Next stop was the Tokyo Fire Department and Disaster Training. We spent the next few hours being trained in what to do in the event of a natural disaster. This included a 3D earthquake film (Rory was a little scared!) an earthquake simulator, a smoke-filled maze, setting of fire extinguishers and a hurricane simulator complete with wind and rain. It was mad and all in Japanese. Kimi and friends translated. It was just like that scene in “Lost in Translation”; the woman would talk away for five minutes then Kimi would say “she says you have to keep close to the ground to avoid the smoke”. We got our certificates and souvenir photos and headed off. I have to say it was a truly unique experience.
In an amazing bout of hospitality Kimi’s friend hosted us and a good dozen of Kimi’s friends for dinner in her beautiful house. The food was excellent, even for my Veggie appetite. Major thanks to Tommy and everyone who helped with the dinner. Much was eaten and drunk and Singha told us plenty of embarrassing stories about his travels abroad with Kimi.
It was sad to say goodbye at the end of the night. We ended up going from last train to last train on the way home; traversing a few dodgy bits of Tokyo until we finally got home to our hotel.
The next morning we rose at 5am to make our way to the airport. As we checked out the woman said “you’re checking out a day early?”. No, we said. This is definetly our day to check out. As we waited for the bus we thought we might just check the dates. Sure enough we had stuffed up our days and we had another day left in Tokyo . Shocker! Back to the hotel looking very sheepish and back to bed for a few more hours. We made the best of our extra day and took a boat cruise down the river, did a walking tour around Shinjuku, checked out the posh Ginza shopping district and finally met up with Kimi and about a dozen of his friends again for dinner at an Indian restaurant. We had another last train to the last train episode on the way home. Somehow time really flies with these guys.
Finally with great sadness we caught our plane out the next morning. We really had a fantastic holiday in a large part thanks to Kimi, Singha and their friends who showed us lots of Japanese hospitality. I really hope we get to repay them sometime when they visit Ireland . Even without locals to show you around Japan is a great place to visit.
Nick
