The Mad Cat Lady´s Tokyo Trip 2010

Have set up this blog so I can keep you all informed on what I get up to when I´m in Tokyo from 7 to 14 April.

Can´t wait! 🙂

Hmmm, there´s a lot of things I need to know and where to go, so I´m researching all this on the web at the moment.  I am also learning some basic Japanese, which is really fun to learn!

Well, here´s a short list of things I intend to see/do when I´m there:

1. Tokyo Dome – this theme park has some of the best rollercoasters and rides in the World.
2. Ginza Kabuki Theatre
3. Got to meet Hello Kitty at Sanrio Puroland
4. Shopping shopping shoppppinnng!

Ok, so the list is still short, but it´s a start, hehe.

Mata ne! 🙂

La Carmina´s website!

She has so much goth/shopping info on there for Tokyo that I am already drooling over, but I haven´t had time to read through it all in depth. Sooo…. tomorrow´s my day off and I´m gonna spend a couple of hours doing just that.

If you don´t know what I´m on about, check out this direct link:
La Carmina´s Tokyo Goth Shopping Guide

Sadly, I have been struggling with a very painful inflammation in my right shoulder (a flare up of my rheumatoid arthritis) and have been getting injections at the health centre every day… but the good thing is that it happened NOW and not when I´m going next Wednesday, so I will be well and bouncing by then!!!

I have been learning Japanese survival phrases and basics at www.japanesepod101.com for the last few weeks – a fantastic way to learn and really good fun too!  No plurals and only two tenses (present and future tense) also means that Japanese is not as hard to learn as you might think  (if you´re not learning to write it as well, that is)…

So…. the countdown has begun.  5 Days to go.  I can´t WAIT!!! 😀

Note that I will not have my mobile phone switched on while I´m in Tokyo – it´s simply too expensive for both sides, and well, I´m on the email all the time anyway (got my netbook and free ADSL connection in my hotel room!), so you can always contact me that way if you have to.

This means that I will mobile-ly not be reachable from tomorrow afternoon (7th) until I´m back at in Madrid (where I can use my Spanish mobile provider “Movistar”) at around midday on 15 April.

Had the most amazing trip from Paris to Tokyo.  Air France sure are to be commended – the food just kept on coming and it was all FREE! In the end I actually had to skip breakfast, cause there was a self-service type “stand” at the back of the plane, where you could either just ask the super-friendly staff to heat you up some pot noodles etc., or just pick up a sandwich and soft drinks, so by the time they came round I wasn´t hungry anymore. Most importantly, the beer was also free. YAY. 

I sat next to a newly wed Japanese couple who had spent their honeymoon in Paris, and even though they were almost 30, we had such a silly giggle together, some people in front of us actually “Shhhh´d” us various times vehemently. They were also huge cat lovers so I of course got all my katten pics out. Ayumi and Kazu, if you read this,it´s YOU I´m talking about, hehe. 😉

Did manage to catch some very unrestful zeds too – I was lucky to have 2 seats together, so I could stretch out a little at least. The entertainment was great too – everybody had their own little screen in front of them, and there was a fantastic choice of movies, series, music and games (like Solitaire, Mahjong etc.) on there, but Ayumi and I were too busy chatting, so apart from some relaxing music when I was sleeping (trying to at least), I didn´t make much use of this feature of the flight. 

Going through Customs was quite an experience too. Had to fill in two different forms, one for the passport people and another for declaration purposes, and they took my fingerprints and a photo too, but otherwise it was swift and friendly, and I still had Ayumi and Kazu waiting for me on the other side. We proceeded to take more silly photos of each other (see below) and Ayumi then got me the cheapest train ticket that was available, and she even showed me all the way down to the platform AND bought me an energy drink for the 1 1/2 hr journey into town – such a sweetie!  I love it when you meet a genuinely sweet and nice, helpful person, and wonder if all Japanese are like that? Again, if you are reading this Ayumi, DOMO DOMO DOMO ARIGATO!!!

