Japan - Tokyo Pt 2

In Ebisu, we did the Yebisu Beer Museum, and learnt a little bit about it's superiority in the beer world. Superior flavour and satisfaction guaranteed.

What beer loving woman could walk past these giant cans without fantasing they were real!?

It was certainly a luxurious use of space in Tokyo!

The backstreets were full of uber trendy bars... we set off in search of an Irish Pub that was supposed to be the life of Ebisu, but never found it! I swear we walked the same backstreet set of blocks 30 times- to no avail! I think this was the closest I have ever come to losing my mind in travel mode- we had to head back to the hotel and rest! It was a painful experience.

Trendy bar, pre opening

We also checked out the Parasite Museum in nearby Meguro (yes, we seriously went to the Parasite Museum, here’s some specimen ja to prove it!

Here's the centrepiece of the museum- a 9m tapeworm!!

The very same type that startlets of times gone by would have intentionally inserted as a weight loss technique. After seeing the tape worm, it’s similarity to folded piece of masking tape... I think any actress would be so grossed out she would have to say no! How would the doctors have been farming these tape worms, anyways!? Ew.

Moving along, I loved seeing these guys on the street – the Smoking Police! I have never seen such a blanket ban on smoking... aside from in designated smoking rooms, Tokyo is now No Smoking anywhere outside.

Food was also a big part of our trip, but this could go on for another billion pages if I posted pics of every food moment. One thing that did make me laugh (well, temporarily make me very nervous!) was eating a katsu set, that came with a strict set of instructions. Here are my bowls/ plates at the end. Each pickle was to be transferred to a particular plate, each sauce poured into a particular dish, each item to be eaten in a particular order.

Lp’s came in the box with some miso on the side!

More than anything, i think we ate a LOT of buns. Savoury buns that may as well have been sugar buns!

My fav food experience was without doubt the basements of the department stores (especially Shinuku's Isetan- amazeballs!) Here's a square watermelon that could be purchased from Daimaru for a mere hundred dollars or so!

Japan - Tokyo Pt 1

In Tokyo We stayed at The Hotel Sunroute Plaza, just outside the JR Southern Line Terrace in Shinjuku.

Matching it up with our Sunroute nightgowns!

Fabulous location, couldn’t have been better! It hit the perfect Shinjuku balance of not being too buzzy nighttime illuminated & not being too dull (it felt like the life had been sucked out of the Tokyo Tower surrounds). That combined with the fact it was in walking distance to Harajuku and Shibuya (well, admittedly we switched to the train pretty quickly after ending up sopping in sweat on our initial attempts to walk the city).

Shakin my big booty in Yoyogi Park, en route to Harajuku

Amazing signs everywhere

And a lot of “resting”... A LOT!

I think that, without a doubt, one of my favourite parts of Japan was Toy Shopping! We couldn’t walk past a department store without heading straight to their toy level. In Harajuku the award for fav goes to the three levelled Kiddy Land. FUN. FUN. FUN.

With all of it's Toy Food!

Toys that smoke cigarettes!

Hamsters with hats!

& things that transform icy poles, into shaved ice! (why?)

We didn’t find much we wanted to do in Shibuya, but we did of course make it to the famous crossing. .. and then we managed to take a photo at the quietest moment of the cycle. Ok, so this is the busiest crossing in Tokyo...

Ginza was lovely, after some trouble finding lunch spots (using Lonely Planet as a guide) we ended up at the Tsukiji Fish Markets..

We went to the amazingballs Sushizenmai. Omfg.. amazzzzzing sushi. So impressed we made it back here after some serious fresh fish cravings on our return to Tokyo.

The chefs and staff yell out greetings on both entry and exit- a very fun atmosphere, and cheap as chips!

I could not co exist in the same city as a Disneyland and not go! We spent a sweltering hot day in queues, and eating pretty average food at Disney. It was fun!

Of course 10,000 icy poles were necessary to get through the day!

This one was a delightful surprise- a real slice of mango frozen with a stick, in a packet. I am totally making these come Summer!

This looks revolting, but I swear it wasn’t so bad. Hour long queues were chocka block full of families, young couples, and trendy teen girls eating these smoked turkey legs. I hesitated for a moment, horrified at the appearance, but.... it wasn’t that bad!? And I didn’t die, nor experience any turns within 8 hours.

Aside from Space Mountain, the next ride highlight for big kids was Lps spinning the teacup so fast it was close to coming off it’s axis!

Weeee!

One hilarious moment was the Jungle ride... where all the animals pop out of the water. When a hippo popped out, our guide pulled out a fake gun, started screaming, and shot the hippo. Is this normal at Disneyland?

Whilst in the spirit of fun, we heard of Tokyo Dome World (technically speaking, Korakuen Amusement Park) with a roller coaster that spun over city streets, and through the ferris wheel. This was high on our “must do list”. When we made it along, things just didn’t seem right. The roller coaster was indeed, Intense- and I was immediately scared and hesitant! But after no train took to the tracks, we did some research and found that the park had had three accidents in three months- including a death where a man fell out of one of their roller coasters!!!! Half the rides were closed, with no reopening date available.

So all we could do was imagine a safer time...

And take a ride in the Ferris Wheel

(sweltering from the pounding sun, the heat and poor ventilation!)