Tokyo Last Hurrah

Here's a continuation of our travels last week. We made reservations at The New Sanno, an Armed Forces owned and run hotel in Hiroo, Tokyo a couple months ago (the reservations are that hard to get!) and stayed there from Tuesday night to Saturday morning. It was great and a little sad because it will be the last time I ever stay there. We met up with our good friends Jason and Yuko and their precious daughter Kasumi who were visiting from Misawa Air Base up in Aomori for a few days. We did a lot of sightseeing as well as celebration of Akemi's birthday. On her birthday night proper we went to Outback Steakhouse, where a troupe of cutie waitresses in various costumes sang her 'Happy Birthday' - ok, that's not very Japanese, but the night after we went out to a famous izakaya in Roppongi called Gonpachi. It belongs to a chain of theme restaurants, but there is no other like this one. It really looks like an old house, and most elements of the construction both inside and out are probably from previous disassembled antique buildings and structures. Inside looks like a village square with multiple little nooks and crannies for seating along with an extensive sashimi bar on the first floor. It's very cozy and homey (no shoes), and you're just waiting for ninjas to come crawling out of secret passageways! The food and drinks are typical izakaya-fare, with some dishes having fusion Asian-Western elements (such as the tomato-tori). Most items are fairly overpriced, but that's Tokyo for you - where every night is $8 beer night! No drinkin' with Lincoln there! Also during our trip to Tokyo we explored the Tsukiji market (site of the famous early-morning fish market - which we couldn't see because it was already 10am when we got there), Yokohama, and Harajuku/Omotesando. Here's a few pics from the festivities: