day 22 / in which we eat tempura

looks like “Kait”–is actually “Tensuke”

first let me boast that the only reason i was able to find this recommended restaurant called Tensuke was because i had learned to read hiragana before coming over here. the hiragana are as close as you’ll get to an alphabet in japanese, and the katakana are the exact same set of sounds but written in different characters. so i equate having learned only my hiragana to having learned to read the english alphabet BUT ONLY IN CAPITAL LETTERS. so, essentially, if something is written in all caps in japanese, i’m all over it. if it’s written in all lowercase, i’m screwed. the restaurant Tensuke spells out the “suke” part in hiragana; thus, i was able to identify it. *pats self on back*

i went into this super tentative as it is clearly a popular place for japanese-speaking locals. i arrived 45 minutes before the noon opening time on a sunday, and there were already four people waiting, despite the sub-arctic (to me) december temperatures. after fewer than ten minutes had passed, i looked back, and there were **twelve** more people in line behind me! yikes. anyway, Tensuke opened promptly at noon, and the staff was immediately sympathetic to my needs as the only non-japanese speaking customer. we all took our seats at the single counter, which bends around the corner of the space and faces the cooking area. no menus were offered; seems folks come there for a specific meal, which was explained to me in english by my behind-the-counter waitstaff dude. fried egg over rice with fried vegetables. set price: 1300¥. i asked if the egg would be fried hard–cooked all the way–and i think they did only mine that way to suit me.

when i sit down, there is a hot green tea (i think that’s what is was) and a bowl of, like, chopped onion/accoutrements before me. a bowl of clear tannish-orange colored liquid (with some stuff in it) is then added. i watch to see if my neighbors drink this. they do not. because turns out it’s not soup–it’s dipping sauce! 🙂 the chef then starts cracking eggs and doing tidy little no-look backboard shots into the trash with the shells (making a mess he will have to clean off the wall later). the egg, with a little batter messily splashed in, is fried quickly (it puffs up a bit rather than being flat) and then placed atop a bowl of rice with some crispy fried batter bits, all of which is doused in a soy-sauce-y sauce. i receive my bowl and sign inwardly as i split apart my chopsticks. i will NOT miss eating with two sticks. as i eat, a bowl of soup (?) is added to my collection of things. no spoon. i wait to observe my neighbors, who eventually drink this right from the bowl. it is soup. a fishy one, as it turns out. i can do without it.

next, the chef starts tempura-ing things. a plate sits on the raised edge of the counter before each seat, and we are all, in turn, presented with, one at a time and in this order: a good-sized shrimp, a wedge of green bell pepper, a slice of eggplant, a hunk of broccoli, a piece of fish, another (different) type of fish, and–the grand finale–a big ball of shrimp. the plate has a paper on it that is eventually drenched in tempura grease. the food is good. the tempura batter provides crunch more than flavor, but the dipping sauce, which is mild and slightly sweet, complements the soy-sauce-y rice and makes the meal.

i feel a little pressured because, as i continue working on my food, my first-shift seatmates all finish and leave, and i know there is a line outside. i also know that the place is only open for lunch from 12 to 2pm. i’m just not very quick at eating with a pair of sticks–i do the best i can! (i cheated at one point–picked the first shrimp up with my hand and ate it for the sake of efficiency. i was left with extremely greasy fingers and no napkin in sight. the waiter dude, seeing my plight, took pity on me and presented me with a wet wipe. i didn’t cheat any more after that.) anyway, no one rushed me; the pressure to finish up came only from myself.

all-in-all, i’m glad to have braved this tempura experience, and i left Tensuke VERY full.

day 17 / in which it is christmas

christmas is not a holiday in japan, so my plan is to hit up the red light district and the area of many mini bars after finally treating myself to the infamous Fluffy Japanese Pancakes.

i arrive early in kichijoji to make sure i get in on the 11am first round of “premium pancakes” at gram. as usual, the walk to the destination proves far less dramatic than the mapping. unlike most japanese stores and restaurants, gram is not prompt at opening, and i have wandered the shopping area thoroughly, multiple times–even finding a krispy kreme–before their sign is placed out front and their door is opened.

