Tokyo

Took the subway to the heart of the city to spend a day exploring. All a bit much after spending the last few days in laid-back Kyoto and something of a culture shock. Decided beforehand that we wanted to hunt out Muji to see how it compared to the London stores we were used to. Spent hours walking in circles trying to find it but happening upon lots of other nice stores and taking lots of pit stops along the way. Eventually found it and shopped till we dropped! Everything was a third of the price of London, and at one point we had to take ourselves to a quiet corner to wonder whether we’d be able to fit it all in our suitcases.

Walked around the computer district to see if we could find any bargains but the loud music and constant hustle and bustle was too much for the senses and we had to move on. Ended the day in a huge department store on what we didn’t realise was Sanbai-gaeshi (White Day), also known as triple return, where men who received a gift on Valentines Day from their partners return the complement and give gifts worth three times that they received. Had a good chuckle in the fancy dress department with Paul trying on the sequinned fish outfit – to the delight of the locals.