Apologies for the delay in posts, the last two days we’ve had in Tokyo have been very “hurry, what else haven’t we seen or eaten and what do we want to go back and do one more time!?!? ahhhhh!”

Needless to say, these days flew by very fast but were very fun! So much fun that we don’t have very many photos to show for, but I will do my best to share and explain everything!!!!

We decided that Day 11 would be a day to do nothing but last minute shopping for ourselves and for gifts kind of day.. so we started at Harajuku and walked to Shibuya. Nothing very new to take pictures of, BUT a notable mention was these cheese tarts we happened upon in Shinjuku subway in the  morning. A small but significant queue of people were waiting to buy these, and of course in Japan (or any asian country or area) this means that the product must be good. The place was called “BAKE” and sold nothing but these “cheese tarts” sitting in the window. No flavour variety or anything. Also a sign read “Limit 12 per customer” so that’s when I knew we had to join the line. Turns out asian queue mentality was right again because these cheese tarts were probably one of the most delicious, decadent pastries I’ve ever had. The crust was lightly sweet and very crunchy, pretty much a cookie. The middle was soft, delicate, sweet cheese mousse that tasted like the way cheesecake is supposed to taste but that TEXTURE. AHH. The baked top added a bit of a creme brulee crisp to every bite. We knew we had to come back again before we left.

For the rest of the day, we shopped and basically just soaked up all of the sights to see in Harajuku and Shibuya. It was nice to not really have a schedule!

For dinner, we decided we needed to have some sushi which surprisingly, we hadn’t had yet while in Tokyo. The truth is that sushi is really a “once in a while/special occasion” thing here – for the good stuff at least. We finally settled on this place called Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten which had some reallyyyy good reviews on Trip Advisor for being affordable yet delicious. When we finally found the place, the queue line confirmed the place was legit. They had a process where you use a touch screen to specify how many people, if you prefer table or sushi bar or either, and you get a ticket with a number. When we arrived, the number was at 142.. the number I received was 169. And so we took a seat and waited.

The line was actually not too bad, turned out that people just ended up leaving so we got bumped forward quite fast. We waited about 40 minutes and I’d say it was quite worth it for the price and quality!!! Please try this place out if you’re in Shibuya area 🙂 It helps that it’s located within Shibuya Mark City so you won’t have to wait outside.

Day 12: Last day!!

We spent our last day checking out more of Ueno and it’s outdoor market area, Ameyoko. We had decidedly spent way too much of our stay on the west side of Tokyo (Shinjuku/Harajuku/Shibuya, etc) and not enough on the east side, so we made the 30 min subway trek over. Again, the goal was to just eat a lot of stuff and see all that we could and I’d say it was a very productive day 🙂

at Ueno station, we passed by a glasses place that Tim had recommended and within 30 minutes I walked out with a new pair of glasses. For only 5800 yen. They did a quick eye exam and fitting right there in the store. I love Japan.

Finally, we headed back to Shinjuku for our last dinner in Tokyo 😦 We decided on another one of those cute little restaurants in Shinjuku Station on the 7&8 floors, in the pseudo food court thing where we had our first meal! It was Alex’s turn to choose, so he chose a place that specialized in curry and pasta. The food was very north American but Alex says it’s probably one of the best lasagna’s he’s ever had so, seriously Japan, is there anything you don’t do well? We’ll miss you 😦

I’ll post this here for you to listen to while you read the blog! This song has been playing all over Tokyo since we’ve been here and it’s perpetually stuck in my head.

Here is another lazy post with tons of pictures and very little content. Truth is we’re slowing down and getting very tired but still trying to see as much as we can in the little time we have left!!!

Oh, Nina here by the way.. did you miss me? or do you prefer Alex’s snark? Comment below if you dare 😛

Pictured above was today’s breakfast, at just 480 yen (just under $5 CAD), we had gyudon bowls from Matsuya near us. Alex’s was even cheaper because he didn’t get the raw egg and the kimchi that I did. That meal cost under $10 for two people and it was healthy, simple and delicious. The best part was that service was pretty much instant. We walked in, ordered what we wanted on a touch screen and paid at that same machine, received a ticket which the server took immediately from us and within a minute brought us our food. The place was full of salarymen who came and went several times while we ate slowly like the annoying foreigners we are.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, if you’re travelling to Tokyo on a budget, a good idea would be to rely on food places such as Matsuya (Sukiya and Yoshinoya are similar but IMO, Matsuya is the best).. seriously 450 yen for all of this food whaaat – we’ll be back for breakfast before we leave. Matsuya foods please come to Toronto!!!!!

