We spent the entire last week of our holiday in Tokyo and packed it with more pop culture than the Buzzfeed homepage. Buckle took some pretty spectacular shots of the Tokyo skyline from the giant ferris wheel in Daida,re we also saw an enormous Gundam statue and an exceptionally squeally crowd awaiting the arrival of the winners of Korean Idol. Of course, we had to bear witness to the K-pop power of Infinite (I can't help but raise my fist every time I say their name) performing their latest single - you could have bottled the oestrogen in the air and sold it to post-menapusal women.
It just so happened that the Sumo tournament was in it's final week while we were in Tokyo so we lined up early one morning to secure the cheapest, worst tickets in the whole stadium and watch fat, sweaty men grapple with each other for honour or something. I think I've found my sport. I don't mean to brag but I feel as though I've become somewhat knowledgable on the subject of sumo wrestling - I reckon I can strategise with the best of them. Plus, all that rampant testosterone really brought out a new side in Buckle.
If you're searching for the highest concentration of pop culture, sex shops and video games in Tokyo - the world, even - then Akihabara is the place to be. We spent a good 12 hours trawling through the streets, stopping at Super Potato to play vintage arcade games (Buckle opted for Street Fighter while I was all over Wonder Boy) and relive our furtive youth by browsing racks upon racks of old Nintendo and Sega games.
While in Akihabara I also took the opportunity to get my nails done at Ita Color Yellow, Tokyo's best nail salon specialising in anime and Japanese cartoon themed nail art. I knew exactly what I wanted on my nails...
Samurai Pizza Cats! Because it true what they say, "they've got more fur than any turtle ever had." Despite the language barrier (Buckle was not sticking around for 2 hours to act as translator) we got through it and the nail artist was the Michelangelo of nails.
I couldn't stop staring at my hands days afterwards.
Shibuya was without doubt the coolest place in Tokyo - Shibuya crossing was what I imagined the whole of Tokyo to be. Naturally, no trip to Japan would be complete without visiting a cat cafe; we stopped in at Happi Neko in Shibuya which was filled with lounges, armchairs, book and, of course, cats. I have to say that I was left a little disappointed with our visit; I left feeling as though we'd just payed $20 to be ignored by cats - I have a cat at home that ignores me for free. However, I couldn't fault the sheer adorableness of the cats and felt a little envious that I couldn't make a living out of people coming to feed me treats, wave feathers in my face and watch me nap.
On our last night in Japan we lined up with hundreds of others for Disney Sea, which is apparently infinitely superior to Tokyo Disneyland. I'm not a Disney buff in any sense of the word but the lights and whimsy drew me in like a Venus Fly Trap.
Mermaid's Lagoon particularly appealed to the five year-old mermaid inside of me.
I've been pining for Japan ever since we got back on Sunday - Australia is just not weird or polite enough for me anymore, but I soothe myself by remembering that London is a mere 4 months away.
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