true, but what I mean is this: I normally eat fresh fruit and porridge (as I'm sure I've mentioned in a previous post) but with that out of the question here, I'm reliant upon the delights of coffee shops, which don't always offer the most nutritious of breakfasts. That said, the French toast was really tasty and a little over-indulgent.

I was early. Very early. I left Ebisu around 0830hrs and arrived with plenty of time to spare in Osaki. It could only mean one thing: a visit to the Gate City Starbucks for something a little more substantial for breakfast. But again, it had to be 'rubbish' – in this case a cheese and ham roll heated in a microwave and accompanied by a mint tea (a 'grande' mint tea, meaning really large, but needed). I sat there reading Michel Houellebecq's Platform and writing a few notes, but also people watching. Nothing much to report as everybody was behaving themselves just like I was, sitting there with something to eat and drink, waiting, no doubt, for when the working hour kicked in. I wouldn't mind working in Gate City – basically, it's a huge building, a massive building, with offices and a central area where people can enjoy the delights of Starbucks and other facilities, including an Italian restaurant, or simply chill out at tables in the central area, eating their own lunches.

Hibiya Park, Tokyo...

Oddly, Gate City Ohsaki, as it's called, has an added letter H. Back at the train station it's plain old 'Osaki'. Earlier, at Ebisu, I nearly weakened again. I walked into the McDonald's opposite the station and seriously considered a McDonald's breakfast, but opted instead for that French toast in Antico's, the coffee shop.

Meeting over I headed back into town, not that I'd left the town. I now had free time and to be honest I wasn't really sure what to do with it; one thought was simply to hit the sack, get some sleep. I've noticed, all week, that if I sit still for a few minutes I fall asleep. The other day, actually it was Friday morning, I'd switched on the television and was watching a movie starring Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy (dubbed over in Japanese and amusing for that only) and the next thing I knew I'd fallen asleep. For a split second I was in a blind panic, thinking I might have missed the meeting, but I must have nodded off for all of five minutes.

I dropped off my case at the hotel and then hit the streets again, taking the metro to Hibiya and checking out a small park with a lake and fountains. The skies were overcast and it was 'trying to rain' – to borrow an expression from dad. It eventually did rain, but I must have been back on the metro because when I emerged the pavements were damp, but that rain itself had all but stopped. In all honesty I was tired, I could feel it in my eyes, a kind of weariness that hit me in waves as I walked along the streets. I wasn't really that bothered about my surroundings. There were lots of people milling around, looking in shop windows. I was in another shopping district of town – there are many –but it was all passing me by, I simply couldn't drum up any enthusiasm. I wasn't far from Roppongi so I jumped back on the metro and headed for one last visit to Precious Coffee Moments where I sat and read Platform after ordering a cup of tea and a small chocolate, which was wonderful. In fact, I sat there for some time, just chilling out and wishing I could simply curl up in a ball and sleep with the jazz music in the background.

The shower in room 302 – best in the world

Just before 1800hrs I headed back to the hotel and called home and then I dragged myself back on the streets to find a decent restaurant for dinner. The thought did cross my mind of returning to the Hard Rock Café, but I found a really good Italian restaurant, Sicilia. It was down some steps. Once at the bottom I was met with a bustling restaurant and I had to wait for a table. Then I was sandwiched between two couples. I sat facing a wall and perused the menu, eventually choosing a shrimp cocktail followed by Canelloni and, of course, a Suntory alcohol-free beer. It was a pleasant meal, especially the shrimp cocktail, but also the main course. I considered dessert, but there was only vanilla ice cream and I kept thinking about that awful apple cobbler the night before (see previous post). After paying the bill, I considered a mint tea at the Starbuck's close to Precious Coffee Moments, but in the end I went back to my room, too tired to chill out, and started packing things away for tomorrow's journey home.

It is now tomorrow: Saturday morning and nearly 0700hrs. I unpacked the computer and charger just to write this post.

A few thoughts on Tokyo: it's a great place, a friendly city with an efficient metro system and friendly people too. Those who say the metro is complicated or complex must be a little thick. When I arrived at Narita Airport last Saturday I went all the way to my hotel in Roppongi in next to no time and I've been using the metro a fair bit since I've been here. Being in Tokyo is a bit like living inside a fruit machine, complete with the electronic music. Everything is colourful, but the signage – in Japanese – makes everything strange until, that is, you read the English translation (normally available at the metro stations). English translations aren't always offered and then I'm reliant upon the Japanese people and only some of them speak English to a level that means they'll understand me. But listen, it's not a problem. I've been here all week and while I did have trouble in one restaurant ordering a mint tea (again, see previous posts) by and large my time here has been trouble-free and I've managed to get around and get by.

