Weather

It is freezing and our visitors went off to Disneyland today to stand in queues and shiver. We packed them off with hats, scarves, coats and gloves, but I did worry about them. They seem to have survived OK and had lots of stories about one hour queues for popcorn and 3+ hour queues for a 5 minute ride. I'm not sure if they packed the right wardrobe for a severe Tokyo spring even Livi commented "egt over yourself mum, it's not Tenerife." Indeed.

Izakaya in Shinjuku

This is a new one for us - a restaurant with a touch screen ordering system. Brilliant.

Largest Hello Kitty in the world!

In Yoyogi Park, Livi asked "Are we going to the shrine now?" We all looked at her - did she really want to go to a shrine? Meiji Jingu was on our original plan, but time was moving on. The next but one item on the agenda was the Hello Kitty store in Shinjuku, so to Livi's delight, we skipped the shrine and took the train one stop to Shinjuku. We managed not to lose anyone in the busiest station on the planet and found Kitty with no difficulties.

The characters of Yoyogi Park

Sundays in Yoyogi Park and Harajuku never fail to amuse. Teenage girls dressed as anime characters on the bridge, rockabillies dancing in the park, people having picnics under the cherry blossom (and dancing to keep warm), dogs dressed up (we saw a whippet in a sheepskin coat), the Sunday hulahoop club and lovely blossom.

Cherry blossom shot in Yoyogi Park

Harajuku

Takeshita dori contains shops that every little girl loves. We told Livi that it was a crowded street lined with shops like "Claire's". Actually, there was even a branch of Claire's even bigger than the one in Bridgend. Imagine.

Venus Fort mall, Odaiba

Complete with fake sky.

Odaiba

Sunday morning in Odaiba. Livi has always wanted to go to New York....

Chopstick skills

Not the most successful technique that Livi tried....

Hachiko statue

Here's the statue of the faithful dog who went to the station to meet his owner everynight - even after he died. Now it's one of the most popular spots in Tokyo to meet on a Saturday night. From there we went across the famous Shibuya crossing (1500 people at once cross) and wandered around the streets a bit.

Trains

We took a lot of trains today. The journey from Asakusa to Shibuya was around 30 minutes and everyone fell asleep.

Asakusa

After tea we took the train on to Asakusa to see the old gate and Sensoji temple (below). We all bought something in the tourist trap shops along the way but that's part of the fun. I bought a bag of warm bean jam buns in the shape of the pagoda, but no one really liked them except for me. I love them.

Strange cafe in Akihabara

Over lunch (a deli under the tracks of the Yamonote line in Yurakucho), Matt said "Apart from the food, Tokyo isn't as weird as I thought it would be." We'd soon sort that out as next on the itinerary was Electric Town, Akihabara.

The streets of Akihabara are crowded mostly with boys and most them would be "otaku" (geeks). They are there either for the electronics shops or the shops that stock strange collector's items and models. A lot of people go there for the maid cafes. We've heard of these, but we have never had the nerve to go into one. We were't exactly sure what you'd be paying for with your coffee.... A maid in the street was advertising this cafe / animation studio and it looked quite innocent. Upstairs on the balcony, her colleagues (more cartoon-like maids) were waving at us. I asked the girl if it was OK to come in with Livi and she said it was. I did panic a bit when we got into the lift as it was covered with porn....we told Livi not to look and made David stand in front of the pictures. The cafe itself was just a regular cutesy cafe. Cartoons played on big TV screens and cartoon-like maids served customers. To our relief, it wasn't at all seedy. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside unfortunately. The drinks were served in what looked like kiddy's toy crockery, but were fine. The chocolate cake (according to Livi) was "minging" (this might not mean much as Livi reckons vegetables and coffee are also "minging").

Our maid made us join in on a song with her that went something like "more more cute" while making a heart shape with our hands. The cafe was full of adults just in case you think this was for Livi's benefit. Wierd enough for you Matt?

First stop: Maronouchi

After sorting out the Japan Rail Pass and reserving seats to Kyoto and Hiroshima, we took the Thornes to the palace area in Maronouchi to see where the Emperor lives. Tokyo's very mellow, they though. Not for long...the next stop was Akihabara...

Visitors from Wales

Hooray - my first visitors from Wales arrived yesterday! Matt, Mandy and Livi are armed with JR rail passes, comfy walking shoes and a sense of adventure and are ready to explore Japan. I missed most of their first day as I was in work, but David showed them the delights of Makuhari which included a trip to Saizaria (family restaurant), a games arcade and a 100 yen shop. Classic.

Last night we thought we'd take them to a local izakaya (pub), but everywhere was full. I'd forgotten how busy Friday nights just after pay day could be. Salary men cutting loose. We did go into a yakiniku (DIY BBQ) place, but we weren't that impressed with the menu....It's one of those places where it would have been better had they NOT translated the menu into English. Delights included "cow's third stomach", "uterus", "pig's foot" and "tripe"....Livi wasn't impressed (and to be fair, neither was I). We made our apologies and ran.

We went to the local steakhouse instead. Although the food was good there, the service was unbelievably bad. We've been there many times and had never experienced that before. We'll blame it on poor Shoji, a Kanda student majoring in Spanish. His English was great, but his serving skills left a lot to be desired. So many of our students work part time in the restaurants of Makuhari and this neighbourhood gets so many foreign visitors, I reckon we should teach courses in "English for waiters and waitresses." The course should include note-taking skills and provide tips such as, if there's a hungry 10 year old from Wales at the table, she should get her dinner first.

Tulip Fair

Spring is my favourite time of year in Japan as I really love the flowers. There's always a big deal about them too. A couple of pots of tulips in Maronouchi are given their own "fair". Tokyo-ites queued for hours to buy them. They were lovely, but I didn't feel the need to spend my weekend in a queue.

The line to buy tulips

Celebrity Maronouchi doggies

Me with Kazue

Graduation ceremony and party

My first day back in work after my Mexico trip wasn't so bad as it was graduation day. Here is me with one of my favourite students, Rika, looking lovely in her graduation kimono. Congratulations Rika!

Back from Mexico

OK, I'm back. I was in denial yesterday that the holiday was over and having to be in work was a shock to the system. Here I am again - early hours of the morning slaving over a laptop. What did I say about lifestyle change???

After 5 weeks of eating out in Mexico, I am feeling very chubby. The plan was to start an exercise/diet routine as soon as I got back. I planned to go jogging this morning then into Omotesando to meet Kazue, but there is a storm outside. The winds are so strong that they have even suspended the trains. Is it possible for me to be in the same room as my laptop and not be working?