Cute Ayumi and I

Healthwise, I have done this long journey (24 hrs approx.) without too much pain, stiffness or fatigue.  I just hope my body won´t crash tomorrow – something it often does when I have overdone it the day before.  But hey, time will tell. (For those of you who don´t know, I suffer from fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis).

Oh, and One more thing…. I´M IN FUCKING TOKYOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *bounces madly* 😀

And this is my ´hood:

And I off out now checking out the electronics shops! *drools*

Why the hell am I NOT jetlagged? Not that I´m complaining, I love it, and my first day was spent shopshopshopping (mostly), with a walk through the beautiful Shinjuku National Garden (Park), where the cherry blossoms are at their most beautiful at this time of year. Cue picture of myself sprouting a Sakura (cherry blossom) tree from my head. 😉

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And another nice pic of Shinjuku National Garden:

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There´s all these silly little things that are really cool in Japan, like you can buy a rather excellent coffee in a tin from a vending machine – and it comes out HOT.  I expected this coffee to be cold, but what a lovely surprise, when I had it in my grubby, and cold, hands. Yay.  This is what I´m talking about:

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Met a lady with this little doggie in one of the clothes shops, it´s just toooo KAWAI for words:

And you wouldn´t believe there are quite a few shops I came across today that specialise in doggie clothes of all kinds – tshirts, jackets, rompersuits etc.  Oh the cute.  I was thinking of buying an “AC/DC” tee for Lugosi or Spider, but they probably would not be very amused, hehe. 😉

Highlight of my Day: The Calico Cat Café in Shinjuku
I meant to go to different cat café (yes, there seems to be more than just one in Tokyo!), but I just happened to walk by this one, so of course, I HAD to go in.  They don´t call me The Mad Cat Lady for nothing.;)

The cats in there are really well looked after – the longhairs are all brushed and have beautiful coats, and the exotics/shortnosed cats get eye and nose cleanings when needed.  There is also a quarantine section, where I saw one cat with a radar dish collar on, that obviously needed to be kept apart from the others.  Humans entering have to take off their shoes and wash their hands and then disinfect them before entering.  Bags etc. can be stored in numbered lockers, and then you just sit down, have a tea etc. and play with the kitties!  You can also buy little bowls with (I think) tuna, but everybody else was doing that already and I thought, hey, these kitties have more than enough to eat LOL.  I booked half an hour, but stayed almost an hour, so I paid the extra for that, no worries, and got a calendar featuring all the kitties there too.  Ok, I´ll shut up now and here are some photos!

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NEW KITTY SHOES!  I love Skechers, they´re so comfy!

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And for you perves out there, a gratuitous Japanese schoolgirl pic:

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P.S.: Forgot to mention that it´s COLD here… the day today was okayish, about 15C I´d say, but last night….. if I had balls, they would have been frozen off.  Must have been 0C.  I told my hotel reception and they were so kind to give me a little fan heater for my room. 🙂

It´s a 3*** in the center of Tokyo, but apart from the size of the room (which doesn´t matter!) it puts most 4**** (and possibly 5***** – haven´t really been in any before) hotels to shame.

It has the most fantastic shower, which also has these 3 little jets (see pic) for extra showering pleasure (hur hur, I can hear you laugh dirtily now), a hi-tech toilet that flushes itself and has a heated seat and doubles as a bidet (see pic), TV (only Japanese, but you can pay for international if you like), FREE internet (see pic), the most comfortable, firm bed (back pain sufferers rejoice!) and pillows, and it also has a fridge, hair dryer, complimentary tooth brush, hair brush, tea, a kettle, hi-tech alarm clock, little reading lamp by the bed, and even though I was cold (it was only 0C the other night), the reception gave me a little fan heater (but there is aircon for the summer). 🙂

All in all, I´m impressed. You can´t tell, can you?! 😉

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Hi-Tech Toilet

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FREE Internet! 🙂

After going to bed at 2am and then being wide awake and not able to sleep anymore after 5.30am (jetlag has finally hit me after all), I started the day as early as I felt like, about 9.30 that is, and went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building next to Shinjuku.  They have an observatory on the 45th Floor which is open and free to the public, and do I ever say no to a freebie?!  Got some great views (see pic) from there, even though it was rather misty (smoggy?) at that time of morning (I got there at about 11), and no sightseeing trip would be complete without doing a spot of shopping, of course, and I got a really cute cat clock made from leather that is now dangling from my bag (see pic) from one of the shops at the top of the TMG Building, amongst some other kitschy stuff….

