A Sunday in Winter: Roppongi and Nakameguro

Ah, what have I done, what have I done... the day started out so well... 

On Sunday one of my sharemates, the extraordinarily chirpy Wave-chan, decided we needed to have pancakes for brunch, always a wonderful way to start a day! As she works in a cafe, her cooking skills are sublime. She made miso soup with cream, and I could have seriously eaten 10 more bowls of it.

As per usual, the rest of Sunday was dedicated to another lengthy date with the ever-charming Matcha-kun. After being seduced by the adorable posters featuring Utagawa Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e, with cats in kimono, children battling fish and other such brightly coloured scenes, we headed over the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi. The exhibit is located on the 50th floor of the sky-scraping Mori Tower, and the lift is so fast that your ears pop! The collection was stunning and immense. We had to loop around to see all the gorgeous prints, with those incredible gradations of colour so typical of Kuniyoshi's work. 

I must admit, this did improve my image of Roppongi considerably. I now realize that I have always exited on the wrong side of the station, and that the Mori side is actually really quite nice! Also, I am quite impressed with the quality of pictures taken with my new keitai.

After gorging on ukiyo-e, things seemed to be proceeding back to the usual pattern of walking around/ chatting/drinking tea... which is all fine and good, but my patience finally gave out. 

And this is where the earlier 'oh, what have I done' part comes in. I may lack delicacy, but I do like to know where I stand, and what Matcha-kun's intentions are... and so on. This may have been a slightly too aggressive, pushy tactic, but I couldn't stand going around in circles. 

After resolving this strange little summit (with Matcha-kun appearing un-fased, if slightly bemused), we moved on to Nakameguro, and the famous Pizzeria da Isa, the restaurant opened by a prize-winning, Neapolitan-trained Japanese pizzaiolo. Which I almost wish wasn't as delicious and authentic an experience as it is, because it has made me a bit homesick. The decor is typical of small pizzerie across Italy: tiled walls, paper table clothes, with photos and bits of kitsch strewn about the walls and ledges. Unassuming and wonderful (the only difference, of course, being the price!).

However, since then contact with Matcha-kun has been a bit odd. He cancelled meeting at my house for lunch on the 23rd. Then he said that going to Yokohama on the 24th would be far too crowded (good point,  and he also has a piano lesson that day) and we have now agreed to meet on the 25th... and now I worry that I freaked him out! Oh dear.

In other news, since apparently a date is out of the question on the 24th, my sharemate T-chan invited me to one of her goukon... 14 v 14! Can you think of a more Japanese way of celebrating Christmas?