Social Butterflies!

Welcome back Ninja fans, today is Monday  which equals the obligatory blog day. I do try and blog more during the week, but lets be fair, I have a very very busy schedule and often don't have the time!

The previous week seems to have flown past -- perhaps because we were having fun, perhaps related to the consumption of beer and wine...... I think a little from column A, a little from column B.

Either way we caught up with a few peeps from Perth who had just finished ski trips in Niseko and met some locals (who I might add are essential for the best drinking holes!).

First up was Phil and Ryan who had just completed a 2 week boarding trip. Kate thought we should meet in Roppongi as it appeared to be quite a nice area during the day. At this point a distinction needs to be made between Roppongi and Roppongi Hills. The latter being the quite nice area and the former being the the Tokyo red light district. Lots of big African men asking if we would like to see a 'show', they were pretty happy to invite Kate too -- at least they didn't discriminate! Dinner was a nice curry followed by a beer at a nearby Irish pub. The pub was a rookie mistake as the pints were about $12 a pop so we just had the one and headed home.

Rod and his work mates.

Thursday we had arranged to meet a friend of a friend who had been living in Japan for about 5 years, works in IT and loves basketball (sound familiar?). Rod actually works in Roppongi (it is more a business district during the day) so led us a too a hidden gem (emphasis on hidden!) which was very much an after work drinks venue.

Koji, bottom left, needed a power nap towards the end of dinner

The work crew he brought along were fantastic value and most of them had pretty good english. Dinner consisted of plate after plate of tapas and cheap pints (about $2.50 a pop). At the time we were advised of some dishes to always order if their were no English menu's. Unfortunately the cheap beer ensured we weren't going to remember those names any time soon. The beers also ensured both Kate and I would feel average the next day!

Saturday morning we caught up with Claire and Graydon who had just finished a ski trip at Niseko too. They promised to send some info about the town, good places to eat etc.......... *cough*. Breakfast was 2 toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for me -- I am not sure why but the cheese appeared to be placed outside the sandwich and melted on top. I didn't care as they were very tasty

Afterwards, I thought I should take Kate to Nissin as she had heard so much but still hadn't seen it. Well, I think she liked it (especially the top floor) and it was only our impending ski trip that kept the damage to a minimum. Astute readers will remember my glowing reference to this fine establishment in a previous post....... well the place is even better than first imagined. For the princely sum of $5 they will deliver your groceries -- Booyah!

In any case, that is enough for this post, Sunday gets its own entry as it was a day spent travelling around the countryside.