Next, we revisited Odaiba, the island known for malls, indoor theme attractions, and dat bridge.

We ran out of time last time when we went with Tim, so we returned! I won’t repost stuff you’ve seen already though. One of the first things we went to was the Sega Joypolis – which we found out is basically Japanese Playdium but up to date and actually still a cool and busy place.

Next, we revisited Venus Fort which is the shopping mall we showed you in a previous post where the inside looks like an outdoor market in Italy, and the “sky”/ceiling changes colours from a sunrise, to day time, to sunset, to night time. I wanted to go back here because I had seen so many items I wanted and stores I wanted to check out but we just didn’t have time on Sunday. I ended up buying a hat (more of that I’m a size Large here and even then the clothes still can’t fit me dilemma). I also found THIS!!! (look below) a Sylvian Families store!! Better known as Calico Critters in North America. I’m pretty obsessed with these adorable toys even though they’re really made for babies aged 2 to 4…. MC knows what I mean by this at least. Each type of animal has a family and you can buy a multitude of different accessories and buildings for them to live and play in. If I had these when I was a kid I wouldn’t want anything else.

After a lot of window shopping and spending a small amount of money, we headed to find some food. We found a tiny food court on the top floor and I want to tell you about how envious I am that the type of food court food in Japan is a million times better than the ones in North America. I ordered a zaru udon (cold dipping udon) which came with tempura. It was surprisingly filling and very good! Alex had butter chicken and naan 🙂 nom.

Next we rode the big ferris wheel at Odaiba that you also might have seen in previous posts. After that we visited Ginza which is basically everything that Bloor street near Bay and Yorkville is. Big brand name designers and other very expensive stuff! I’m going to go shower and get ready for bed, so Alex will tell you all about the last half of our day!!

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Hi everyone, Alex here to finish up today’s blog!

The Palette Town Sky Wheel!

Ginza City, known for its high end fashion stores, modern architecture, and overly marked up fruit prices. Everything was closed when we got here, but that didn’t stop us from taking pictures outside the windows. Here they are!

Thanks for reading! Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

See you guys tomorrow : )

We did a ton this weekend so we’re taking it easy and mostly resting. Just like Aunt Esther’s right eye, today will be lazy.

Day Nine: Slept in a bit, but we’re starting today strong with brunch at the Square Enix Cafe, Artnia.

I’ve been a big fan of their video games so this was all very exciting.

Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy X-3 Last Stand, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy 12, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy XVII, etc.

Awesome place, gift store in the front, cafe in the back, just like the Titanic. Bunch Menu had a brunch of Final Fantasy themed dishes. We ordered:

Smoked Salmon Salad, lightly dressed assorted greens, baguette slices, freshly shaved onion, daikon a la mode, fork and spoon. Excellent texture, salmon cooked perfectly, brilliant flavour.

Wasn’t mine though. Nina ordered it, so no idea if it was good or not. 7/10

Shrimp and Spinach Pizza on Puffed Pastry, mozzarella cheese, tomato basil sauce.

Pretty good.

Haha, anyway, satisfying experience overall. Next up, Akihabara for toys and Yakiniku!

Oh, here’s a travel tip. Airplane seats don’t have a lot of room to move, so having your wallet or phone in your pants/skirt is real problems when you need to retrieve them. I like to keep stuff like gum, passports or even coins in my socks. That way if someone asks me for a stick of gum, I can get it quick and easy.

Comment below if you know any cool travel tips! Or any easy/quick halloween recipes, or advice for nervous first-time drivers.

Throw it in the comments : )

Yodobashi Camera is a giant department store, sort of like a Japanese Best Buy. Much bigger, something like 11 floors. We were toy hunting on 6F today for Animal Crossing merchandise.

We had a great time and worked up an appetite for dinner! I’ll put the picture we took here.

Then we did laundry after. So that was our day, pretty good stuff!

See you guys tomorrow!

