Tokyo 2

Day 3 was another busy day all over Tokyo. Starting from morning we met with the Iino family. Mr. Iino was another of my grandma's students from 30 years ago, and his wife and daughter, Rika. He was formerly at Mitsubishi in China and is still working for another company there. This is already one of my favorite families in the world. I haven't even met the son, Hirota, in person yet, who lives in Australia, and I already like him too. It's pretty rare for me to like entire families.




They decided to take the day off and take us for a small tour. First stop was Hozo-Mon Gate, which I think was home to some Shogun back in the day. There was also temple where people were getting their fortunes told. Afterwards was lunch at a ramenya followed by a boat ride down the Sumida River to the tokugawa family garden.





Somewhere along the way, Mr. Iino asked me where I was staying and I told him I didn't know yet but could probably stay at a Weekly Mansion in Akasuka. He then proceeded to tell me about this empty apartment they had and asked if I wanted to live there...free of charge...! It was supposed to be for Rika when she got married but that has not happened yet. Obviously, I said yes. Tokyo, being the most expensive city in the world also has expensive rent. A one person apartment would easily be over two thousand US dollars a month. They might as well have tossed down four thousand on the table for me to take.



The apartment is located in Musashi Sakai, a quiet neighborhood only 20 minutes away from Shinjuku Station by JR. It's fully furnished, with traditional tatami rooms, a deep bathtub, and a nice view of Mt. Fuji on clear days (leftside) . I don't know what else to say...