Rarely does any year go by in Tokyo without me finding myself on a boat in Tokyo Bay but it’s usually for a night time all-you-can-drink cruise party rather than this recent experience which was a lunchtime affair. For six months we had had some free tickets lying around the house entitling us to go on a restaurant ship and finally we used them on the very day they expired.

As ever in Japan there was a souvenir shop on board to pass through en-route to our seats where we were served up seven French courses though I always think it’s a bit of a joke to include bread and tea or coffee as a course! There were about five or six other couples dining too and, after boarding at 11:45, we set sail at midday on a very familiar route.

The menu (above) was only in French and Japanese but as ever there was too much kanji script for my liking so I put my French ability to the test for the first time since travelling in the southern parts of Tunisia way back in August 2009! Thankfully I could work out what most of it was not that I really needed to!

Two courses down before we had even gone under Rainbow Bridge and seen the interesting architectural wonder which is the Fuji Terebi (television) building in Odaiba. The bridge is naturally the highlight of any such cruise for many people, particularly at night when it’s all lit up and the darkness can hide many of the more ugly places which line the banks of the Sumida River!

The third and fourth courses both included fish of some sort amidst tasty sauces which wads a nice break from my usual style of cuisine but in all honesty not something I’m too fussed about having too often as I’m not really a fan of such fancy meals! Around the time of one of those dishes we were in the vicinity of Haneda Airport where the planes were flying quite close overhead which reminded us of our time in Naha late last year.

The white chocolate gateaux rounded things off (discounting the cup of tea which followed) which I polished off in no time. All-in-all it was lovely to dine out in less customary fashion and experience something different and eating whilst moving is certainly that. Once the meal had finished we were able to go up on deck if we wished. I took the opportunity to get some fresh sea air and to snap a few more photos.

As the cruise came to an end we passed the triangular shaped Yokoso Rainbow Tower (3-20-20 Kaigan, Minato-ku) building that I had cycled to see only a only couple of weeks earlier. Had I known I could see it on this cruise I wouldn’t have bothered hunting it down then!

Tokyo Tower, Zojoji Temple and Hamarikyu Gardens are all fairly close by and right next to Hamamatsucho station is Kyu Shiba Rikyu Onshi Garden which we could’ve gone in but I’d prefer to leave that till the Cherry Blossom season. In the actual station I made an extra effort to revisit the Mannekin Pis statue which I last saw about six years ago. It is located right down at the end of platform 3 and 4 (front end of the train). Unlike the one in Brussels this one is regularly dressed up in all manner of outfits with this (below) being the latest one.

Click here to read ‘Tokyo Daytripper: Stop! Hamarikyu Time!’

Click here to read ‘Tokyo Daytripper: Zojoji Temple a.k.a. The Wolverine Temple’