We had a fairly late start after the Disney days leaving just after 10. We were going to Tokorozawa aviation museum. Only me, Chelsea, and Jamie went as the others don’t really like planes all that much. It took an hour and a half and 3 trains to get there. Just outside the station was a plane and a memorial of sorts but we couldn’t work out what it was for. The museum was situated in a park and we saw a school trip who were having their lunch before going into the museum. It was really cheap to enter at just 520 yen per person. We had a squiz round the gift shop before heading in. It was small but informative. They had a few helicopters, a few props, and a jet, all in JSADF livery. Upstairs they had some items from WWII such as a flight suit. They also had models of their version of the wright brothers plane. They had some simulators but only one was working. Me and Jamie enjoyed pretending to be pilots on those. Downstairs the school trip had come in so it got a little busy. They had some interactive exhibits for showing you how many helium balloons it would take to lift you, a wind tunnel, and a rocket launch station. They also had a gravity emulator thing where you sit in a chair and push off from the floor and the device emulates other planets/moons gravity. We enjoyed the focus on mankinds achievement of flight rather than a have a look at these cool planes kind of museum. We had a right spend up in the gift shop, getting a few model kits, keyrings, and diecast cars.
We were pretty hungry after all of our learning so went to their cafe. I had a hot dog and onion rings and a homemade lemonade which was delicious. Chelsea had a pizza and an ice coffee. Jamie had lasagne and what was supposed to be a bottle of lemonade but you needed an enginering degree to open it. Turns out there was a little glass ball at the top that needed to be pushed inside the bottle. I managed to man handle it open and Jamie eventually got his drink.
After being fully refreshed we got the train back. Jamie went off back to the bnb and we went off to Akihabara to do some shopping. We spent about an hour and a half in one shopping center which had loads of model shops, anime figure shops, and doll shops. Needless to say we spent a lot.
We had to cut our shopping trip short as we needed to get to Shibuya to meet the others for dinner. Typical that the last shop had a trainee cashier so was confused when we wanted tax free. We made it to Shibuya ready to have Kura Sushi, the conveyer belt one, but it was fully booked! When we got off the train we saw the dog statue and had to cross Shibuya crossing to go meet the friends. We weren’t that impressed really as it didn’t seem that big or busy. We had a little wander round and found a fairly empty Italian place, a bit different to sushi but we were all agreed on it so before anyone could change their mind we went in. Restaurants in Japan aren’t set up for big groups, 4 at a max, so all holiday we’ve been having to split up into a 4 and a 3 for tables. I had a meat pizza and coke, Chelsea had asparagus and bacon carbonara and a coke. We enjoyed our meals even though I’d eaten mine by the time Chelsea’s had come out. Reece had a pizza with egg on and then had a chocolate cake for pudding. Jamie wanted one too but they’d sold out.
The friends went off to Kabukicho and Karaoke whilst me and Chelsea went home for an early night.
