Tokyo Eats - Shinjuku area

Throughout our time in Tokyo, the majority of our visits to Shinjuku was to eat sukiyaki tabehodai (all you can eat hotpot) at Nabezo with a host of friends and visiting family. The remaining of the time was me exploring the Shinjuku Isetan and a few other shopping destinations, me meeting up for lunch and coffee with my old friend K., and our afternoon tea club hanging out at the Peak Lounge or the New York Bar of the Park Hyatt Shinjuku ^.^ So suffice to say we did a great injustice to the enormous and super dense Shinjuku and didn't explore it as much as we could and should have.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Shinjuku, Tokyo

The end of August took me to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building with my friend K. and her two year-old toddler, K.

K. and I have actually known each other since 2005, when I was a JET in Takaoka, Toyama, at the same high school where K. was teaching. She was one of the teachers I taught with and we've kept contact intermittently over the years. When hubby and I moved to Tokyo in the late summer of 2015, we met up for lunch every few months or so.

Afternoon Tea at the Peak Lounge, Park Hyatt Tokyo Part II

For March's tea session, our tea club felt like revisiting an old place, so we went back to the Peak Lounge at Park Hyatt Tokyo. This time we were seated by the window in a different corner of the room. Let's just say we fully enjoyed view we got ^.^

Hiroshima Carps versus Tokyo Swallows (Baseball), Shinjuku, Tokyo

So...on a weekday at the beginning of Silver Week, hubby's small office of 6 decided everyone ought to go watch a baseball game. It wasn't a big-name team like the Yomiuri Giants or the Hanshin Tigers but rather 2 teams we've ever heard of: Tokyo Swallows (blue green) and the Hiroshima Carps (red). The game was held at Meiji Jingu Stadium.

And let me assure you it really doesn't matter what big name teams you're watching. Going to a baseball game in Japan is an amazing experience and you should try going to one game, any game, and see for yourself.

Afternoon Tea at the Peak Lounge, Park Hyatt Tokyo

A few weekends ago at the start of Silver Week, hubby and I had afternoon tea with his colleague and her husband at The Peak Lounge on the 41st floor of Park Hyatt Tokyo. If you think the name sounds familiar, it's because this hotel was featured prominently in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation. The tea was such a fantastic experience that we decided that night there would be an Afternoon Tea Club for his office, as in we all will go out to tea one weekend a month (this coming weekend will be at the Mandarin Oriental!). 

We didn't know what we were in for, other than the fact that we would be on the 41st floor. And then the elevator door opens and we were transported to another world, complete with a mini bamboo grove!