Hi, Alex here, I’m going to try writing some blog. I’ll begin my post with a beautiful quote i heard here in Japan:

“Ideas come from curiosity. It’s important to have someone you want to do it for.”

We ate sandwiches for breakfast, outside the Shinbashi station. ¥800 for a BLT and drink. That’s just great value. And that’s also the second BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich I’ve had in Japan too. Hard truth: Japan has nailed down the BLT sandwich 100%, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if I bought a third one before I leave.

The bacon strip was a nice, thick cut and slightly undercooked, paired with a medley of fresh leaf and tomato. Sauce, a pink mayo dressed lightly to bring out the harmony of his friends and creating a gracefully aggressive etude of flavours.

I had a melon soda too, green drink with some ice.

What else was good…

This is the beautiful Rainbow Bridge to the island world of Odaiba! It is also the largest artifical island in the world. I made that last part up, but it might be true. Anyway, the train ride gave us some beautiful visuals entering Odaiba and got us very excited for our day of island adventures.

Ice cream at the beach! Closest one to the camera is Nina’s Cookie and Cream (a bland choice in my opinion, why eat something you can eat in Toronto, but I’m sure it was tasty). I had Soda Pop flavoured sherbet, tasted pretty good, sort of like flat Sprite mixed with grinded up Tic Tacs, served cold. 7/10

Naturally, after a refreshing walk along the beach we needed to hit up a retro japanese arcade. This place had some crazy old machines. We’re talking first generation pinball, hammer-the-gopher games, sega driving games, the first Halo, some really forgotten pieces of arcade gaming history.

Definitely washed our hands after this place though. Tons of kids.

They had a Takoyaki Museum here (Takoyaki is japanese for Octopus Tacos). All kinds of vendors selling many styles of Takoyaki balls and tons of history displays.

Odaiba has an amazing Automobile Museum with a bunch of vintage cars. There’s even a race track circling the place with active races to watch (including cafes!) Pretty surreal stuff.

And right around the corner was a life-sized, 1:1 scale of a Gundam robot mech! (If you’re unfamiliar with Gundam, it’s a long running japanese series about giant fighting robots, based on the american film Pacific Rim)

This mall had it’s own sky that changed depending on the time of day. That way, if you’re shopping and want to know what time it is, you just look up.

Nina got a handbag. I don’t know much about handbags, but this was a good one.

Nina makes these blogs seem so easy. I’ve realized when I draw a blank on what to write I’ll just drag in some pictures to do the talking. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. So after conversion, my pictures will be worth about 10.81 canadian words each.

Night time in Odaiba! As we travel back outside we get to see this beautifully lit ferris wheel under the clear night sky. Wish we had a chance to ride it, but we were short on time. But don’t worry, this next part was amazing!

The restaurant Sweet Paradise is exactly what it sounds like. But also not really as accurate as calling it Cake & Spaghetti Little Girl Dance Studio Emporium Ice Cream Costs Extra.

All we really expected was cake, but we got a full dinner and show from an idol girl group performing their latest dance hits in front of all the customers and one really enthusiastic old dude.

Imagine Medieval Times but with less horses and more dancing school girls and cake. Do they serve cake at Medieval Times anymore or was that a dream I had? Comment below if you know.

Anyway, that was pretty much our day and my first attempt at posting on our blog.

See you tomorrow, friends!

Phew – Today was the busiest day we’ve had so far and we have an even busier day tomorrow so I think I might just explain this in pictures as best as I can again. It took *too many* photos today to upload them all here so the below is about HALF of the pictures I wanted to upload….

We met up with my friend Tim who has been living in Japan for a few years. It’s super nice of him to take the time to show us around so we really appreciated it 🙂 We met at Harajuku station and had a quick and delicious lunch at a cafe that had amazing drinks and American style dishes like hamburg and rice, curry, and BLTs.

Tim first took us down Takeshita street which apparently is the best known street in Harajuku, and if you don’t go down it while in Harajuku you’re missing out on the real Harajuku experience apparently so thanks Tim! cuz we totally missed it on our first Harajuku run. Along the way, we stopped at an Alice in Wonderland themed store called Alice on Wednesday which Tim explained usually requires an invitation to enter, but today they were letting people in after queuing in a short line for a few minutes.

Next, we walked around quite a bit and did some gift shopping at Loft, two Disney stores, and a bunch of other places. Once it got dark, we headed to Ueno.