The hotel has been fine too, apart from not offering any catering bar a bottle of mineral water left by the housekeeping team. However, if breakfast had been offered, I might never have found Precious Coffee Moments.  I still don't know if I've got to pay for the mineral water*, but I'll find out in a few minutes when I check out. Not having breakfast in the hotel has been a bit of a hassle as I've had to get up early, get dressed and head out in search of something to eat. Fortunately, I found Precious Coffee Moments, which was fine, and there are plenty of Starbucks floating around too, not to mention McDonald's, but I've managed to resist a McDonald's breakfast.

Antico Caffé in Ebisu for a French toast...

The food has been good too. I've eaten two Italian meals, three if you include the pizza restaurant, and I've tried Indonesian food too and dinner in the Hard Rock Café, which was great except for the dessert. I'm beginning to think I'm a bit of a philistine, sticking with pizza and pasta and seeking out Starbucks.

Tokyo is a safe city. At no stage have I ever felt threatened by anyone or anything. There is no sense of danger, not even late at night.

I've been here one week, to the day, not really enough time to fully appreciate Tokyo. I'd like to come back and spend a fortnight travelling around, not just the city, but further afield using Japan's highly efficient rail network, which is clean and punctual.

While my hotel room is limited for space, it's been fine, and as I've said before, I prefer small rooms to large ones. A wardrobe would have been nice, though, and a window that offered a view of some sort. Frosted glass is not a good idea. I wish I could have worked out the air con system, but instead I simply opened the window to get fresh air, but this caused the wind to whistle throughout the night, although nobody complained and I got used to it. If there was a big bugbear it was the 'no breakfast' thing – that was a real pain as it meant I survived on tea and toast or mint tea and some kind of rubbish food item, like a cheese and bacon roll or a French toast, although Precious Coffee Moments did the trick on most days even if they had difficulty understanding what I meant by 'mint tea'.

The absolute best thing about the hotel was the shower. I'll say this now, and I mean it: the shower in room 302 of the Act Hotel in Tokyo is the best EVER; it's so invigorating it beggars belief and I'm looking forward to having my last shower in a few minutes from signing off on this post.

... and here is that French toast. Tasty, yes, but not particularly healthy

I'll sign off now as I need to find somewhere to eat breakfast (perhaps one last visit to Precious Coffee Moments or there's always that Starbucks – or perhaps I'll head for Uedo and get breakfast there or at Narita Airport.

You know what I'd rather do? Take a boat over to Vladivostok and then catch the Trans Siberia Express to Moscow and then a train to Brussels and the Eurostar home, but that would take a week or two and at some stage I need to be back in the office.

* the mineral water was free-of-charge (I figured as a kind of compensation for not offering breakfast). But remember one thing: nothing is free, I would have paid for that water somewhere along the line.

In Tokyo... Day Four and Five – A few ramblings

Do you ever get those days when you stop and think about the most mundane aspects of life and find them incredible? Big questions about the meaning of life take second place to thoughts about bananas. I found myself sitting in a Starbucks for breakfast – one banana and a mint tea – thinking about the fact that I was on the other side of the world (compared to where I normally reside) wide awake while most of those living in the UK were fast asleep and what's more, I was eating a banana. I eat bananas in the UK too, but here I am eating one in Tokyo. Now I know it's really no mystery how bananas get around (by ship mostly, I'd imagine) but I suppose it's amazing that wherever you travel, however far away from home you are, you can still get a reasonably good banana – and find a decent Starbucks too. Perhaps it's not good, it's bad. The fact that here in Tokyo you will find all the big brand names (Apple, Zara, Gucci, they're all here, even Stella McCartney, and let's not forget McDonald's and Subway) is testament to the success of something we're all now starting to reject: globalisation. In all honesty, if globalisation means flying for hours on end and still running up against a Claires Accessories, then I don't want it either. Although, that said, when it comes to eating out in Tokyo, there are plenty of local, Japanese restaurants. Today, however, I did find a Hard Rock Café and a Tony Roma's. I ate in the former and I can't say I've ever enjoyed ribs, they're insubstantial and they make your hands sticky.

The streets of Tokyo on Thursday afernoon...

Back home, a lot of our bananas come from the Windward Islands in the Caribbean, which normally means St. Lucia, but where the Japanese bananas originate I don't know and, quite frankly, I don't care. I'd say the fact that bananas exist in Japan is amazing if it were true, but it isn't amazing at all; they were probably brought over on a container ship.

I'm sitting in Starbucks for a reason: I wanted a mint tea and something decent for breakfast instead of that slice of toast and a milky tea from Precious Coffee Moments. Although, in retrospect, that toast would have been most welcomed, but Starbucks don't serve toast. I miss Precious Coffee Moments, but hell, it's my day off, I'm not here for a rushed breakfast before heading into a conference hall, I'm getting ready to go check out a meeting venue for tomorrow, just so that I can be there on time. But more of that later. In a nutshell, I thought I'd take it easy, chill out, take a relaxed look around town, check out the shops and then visit some of Tokyo's sights (if there are any).

Today was the first day that I felt sort of ok. All week I've been waking up in the dead of night or simply not sleeping at all thanks to jet lag. But this morning and, indeed, last night, I got a decent night's sleep and not the usual broken up affair. The trouble with acclimatising is that there's no point, it's soon time to head back home and suffer all over again. I can't say I'm looking forward to the return flight. I wasn't too keen on the outbound flight and now I've got to repeat it all again. Still, it'll be good to get back to the UK and hail a racist taxi driver to take me home. In fact, talking of racist taxi drivers, I've given up taxis for that reason alone. I don't want to sit and listen to some idiot going on and on about immigration and Brexit. As Stewart Lee said, not all Brexiteers are racists – some of them are cunts.

Hard Rock Café in Tokyo...

When I get back home I'll have to restart my exercise programme (cycling and walking) and try and stop eating cakes and biscuits. I've given up drinking, so I'm darn sure I can sort out a few cakes. I've also got to repeat my old habit of eating well, certainly enjoying a good breakfast in the morning. For the past five or six days it's been toast and tea, so everything's gone out of the window in terms of the 'usual routine'. My multi-seed porridge and blueberries for breakfast are but a distance memory at the moment; and last night, after a relatively healthy day food wise, I went and ruined it by discovering that Tokyo has a Hard Rock Café. It started off well with Atlantic salmon, mashed potatoes, carrots and brocolli, but took a nose dive when I ordered the apple cobbler, smothered as it was in a caramel sauce and garnished with a blob of ice cream. Afterwards I found a Starbucks where I purchased a large mint tea and sipped it slowly while deep in thought about God knows what. For some reason, I felt that the mint tea would cure me of whatever ailment that apple cobbler might have given me.

I fly home tomorrow (Saturday 1255hrs) and, as I just said, I'm not looking forward to it. Twelve, possibly thirteen, hours on a plane: that's a meal and three movies and then around three hours of twiddling my thumbs. Let's just say I hate it. Fortunately, I've got an exit row, like on the outward journey, which means more leg room, but these days, when I have to fly for more than a couple hours, I start to get irritated about not being allowed to fly business class. It's a boring old saga so I won't bore you with it, not now at any rate, but suffice it to say that I'd like to get a decent sleep, but I end up not sleeping at all and when I get off the other end I feel like shit. Let's not go there, it's miles too boring.

A hearty meal in Hard Rock Café...

It's getting a little confusing. Yesterday (Thursday) I sat in a Starbucks with a mint tea and a banana twice: the first time was in the morning prior to a day of checking out the city of Tokyo, first a mission to Osaki to check out where my meeting was to be held on Friday (that's today) and then I found myself in the same Starbucks last thing at night, again with a mint tea and a banana, but this time it was something to do with that awfully unhealthy dessert I'd eaten in the Hard Rock. As I sat in the Starbucks yesterday morning, I felt bad about not being in Precious Coffee Moments where, ironically, I drink tea. The reason I went there for breakfast was to move away from the milky tea and toast breakfast and eat something a little healthier, hence the banana.

On Wednesday night, talking of unhealthy eating, I found a pizza restaurant that fitted the bill of what I was looking for: it wasn't a noodle bar, there wasn't any photographs of the food outside and it was more like the sort of place you get back home – there was music, a pleasant vibe and I could relax a little, which I did. There's nothing worse than trawling the streets looking for something to eat (I do this all the time, it doesn't matter what country). The truth is I don't really know what I'm looking for, or rather I do know, but finding it is the problem. I normally look for somewhere to chill out and relax. And here in Japan it's avoiding the places with the photographs of the food and places where there's somebody standing outside cajoling passers-by to come inside. Prior to finding the pizza restaurant I'd peered through many windows hoping to find the right place, but everywhere fell short of my requirements. I was looking for ambience mainly and a place that looked like it might offer decent food and service. I don't want somewhere too crowded and noisy or too cramped, I certainly don't want photographs of the food and I won't tolerate anywhere that's too dark. I want to be able to see what I'm eating.

Sadly, all the big brands are in Tokyo...