inside the spot, the reviews i read for this particular gram location (of five in the city) are definitely right about one thing: the floor is super dirty. like, noticeably so. i shrug it off: i don’t eat on floors, and everything else seems fine, including the also-complained-about service. i am the first customer and am tended to promptly. my order is placed, and i settle in, thinking i have reached the twenty minute wait portion of the program. but within a few minutes, my waitress returns with:

i’d seen write-ups about these before coming over, so they had been on the list from jump. as a person who hates thick pancakes and goes out of the way to make thin batter, i felt very skeptical. but the way these had been praised, i suspected they couldn’t just be the giant, dry, bisquick renditions that i had in my mind. i was right. the texture of these was nothing like a pancake, bisquick or otherwise. they were light where it seemed they would be dense. velvety where it seemed they would be dry. sweet where it seemed they would be devoid of taste. the pancakes tasted so lovely, in fact, that i didn’t even touch the elfen thimble of syrup that was provided. and while i tried adding the whipped cream, even that didn’t seem necessary. who tf eats pancakes with NOTHING ON THEM? i didn’t even use the butter!

these pancakes are magically delicious, but they are also rich and filling. by the time i finished one, i recognized that (a) i was probably going to get a stomachache and (b) the dish could easily have been shared. but i don’t spend $10 on pancakes and not eat all the pancakes. i ate ALL the pancakes and then dragged myself on to pursue the rest of my day.

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nightfall finds me hungry and freezing, so i try another ticket machine restaurant, selected largely because the menu items are written in english and the prices are reasonable. having already had amazing curry udon, i am quick to recognize that this restaurant is giving me what i would call the franco-american version. like, i could seriously imagine having gotten this curry udon out of a can. i would totally still eat it–i mean, i love spaghetti-o’s–but yeah, it definitely can’t hold up against konaya.

warmed and fed, i head back out to get a gander at shinjuku at night and to visit kabukicho and golden gai. kabukicho is the red-light district of tokyo. nudie bars, “love hotels,” and such. and golden gai is a block-sized courtyard hidden amidst tall buildings and carved into multiple alleys that house almost 200 teeny-tiny bars. i mean teeny tiny. like, some of them max out at five people. and as with all tokyo commerce, you also have to look up: there are teeny-tiny bars stacked on top of the other teeny-tiny bars and reached by staircases so teeny tiny (not to mention vertically pitched) that you feel you should have drunk something downstairs in the first bar to grow small before attempting to head up. any-hoo, golden gai should be seen in person as there is a written rule against taking photos of the bars themselves. here is what i saw:

the first/upper left photo is the entrance to golden gai. it’s so modest and unassuming…and unlabeled…that you would never think to walk take that path unless you were already aware of your destination. below is a peek at kabukicho.

 

can you find godzilla?

i ended the day more serenely, with a slice of traditional japanese christmas cake, which is a simple yellow sponge cake with whipped cream icing and strawberries, to-wit:

meri kurisumasu!

day 16 / in which it is christmas eve

okay, the plan was to see both the regular and the special-for-christmas city lights. i decided, therefore, to wait until evening to go shoe shopping in shibuya, which would also grant me my first time on foot in a scramble crossing (i had already traversed these via go-kart).

shibuya station exit and scramble crossing, as seen from tokyu department store

a scramble crossing is a major intersection of at least three streets. the car and pedestrian traffic take turns at these, as at any intersection, but at scramble crossings, ALL car traffic in ALL directions is stopped when it is the pedestrians’ turn. and when that happens, the HORDES of people that have collected at the corners will cross the intersection in any and all directions–crosswalks be damned. it’s a delightful free-for-all in which hundreds and hundreds of people take over the intersection. i say delightful because there really is a palpable (and contagious) energy of fun at these crossings. it feels exactly like you’re about to play Pole Position. when they give the high sign, people light out toward the opposite-direction army headed toward them, bobbing and weaving gleefully and hurriedly in an attempt to get alllll the way across in the time allotted. it felt the same at all scramble crossings i ultimately found myself met with: fun and exciting. it’s a couple minutes of rare public japanese unabashedness.