Got to Ueno and had a couple of snacks. The first was mini castellas freshly made at an “illegal” castella stand right outside of the station. They were soft and waffley. You could smell them from metres away… too bad they don’t have a permit and are forced to pack up when the police show up.

Next we stopped at another stand that sold freshly made dango, taiyaki, and iced matcha tea. They were all sooo fresh especially the dango which is the perfect amount of sweet and savoury at the same time. Oops I took a bite of the taiyaki before remembering to take a picture. Sorry!

All of this was in an an open market style area, with shops EVERYWHERE. Busy restaurants were tucked snugly under the subway underpass and you could just tell the food that was being served is good because people were lined up, tightly packed in, and the smell was amazing.

Tim showed us to a hot foot bath place around here which was perfect because by this point our feet were swollen and painful from walking around Harajuku all day. For 1000 yen, you could stay for 45 minutes, soak your feet, get a quick foot massage, a 5-10 min back massage, and get 1 hot or cold tea included. The place was very casual, you basically just walk in, take off your shoes, they give your feet a quick rinse and massage, and you stick them into the flowing hot river that surrounded the entire mini spa area. I was shy to take many pics but here you go !

After our quick foot soak, we felt energized again and headed to Asakusa. Asakusa is known to have more traditional buildings and it’s located on the opposite end of Tokyo from where we are staying.. so I was excited to see a new area! It did not disappoint me.

Oh– we also stopped for some capsule machine action on the way!

Finally, we arrived in Asakusa:

Next, we headed to Yakitori for dinner. We had only previously had Yakitori at Yakitori Kintori in Toronto so we were excited to try the real thing and…. like many other things here… Yakitori in Toronto is now ruined I’m sad to say 😦 this place was amazing. It’s called Torikizoku and it’s a chain so you can probably visit one while in Tokyo sometime!

Sorry. My Yakitori pics stopped here because I was too busy eating.

Next, we headed to the Sensoji temple just around the corner. It was super peaceful and quiet at night. I can just imagine how hard it is to take a good picture of it during the day because of all of the people that must go during day time hours. It’s Tokyo’s oldest temple and has a lot of history so please read about it here!

As we left, we found ourselves on a back street filled with closed shops that had incredible architecture and art.. it looked like something out of a movie set..

We hurried back to the subway to catch the last trains and now we’re going to bed because we have a long long day at Odaiba tomorrow.. Goodnight everyone ❤

Today was a bit of a rest day.. we’re really feeling the full days of walking and adventuring around. It was also a rainy day so we didn’t get up to too much, also we are trying to get to bed ‘early’ so this post will mostly be pictures and lists! I hope you don’t mind. Tomorrow we will be more rested and we are meeting up with an old friend of mine who now lives here so it will be more interesting! In a nutshell (list) here is what we did today

Ate lunch in Ikebukuro subway station at a mini food cafeteria that had places that specialized in both Takoyaki and Udon and for a place in a subway, it was AMAZING. We don’t remember the name of the udon place, but the takoyaki place was called Gindaco and it seems to be a well known chain.. so look for that place and then the udon is next to it! The udon came with shrimp tempura that was similar to but way better than any tempura I’ve ever had in Canada. It was just meatier and less oily. The takoyaki was also a new but super pleasant experience. We had hoped the one at Kinton back home might be pretty authentic but all it is now in my eyes is undercooked dough and a sad amount of octopus. This one was full of octopus bits, tempura bits, green onion and pickled ginger.

We realized we missed a lot of stuff in Ikebukuro so we decided to return today. We went back to Sunshine City since we missed out on a store that is 90% Studio Ghibli merchandise, a highly rated ramen shop, and we wanted to check out the aquarium.

