lioness in japan

“Babe, let’s get out of the apartment and DO something!” suggested the kangaroo in his towel as he emerged from his shower around noon last Saturday. He had a good week back in Tokyo and was itching to get out of our comfort zone.

Dates are rare for us so I was looking forward to hanging out just the two of us. But we didn’t want to spend too much money and just picked a neighbourhood to explore an hour before sunset and then hunt for a good place to chow down.

I chose Junkadelic, an authentic Mexican restaurant in Nakameguro so we took the subway down there. We wandered along the river and took in the cool breeze and sights.

The kangaroo was amazed at the abundance of hydrangea flowers in Nakameguro park. We have a few in our garden but really tiny ones struggling to bloom.

We weren’t thinking of shopping and just wanted to soak in this quaint little piece of Tokyo. It wasn’t very soon till we stumbled upon a hair salon that was giving out discount coupons, so we were like, “Let’s get a hair cut!” It was a pretty good deal as it worked out to be 8,600JPY (USD90) for a shampoo and cut for two.

That was our hairdresser, Tanaka, who spoke Japanese slowly so we could understand him. The kangaroo sometimes finds it a problem having his curly hair cut right in Asia but he had no such problems on Saturday.

I used to be afraid of non-English speaking hair stylists but I think he communicated with us patiently and it’s probably my first “Japanesey” haircut with soft bangs. My slightly wavy hair doesn’t look like that anymore but it was nice to have it styled for an evening out!

It was still pretty early when we finished up and headed over to Junkadelic, but this popular restaurant had a waiting list already. We put our names down and were told to return in an hour.

We strolled around the Kamimeguro area and found a whiskey joint, Shot Bar, and chatted about the future of Beauty Box over a g&t and white wine. The restaurant called us in less than an hour so we quickly walked back.

It was worth the wait as the atmosphere was buzzing and the food was delicious. No tiny Japanese portions here, my friends, so stuff yourselves silly! I’ve been here before once for a friend’s birthday and tried the chimichangas, so this time I went for the cheese quesilladas while the kangaroo tucked into chicken enchiladas.

How does this fit into being raw? Well, if I go out, I may go cooked with a salad on the side. The kangaroo was disconcerted when he resigned himself to having a raw partner, “We can never have chilli crab at Jumbo again. We can never have lontong at Killiney Kopitiam again. We can never…” I told him I would eat cooked vegetarian if need be when we are out but I guess it’s not the same as savouring something together.

The night didn’t end there either. We were on our way to a Tsutaya at Akasaka Biz Tower to rent a DVD but we bumped into a couple of friends on the Chiyoda line at Kasumigaseki and it whisked us off to hot new bar, Two Rooms, in Aoyama. It’s more chic than Mid-town expat joint, A971, and it’s just as “gaijin” as you could def hear more America-accented English in the air than Japanese.

I love having those random days where nothing is really planned but you have a great time anyway.

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