24. The final night in Tokyo

The cruise at the end of Odaiba took us to Asukusa, at the dock is the home of Asahi, amongst other things they make beer (they also run a newspaper, the Asahi Times). The building is literally shaped like a glass of beer with a head on top. Up top you can go for a beer with a view out over Asukusa. There is a pretty cool view of the five-storey pagoda. It also gives you a good view of the sprawl. Oh and the beer wasn't bad either.

To finish the night off, we decided to go local. We had a guide book telling us to go to a place called Kagaya and coincidentally Carolyn's friend Natalie was also advising us to go to Kagaya too. However, they were totally different places! The place we went to is in the alleys of Shimbashi and after going past several hostess bars (Dream Girl and Fantasy Honey come to mind) we arrived at Kagaya which is a tiny bar selling Yakitori. Apart from the waitresses, the room is packed with men, all salarymen and only a few minutes after sitting down, a salaryman comes falling down the stairs. I made the "drinkies drinkies" motion to the owner saying "Too much shochu" and got a laugh. After this he decided to have a bit of a chat with us, well with Carolyn at least, and when we mentioned Natalie, he pulled her card out of his wallet and from there it was the silver service treatment.
The food was quite nice and I decided to try a combination of Hoppy and Shochu. Hoppy is a low alcohol beer mixed with Shochu which is almost a vodka style drink, but is only 26%. Not bad and quite cheap which is probably why it is a popular drink in the post-bubble Japan.

As we got up to go, Kagaya pulled us over to sit down and have a drink with him. He had a sample bottle of shochu for us to try, telling us to drink up, you won't get a hangover. I didn't end up with one, but at the same time, I am sure enough will. After a few drinks and telling him it was our last night he:

1. Bought us food for breakfast
2. Gave us the rest of the Shochu to take
3. Gave us an umbrella to keep (it was raining by then)
4. Gave us dinner for free

I know I mentioned that the Japanese were generous people, but this was exceptional, a great way to finish off the week.