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After this I was off to SANRIOLAND to meet HELLO KITTY! 😀
I am glad I wasn´t the only adult there to see Hello Kitty – bumped into some Americans who were obviously as mad as I, hehe, and there were also some “older”, alternative-type Japanese girls there.  The majority was of course screaming brats, but omg Japanese kids are just SOOO cute.  I mean they *look* cute (no, I´m not suddenly going to start liking kids!).  Anyways, to cut the crap, here´s straight to some pics…

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Ah, the PVC clad Kuromi. 😉

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I would really like one of these in MY house…

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My body is really starting to feel the strain of the last few days, and I totally flaked out on the train back from Sanrioland (40 mins).  After that, it was really over for me and I was aching all over and I could barely move my legs, but on the way back to the hotel I still managed to spend an hour in the HUGEST electronics store I have ever dreamt of.  Of course, I didn´t buy anything (yet! I will have to go back there when I´m more energised), but wow man…. the gadget-shiny-geek-girl in me rejoiced, and then some.  Prices here are not cheaper than elsewhere really, but they have SO MUCH CHOICE and the latest stuff too, you wouldn´t believe. 

So I got myself some food (see pic) and went back to the hotel.  This is the sort of thing I have been eating for the last few days, yummy.  When I bought it, I was told that the rice was “feeesh”, and I said “yeah ok”. On closer inspection back at the hotel I realised what the vendor had meant…. there were tiny little fishies in the rice!  LOOOK!  OMG! LOL.  They were so small (see arrows in pic below) I didn´t taste them really, but I´m sure they give an overall special flavour to the rice. 😉

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I am aiming to do the Tokyo Dome Amusement Park tomorrow (Rollercoasters and rides, yay!), but will have to see how I feel.  Right now it´s 19:43 hours and I am staying in for the rest of the evening, can´t move a muscle anymore….

UPDATE: F*ck it.  I´m off out again, pain or not, I just can´t *shut down*, argh! 😉

I just had the above camera in my grubby little hands.  Yes, it´s out here in Japan already (supposed to be released elsewhere in mid March 2010, but can´t find anything on the web), price approx. 370€.  I am oh so tempted, and I will probably, possibly, almost quite definitely (LOL) get this little marvel tomorrow, because for that price I would never get anything remotely like that back in Lanzarote, and certainly not until in a year´s time!  Plus it´s the first and only 30x optical zoom camera in the World.  Olympus were the first to produce their 26x zoom camera where everybody else just had 24x zoom capability, and now they´ve done it again (where everybody else is still at 26x zoom, hehe). 

Here in Tokyo they let you try cameras out in the shops – rest of World, please LEARN something from that – so I was playing with it for a while, and the photo quality is as good as Olympus gets (just as good as my Panasonic and Nikon cameras, that is) and my main concern is always the weight, which is why I shun detachable lens cameras, they weigh a ton – this Olympus camera weighs simply *nothing*.  I thought my other 2 cameras are light, but this one…. it must be around 400g including battery.  A-farkin-mazing.

Click here to read a quick review here, my camera geek friends (even if you prefer “real” cameras with detachable lenses etc.).  Everybody else can just skip this entry. 😉

UPDATE: HRRRUMPFFF!  I just found that in the US this camera sells for only 350USD/260€!!! How is this possible?  How DARE they?!  I bet it´s gonna be a different story in Europe if and when this camera comes out…. but…. *cries* why why why would it be so much more expensive HERE in Japan when it´s a Japanese company?!