any-hoo, after hitting up lots of stores and malls, including the famous Shibuya 109, i hadn’t found shoes, and it had gotten dark enough that the lights were on, including the blue trees that i had learned from a housemate would guide me to the blue grotto christmas lights. it was freezing out, and i had no idea how long the walk was from shibuya to yoyogi park, but if my housemate had done it, so could i. as with most things in tokyo, it turned out to be not that far away. after ten to fifteen minutes, i ran into a massive crowd whose street crossings were being managed by police. i had arrived at the blue grotto–the place where the blue trees, uninterrupted by street traffic, line the path into yoyogi park.

the crowd was pretty massive and hard to maneuver, what with everyone taking pics and selfies. toward the end of the lights were a google-sponsored globe thing with smoke bubbles (for the kiddies), a live pianist performing (while wearing no coat or gloves–¡caramba!), and an area of food and drink vendors.

 

at the end, i kept moving, looking for the rest of my route (to harajuku) to present itself to me. et voilà–i found a sign pointing me to the train station. it was several more blocks walking alongside the park. on my way, i stopped at a street vendor selling bags of hot donuts like i used to get on the street in chinatown when i lived in nyc. they were lovely for their taste and their warmth. i climbed the stairs to an elevated crossing that was in my path, and i could see that i had reached harajuku.

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now, when i packed for tokyo, i knew i needed flat, walking-around shoes. but the weather and my insistence on a certain aesthetic would unequivocally not let those shoes be plain old sneakers. i’m not going to tokyo in a sharp long wool coat with sneakers on. i had a much cuter look in mind. and besides, i needed ankle coverage; it was gonna be cold. i have high-top nikes with some style, but they have hidden heels in them and are not at all comfortable for a lot of walking. so what i finally settled on was something i would never have deemed suitable for everyday wear in new orleans: my sequined boots from my old gris gris strut parade uniform! 😀

the sequined boots were flat, had gel insoles added, and had been comfortable enough to walk as much as seven miles straight in at one time (google “thoth parade”). they ticked off all the boxes, and what folks in the states might deem over the top i thought folks in tokyo might give a thumbs up. so it was decided. unfortunately, the boots, being a cheap dance store purchase, decided for themselves, very quickly, that they had had it with me and my walks. the faux leather, which had juuuust started peeling before i arrived, became much more aggressive in its disintegration. and the crumbling interiors, which normally would not be on view, had to be revealed every time i wanted to try something on as pretty much all dressing rooms have a no-shoes policy in japan. the boots were an embarrassment and had to be replaced.

all that said, i had been shoe shopping and continued to do so. i had my sights set on a pair of black patent leather oxfords. seemed easy enough–EVERY vendor offered SOME version–but i had specifications. i didn’t want a plain toe–it had to either have a cap or a sewn ridge (think wallabees), but it could NOT be a wingtip (as i have black patent leather wingtips with a heel at home). and i wanted some thickness in the sole–but not a platform. and i didn’t want to pay more than $30. it was a mission i chose to accept and quickly regretted.

shopping in tokyo ain’t easy. nyc is no picnic either, but at least, if i wanted shoes, i knew exactly the right area and which department stores i could afford. in tokyo, it was all a crapshoot and a matter of boots-on-the-ground (see what i did there?) investigation. lots of legwork and lots of disappointment. the department stores were way too expensive. the cheap stores were hard to locate and generally didn’t turn up what i wanted. and, most frustratingly of all, the shoe store CS T&P had exactly what i wanted–but even in my correct size, the shoe just ran too small. so finally, out of sheer exhaustion, i agreed to pay $50 for a pair of shoes from a store whose name–printed in the shoes–will plague me until said shoes’ retirement: oriental traffic. it just…sounds…WRONG. and bad. bad and wrong. ugggh.

