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We spent our last evening in Tokyo watching football. Pretty good way to say goodbye really.

The match was Manchester United to Urawa Reds, clever Patrick got us tickets before they sold out.

We got ourselves Urawa fan tickets and arrived an hour and a half early to get good seats, looking forward all the time to clapping and singing our evening away with all the mad Urawa fans.

Unfortunately, it took almost half an hour for us to get the ball, so for the first 20 minutes, the stadium was filled with silence, broken by the occasional boo and whistle.

Not quite the atmosphere we have become accustomed to.

After Urawa scored a goal (a bit out of the blue) in the 26th minute or so, we all cheered up and sang a little, but it soon became apparent that the majority of the crowd appeared to be supporting Manchester United.

Traitors!

A little disappointing for our last Reds game.

We have already posted about 40 kilograms of crap ahead of us to China.We still are about 15kgs over the weight limit.

I was going to say “how is that possible?” but really I know it’s Patrick and his multiplying shoes. He wants to breed dogs when we get to China, don’t know why, he really should focus on shoes. His definitely multiply.

So… we are all packed. We have both been grumpy the last two days because we are both a bit sad to be leaving. We have been too busy to enjoy our last few days, which is a real pity. So many things we didn’t get to do.

I woke up on Sunday to a lot of blue sky and just a few fluffy clouds, I was sure that the heavens had smiled on me and we were going to get one last chance at seeing Mt Fuji. Unfortunately, although it was lovely and sunny here, it was raining on the mountain, so it was still cleverly hidden from sight.

Now I have lived in China a year without seeing Beijing, and have lived in Tokyo a year without spying Mt Fuji.

Ridiculous.

Not only am I already missing our lovely Tokyo life, but I am already missing my internet freedom. No more reading any news service I wish, no more blogs, no more Flickr… and no more visits to I Can Has Cheeseburger?!

I have added an ICHC picture to this post, just for when I am really missing it…

Don’t know how I will cope without Flickr. Sigh.

I can’t believe we are leaving, it just hasn’t properly sunk in.I was awoken by an earthquake this morning, probably the strongest I have felt so far. The quake was centred about 200 kilometres away, and sadly killed at least seven people. I cant imagine how scary it would be to be any closer to the centre, the thought that the earth itself could start to move under our feet at any time is hard to grasp. It does make Tokyo a little easier to say goodbye to.

I have at least said goodbye to all my friends here now, after finally meeting with Sam and Sidi this evening. Too many goodbyes!

Sidi took us to an Indian curry house in Shibuya, it was really good, really cheap AND the staff were very sweet. A pity we hadn’t found it earlier. I think it’s called Curry Plaza for anyone who is interested.

Before Sidi and Sam finished work, I met with Michael for coffee at Century Southern Tower. Before now, we haven’t been bright enough to think of going to the hotels for coffee and Keki. The view from the 20th floor bar was nice, but would have been improved if there wasn’t an unused 10 foot wide terrace blocking most of it.

The food was good though, with real mozzarella cheese in the salad, and hotel bars feel the same everywhere, so seem just a little like home.

Michael bought us the loveliest going away present too, he is an excellent present buyer.

Today was a bit of an unproductive day, as we were both a bit too hungover to want to get out and do much.

Luckily Michael took us out to dinner at a fantastic tempura restaurant in Shinjuku for dinner, so the day wasn’t a complete failure.

We sat in the tatami section of the restaurant, which wasn’t so good for our circulation, but was great for a farewell Japan dinner. It felt a little like we were eating at someone’s grandma’s house, all very cosy.

After dinner, we did our usual 30 minutes or so of wandering about trying to find some reasonable cake and coffee, and somehow ended up in a very strange cafe that appeared not to have had a customer since 1965 or so.

Walking into a shop or restaurant here always triggers a chorus of greetings and welcomes from all the staff, so we have a bad habit of sitting down in embarrassment rather than leaving a place we have decided is not quite up to scratch.

Despite the absence of customers, odd interior, musty smell and lack of edible looking things on the menu, we sat ourselves down and managed to choose a couple of cakes and drinks between the three of us. Unfortunately, this cafe also sticks to the irritating ‘everybody must order a drink’ rule that seems to apply throughout Tokyo.

It has to be the most annoying rule ever, and I don’t understand it at all. Even when Patrick and I have ordered two cakes and two pastries but only the one coffee, we have been told we have to order a drink each. $25 worth of food isn’t enough to gain a seat.

Luckily the odd cafe made for a memorable evening in all it’s weirdness, so Michael will not be forgetting us in a hurry.

Since I came to the sudden realisation that we are about to leave Tokyo, we have managed to fit in lots of time with friends.

Dan came up with the clever idea of going to the zoo on Friday, so he, Rohan and I spent an enjoyable afternoon in Ueno which included a thrilling 15 second ride on the zoo monorail.

I really should get out with my friends more, they come up with far more interesting things to do than I.

Friday evening, we went to Karaoke and discovered that Jason is an excellent singer and that Patrick can now read the English lyrics on the Karaoke screen. Now we are hoping that there are lots of English songs for Patrick to read along to in Hefei.

After Karaoke, we went to Sizzler for dinner, where we enjoyed our traditional buffet-dinner-before-leaving-a-country. We stuffed ourselves with salad and Australian beef and lamb, which might be a little hard to come by in Hefei.

Miki presented us with an amazing box full of Japanese treats, which we promised to save until we got to China. I don’t think Patrick looked really carefully, so I ate the caramel today, I don’t think he will notice.

Today we had lunch with Yumiko, who afterwards took me to an amazing craft store full of cute crafty things in Kichijoji. I am now well stocked up on materials, sewing books and patterns. So hope I can sew…

Finally, we met with Sachi and her boyfriend this evening, who treated us to a Japanese feast, a night on the town, and then the best ramen in Tokyo. Patrick proved he is very good at cheating at darts, but can win without cheating if necessary.

And best of all, after all that, my hair is still straight!