Silly me, I found myself on a Saturday night without any more Japanese money, only Euros, and there are no places like tourist foreign exchange kiosks or anything here, and my hotel reception couldn´t exchange money either…. meaning that I would have to go till Monday without cash!

Unlike what my US friends are used to, you can NOT pay everything with your credit/Visa card here.  So I was going to try my luck and see if any of the ATMs would work. Of course, my luck was zero.

My luck changed though when I asked someone regarding a bank, and she didn´t speak much English, until a couple of young girls (very posh looking – I could be wrong though, hehe!) joined the conversation and we spent about 15 mins standing in the cold debating what I could do.  Then the idea was born that I could get a “Pasamo” season ticket for 500 yen with my Visa card – this is not only a season ticket, but I can use it at some of the convenient stores, so at least tomorrow I won´t starve!

We walked back to Ikebukuro station together and they were asking one of the station staff about this – it turned out that it would take 2 days before I get the season pass, so that idea was out the window too. 

So the two of them got their iPhones (with identical pastel pink covers) out and checked what the exchange rate was and they then asked me how much I needed…. I said 40€ would be ok, so that´s 5000Yen, and one of them went to the cash point and got me the money!!! This happened in the middle of a busy metro station – surely, for an exchange such as this in other cities, we would all have been arrested?! Also, if this *had* been another city, I wouldn´t have gone with total strangers, showed them my Visa card when they asked to see it (to see if I can use it at any ATMs), etc.  Before leaving for Tokyo, I have read and heard from other people (including my mum) that crimes like thieving and pickpocketing are virtually unheard of, so I guess it was alright with these two gals… or maybe I was just lucky that they weren´t Yakuza molls and luring me into some web of intrigue, rape and murder? LOL.  I leave the rest to the imagination.  Or not. 😉

Went to a sunday flea market near Yurakucho Station this morning.  Got a few bits and pieces there, including a nice “hippy” bag and a purple top, that I can actually *wear* back in Lanzarote… what annoys me about clothes shopping, is that when you live on a tropical island, all those nice long sleeved tops and coats and fluffy jackets are really a taboo for you. Same goes for boots. 🙁 So I always have to shop “light”, otherwise I will never wear things in our Lanzarote heat.

Anyways, on to the Imperial Palace, which wasn´t very exciting really, but walking around the Imperial Palace Gardens was quite nice and it got so hot, I ended up wearing just my t-shirt (must have been way above 20C), and I even got a slight sunburn on the back of my neck! The Tokyo Marathon was on this weekend too and a lot of the runners must have got really annoyed trying to struggle their way past the tourists. 😉

Here are some pics of the Imperial Palace Gardens (nice, Zen ones):

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Me and the big bad city! 😉

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Next stop was Tokyo Dome City.  There are some of the best rollercoasters in the World, and I got a 5-ride ticket, which I thought would just do the trick really. The “Thunder Dolphin” (that´s the big one you can see in the pics, and video below) was fantastic, oh did I scream, or what, hehe.  The “Tower Hacker” was a nice rush too – this one drops you from a height of 80m.  The third one was a 4D ride called “Tokyo Panic Cruise”, and the fourth one (and last one, because I lost my ticket after that!) I went on was the “Linear Gale”, where you got your feet dangling, and go
off at high speed up into the sky and then get dropped backwards… oh
it´s hard to explain…. but that one was excellent too. Like I said, I lost my ticket – I found it again at the bottom of my bag when I got home, so I might go back on the “Thunder Dolphin” again tomorrow (and will try and sneak my mobile phone in so I can video the ride), as I am going shopping in around that area anyway.

Ok, some more pics now and then I´m gonna lie down (aching all over again with the fibro/RA pain, as usual, but I´m glad I am able to do *some* things at least).

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Oh, and this *giggles* – some of the translations here are hilarious.