Studio Ghibli store! – aka MOE Garden: I can’t say much about this place other than it had the most Studio Ghibli selection I’ve seen anywhere in Tokyo so far. They didn’t just have Kiki and Totoro but also lots of Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke.. so I went a little nuts. I bought a couple of gifts for friends and for myself 🙂

Mutekiya Ramen: Next we went for dinner at Mutekiya for ramen which we had heard lots of great things about. When we arrived, the line was split into two lines that were across the street from each other. This was a pretty grim sign for people who were starving and had swollen feet from walking for days but we were determined to get our ramen. It pleasantly delivered! I loved the toppings and noodles more than Fuunji but… ugh that super thick, rich Fuunji broth…… I fear I have ruined ramen for myself in Toronto. Anyway, I ordered my favourite – Tsukemen ramen, and Alex ordered their original Tonkotsu ramen. Aaaand picture time –

It started raining a lot more, so we headed back to home base – Shinjuku station and walked around in the rain for a bit before taking shelter in the most dangerous place to be in at the end of the day with a pocket full of change….. you guessed it. Please see below for the amazing super cute bunny I won at the UFO claw machines tonight at Taito Game Station. Let’s just say I’m pretty good at these things….

We were off to a late start today due to sleeping in. The walking all day is starting to slow us down! We wanted to go to Harajuku today so we decided to try out Mos Burger for lunch since it’s conveniently located close to Shinjuku Station (saying something is close to Shinjuku Station is a pretty loose phrase… since the station covers a couple of blocks of cityspace… but I digress). Food review time! Alex: The Teriyaki one was my favourite. The cheese was the best I’ve ever had in a burger, the beef was not quite as good as The Burger’s Priest, which was surprising for “Wagyu”, the toppings and sauce were full of flavour.

My favourite one was the classic Mos Burger because that huge helping of tomato sauce on it  is amaaazing. If you like ketchup/tomato sauce that is. it definitely doesn’t taste like any kind of burger we have in Toronto.. Would probably eat it like once every 2 months.

After that, we headed to Laduree, a Paris-originated patisserie known for their macarons. Located right next to the entrance to the subway! Super convenient. I was excited about this because this is probably the closest I’d get to real Paris macarons outside of France. Turns out they also served ice cream, so we tried that too. They had only two flavours to choose from – chocolate and yogurt (rose was sold out… such a shame! I would have got that…) and you could choose toppings such as candied rose, lychee, chocolate sauce, macaron pieces, and other little candies and compotes. The ice cream was alright, but the macarons were AMAZING… somehow I’ve never really tasted a ‘creamy’ macaron but these were not just lightly crisp on the outside and light on the inside, but when you got to the filling, there was a very luxurious richness. …..sooooo we ate all of them and went on our way!

Harajuku is thankfully only 1 stop away from Shinjuku so we were there fast. As we exited the station, I noticed that the area around it had lots of trees and I remembered reading somewhere that it’s very close to Meiji Shrine. Turns out, you just have to poke your head around the corner of Harajuku Station and the entrance to the shrine is right there.

Meiji Shrine or Meiji Jingu is a beautiful, peaceful and calming place… in the middle of a ridiculously busy area. I don’t understand. How they keep the grounds so beautiful, how everyone is so respectful, how you can only hear nature even though Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Shibuya are all walking distance away.. I have no idea. The path to the actual shrine area is about a 15-20 min walk through trees and giant wooden gates and over pretty stone bridges. Once we got there, we wrote wishes and prayers for our family and friends on the paper and wooden tablets provided, attached an offering and paid respect to the beautiful shrine. We got the opportunity to see a traditional Japanese wedding taking place as well. The entire experience was very humbling. One thing I could not help but note is how respectful Japanese culture is; to nature, other people, property, everything. Bikes are left leaned against walls with no locks and no one steals them. Shrines are left open and no one steals form them or vandalizes them. We read that these main stations like Ikebukuro and Shinjuku see about 1 million passengers a day, yet the trains are cleaner than in Toronto. Every store we go into, even the tiny, dusty hobby stores run by young people are so polite. I really wish the rest of the world could treat others and things and nature so well.—The whole smoking indoors thing though is off putting and I’m not sure if I could get used to that again. Ugh…

Next, we walked down the main shopping strip of Harajuku area and found a toy store that we had heard about. It had a Rilakkuma store in it, a huge Studio Ghibli section, and a Snoopy Shop. We spent a long time in there. Yes, I swear we’re adults.

We were very hungry suddenly, so we decided to spur-of-the-moment look up what good food was nearby and found some really great reviews for a little gyoza shop which happened to be a 2 minute walk away from us on Google Maps. And let me tell you — what an amazing last minute find!!!! The place was very tiny and very simple and the menu was the same. You could choose between steamed or pan fried gyoza and a couple of sides and drinks. This gyoza was way better than the ones at Namjatown because even the panfried ones were not very oily at all. The dough was super fresh and had a good chew to it and the filling was full flavoured. Super cheap too.. an entire dinner for the two of us came to 1400 yen. As I write this I can tell I’m going to want to go back before we leave Japan.