the shoes are pretty fly, tho. 😉

anyway, here’s a later pic from the blue grotto. i was saving money another day by walking from harajuku, and i happened to hit the blue grotto right before they turned the lights on…

day 15 / in which we thrift shop in earnest

what i read about koenji is true: the place is DRIPPING with secondhand/thrift/resale stores. there are a few along my north koenji path to the train–including my second favorite, mode off. and then, if i pass the train station and head into south koenji, there is the PAL. the PAL is a long, covered outdoor mall that has what ultimately is my favorite store in tokyo: don don down on wednesday. funny name; serious collection…*commence stefon from SNL voice* this store has everything. but first, let’s take a minute to dissect tokyo’s secondhand store culture.

you can actually find secondhand stores in MANY places in tokyo–from small neighborhoods to major retail areas. sometimes even inside a high end mall. that said, this kind of shopping seems to be WAY more commonplace in tokyo than in the states. from what i have discerned, there are really about four distinct kinds of used clothing stores here:

• high end: found in expensiver shopping areas like omotesando hills, these stores are reselling really high-end couture stuff–your chloé, celine, gucci, dior, comme des garçon, etc. don’t get it twisted, tho: shit’s still expensive. 0_0
• true vintage: these stores have actual old stuff, like 70s and prior. i noted that the 80s aren’t really represented, and my theory is that this is when mass market fashion really caught on–the age of express, the limited, gap…and all their successors. clothes were cheaper, styles were more ubiquitous, and quality was lower. this stuff is more than 30 years old now, so it’s legit vintage, but i didn’t see it in any of these stores, none of which were exactly low price.
• just wacky: a small number of these shops are selling really wild looks (think of the most out there styles from the 70s), revised styles (imagine old shirts re-designed with patched together kimono fabric), or items from niche areas of fashion. koenji’s hayatochiri and dai dai are examples of shops specializing in the former two options, while resale shops in harajuku, e.g., sell stuff for the lolita or goth niches.
• broad range: this is where i live. now, to be clear, even these stores–ALL of them, in fact–will have some high-end stuff. and the absolute STAR of high-end labels in thrift stores is burberry. there was NO thrift store i visited that did not stock some burberry. from the dinkiest independents to the big chains. like, it was weirdly omnipresent. but outside of their high-end sections, these stores sell a broad variety of labels, including both japanese brands and brands we find in america. but i didn’t go all the way to tokyo to buy something from zara, now did i?

the don don down on wednesday in south koenji (i subsequently learned that it’s a chain) is a pretty big, broad range secondhand store, and it has a great selection. there’s a main area of what i determined to be more recent arrivals, and then there’s another big section where the tags all have different cute (hey, kawaii!) graphics of produce on them–a strawberry or a watermelon, e.g.–that represent the price. it drops all the way down to the mushroom, which represents a mere 500¥ (less than five bucks at the time of this writing)! i was elated and ultimately purchased a DOOOOPE top and a skirt. bonus: they take credit cards.

my second favorite, mode off in north koenji, is also a chain with a lot of real estate. found some great flat ankle boots in there for 500¥ to replace the rapidly disintegrating pair i had brought for my walkabout kicks. my third favorite, dostyle, is also in north koenji and is a smaller, seemingly independent shop. great selection nonetheless, and they had christmas and new year’s day sales–yaay!

worth noting is that japanese men are clearly WAY more fashion conscious than american ones (duh, i guess), as evidenced by how many times i walked into a secondhand store only to discover that it was menswear only. this holds true across all kinds of secondhand stores and even all kinds of clothing stores in general, including entire malls sometimes. japanese men be SHOPPING!

to sum up: unlike in the united states, thrift shopping in tokyo is not the weeding-through-junk-at-goodwill-or-salvation-army experience. it’s all buffalo exchange or better–with some great deals to be found for discerning yet frugal fashionistas* like myself.

