In a valiant attempt to get over today’s homesickness, I’m finally getting round to writing about the first week or two’s many nights out in Tokyo with friends! I’m just going to do them all as one big post so prepare for another photo bombardment! 😀
First of all Bekah and I went out for a crazy night on the town on the 27th of September, just 2 days after I go here and 1 day after she got here! We wanted to go to a Cat Cafe we had found online, but even though we had checked whether or not one needed to book on their website, we managed to pick the one night that they had a party booked! So we had to settle for Macdonalds and the arcades instead. We had super crazy melon soda floats and the first thing we could read on the menu that didn’t sound terrifying; a McPepper, which was just a chicken royale with loads of black pepper in the batter coating bit. After we had finished our crazy food we found an arcade and had a wail of a time! We saw the Monster Hunter pig racing game that Mitch had shown me ages ago so we had a go; Bekah was really good at it! Basically, you put your hands on either side of Mr. Piggy and rock him back and forth to make him run, and tilt him to make him turn. You pretty much just look like you’re trying to have sex with a plastic pig the whole time so it’s pretty hilarious! We even gained an audience; they all had ‘look at those stupid foreigners go!’ written all over their faces haha! We also played some airhockey. We thought we were in for a safe bet with this one, you know, take your defender thingy and hit the puck back and forth. No. After the 2nd or so goal millions of tiny pucks descended onto the pitch and took us completely by surprise! So there again were 2 idiot foreigners screaming with fear and delight all in one breath desperately trying to move our hands as quickly as these tiny beasts were flying around the table. Have some pictures!
Bekah with our melon soda floats
Me and the drinks of garish green!
The pigs we humped for 10 minutes or so.
The lift of the Sega building we were in 🙂
See those little pucks in the holders on the right? Yeah. We didn’t.
Next was the weekend I spent with Sam, Bekah and Alex and Ethan at random points! I went to The Pokemon Centre with Sam and Alex and Ethan on the Saturday afternoon which was really awesome, I had been before but it’s fun every time! I knew I wanted to buy a 3DS but I wasn’t sure about the XL (LL in Japanese) or the normal one so I didn’t get it that day, but I bought an adorable plush Pokemon keyring, a notebook, some stickers and a postcard 🙂 We then all went to Akihabara to do some exploring to see if we could try out the 2 different sizes of DS but nowhere did them. In the end we went and had some drinks in a little cafe and split up after that. Sam and I went back to his for dinner and I stayed there the night; it was a lovely little flat and Sam had a tatami room so it felt very traditional 🙂 We stayed up far too late but we also managed to order my SIM card online, for which I am grateful everyday; being able to text people while I’m out and about is really wonderful and having the Google Maps app is really useful for the trains, because they don’t seem to do maps much in Tokyo so unless you know the direction you’re heading it’s hard to find the right train! The next day we met up with Bekah to go to the Pokemon Centre again because Bekah and I had decided to get a 3DSLL for definite 🙂 I got a black and silver one and Bekah’s is baby pink and white :3 We hung out for a while, went back to Akihabara in search of chargers and stuff and then Sam went home and Bekah and I went to try the Cat Cafe again! Just before we split up though, this little Japanese lady came over with a mini clipboard and silently handed me a scrap of paper with some gibberish about saving children on it. I said to her in Japanese that I didn’t know what she wanted and she stared at me and then jabbed at her list of ‘donators” names… it was really weird, she wouldn’t go away but she also wouldn’t talk either! Eventually I said that I wasn’t giving her anything and she just stared at me with this creepy expression for a good 10 seconds before sort of shaking her head and shuffling off… Scammers are weird in Japan it seems!
Anyway, Bekah and I then headed back to Ikebukuro for the Cat Cafe and this time they had space! You take off your shoes and go in, then the lady gives you a thing to put round your neck with the time on (as it costs per the time you’re there) and then you pop your stuff in a locker and are finally let loose with the kitties!! It was brilliant, but they don’t half know who has and hasn’t got treats! It was very relaxing and just what I needed when I was feeling homesick; warm fluffy things to fuss over :3 Sadly they were all taken on my phone so they aren’t that snazzy, sorry about that!