Next, we decide to try our Google luck once more to find dessert, and we settle on a crepe place nearby… however, while walking there, we see some girls advertising a cupcake shop on the sidewalk and realize they’re holding a sign that says Magnolia Bakery… yes, of NYC/Sex In The City fame. We both stop in our tracks and say to each other “Magnolia Bakery? THE Magnolia Bakery?? Where?!” and the girl turns to us and says in perfect English (which I am not used to hearing anymore from strangers) “Just downstairs!!”… so we beeline it.

On our way back to the hotel, we take the way that Alex has been calling “the spider path”…. Allow me to explain. He saw a huge spider on a web between trees…. the side of a grown man’s hand… and now he’s traumatized. But it’s this surprisingly quiet, beautifully tree-lined, cobble stone path tucked between bars, clubs, restaurants and shops and it leads to a block away from our hotel. It’s also the hidden entrance to Shinjuku’s Golden Gai – tight alleyways of tiny bars that only come alive after 9/10pm at night. We’ve been passing it every night/day on our way to and from the hotel (well, I’ve been begging him to take this way, since it’s so pretty) but we never really took a good look. Well, tonight we decided to take a short walk around and I was blown away. We found tiny bars which was expected but….. when I say tiny, I mean, some of them could only hold 5 people and we passed some that was basically a window with space for 2 stools, with 1 person sitting behind the table. Very very intimate. You could tell we were early for the real crowd, this was around 9:30ish.. but still, as we peered into each bar, many were full, and most of them had foreigners in them which was surprising to me. You could see Japanese salarymen chatting super friendly with foreigners and it was a really nice thing to see! The language barrier as really thrown me off since we got here so maybe that’s why. One of the bars even had a sign in broken English posted on the door that read “If you have problem, you can talk to me. I love english. And also you!”

As soon as we left the hotel today we knew exactly where we wanted to go: Ikebukuro ! –for a number of reasons. But mostly to go to the Pokemon Center. But first – breakfast!

We planned out an itinerary for the day for everything except what we were going to eat (whoops) so we opted for the food court “7&8 Dinner” we had found on our first day here above Shinjuku Station. I’m pretty sure nothing like this exists in Toronto.. maybe the closest thing is Marche?? Basically, the two floors house a bunch of mini restaurants that specialize in very different things. There’s a paella place, a diner-style restaurant with burgers and shakes, a Hawaiian restaurant (where we ate on day 2 if you recall!), a crepe place, Korean, Chinese, American style breakfast, etc. We decided on a place that specializes in Ochazuke which is basically a bowl of rice and toppings such as fish, veggies, seaweed, sauce that you pour Japanese green tea onto and then eat. It’s probably my most favourite dish that we have had so far.

We then made our way to Ikebukuro Station where we first made a pit stop at a cat cafe called Cat Cafe Nekorobi ねころび (this time one with way better reviews). This one was more like a room of cats where you can sit, pet, play with and watch cats than a cafe, although there is a vending machine with ‘free’ teas and coffees (the charge was 1100 yen per hour per person). It was a bit awkward at first since you really just wanna jump the cats immediately and start petting them and hugging them (or maybe it’s just me), but people were already doing that so we just had to sit in our own corner and wait patiently. The cafe only had about 4-5 other people there which was a good number for the amount of cats. The staff handed us some cat treats and you could tell the cats knew exactly what was happening because they immediately ran to the first person thy saw to receive treats. Overall, the experience was pretty great but I think it’s something that I only need to do once or twice a year. If it was puppies it would be a whole other story for me but cats are too aloof for me to have the patience and money to wait for them to come to me for cuddles dammit. It’s like, I paid money to pet you cat, please comply. But they don’t really…

The cat cafe was conveniently located a stoplight away from our next stop, Sunshine City which is a building that consists of a huge mall, business buildings, a museum, amusement parks, and an aquarium. ALSO HOME OF THE MEGA TOKYO POKEMON CENTER! Yeah, you guessed our next move – we immediately made a beeline through the mall to the Pokemon Center and proceeded to go nuts. They had Pokemon-everything … plushies, figurines, mugs and dishware, towels, stationary, keychains, home goods, etc. I got a bunch of gifts for friends and also gifts for myself which include a Meowstic plush and other things…