 

*i’m only a fashionista in my mind. 😦

day 14 / in which we deal with our issues

honestly, the timing of this monthly bill is not bad at all. didn’t have to deal with it on a three-hour go-kart ride or while roaming (and climbing) the borderless exhibit for hours. didn’t have to (and now won’t have to) deal with it on a flight. traveling with fibroids is tricky. i feel really lucky for the mercy being granted me right now and, under the circumstances, i’m kind of relieved that this is the last of these trips for me.

i stayed “home” to avoid any catastrophes, so here is a momiji photo from yesterday to make up for it.

day 13 / in which we go to the zoo

but first: it was news to me that japanese food includes curries. lots of curry. i LOVE curry. so i had to go have curry. curry udon, to be exact. so i go to a Yelp-praised spot and am presented with a bib and what turns out to be a super-bangin’ bowl of curry. thick enough to be hearty, just the right amount of heat (sniffles but not discomfort), perfectly balanced out by the noodles. and i get a crispy fried “prawn” sitting on top, just soaking in the voop. bangin’, yo. on the side was a small bowl with a wee spoon in it and what appeared to be…ice water and lemon zest? i didn’t have anyone around to demonstrate what to do with this, so i left it alone. in hindsight, i think it might have been my dessert! anyway, great start! off to my day at ueno park zoo.

i think ueno park is the biggest park in tokyo. i feel like i want stefon from SNL to tell you about how this park has everything, cuz it does. temple, shrine, fountains, green space, cherry trees, autumn colors, pond, eateries, a zoo, museum, whatever the fock you WANT. so i’m on a mission to hit up the zoo. i don’t know when i’ve been to a zoo before this. the 90s? i go in, and there’s a line, right by the gate: 40 minutes from this point to see the pandas. well, the pandas were the main thing i wanted to see, so i figure lemme knock that out right off the bat. i wait and wait, finally get to the viewing area, and:

hmph. okay. fair enough, i guess. we can’t always be on, i suppose. here’s some other shit i saw:

at the end of the day (literally), i have now learned that i don’t really like zoos. i’m no animalologist, but i’m pretty sure i saw a lot of critters exhibiting stress behavior. especially the polar bear (not pictured). if i didn’t know it was a real bear, i would swear it was an animatronic creation running a loop. pace the small upper deck for two minutes, peer out the entry door each time. climb down to the edge of the water. pace there. walk to the far end. jump in. swim halfway down. climb out. shake. climb to the small upper deck and pace for two minutes. over and over. shit. that bear made me want to escape into the sweet hereafter. and that lion–gawd, talk about resignation.

the rhinos were in display cages that they could barely have turned around in if they had the heart to, and the hippos were similarly situated except they also had sad tiny pools that they mostly just used for hiding from us horrible onlookers. oh, and that poor giraffe. could it even stand up straight in that pen? ugggh. fuck zoos, man. i just saw where this young girl was interning at a zoo in the states and a lion got loose and killed her. i’m so sorry for her and her loved ones, but really: fuck zoos.

any-hoo, i had taken the monorail to see the other side of the zoo (waste of money; could have walked), and when i finally exited animal alcatraz, i was on the opposite side of ueno park from where i had come in. i took the opportunity to wander a bit (how lost can you get with a HUGE park anchoring you?), and i eventually made my way back to ueno station, which is also huge (as are MOST tokyo train stations, from what i’ve seen–they, too, “have it all”). somehow, i miraculously managed to wander into the station entry point where i could buy Tokyo Banana pastries (more later) at the NewDays convenience store. my final goal of the day accomplished, i called it and headed back to the crib.

day 12 / in which we take a sick day

after All That Running yesterday, i decided to treat myself properly for a person with a cold. a day of bed rest and some netflix…yaaayy!! so i leave you with a photo that shows just how miraculous japan really is…

😮  😀

day 11 / in which we drive mario kart*

it’s mah birfday!

