Sean's leaving in a couple of weeks and it's amazing how this has made us so much more aware of and appreciative of our time together. Since there were no classes on Friday due to an undergraduate student retreat, we planned to spend an entire day enjoying the city and each other. It felt like one perfect day and so far it's been my most favorite day in Tokyo since I arrived.
We lucked out with the weather - it was sunny and clear with temps in the 70s - and decided to spend the morning hiking up Mount Takao. This small mountain is just about an hour outside of the city and can be reached easily by train. It's a pretty touristy and famous mountain but also has some more off-the-beaten-track trails to take to the top as well. We packed some snacks and a change of clothes for the second half of the day and headed to the trailhead.
Hiking was beautiful and our trail took us up alongside a mountain stream with plenty of waterfalls. When we got to the top we had great views of the city and also of Mount Fuji in the distance. We enjoyed a sushi picnic lunch with beers and people-watched tourists and hordes of school children on class trips. We took the paved, touristy trail down so we could visit some of the temples and monkey park and then ended up taking the chair lift the rest of the way so we could save time and get on to the next adventure.
Back at our train station we changed clothes and headed to Shibuya in downtown Tokyo where we hung out at Cookie Time, one of my favorite restaurants from New Zealand. This had recently opened in Tokyo and we enjoyed New Zealand coffee, cold milk on draft and fresh cookies. It was a delicious stop and fun to reminisce about our time with the Kiwis. After that, we headed to a few specialty shops in Harajuku nearby as Sean wanted to pick up some gifts to take home. We had fun looking at sake sets, sushi magnets and bonsai growing kits. Tokyo does not lack for souvenirs in the least.
Conveniently, we were nearby to the next stop of the day, a lecture at the United Nations University where the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, was giving a talk on the potential for soft power diplomacy in peace building and conflict prevention. One of the bonus of attending the talks was that they always serve fancy drinks and snacks for free after - delicious!
We finished up our one perfect day at an opening of a new craft beer market with Sean's ultimate frisbee friends. I haven't spent much time with them at all and it was nice to get to know them and hear about their upcoming beach tournament (where Sean currently is now).
This year, we'll be apart from each other on our anniversary (5 years!) but we already know what we want to do in September to celebrate it belatedly - a guided climb up Mount Fuji - I can't wait!
Wow! That does sound like an awesome day!
Hi sarah! I would like to contact you to ask some questions concerning the peace fellowship because I wish to apply. Looking forward to your answer, Regards! Lili (from Argentina)