[Inter]National Azabu, Flowers and the Sally Army

Overall today was a day of walking. Our feet are very sore and are destined for a hot bath as soon as I'm done writing this! We intended on spending a couple of Saturday morning hours at the Salvation Army Bazaar in Suginami-ku, but what with a late start, and a crap map to misdirect us, we walked around for about 2 and a half hours and didn't find the Bazaar until it was closed. Bad luck for us this time, but we actually did have a really nice walk around a typical Tokyo neighbourhood that we wouldn't have otherwise seen. We took photos of the route back to the subway so we'll know how to get there next time! The Salvation Army is located in the middle of a beautiful area with many tiny side roads lined with petite, slightly ramshackle (but attractive) houses. The housing stock is a mix of old and new, with very compact, pretty green gardens (some already in bloom). The local food shops were doing a fair business with young and old alike, and among the other shops we passed were a fishmonger, and a small electronics shop (with robo-toilet seats on display outside!).Opposite the Salvation Army was this temple. Quite stunning for a small neighbourhood. This is the kind of real Tokyo neighbourhood that we could live in (if we were longer term residents that is).


After we found our way back to the subway, we grabbed a late lunch and cocktail at "Las Chicas" Omote-Sando, and then went on to our new favourite supermarket, National Azabu! God Bless you National Azabu! After a week of local food, and trying to decypher Japanese labels, we were starting to regret not packing some of the home essentials, such as Taco Seasoning, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix(!)... and there you go: National Azabu came to our rescue. The prices here are actually quite like London prices too (unlike the elevated prices at our local supermarket). Highly recommended.

Tokyo seems to have a lot of flower shops where everything has already burst into colour, (which is very pretty for the shop, but not much good for your home the next day), so we were very happy to find this good value flower shop on Gaien Nishi Dori that sells plants and flowers that haven't yet fully bloomed! We bought three hyacinth bulbs potted together for 500yen... I'm sure we'll be back for more.