Breakfast at Andon.

Today we took a day trip to a town North/West of Tokyo called Karuizawa. We have always wanted to visit – but now we have a reason. We were going to meet up with our friend Shinobu. We met Shinobu through our mutual love of Wilco. If you have read my previous post where we were watching The Tweedy Show in Ueno park on our first day – well that’s how we originally met Shinobu. Then we met her in real life at Solid Sound Festival (aka Wilco festival) last year in North Adams. Wilco friends all over the world!

We caught the Shinkansen to Karuizawa. It’s about an hour long trip.

The trip was a little short – we wanted to stay in the train longer.

We arrived in Karuizawa where the sun was shining – but it was a little cool, as we were in a mountainous region.

Shinobu picked us up in her super cute car and we went to the nearby shopping street for a wander.

Just off the side from the shopping street was forest with huge green trees and we went to see an old traditional Japanese house in amongst the trees.

Lunch time was rapidly approaching- so we went and lined up at the most popular place in town for soba and tempura. We waited maybe 30 minutes but lunch was delicious.

After lunch it was coffee time – we went to Karuizawa Coffee Roasting and had strong house blend coffees.

Then – ice cream! I had hazelnut and milk caramel. Steve had sesame and sweet potato. Shinobu has grape and Ive forgotten the other one. Delicious ice cream.

After ice cream it was time to see some nature. Shinobu drove us up a mountain to see Shiraito Falls. Super cool.

Was hard to capture in a photo but it looked super cool in real life.

After some omiyage (souvenir) purchases and a quick trip to a local supermarket it was time for Shinobu to drop us off at the train station for our train back to Tokyo. The day went so quick! Was so great to see Shinobu and visit Karuizawa.

Back in Tokyo, we hung out in Ueno for a bit and got dinner from a place where you grill your own seafood.

We had a wander around for a bit more, bought some things from Uniqlo before heading back to Minowa and a stop at the local bath house which is a our daily ritual – good to ease tired legs.

Oh and I nearly forgot we stopped in Taito Station game arcade to get our traditional “Purika” photo stickers – these are more fun to take than they really should be!