The street on which the pizza restaurant resided looked promising. It veered off from the main street at an angle. It was dark and illuminated here and there by lanterns. It had a certain inviting nature about it, so I took a chance and strolled past small noodle bars, slightly more inviting than those on the main drag, and right at the end of the street I found the pizza place. I knew it was going to be good and took a seat at the bar, but not 'the bar' – there wasn't any optics staring at me, no upturned bottles of whisky or rum, just an exposed kitchen, masses of stainless steel, an espresso machine and pizza chefs busily working on customers' orders – although being mid-week, it wasn't that busy. It was a Wednesday night and there was only a handful of customers. I ordered half portions of two different pizzas (based on the theory that variety is the spice of life) plus a couple of non-alcohol beers (Suntory appears to be the favourite here in Tokyo. It's really good and while I've considered taking some home with me, in retrospect, I think it would be a bad idea. Nothing's THAT good). Making a decent non-alcoholic beer is an art form that the brewers have yet to perfect, but Suntory comes pretty close and, it seems, have cornered the market here in Tokyo. It was only in the Hard Rock Café that they didn't sell it (I was offered a Kirin instead).

At the pizza joint, I made small talk with one of the guys working behind the servery area. He told me he owns a Harley Davidson 883 Hugger, my dream bike, but he wants to own a Triumph (why, I don't know, but he seemed to like all things British: Jaguar, Range Rover and so on). He studied politics at university, managed to get a good job in television, but quit to return to the pizza restaurant because he couldn't hack sitting behind a computer screen all day. He now intends to make a career out of being a restaurateur of some description, much to the initial dismay of his mum who, he said, remained silent about his decision for many days before finally being comfortable with her son's plans. But I'd imagine she was concerned for his future welfare (aren't all parents carrying around that mindset?).

Personally, I always feel envious of people capable of making such a drastic decision and sticking with it, having the courage of their convictions. I would have stayed at the television job and would have certainly taken my parents' advice. I can hear my dad now advising me to stay put and not to be so silly as to think I'd have a future in the restaurant industry. I would have been grateful to have been offered the TV job in the first place, I certainly wouldn't be jacking it in to work in a pizza restaurant. But that's me. I wish I had those sort of 'guts', the guts of a gambling man, the guts of somebody with bags of self confidence. I'm always firmly of the opinion that whatever decision I take, it will be the wrong one. Not that working in the hospitality industry is a walk in the park; it's hard work and long hours for very low pay and in the UK it is often regarded as a subservient profession. That's why the Brits prefer to leave it to migrant workers who regard the low pay as alright, although now we have Brexit, let's see if those Brexiteers who moaned at the migrants for taking their jobs are willing to roll up their sleeves at McDonald's and start cleaning the fryers at the end of a long shift.

Osaki – a kind of posh version of London Docklands

Technically – although there's nothing technical about it – Thursday was a day off. I'd tried to get on a plant visit, which would have taken up the entire day, but had been unsuccessful, so the day was mine. I did need to see how easy (or otherwise) it would be for me to reach the offices of a big company I was visiting on Friday, so I set off early, first for breakfast in a Starbuck's (the aforementioned mint tea and banana) and then I explored a bit of the city. I started off at Roppongi underground station, travelled a couple of stops to Ebisu and then switched to the JR line, which is not part of the metro system, more a kind of Overground train the runs in a circle around the city, meaning I had to pay separately. It was a couple of stops, possibly three, to Osaki, which was a bit like Docklands, but slightly more exclusive, and I made my way to the building I needed to locate. It was easy: an 11-minute walk from Osaki station, so that was dry run sorted, so to speak, now all that remained was the real thing on Friday.

Later, I resisted the temptation to eat Chinese in Osaki and instead pushed on to a place called Shibiya where I found an Indonesian restaurant for lunch. After what was an enjoyable meal of chicken curry with rice and a small cake for dessert, not forgetting a non-alcohol Suntory beer, I headed back to the station and stopped off at two guitar shops, one selling Fender Stratocasters and the other specialising in bass guitars. I was there for all of five minutes before pushing on further to Shinjuki, Tokyo's answer to Oxford Street. I checked out a few stores with no intention of buying anything and when I got back to my hotel I discovered that there was a Hard Rock Café close by and headed in the general direction. It would be good to have something a little wholesome, so once seated I chose Atlantic salmon with mashed potato, greens and carrots – that was the good bit, the bad bit was the dessert of apple cobbler, which might have been fine if it hadn't been drenched in caramel sauce. A little custard would have sufficed, but no, this was just awful. I say awful, I finished the lot, it was very tasty, but it was awful in the sense of not being very healthy. I might have given up drinking, but I've got to give up cakes and sweet things too.