Today I went totally mad at the shops and spent about 300€.  Argh!  But hey, I´m not in Tokyo again any time soon, so I might as well make the best of it. 😉

I was like a kid in toy land on Christmas & her birthday together, going shopping in Akihabara, otherwise known as “Electric Town”. This is where all the cheapest electronics shops are all gathered together in one place in Tokyo.  What I didn´t know that this is also the anime/comic/sci-fi memorabilia part of town – it´s like Forbidden Planet but 100x bigger and better.  😀

I was reminded by the rain and freezing cold why I moved away from London, and because I was already soaked I didn´t go to as many shops as I would have liked.  However, there is just ONE shop I needed anyway: “Yodabashi” (see pic).  This is the HUGEST electronics store you can ever dream of, like the biggest PC World you know, the biggest Dixons you know, the biggest Boots you know, all under one roof.  I didn´t get the Olympus SP800UZ after all because, even though it has fantastic picture quality, 30x optical zoom and weighs hardly anything, I didn´t like the menus and handling at all.  Besides, I have two big cameras already, so why not get a small one?  It´s much more handy to take around with you when you´re just doing snapshots, like I am doing here in Tokyo, so I bought a Fuji Finepix Z300 (in my colour, *purple*, yay!), which is an older model from last year, hence I got it cheap for approx. 80€.  Also got as many computery stuff as I can easily transport in my suitcase (my limit is 20kg!), and some more make up – yes, they do household stuff there too, including perfumes, bath smellies and make-up!!! I didn´t check out all the floors, only the computer and camera floors, but those were big enough and I was in there for a good 2 hours!

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Besides, I had no more time to look around more cause I had to rush back to my hotel so I could see my cats back at home on webcam when Anneke (my catsitter) called me on Skype at 4pm (we scheduled this call beforehand). It was the best birthday prezzie to see my babies on the webcam and to see that everything is under control back on the home front. Thank you, Anneke (smile when you read this, hehe).

Went out again a couple of hours later to go to the other cat café that is only a few blocks from my hotel.  It was still pissing down with rain and it´s probably only about 5C, and I was frozen stiff with fingers turning numb even through my gloves when I got to the kitty place. I found that they had a Spider and also a Janelle clone!  To cut a long story short though, here are some piccies…

Janelle´s male clone

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This longhaired Scottish Fold looks permanently pissed off because of her tiny ears…

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Gorgeous, big Norwegian Forest Cat and a British Blue

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Cute, sleepy silver tabby

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On the way back to the hotel I came across another Hello Kitty Shop and got some socks and a camera case for new camera.  This one had two floors and oh, I wish I could carry more stuff in my suitcase back with me – the red leather steering wheel cover would have been perfect for my car, but it was sooo heavy! And I would have loved the watch in the center bottom of the pic below, but it cost around 160€.  No watch that *I* buy is worth that. 😉

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I hope that it will stop raining tomorrow (must check weather forecast).  If not… well, I´ll see about that tomorrow. 😉

Susan Boyle, move over! Check out this ugly Taiwanese little duckling, Lin Yu Chun who appears to be absolutely massive here in Japan, with the most amazing voice…

Spent a late morning in the hotel, and then went to meet Ayumi, the Japanese girl who lives here in Tokyo, whom I met (+ husband Kazu) on the flight over from Paris last week, for a sushi lunch. It was very yummy, and we had a really good laugh trying to teach each other swear words in our respective languages. I won´t repeat the words we covered, but serious girly giggles ensued. The picture below was taken at the beginning of our lunch, but all seriousness then quickly all fell apart. 😉

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I had to go back to the hotel to get my protective mask before going on the Metro, and while we were there I showed Ayumi all the cat stuff I had bought here in Tokyo, and as I produced more and more things, more giggles ensued.  This pic doesn´t show *all* the cat stuff I bought, but I think it´s about 90% of it.

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I was then taken by my tour guide Ayumi to Asakusa, which is not very far from Ikebukuro where I am staying, and we were going to visit the Sensoji Temple, the oldest and most famous temple in Tokyo. Sadly, the main temple hall is being renovated at the moment, so we didn´t get to see it, but the long street leading up to it was foreign tourists´ shopping paradise, and I was particularly drooling over all the cat stuff (yes, more cat stuff!) in the shops.  Ayumi almost had to get me a bucket for the drool when I came across THIS shop!

