I forgot to mention yesterday that I’d been exchanging emails with a hiring manager (prospective client) while in Russian airspace and I’m going to be interviewing at 10:30pm from Osaka, so if I get that gig that will be a unique recruitment process I have to say!
My last day in Tokyo and I’ve pretty much given myself the whole day to wander around the weird and wonderful Akihabara.
Akihabara is the home of ‘Cosplay’ who are basically mentalists who are obsessed with a certain thing (manga, goth, hello kitty) they dress up as it and own everything like cards, figures etc. Akihabara is where they would go to buy their gear and prance around in their costumes.
Additionally though, it is electronics mecca so this is the place to go for that too. That’s where I headed first, to see some of the enormous electronics stores that were just mental. They make dixons, curry’s and John Lewis look like corner shops!
After wandering around loads of these electrical stores I started to get tempted by the many arcades that were about . There are huge SEGA arcades so I went in one of them in search of some classics. There weren’t many there to be fair but I did come across my ideal game and had to be dragged away by security after smoke was coming out of the machine. Imagine House of the Dead, but ditch the gun! Who needs guns when you have the mighty weapon that is your fingers? Oh yes, this game was called… Type or Die! People around the world who were once using Mavis Beacon and her stupid car racing game could have been blasting zombies with their superior typing skills.
Zombies fly out towards you with a word above their head and you have to type it to kill them. Sometimes loads of single letter snakes or dogs come at you too so that is a bit tricky. As you can tell, I loved it and I’m keen to find something similar to download.
I also had a go at this very famous Drum Game. The japanese are just ridiculous at it, I mean, they must be practicing daily because I honestly reckon you could mistake them for a world famous drummer with their speed, although I bet they can’t play the real drums for shit. Needless to say, my effort was not speedy or accurate and I looked like I was whacking a couple of baguettes at the drum rather than these little nimble sticks.
A final mention on the arcade has to go to the Japanese at the dancing games, they do not mess about! Imagine the comparison between Dawn French Irish dancing to Michael Flately, now add that on top. They’d make him look amateur at best. These Japanese guys were dripping with sweat, they held on and their feet were just a blur, it reminded me of Street Fighter, that girl who did the ridiculously quick kicking!
After wandering around a lot more figures shops, I came across some Samurai Swords and I got thinking (after wanting one for ages) if this was going to be my outrageous purchase of the trip. Luckily, I decided to check with BA when got back to hotel, and later found out it’s against law to import one since the random sword attacks in UK and Europe.
It was time for me to be brave and experience the famous ‘Maid Cafe’. I think if I wasn’t on my own it would have been better but still would have been dreading it. Maid Cafe’s are basically these cafe’s run by a load of Japanese girls dressed as maids and all squeaky and girly. They make you bless the food, and do cat stuff and they perform live and do songs for cocktails etc.
On my arrival, they did an opening ceremony for me, I clapped my hands and said some girly Japanese thing and she blew a memory candle on for me (which in fact was a tiny LED candle, so she turned a switch on). I then was told it’s a 1000 yen for the pleasure of being there (cover charge) and needed to make one order. I ordered a package where I got a dessert, a drink, a souvenir and a Polaroid photo with a maid.
My dessert was a chocolate ice cream but in true Maid Cafe form, it was a bear basically with all the trimmings. When it arrived, I had to say moet moet and some other things before making a heart shape with my hands and zooming in and out of the dessert to bless it, pretty cringeworthy!
They were great at being little cats and stuff but useless at running a cafe, I eventually managed to get the photo done where I wore bunny ears and did some rubbing my face thing while making a heart with the maid. I thought I could finally escape but I had to wait for my Polaroid to develop so she could write on it. I eventually got out, after the closing ceremony of course, and counselling would be required when back in the UK.
After that experience, it was time to head back to Shinjuku and I wanted some more madness, so I went to Don Quijote which is a combination of John Lewis (size), primark (stack shit anywhere you can find) and poundland (put any shit you can buy on the shelves). You can buy everything there, and it is crazy, I would have loved to have looked around more because I love the Japanese marketing and particularly the translations to English, but it was rammed.
An example of my love for marketing comes when I got back to my capsule hotel and I was going to tuck into my Pachi Slot winning snacks from day before. My snack (I had no idea what it was) said to me (in English) on the packaging ‘I will smack your lips over the super selection that the taste of dainty material is conspicuous’! I mean, who wouldn’t want that? Turns out it was a dried fish stick of some sorts and the mere smell summoned it straight to the bin, but I was chuffed to have found another amazing bit of English on a Japanese product. There are plenty more and I’ve taken photos so will all be up at some point. Equally as good mind you are the products and shoutout to Joe (Bristol crew) who’s found a Tactical Duty Kilt, yes a Tactical Duty Kilt.
I was pretty knackered and couldn’t be bothered to drink tonight so I decided I would treat myself to a swanky Sushi restaurant as it was my last night in Tokyo. I settled down at the bar with the Sushi chefs in front performing their magic. I had a nice selection and some vegetable tempura, it was amazing! I was sitting next to a Japanese couple who spoke great English and we got chatting and they were ‘proud of me’ that I was seeing such a lot of Japan and doing some of the things I have lined up. They clearly were genuinely impressed as they kept ploughing me with free shots of Sake. I didn’t have the heart to tell them it was rank and I’m close to chundering all over their faces so I kept going.
