Being unable to visit Caramel in Oakland has left Greg sorely in need of some kitty time, and Japan has just the thing for people like him. Cat cafes are places you can go to, well, hang out with cats. Sounds pleasant in theory, but the thing is that when you've spent money to hang out with cats you expect the cats to put in a little effort to hang out with you. Cats, however, do not understand this basic tenet of capitalism.
Nekoburo is on the top floor of the huge Tokyu Hands DIY store in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Each cat has a break room with some sort of theme. It reminded me of the orphanage in John Waters' Crybaby. "This is Olive and he enjoys washing dishes and leopard print chaise lounges."
When not lounging in their oddly themed rooms, the cats spend most of their time competing with each other for high ground where people can't reach them, and running away from the paying customers. The only person in the building who managed to get some kitty head scratches in was Greg, naturally.
As you might've already seen from Andrea's photostream, we went to Tokyo! Not just to Tokyo, but Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.
Tokyo Disneyland is pretty much what you'd expect (near-identical to the Anaheim one), although there are few neat touches.
After diligently standing in line for a Space Mountain FastPass, we saw that the wait for Star Tours wasn't too bad. I can't emphasize to you how surreal seeing an animatronic C-3PO speaking Japanese can be at 9 AM after a long, sleepless overnight bus ride.
There are popcorn stands everywhere, with flavors ranging from chocolate to caramel, and lines as long as some of the rides themselves. This one is actually selling curry-flavored popcorn.
Standing in line for the Haunted Mansion.
These were the only vending machines I saw inside the park. They were in Tomorrowland, if it wasn't obvious.
Yes, we did the teacups. We were happy that we hadn't eaten anything immediately beforehand.
Unfortunately, since we went on a Sunday, the lines were insane. If you imagine a typical crowded day at Disneyland and triple it, you might have an idea. We managed to get FastPasses to most of the rides we wanted to get to, although Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was jam-packed from the 8:00 AM opening onward and perpetually had a 3.5+ hour wait. If we had opted for the FastPasses, we would've had to come back at in about 10 hours.
The next day was reserved for DisneySea. This is the strange new themepark that has a vague nautical feel, along with some equally impressive line waits. Through both days, though, we managed to only have to stand in a long line once, for the Tower of Terror. I managed to finish half a book in the 2.5 hours we were waiting.
This park's gimmick is that its various lands are meant to look like seaport styles from around the world. There was Italy, New England, Middle East, Jungle, and late-19th-century New York, among others. There's also a giant volcano, which houses the Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea rides.
Inside the volcano. You don't actually get to go in the submarine, unfortunately. 20,000 Leagues is a cute but kind of disappointing ride where you go in a miniature faux-submarine that's not actually underwater and see a bunch of weird fake-looking sea-people who resemble geckos. I would've been more disappointed if I had waited 3 hours for it, but we grabbed a pass for it instead.
Journey to the Center of the Earth was more fun, but had some of the same dinky, silly-looking animatronics. The weird thing about DisneySea was that, except for Tower of Terror, it seems like they spent all their time and money making the exteriors of the rides look good, and then skimped on the rides themselves somewhat. Center of the Earth at least managed to redeem itself with a (brief) roller-coaster portion.
In the upper right is the Tower of Terror, which is a free-fall ride in the dark. It was a long wait but I'd say it was worth it.
In addition to the innumerable popcorn stands, DisneySea was also big on churros. Here, Andrea holds two black sesame-flavored churros (yes, black sesame!).
So, that was the first two days of our journey! Fun times all around, even if it was pretty chilly and windy at times. It's easy enough to get to from the Tokyo city center that I'd say it's worth it if you have an extra day or two there and aren't sure what else to do.
We were in Tokyo for 3 hot'n'muggy days before coming to Kanazawa, and in that time I've basically come to understand what it's like to be a glazed ham in an oven. This is my roundabout way of explaining why I haven't been posting, which has about 75% to do with constantly feeling like I'd been in a sauna for 3 weeks straight.
Anyway, when I was hanging around Tokyo, the OH WOW HOLY SHIT NEW AND EXCITING food was apparently thus:
Like most Japanese bread products, "BAGEL" is overpriced, poofy, greasy, and distinctly unsatisfying on multiple levels. Oh well. At least they have baguettes that are decent here! Not to mention my new favorite "can't believe it's vegan" item, which is a green tea-based bread roll with sweet red beans (aka azuki, Hokkaido's own highly addictive cash crop).
Oh, and to follow up on Andrea's last post, I thought I should give mention to something we found adjacent to the train station in Hakusan, which we dubbed the best/worst playground of all time:
When you're done watching the trains go by while sitting on a bell pepper (or, if you really want to go crazy, a lemon!) then you can drink out of the semi-decapitated penguin's skull. Then go ride a panda like a horse!
Japan has this weird dual thing going on when it comes to children's play structures. Either they're crazy-technically-advanced and elaborate and make me jealous of kids who grew up here, or they're these depressing, rusted, low-rent playgrounds that look like they came out of some demented Soviet politburo trying to crush children's will before they grow up to be counter-revolutionaries. Lesson learned: if you're going to be a hyperactive, hard-to-please Japanese child who's easily entranced by flashing lights, best to stick to a major city.
Being unable to visit Caramel in Oakland has left Greg sorely in need of some kitty time, and Japan has just the thing for people like him. Cat cafes are places you can go to, well, hang out with cats. Sounds pleasant in theory, but the thing is that when you've spent money to hang out with cats you expect the cats to put in a little effort to hang out with you. Cats, however, do not understand this basic tenet of capitalism.
When not lounging in their oddly themed rooms, the cats spend most of their time competing with each other for high ground where people can't reach them, and running away from the paying customers. The only person in the building who managed to get some kitty head scratches in was Greg, naturally.