okay, most of the day is barely worth mentioning. i went to harajuku to so-called find myself a present. after a traditional american breakfast (venue chosen specifically for their corned beef hash offering), i hit up:

• tokyu plaza (mall)
• kiddy land (character store)
• opening ceremony (high-end fashion)
• ragtag (high-end thrift)
• la foret (mall)
• alice on wednesday (wonderland-themed accessories store)
• kinji (thrift store)
• line friends (character store)
• dobutsen the zoo (ice cream for me, see below)
• totti candy factory (cotton candy for insane people, see below)
• a few stray shops in between, and
• jol harajuku (food court)

i was supposed to have lunch at kawaii monster cafe, but tokyo gets going so late (most stores don’t open until 11) that i had to eat breakfast late, and things just didn’t time out right after that. any-hoo–it was time for a mad dash back to the crib to change clothes for MARICAR!!!

the best laid plans of mice and jan often go awry. somehow, i managed to be running late for the ONLY appointment i had in tokyo, an appointment that had been arranged MONTHS prior. i went running higgledy-piggledy to make my multiple train transfers to get to kita-shinagawa for my MariCar go-kart session. i arrived panting and overheated to find my fellow riders already costumed up. i filled out paperwork (well, iPad-work), paid, and was directed to choose my onesie costume. the selection was HUGE. i was about to kick myself for having to make a rushed pick, when–lo and behold: HELLO KITTY. crisis averted! got dressed, locked my stuff in a locker (including, like a dummy, the IcyHot** patches i had run back home to get, which is one reason*** i was late in the first place), and joined the group heading out to the whips!

the rest, as *i* say, is picstory!

we saw the sights and the lights! we crossed rainbow bridge (shown in background of group pic) twice, to and from odaiba! we made the block at one point so we could go through the shibuya scramble crossing a second time–as you get lots of looks and waves and people taking your photo there. and as much as i thought i was going to probably die from cold, the previous day’s weather turn had held, and i was PERFECTLY comfortable. it was really an A+ outing all around. and when we got back to the office, they broke out some birthday bubbly for me (sparkling grape juice, but still)!

i was nearly back home when the music spilling out of a bar on my route–Japub–caught my attention. sounded good. and the drink menu boasted not only things i knew (e.g., a moscow mule) but also a five buck price tag. a girl working there opened the door and waved me inside. i hesitated a moment and then, since i still had an hour of birthday left, i decided to go in. once inside, i ordered a moscow mule and then noticed that, hanging all around the little space, there were banners reading “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” neat! i indicated to (more so than told, since she didn’t speak english) the bartender chick that it actually WAS my birthday, and she gave me a free drink. 😀 after that, she and i and a korean dude who spoke english kicked it for a while, playing with the games on the counter. the music was GREAT (japanese hip hop and r&b), but midnight came, and i figured i should head on home. all in all, a pretty great birthday was had.

 

*as is CLEARLY marked on the sides of the go-karts, the “MariCar” organization is “UNRELATED TO NINTENDO”…LOLz.

**they’re not REALLY IcyHot pain patches; they are inexpensive (like a buck for six) charcoal-activated stick-on patches intended for warmth, just as Minami described (see day 4).

***another reason: thought i had mapped my train route and sent it to myself at the crib, where i have internet. turns out i had just looked at it but didn’t send it, so i got to the station, had no idea how to proceed, and had to go to an agent for guidance. he was so nice about it, though. the politeness of japanese translates directly to english such that, instead of just saying, “take X train to X stop, transfer to Y train, and get off at Z stop…” it comes out, “please take X train to X stop, then please transfer to Y train, and please get off at Z stop…” …awwww.

day 10 / in which we visit a temple

asakusa is home to sensoji temple. but i consider it sensoRY temple. as in sensory overload. the weather has granted me reprieve. it is sunny and in the mid-50s outside. my clothing is finally comfortable. but who cares what *i’m* wearing–sensoji temple is SWIMMING in KIMONOS! i don’t know if it’s a special day* or what, but many japanese women are here in the full get-up: the kimono, the slippers, the hair decorations. they look AMAZING. but because i was not expecting portrait worthy people, i have not brought my long lens. i am in agony and have to settle for some shots of them from behind, which, with their obis and hairstyles, is not at all the worst thing that could happen.

