Day 20 July 7

Our last full day in Japan. The weather is extremely hot and our shower isn't working. Neither is the cooker. The rooms are small and this authentic Japanese living is not all it's cracked up to be. Seems the batteries are missing from the gas igniter. If I still smoked I could use a lighter.
The shower is another matter. You have to follow steps to shower one of which involves turning a crank. Can't get it to work though so we message the agents for help. But it's time to go out so step into furnace which is Tokyo. The plan is to take a leisurely stroll around the Imperial Palace Gardens but the sun is glaring down and we are really feeling it. We use wet rags to cool ourselves down. We stay just longer enough to take photos of corner of the palace.
Remake our way back to Shimokitazawa for the last bit of shopping. A great suburb with lots and I mean lots of vintage stores. Liz gets a few things but a lot of the stuff I like is either too small or overpriced. Still I found a few record stalls so I was happy. Remi came digging with me in one and picked out the Half Men Half Biscuit EP. He liked the name. The neighbourhood as so much going on you could spend days here. The rest of the family go back to the apartment while I look for this Japanese CD we first heard back when we started in Japan. Liz alls me that when she got back the apartment was like an oven. So we get 4 air conditioners going in an apartment a little bigger than my garage.
We have to wait around for the guy to fix the shower and he turns up around 6. Turns out we were doing it wrong. Shower is useless though. Two settings. Cold and scalding hot. Useless.
Have our last dinner at a great little pizza place during Happy Hour. We want to sit by the windows that overlook the shoppers on the street but that's reserved for smokers.
We take the kids home and Liz go out on a date to Poor Cow.  The rock and roll meeting place. I'm meeting Phill Calvert and his wife Julia. Phill was in the Birthday party with Nick Cave and the owner Fi Fi is excited to have him there. When I mention to him I know Bruce Milne and I'm in the band Little Murders he looks like he's going to have a heart attack. "My favourite band" and he grabs the Stop album plus photos of me when I was young for me to sign. Then we do the photos as he plays the record. It's all a bit surreal. The band Bits of Shit turn up and I have a chat to them too. It's a rock and roll meeting place alright.
A great night and a great end to the trip. Tomorrow is going to be a hard one.