Sachi and I have been around in the past few days. Yesterday was Sachi’s birthday, so we celebrated. I stopped by Mitsukoshi to pick up a few snacks; usually called “baby castella,” a kind of specially shaped pound-cake mini-snack, except these are filled with maple or caramel-flake flavors, very nice. Plus a bouquet of flowers from a nice florist, not the usual market florist. Then we went to a local “spa.”

It’s not that it isn’t a real “spa,” but more that it is a combination of spa and local bathhouse. These are relatively common, in that you might find one around even medium-sized train station shopping areas. We’re talking about a place that occupies at least three floors of a local building; one floor is set aside for the lobby and men’s baths; another floor exclusively for a more expansive women’s bath; and a third floor for a general-service area, with massage rooms and lounges.

This one is called the “Resta Spa,” though Sachi and I visited a similar spa in Fuchu that was nearly identical. You pay a nominal “introduction” fee (around $20), and another nominal fee for being in the spa for up to 5 hours.

Then you can opt for various services, like massages or aromatherapy. Sachi chose for a varied package of services lasting more than an hour, and I just got a 20-minute back massage (you have to be specific about what kind of massage, and it can be great).

There is a relaxation room with powered first-class chairs with TV units built in, but I could leave that behind easily–unless you enjoy listening to old guys snore heavily, I am more relaxed in bed at home.

We went home, and I gave Sachi the earrings I got for her main present, then we went off to a very nice restaurant downtown–the Oregon Bar & Grill in Shiodome (unfortunate motto: “Do Me”) City Center in Shinbashi.

A bit expensive, but very good food–one of those multi-course dinners. The view was from the 42nd floor over all of Tokyo, though had I made the reservations well in advance we might have gotten the choice seats looking over Tokyo tower and Roppongi–not that the view over Ginza we had was bad one.

Today, we had a lazy sleep-in day, followed by a visit to Sunshine 60 Cruise-Cruise restaurant, one of the first in a series of visits to places to find a good location for our wedding party this September (though the official stuff gets done next week). A lot of restaurants have special setups for wedding parties, and we’re looking into what the best ones are for our needs and budget. We had a talk with the coordinator there, about costs for various rooms with meals and packages (rental outfits, ceremonies, cakes, dinners, photos, etc.) We’ll visit a few more in the coming weeks to see which one can give us the best deal.

After that, we went to a new favorite Izakaya–a popular Japanese dining format, a restaurant that serves lots of smaller dishes to large numbers of customers in big and/or partitioned common rooms. We’ve tried a few in this area, and found bad ones and good ones. A bad one was a place called “Tapa Sunshine Street”; we went there for a nice meal once, and instead got shafted. Went in the door, got seated in a corner among noisy, smoking groups, and were given our introductory snack. You think that it’s a complimentary snack, but it’s really a cover charge. We ordered beers and those were served promptly–they want you to drink as much as possible as the beer is where they make most of their money. But when we waited more than 40 minutes and none of the ordered food arrived, we got fed up and left–to have to pay about twenty bucks for a glass of beer and a bad snack each. Horrible service.

But we found a much nicer place: Nijyu Maru–though it might be ironically run by the same corporation that owns that “Tapa” dump, it’s a much better-run izakaya. You get seated at your table and use an LCD touchscreen tablet to order food. When Sachi and I ordered, the food came almost too quickly; expecting a wait, we ordered everything we could eat at once the first time we were there, and suddenly found ourselves swimming in an abundance of dishes. Tonight, we ordered more leisurely, and got everything in good time. The touchscreen tablets are easy to use (and becoming the rage in Japan, it seems–more and more places we visit use them), and the food they serve is delicious (especially the Negima yakitori, salted). What I like is the fact that the cigarette smoke is less offensive than most places. Most izakayas are smoking dungeons; after leaving this place, we could still smell the cigarette stink on us, but not nearly as badly as most izakayas, and we didn’t notice it much at all while there. Somehow, the seating and/or the ventilation keep it from becoming too offensive. The prices are reasonable, too–$30 per person for two beers and a more-than-satisfying set of dishes we ordered.

So, a nice birthday weekend for Sachi, and, for that matter, for both of us.