any-hoo, when you visit sensoji, there is a first large gate with a giant lantern-thingy. then a long shopping street with a million knick-knacks to buy. then a second gate. then the temple area. things you will see in the temple area:

• a fountain thingy. this is for purification before entering the temple. use the dipper to wash your hands (and maybe splash your face…iono…it’s still cold outside). don’t put your mouth on the dipper, ya monster!
• an incense thingy. you can buy incense for like a buck and light it. then you put it into the big incense burner and waft the smoke over yourself. it’s supposed to give you health.
• fortune thingies (omikuji). okay, so here you are supposed to put in a dollar and then shake the silver thing, which will give you a number. you then open the drawer labeled with that number and withdraw a little paper fortune. if your fortune is good–bully for you! if it’s bad, you are supposed to leave it behind by tying it to the little wires strung on a nearby frame. seems to me i could just keep my dollar and not risk you cursing me, but that’s just me.

 

 

on this day of my visit, sensoji is having its last festival of the year. there are loads of vendor stands where people are selling food, like the wildly popular takoyaki (which i have now learned is not a japanese version of tacos but is instead balls of dough with octopus in them…eek!) and crafts. many are selling elaborately decorated wooden paddles of widely varying size, which have something to do with the new year.

sensoji is a short distance from ueno park, so my plan was to go to the zoo next, but i discover that my camera battery is dying, so i decide to call it a day. i buy a “veg pancake” on a stick and shop my way out, accidentally crashing headlong into some sweet bean paste again on the way. blech. i happen across an all-ghibli store on my way to the train and get a small totoro magnet to make up for the bean paste incident. back at the crib, i realize that i am developing a sore throat! tomorrow being my birthday, i pray that it is just a passing sensation. …TO BE CONTINUED

*it was not a special day. a subsequent visit, also on a random weekday, found the same deal–loads of kimonos. you should go and see them! 🙂

day 9 / in which we pay respects

pilgrimage time! off to *my* version of a shrine–sanrio puroland–where i would submit *my* offerings at her (commercial) altar. the onslaught begins at the train station, where a full-on stained glass ceiling pays tribute to the sanrio character family.

the characters are all over the station in their little train conductor outfits. kawaii! seriously–kawaii has to be THE most popular word in tokyo. no matter where i go, i hear people calling out “kawaii” because, well, there is cute stuff planted EVERYwhere. if you went to get a colonoscopy, i fully bet there’d be a cute little face on the end of the camera. right as you drift into twilight sleep (you do get to go to sleep…right??), you would see it and mumble “oh! kawaaaiiii.” any-hoo, outside of the train station are maps for “hello kitty’s town,” and this:

HELLO KITTY!

sanrio puroland consists of a few little kiddie rides, lots of photo taking spots, merchandise shops, food areas, merchandise shops, games, theatres for live-action stage performances, merchandise shops, themed spots to tour without a ride, and merchandise shops. it is intended for children, die-hard character fans (see pic below), and me.

rides and

attractions for

…children?

i went in the middle of the day on a non-holiday monday to avoid massive crowds, and these girls were there, too. these girls are grown. based on how japanese people age, they are in their 30s. and they were not the only ones. they were just the only ones i got a good picture of.

at multiple points during the day, the kitty herself is lowered in from the ceiling like beyonce. behold:

and when people know it’s about to happen, hordes of them seriously pack the whole central area of the venue, sitting on the stairs and the floor, awaiting her arrival. it was uncanny. whoever is in that cat suit can’t help but have a big head. get it?? LOLz. any-hoo, it was cool to visit (especially having only paid half price by getting the ticket online through voyagin). i got some merch and some photographic evidence and headed back into the city.

 

GOODBYE KITTY!