#Japan16 Kawaii Monster cafe on my last day

I woke early, remembering to switch my alarm off quickly to avoid waking the rest of the dorm, checked out, and was in Starbucks having breakfast by 7.30. They were out of granola today, so I just had cake. Amazing delicious chocolate cake! Definitely not a valid breakfast, even with a green tea to try and balance out the healthiness.

I took the subway to Kyoto station, and tried to reserve a seat on the Shinkansen. I asked in 100% Japanese. The lady replied in English that it was fully booked, and so was the next one, but I could ride in the unreserved carriage (they split the carriages in Japan. There's no special difference except that reserved carriages are more numerous - about 70% of the train- and less crowded. Locals have to pay extra to use them) I was doubtful that there would be room in unreserved, but thanked her anyway and gave it a try.

I was in luck. An older Japanese lady and I had three seats to ourselves and our luggage, and after she left I was able to take the window seat and charge my phone as we travelled. As with all Shinkansen trips where there are no children in the seat behind you, the journey was painless, and as I got off the bullet train for the last time, I received a bow from the cleaning staff whom I had seen preparing the train only little over a week ago.

I dropped my stuff which I didn't need immediately at another capsule hotel, and  got the train into Tokyo's Harajuku district. It felt good to be back. The public transportation was much easier as I could use my JR pass, and I didn't get lost at all after finding the hotel.

Just off Harajuku's Takeshita Dori (that's Japanese for street) on the fourth floor of an innkcuous tower was the themed pop-up restaurant Kawaii Monster Cafe. I knew I was in the right place, both from the lurid pink and purple walls, and the twenty minute queue.

This was the main reason I'd returned to Tokyo early though, so I was in no rush, and eventually I came to the front of the queue. Luckily I had picked up this useful voucher from another blog. It meant they waived the 500y table charge!

You're welcome!

The waitress was wearing a bold black and white striped dress with a bright pink half-Apron that was shaped to look like it was dripping gunge. In the wall behind her two glowing eyeballs rotated underneath the welcome sign. She asked if I was ready. I nodded "hai!" And she opened the doors into the gaudiest plastic paradise you have ever seen. A giant roundabout with ponies and bananas and candles on it like a cake was slowly spinning around. In one corner the wall was plastered in giant lips. In another giant rainbow mushrooms sheltered diners. In a third a giant bunny and a unicorn with glowing eyes drink milk from baby bottles through tubes. It was bizarre. I got seated in a section near the creepy milk drinking unicorn, where the wall was covered in shards of glass like a crazy mirror at a circus. I ordered the salad (because it was vegetarian, and also the cheapest item - bonus! - at a mere 700y) and a cup of hot tea. In Japan it is essential that you specify I you want your tea hot or iced, because both are equally acceptable. I've also been offered milk for my green tea. Eww!

As I waited, I snapped photos of the Harajuku paradise. I spied two Harajuku girls among the waiting staff (I assume they were girls, the second was too androgynous to tell, and by the time I left I was convinced it was a guy) The first had an enormous mauve wig, and a pink skirt- bandeau top combo, the skirt seemed to be made out of fluffy tails stolen off cuddly toys, and a lilac veil hanging off the back. Around her left wrist she wore a bracelet made of baby shoes, and her makeup seemed to be 60% glitter. She delivered my salad, speaking to me rapidly in Japanese with a high pitched child-like voice, and posed cutely for a photo, although it came out blurry in the low light. I believe her character name is Baby.

Really take your time to absorb everyhting that's going on with this outfit.

All of this was to a soundtrack of pulsing J-pop, it was like having lunch in a night club, utterly surreal.
The other character, Candy I think, wore leggings with a print of lips and French fries (as in, chips) and a fishnet top with a translucent neon plastic safety vest over it. They had an alligator backpack, all manner of facial piercings, and the sides of their hair cropped short with hearts painted on it. The long portion of their hair and the fringe was dyed lurid neon colours and they wore thick black eyeliner and day-glo makeup. Are you able to picture how bizarre this is yet?