Yes! EVERYTHING in that shop was Manekineko or other cat stuff. 😀 I didn´t buy anything though cause I already have enough Manekineko stuff, but what I really wanted and couldn´t find was a hand fan with Manekineko…. oh well, I told Ayumi if she ever sees one, to send it to me in the post.

Now from madness to a little bit of Zen:

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And now immediately back to madness with Ayumi with a temple sticking out of her head:

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And now both of us with a temple sticking out of our heads! 😉

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The street leading up to Sensoji Temple…

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Pretty (but fake!) cherry blossoms and lanterns…

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And then we saw some REAL geishas walking down the street – Ayumi told me that it´s very rare to see Geishas during the day, they normally only come out late at night (“like vampires then”, I said).  Ayumi kindly asked for me in Japanese if I could take a photo…
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Ayumi then went back home and I went on on my own southbound to see the gorgeous “Rainbow Bridge”.  Of course, I wanted to see this bridge because of its name, and say a little “prayer” for all the departed animals out there, but also because the bridge is nicely lit up at night with the skyline of Tokyo behind it.  The photos in small size here do NOT do it justice, so please click on them to see the full, large size photos (800x450px), they are absolutely beautiful… 🙂

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It is my last day in Tokyo tomorrow and I am leaving for the airport at 18:00 hrs.  I had a FANTASTIC holiday, and I am grateful that my health held up well enough so I was able to do as much as I did over the last week, and I really want to come back to Tokyo again some time in the future….

I will probably get the chance to do my last blog entry in the airport tomorrow, recording my last day, but will have to see how it goes.  I say “Sayonara” to you all for now and thanks for your comments and for following my shenanighans this last week! 🙂

I woke up at 11:10hrs with a call from hotel reception kicking me out of the room! Totally overslept, can’t believe it… I am now typing this on the computer (with Japanese keyboard, argh!) in the hotel reception.

I will be flying back to Paris, and then on to Madrid and from there back to Lanzarote, at 21:55hrs so I got the whole afternoon still to do stuff. To be honest, I’m all shopped out, so I think I’ll just go and use up the last point I still have on my ticket from Tokyo Dome City and go on the “Thunder Dolphin”, the biggest rollercoaster there, again. 😀

Looking forward to seeing Lugosi, Spider and Ruby again tomorrow, I miss the little rascals so much.

So again, Sayonara and thanks to you all for following/commenting on this blog over the last week. 😉

So how did I spent my last day in Tokyo? Like I said, I went back to Tokyo Dome City to use up that last ride I had on my 5-ride ticket and went on the Thunder Dolphin again. Yay. Whatta rush. Managed to sneak in my camera, so here´s the video of me being *on* the rollercoaster this time, as opposed to filming it from the ground – and yes, I *do* scream like a girl, hehe:

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After that I went for a last bit of shopping in Shinjuku (only got little bits, like cat nail stickers and some earrings from Claire´s Accessories), and then… got a new haircut! Looks great, I like, and the hairdresser also gave me a free neck/shoulder and head massage and refreshments. I wish I could have got a bit of colour (blue or purple) done as well, but I didn´t have the time anymore and I had to leave for the airport at 6pm.

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Flying back was not as good as flying out, cause I had a fat bloke sitting next to me who kept “cramping my style” and even after asking him about 5 times he still kept moving into my own personal space and seating space! Grrrr. Hence I didn´t manage to sleep at all on the 13hr flight, and I was (and still am!) in agony with muscle pains all over once I got to Paris. Then on to Madrid, and another flight to Lanzarote, where I finally managed to get some kip stretched out on a whole row to myself… 🙂

So now I´m back home with the kitties.  And was I happy to see them, and were they happy to see me! 😀

Got an amazing view of St. Petersburg while flying back to Paris from Tokyo, see photo below.  I also saw the Northern Lights while flying over Russia, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life (the cabin lights were switched on though, so I couldn´t take any decent photos of it).