Next, we went to Namco Namjatown which only took a quick 30 second flight up the escalators from Pokemon Center. This place is a full amusement park in the middle of a mall. If I was a Japanese child, I would have probably exploded of happiness. The only issue was that there was barely any English signage and the workers there barely spoke any English at all which was disappointing but understandable. Namjatown isn’t exactly located in the center of a mainstream tourist area. It is broken down into two main areas, the first is a food area that literally serves just dumplings and dessert. The second area is where most of the rides are including a haunted house and a mini theatre. If you know me well, you will know where I headed first. We immediately purchased 3 boxes of dumplings (I was very hungry by this time), a cat shaped crepe, and a melon soda float.. All of which were amazingly delicious. The food area is themed like an old/traditional Japanese town and is so full of whimsy. Ever feel the need to be like one of those anime characters stuffing their faces with dumplings and desserts? this is the place for you. Also if you love cats, this place is filled with adorable cat motifs, namely like the ones from Monster Hunter. The second area was filled with rides and the main attraction was a haunted house where you are given an electronic reader that can find ghosts and … not sure what you’re supposed to do beyond that because we couldn’t understand it 😦 this part was the most disappointing… we were able to walk around the area and revel in the cuteness and the whimsy but could not participate due to the language barrier. For 500 yen though, I am happy with the experience. And the dumplings.

Next, we headed up the stairs to J-World which is basically Namjatown but instead of cats, it has themes from the animes Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and One Piece. We were about to go in but realized it’s a sister to Namjatown, except a lot more expensive, and without the proper Japanese language proficiency, we understood that it was probably not going to be the most fun experience. 😦 If you really want to visit these places, I definitely suggest at least bringing a friend who is fluent in Japanese with you if you are not yourself.

Next, we walked around the mall in Sunshine City where I finally found clothes that are not only practical and realistic to wear in real life (unlike the crazy fashions in Shibuya 109), but for really good prices! This was a relief because I actually underpacked clothes thinking I’d go crazy shopping but was super disappointed with everything I had found thus far.The mainstream style here is nothing like what it’s like in North America. Women tend to wear clothing that is very oversized for them and in very monotone colours. I also bought a pair of boots! Here, being a size 8 in shoes, I am a size “L” for large or 25 in Japanese sizes. For clothing, I’m a medium but usually a large. I thought when I heard about these things, it was an overexaggeration but turns out it’s true… Good to know for next time to bring a bit more! Unfortunately after shopping for an hour, we were running out of time and I only saw a few stores. We both agreed that we need to come back to Ikebukuro before we leave, especially to see the aquarium and museum that we missed. As my good friend MC suggested, the aquarium could be a great idea for a rainy day! We will definitely do this.

A couple of you asked me to post more pictures, so as long as my WordPress account bandwidth allows it, I’ll deliver 😀

Today felt much less jetlaggy and I’ve finally and officially lost track of what time/day it is in Toronto which feels both relaxing and alienating at the same time.

We started our day with only 3 planned items in mind, deciding that everything else will be discovered– and it worked! What a productive and hilarious/fun day we had. Our 3 goals were: Eat at a top recommended food place, find out what this cat cafe hype was all about, and find the infamous Shibuya Crossing.

We headed out to find our way to Fuunji, a ramen restaurant I had heard a lot about in my preliminary research and through watching some of my favourite vloggers visit Japan. On the way there, we got distracted of course. So…. It only takes about 1 hour in Tokyo to realize the place is dominated by Pachinko and claw drop style UFO games.. yeah, you know, the ones where your futile attempts to pick up cute toys with mechanical claws eats all of your money and you’re left with nothing but sadness. We had to admit this but we will. These games are kind of our thing to do to empty our pockets of pesky change here in Tokyo. Also vending machines are exactly everything you’ve heard about them. They’re convenient and so much fun for two foreigners who have no idea what half of the stuff tastes like. I’m sure we’ll get sick of Pokka Sapporo’s “GREEN SHOWER” by the time we leave… no, no, a brand of sparkling water, you sicko.