After my 'Candy salad' (which was actually delicious and quite healthy feeling), I had a small 'Poison cake'. I don't know whether this name was due to a bad translation, or part of the monster theme. Either way, the base of it was a chocolate cupcake which reminded me of my own baking (it was dry and flavourless) with a blueberry sauce core, and piled high buttercream orange and blue icing. Typically of the Monster cafe the orange and blue were very vibrant clashing shades, but it didn't really taste of anything.

and of course, it came in a bell jar

Shortly after I had polished off my cake as slowly as I could (and I did enjoy it ultimately), the reason I had been taking my time paid off. The lights dimmed, and the pink-black and white waitresses summoned all of the diners to gather around the roundabout. Baby walked out in a spotlight with an LED tambourine to an even louder soundtrack. She danced a circle around the roundabout before being joined by Candy who did the same. They got up on the roundabout striking poses and wiggling their hips, which was a bit weird in Candy's case as they had no hips to speak of. They alternated dancing on and off the roundabout, sometimes riding on the little creatures on the roundabout, sometimes making monster claws like in the Michael Jackson thriller video. The regular waitresses joined in with the latter. There was also some orchestrated clapping to the beat (Yes I joined in!) and then some blonde girl got pulled up on the roundabout and given a tambourine. She was completely ordinary looking and appeared so out of place (and uncomfortable) there I felt quite sorry for her. It was bizarre, I think the whole performance lasted about five minutes and then everyone went back to their tables. I paid my bill and got a photo of Candy and Baby who were still posing on the roundabout (Candy was riding a banana but I think it was innocent). I emerged into the daylight feeling utterly bemused. It was awesome!

Like five-year-old Sophie's dream come true

It's no less weird than I decribed, is it? This is the famous
roundabout, and yes s/he is straddling a banana

 Next I got the train out to the quiet Tokyo suburb of Gotoku Ji, where I promptly got lost and wondered into a quiet Buddhist shrine where the locals looked confused to see me. I got my old friend Google Maps on the case (by now a permanent fixture in my internet tabs on my phone ) and soon made my way to Gotoku Jis biggest tourist attraction - a cat temple!

The wrong temple

I wanted to visit this temple so that I could better understand the significance of that famous Japanese Icon - the beckoning white cat. Unfortunately there was no English signage, nor any tourist guides there, but the story behind it is (roughly) thus: Many centuries ago, a shogun was travelling across Japan one evening when a storm broke. He took shelter under a tree from the rain, when he saw a white cat beckoning him to a temple. He followed the cat, and as soon as he left the tree, it was struck by lightning and fell down. The beckoning cat had saved his life, and has ever since been a symbol of good luck.

I took a few photos of the cats, the attractive pavilion in the temple grounds, and the by now ubiquitous beautiful cherry blossom (I was right about the timing when I first started my visit!) and got the local train back to Shinjuku, collecting a station stamp featuring the cat on my way.

High five... no?

At Shinjuku I wandered around for a little while, deciding it was not a very touristy area due to a) the way the locals looked at me and b) the lack of English menus. I was determined that my last meal would be Japanese and eventually found a tempura place. The guy sat next to me was probably younger than me, some kind of skater dude, but he had tattoos! I hadn't seen this before in Japan, and my only contextual knowledge of tattoos was that the wearers (owners?) were banned from most Onsen due to their connection to Japanese gang culture. I gave him sidelong looks as he slurped his Miso soup. He looked pretty harmless to me... He paid his bill and left almost as soon as my food arrived, so I guess I'll never know, but I doubt it somehow!

The tempura was very nice. I had the set meal with Miso soup (I was too scarred by the clam experience to drink any more than was the minimum to be polite), rice, pickles (my favourite!) and a nice green salad of unknown vegetables. I suspect it was garnished with dried fish flakes but what could I do? My diet in Japan was appalling enough as it was!