The Pokemon Centre
I think Pikachu needs renaming to ‘Creepachu’ here
My old DS compared to my new one; just a little bigger!
Akihabara station
The entrance cat/lion
‘Feck off’
The biggun
This one was a right treat fiend!
This was my favorite kitty
His fur was the softest
Another biggun
Bekah’s favorite cat…
Hey pretty!
Sooo cute
Bekah’s cat loved to play 🙂
Their little drinking fountain
We wanted to steal it.
Paws
More paws
Monorail cat
He’s so big he doesn’t even remotely fit in that basket! 9 kilos he weighed.
A random hello kitty shop on the way home
Next up is the night I met up with one of my Uni but not really Uni friends from England (he came to London for a little while but he’s studying in Aberdeen). He’s doing a study abroad thing for a little while here. We met up in the evening on October 3rd and looked for somewhere to eat. Naturally we found a ‘British Pub’ and just had to go there! If I’m honest it was very un-British but it was good fun! We ordered Pizza, fish and chips, edamame, quail eggs, and drinks! The pizza had no cheese, just mayo, potato, mushroom and some other sauce! However, the beer that Mike ordered was pretty spectacular! Bekah and I went home to mine afterwards but we missed the last train from Musashi Sakai (the station where you switch to get the local line to my station) by about 2 minutes. We got a taxi instead but it was pretty pricey; 2000 yen for a 10 minute drive But the driver was really friendly, we chatted about food and he taught us a cool word – Yamisuki; やみ好き which means when you stop liking something because you eat it too much! We need a word for that in English because I do that all the time! Have some more pictures!
The pub front
Oh, Hi there Mr. Scary wolf
My kiwi cocktail
Mike looking very proud of himself
Here we go!
How did such a skinny person fit that much liquid inside himself?!
Saturday October 5th is my next interesting installment. Bekah and I wanted to explore Shibuya, the place famous for its gigantic and super busy crossing and all the department stores you could wish for! We started off with a Starbucks in a big media shop called Tsutaya which sells books, CDs, DVDs, games, magazines etc etc. The view of the crossing from there was great so we chilled with our lovely matcha frappucinos (which I have sort of become a little addicted to….). We then went and explored the shops! I finally found a diary which started from October this year and it has so far been the most useful diary I have ever had, it’s brilliant! I also got the first Harry Potter in Japanese and Bekah bought some books and magazines too 🙂 We wandered around a department store called 109 and found some wonderful fashion bits and bobs, none of which we could pull off xD We also went for a wonder around the Disney store, which felt far more like a boutique than the ones in England; I feel a bit silly looking in the English ones because they’re so geared for kids, but this one really didn’t feel aimed at kids at all! We also found a One Piece (a pirate anime) shop which I dragged Bekah round but somehow managed to resist all spending urges! There were plenty of other bits and bobs that we found in the shops that day, like merchandise from popular apps and even ‘Annoying Orange’ plushies….! We ate ramen and had french toast in a cafe. All in all it was a pretty rocking shopping trip!
Yummmm
The busy Shibuya crossing, I think it looks even better when everyone has their umbrellas out!
Yes Engrish.
Unicorn hats!
Fun mirror ceiling
Delicious
Just a pretty building
A giant Teddy
The outside of the store was just a bit recognisable!
The Disney boutique
Inside the One Piece shop
Inside the One Piece shop
It’s so weird to see a silly video on youtube turned into merchandise!
Robots acting as advertising for an overpriced robot cafe 😛
Our french toast
And there comes my first 2 weeks or so to a close. I hope you enjoyed the random snapshots of Tokyo! Oh, and I’m really chuffed with this new grid photo thing, it saves a lot of scrolling! Let me know what you think 🙂
Maisy x
Maisy In Japan 