Where was I – okay, so we have had our eye on trying to win these really cute fat hamster plushies and fat shiba inu plushes so we stopped and played a few games. More on that later. Kept following signs to try to get to where we were supposed to find Fuunji and ended up getting lost in Shinjuku subway station which actually spans about 4-5 blocks and has endless corridors to not just trains but also restaurants and shops inside of it. We found ourselves in the basement of the Lumine 1 which is a department store, and as we were desperately trying to find a way outside, we end up in an area filled with food.. but not quite a food court. I did the embarrassing tourist thing and yelled in english breaking Alex’s full asian camouflage and my half-asian-blend-in-ness: “HOLY CRAP WE’RE IN A DEPACHIKA”. A depachika is what they call the lower level floors of department stores here as they’re usually filled with very carefully manicured (fancy) food kept behind glass. I had only read about and watched vlogs (of course) about them but I was THRILLED that we stumbled upon one. We made a note of its location and decided we’d be back soon.

After lots more walking and Google Maps navigating (Pocket Wifi is the best it’s the best it’s the very very bestest thing ahh~) we finally find Fuunji and it is everything that we heard about and more. Seriously, please go there if you have a chance. Like may ramen shops in Tokyo you have to purchase a ticket at the door corresponding to the menu item you’d like (~helps overcome that awkward language barrier too!). I had their famous Tsukemen (dipping) ramen and Alex had the regular one. I wrote a huge review but I just closed the tab by accident and lost all of it 😦 ugh. BLOGGING AMIRITE? anyway, I hope my pictures speak for themselves.

Next we made our way to Shibuya (oh yeah, I lost this part too in my tab closing frenzy…sorry, here goes the short version) and experienced the Shibuya Crossing. It was everything you’ve seen in movies and on TV and in games but better because it’s huge (bigger than Times Square in my opinion…. Alex is saying no….wait now he’s saying I’m right. Good!). Exit out of the Hachiko exit from the subway station and BAM you’re there.

Our next order of business was the find a cat cafe but upon looking it up one more time to put it on our Google Maps app, we noticed the reviews were HORRIBLE. Seriously, I haven’t been so astonished by negative reviews before. The place is called ハピ猫 Hapineko Shibuya and we ended up not even looking for it at all after reading about 7 bad reviews in a row. Something about a rude owner and sad cats that you can’t touch for a 2000 yen entry charge.

After exploring the crazy amount of shopping outlets in the area, we decided on Genki Sushi for dinner – a train sushi restaurant. I’m not sure if that is the official name for them but that’s what I’m calling it because the sushi arrives at your table on a little train on a track. We realized that conveyor belt sushi is probably not a thing anymore since it’s not as fresh as this method where your sushi is made when you order it and it comes right to you from the chef…. wherever he is. Oh yeah that’s the other great thing about “train sushi” – barely no human-interaction-leading-to-foreigner-who-doesn’t-speak-Japanese-guilt. Once you’re seated, everything you need is at the table, including an iPad with the full menu so you can order anything you want (4 orders at a time) . The sushi comes vroom vrooming (it almost makes that sound) out from somewhere and stops right in front of you. You grab the plate off of the train and press a button so it vrooms back to the chef. Why the heck we don’t have this technology in Toronto yet I’m not sure but it is great.

Next we head back to Shinjuku which is disgustingly close on the subway line if you end up taking the right line (which for us, since we haven’t figured subways out yet, is basically a straw pull). We decide we need to unload some change so we head straight for the UFO catcher games. Mom, dad, I’m sorry, I know I know, we should save our money for better, but… you need to see these ADORABLE HAMSTER TOYS. I have a problem. So we walk up to a machine with one of these said cute hamsters and on the FIRST TRY I manage to win one. Uh oh. Now we’re on a winning high. We walk over the machine with the keychain sized same adorable hamsters. We win another one within 6 tries. Okay, great you’d think we’d say. Let’s go home you’d think we’d say. Nope. We stop at another one on the way to the hotel and who can blame us? these machines are everywhere. We say “oh what the heck” and drop a 500 yen coin into a machine which gives us 6 tries. On the second try, we land yet another hamster. And that’s how we got addicted to UFO games everybody. See below for all of my new friends whom I’m not sure how we’re going to bring back with us.