I returned to the capsule inn around 19:30, planning an early night. I was told my pod number but wasn't given a key. There was no locker! There were tiny shoe lockers, and my boots got locked away, but the reception desk kept the key for that. I was really uncomfortable with the arrangement, but dragged my bags up to my locker and crammed us all in. Again I unpacked everything, prepared the next morning's clothes, and re-packed. Once the noise in the dorm tailed off, I went to sleep. At 11.30 I woke up when the girl in the pod below me unpacked. She took absolutely ages unpacking and repacking a large suitcase. I fell back asleep at thirty minutes past midnight, only to be re-awoken half an hour later by two more girls moving in.
Finally 5am came, and I got up for my flight. I took the monorail to the airport, and that was the end of my adventures in Japan!

#Japan16 first day in Tokyo

Cover Photo: Ueno Park, Tokyo

After spotting whales in the ocean from the plane, and admiring the impressively square, small, identical fields that were very unlike those in England, I landed at 9.30.


I collected my rail pass, and wandered around Narita airport for an hour, impressed to actually see the famous Japanese vending machines in the flesh, and trying not to feel too concerned about so many people wearing protective facemasks!


I boarded the Skyliner train, which was shockingly five minutes late (I assumed I must have somehow missed it, as I'd been assured that Japanese public transport is never late!) and it was a beautiful shiny pointy blue train, which didn't stop nattering in Japanese for a good ten minutes into the journey!I only realised after looking at the map I was given with my Skyliner ticket that I could have saved myself Y1,200 by just getting the subway into the city. I'll write the unnecessary expense off as 'an experience'. It was cheaper than the Narita Express (another train, and my original plan)!

Ｓｅｌｆｉｅ　ｏｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｒａｉｎ．　Ｉ　ｈａｄ　ａ　ｌｏｎｇ　ｗａｙ　ｔｏ　ｇｏ　ｔｏ　ｍａｓｔｅｒ
　ｔｈｅ　ａｒｔ　ｏｆ　ｃａｐｔｕｒｉｎｇ　ｂｏｔｈ　ｍｙ　ｓｅｌｆ　ａｎｄ　ｍｙ　ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔ　ｉｎ　ａ　ｓｅｌｆｉｅ

I spotted a red and gold pavilion in the distance, Japanese boys playing baseball (a popular sport in Japan apparently) and later a lone 'sakura' cherry blossom tree, as we sped into a surprisingly hot and sunny Tokyo, I actually feel like I'm on holiday! Wish I'd taken sun glasses...

The Skyliner terminated at Ueno, and Ueno park was on my list of interesting places, for its Sakura, and its zoo. The Sakura was just starting to bloom. I think it will be perfect by the end of the week! I went to the peony garden where there was a stunning elaborate Chinese gate. I have decided Japan is Disneyworld for photographers. The 20th March also happened to be Ueno Zoos anniversary (it's one of the oldest zoos in Japan) so it was free entry! I'll mentally deduct that Y600 off the cost of my Skyliner ticket. Ueno zoo has a pair of giant pandas, and my best friend loves pandas,  so I joined the immense minute queue to see it. (similar to when I returned time and time again to the red panda in a previous blog about Scotland's Highlands Wildlife Park)!

Ｑｕｅｕｅ　ｔｏ　ｓｅｅ　ｔｈｅ　Ｇｉａｎｔ　Ｐａｎｄａｓ

Ｅａｒｌｙ　Ｓａｋｕｒａ　ｉｎ　Ｕｅｎｏ　Ｐａｒｋ

I saw both pandas. There was no way not to. As Japan's oldest zoo, Ueno zoo has worryingly small enclosures. After seeing a mopey toucan in a cage less than five metres cubed, a balding bear, a seal with two weepy eyes, and a polar bear writhing on the floor in a way suggestive of a mental breakdown on this hot sunny day, I'd had enough. I'm glad I didn't contribute financially to keeping it running. It was interesting from an anthropological perspective though. I was pretty much the only 'western' tourist there, so I got good photos over everyone else's heads! The crowd oohed and ahhed every him the animal they were watching moved, like they were at a fireworks display! There was also the ubiquitous photo taking. Of animals, of selfies, of signs for animal enclosures, of selfies with signs...