So it was back to my capsule and I am ashamed to say at 1am I was watching Great British Bake Off in my capsule (good old VPN). The capsule hotel experience had been so good I sacked off my Tokyo hotel for on my way back in September and booked there again saving me about a hundred quid!
Writing this has made me realise i’ve only had one meal today, it’s just so humid, but I better get on the case with that.
Day 4 and it was time to head to Nagoya! I had to carry the big rucksack again which was depressing. Little bit excited about going on my first real Shinkansen though (bullet train) it has to be said.
First up was Starbucks for some wifi to do some Village FC web and social media bits and get some water on board before the 5-10 minute haul of my luggage to the JR station.
We whizzed to Nagoya on the Bullet Train, super fast and to think there are even faster ones than the Super express that I was on! Once again, the seats were super comfortable, much higher backs and loads more room than the trains with us. Although, they did have about 18 cars so the infrastructure and trains are far superior!
I decided some time ago to reduce my time in Nagoya because Kyoto was ‘proper Japan’ and I needed two days there. With Kyoto winning 2015 best city in the world then it was hard to disagree. So my plan is this afternoon in Nagoya, tomorrow Kyoto (but still staying in Nagoya) and then Kyoto again the day after and will go to Takayama from Kyoto.
I love the whole bowing thing by the way, I just think it’s incredibly graceful and respectful. There are a lot of ‘rules’ around bowing, different depths of bow for different occasions but I just love it. The conductors on the train for example, as they are getting to the end of the car and through the doors, will turn, bow to the car and enter the next one. It was the same at the Robot Show, once a waitress had finished selling her chips, she’d go to the top of the hall by the exit, turn and bow the hall and depart. I’ve tried to get involved in the bow as much as possible but I think will take a few more days to shake off the inhibitions on the bowing front.
I am still fuming, but I got a taxi to my hotel from the station. It was too hot, humid and this bag was doing me in! The hotel is close to everything I need to see so once got there I should be ok.
Hotel is great, so nice to have a shower and a nice bed with a door and a lock! Bags were dumped, shower was had and off I went to see Oasis 21. This is Nagoya’s bus station but has a green park on one floor and a running water roof at the top so it was worth going to see. There was a pop up maze down on the ground floor and I was watching from the top. I heard kids screaming so was wondering what was going on. I quickly saw that there were zombies dotted about this maze with body parts and stuff. It was funny to see and a good start to my trek.
Next up was Osu Kannon, which is both an area with loads of shops and restaurants, with a mix of old and new Japan. At the end of the arcade is the Osu Kannon shrine which I was keen to see. I wandered through loads of shops and finally made it to the shrine.
The shrine was pretty incredible to be fair. It had a pit of smoke on the entrance where people who go to pray are meant to waft the smoke over them and in their hair. I couldn’t take photos inside but it was class and the statues outside had loads of bottles of water. I had read about that before, something to do with the water is a gift for something (i’ll find out and let you know in the next one)!
On the way back, I went into two sports shops trying to find a Grampus 8 shirt but I had the same luck in both. Unfortunately they only provide Japanese men sizes aka Mr I do martial arts 7 times a week and live on once bowl of rice a day sizes. The sports shop I went in had been visited by the Arsenal players back in 2013 I think, on the tour of Japan and there were photos and merchandise of the boys everywhere.
I headed back to the bus station as a base and in central park they had set up a few stalls of food and drink and a big screen which was showing the Nagoya Dragons play and radio commentators were doing so live from this mini festival. I chilled out and watched a bit of the baseball then started to ponder if I was going to go to Nagoya castle.
My back was killing, my heels were bleeding but I set off, determined to do everything on my list which I made before leaving. Once I got close I could hear a lot of music and when I got to the entrance it was clear there was a festival in the castle grounds. I was pretty excited as I was only messaging on Whatsapp the night before saying I wanted to stumble upon a random festival!
The castle grounds were amazing! The first thing I was greeted with was a load of Japanese people in traditional dress dancing which was proper good. I had one of those reflective moments where I was chuffed to be there/here. There were games stalls, music, comedy, dancing, debate, food and drink stalls everywhere too. I had some delicious noodles and beef skewers and was tempted to go up for more it was so good. The night was coming and the festival really kicked it when it got darker. Some of the photos I have of the castle are cool, I am no photographer but the purple sky was class. I went in and up to the observatory in the castle and I was so chuffed I rocked up there.
On the way back, I was really struggling. My back was killing so it was to the shop to get some munchies and back to the hotel for late night The Arsenal game. I got to use my new gadget which was happy about, a world travel adaptor but with an in-built wifi router for wired Internet hotel rooms. So I got into my Japanese robe provided and watched a terrible performance from the team, no more to be said on that I think!
My Japanese marketing smile of the day (there were a few) came from a packet of Caramel Rusk (I didn’t buy). The packet said ‘this food made from carefully selected ingredients and methods. Hope this food will bring you a wonderful time’.
Really early start tomorrow for day trip to Kyoto. Looking forward to it because I have a 3 hour Kembu, Samurai lesson, just hope I am not too knackered to do anything!