Ｒｉｒｉ　ｔｈｅ　Ｐａｎｄａ，　ｐｈｏｔｏｇｒａｐｈｅｄ　ｏｖｅｒ　
ｔｈｅ　ｈｅａｄｓ　ｏｆ　ｍｏｒｅ　ｌｏｃａｌ　ｇｕｅｓｔｓ

Next stop was Asakusa, for my hostel. I chose this hostel on the basis that it won a Hostelworld 'Hoscar' as best hotel in Japan (third best in all of Asia). It's a nice hostel. Bright, large, friendly, with brilliant maps and guides for anywhere you want to go. I also collected my WiFi dongle so I can get maps online and don't need to worry about asking for directions by simply saying "konichiwa, <insert destination here>" in a pleading voice! (although it has worked marvellously so far!)


Next, on to Shibuya, the famous crossing in Tokyo's version of times square. It was a good "Wow, I'm really in Tokyo!" moment, people were walking across backwards, filming themselves on selfie sticks. J-pop was blaring out into the streets over the soundtracks of giant video billboards. I entered a shop which was a bit like HMV - only, being Japanese, half of the music was J-pop, and half of the books were manga. I went to the top to get a good view of the crossing. It was pretty impressive.

Dodging japanese girls (and women!) taking selfies with boyband posters, I then wandered to the nearby Ｙｏｙｏｇｉ park, where I had read I could spot a traditional Japanese wedding! I was out of luck, as it was early evening by the time I arrived, but I did get lucky with some very atmospheric low light shots of the Ｍｅｊｉ　Ｊｉｎｇｕ　temple, and I also saw a lot of fascinating ｈａｒａｊｕｋｕ　ｇｉｒｌｓ！! The park had a few performers dotted around, reminding me of London's Covent garden, and unlike Ueno was a forested sanctuary. Definitely my kind of park!

Ａ　ｖｉｅｗ　ｏｆ　ｍｏｄｅｒｎ　ｔｏｋｙｏ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ　ｔｈｅ　Ｓｈｉｎｔｏ　Ｇａｔｅ

I followed the crowd to the metro station, and eventually returned to Asakusa in the dark, where I climbed (don't ask me why) the eight floors of stairs to the top of the Asakusa Tourist information centre. From here I got fantastic views of the Asakusa's principal attraction- the Senso-Ji temple with it's elaborate gate, and the Tokyo Skytree (Japan's tallest building)．
After that I couldn't resist a visit to the temple. It was a lot quieter and arguably more atmospheric at night, and I got some terrific photos, even though night photography has never been my strong suit.

Ｇｒｉｎｎｉｎｇ　ｌｉｋｅ　ａ　ｌｏｏｎ　ａｔ　Ｓｅｎｓｏ－Ｊｉ　ｇａｔｅ

Ａ　ｐｈｏｔｏ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｅｍｐｌｅ　ｉｔｓｅｌｆ

With all my buzzing around Tokyo, I hadn't had time to eat more than a cookie (which I had to quietly stuff info my mouth as eating in public is not accepted in Japan) but the lovely lady at the hostel gave me directions to an indian restaurant ("they always have vegetarian options") everywhere else was already closing at 8pm, but I had a delicious 'laasi' drink (it was very different to any laasi I've had before), a spinach Dahl curry and an immense naan to eat whilst I watched cringey indian music videos and tried not to inhale the second hand smoke of my fellow diners cigarettes. It was a nice place, and I would happily return if I wasn't seeking more authentic Japan.