Touch down in Tokyo! 11 hours flew by versus the 27 hours to Auckland. Watched the Hobbit and reminisced. So glad to be back in Japan (if only for a short stint) because I really bloody love it here!

Luckily, I lost a decent chunk of the New Zealand pie based pastry weight on actual yomp from the train station to the hotel! Landed to 80% humidity and this fucking backpack is the bain of my actual existence. Why I thought I needed to carry my entire trip on my back when I am just in hotels is beyond stupid…

Also I’m 35 and 25 year old me was deffo better and schlepping up stairs. Yet more weight to my theory that the day you turn 30, someone breaks into your house in the night and steals all the sponge from your knees and you can no longer lift, bend, walk or sit like you used to… 

Arrived an exceptionally sweaty mess after stupidly thinking Shibuya station would come flooding back to me from past visit. Building work, Japanese signage, and a shit tonne of people later and am still in the station, staring at a map, and wondering what year it is, let alone where I am!!

There are 37 million people in Tokyo. I have landed from a place of 0.2mil… assault on the senses doesn’t even cover it.

Am staying at the beloved hotel we stayed at on our previous trip, as it holds such nostalgic memories, and it’s still kicking around the top spots of Tripadvisor! So a no-brainer. Shibuya was also easily my fav area of Tokyo of the 5 places we stayed last, so a great location to be thrown back into. In matrixy news… I landed and arrived back on Greg Hahn’s birthday. For the uninitiated, Greg Hahn is a US marine Katy and I met on our trip here 10 years ago at breakfast for (and I stress) about 6½ minutes….and have literally mentioned once a week, every week for the last decade. By some bizarre fate, not only is it 10 years since we last stayed, it’s actually Greg Hahn’s bday today…! Celebrated by going back to the scene of the crime. We recently learned that despite feeling so privileged that he added us on fbook at the time, he has 1,285 Facebook friends, and we absolutely were not special. We will, however, continue the traidition of celebrating Greg Hahn day with sushi  every year until one of us dies. Both of us actually… i’d expect the other other to continue in a ceremonial capacity. Yes, we really do that, yes it is utterly unhinged, no we will not be taking further questions at this time, k thanks.

Bed was a rock-hard block, which I first assumed was to humble me in this, my utterly ridiculous, flashback tour. But since Japan are literally living in the future, and I’d trust them with my life, I awoke refreshed and rejuvenated as expected. They just know something we don’t know. About everything. I feel like a medieval peasant discovering life for the first time here (minus the grog and groats).

Headed to breakfast in complimentary pyjamas and slippers (“Put your slippers on”) because it’s not only allowed but encouraged etiquette.

Delish array of Japanese traditional items miso soup, rice, omelette, yes, that is a panko giant prawn! And the western buffet, an adoreable chat gpt generated cornucopia of “what do westerners eat”. Quiche, coleslaw and actual roast beef and actual gravy. I love this country.

I decided this trip to try and do things I hadn’t done before, and embrace some chill, relaxed life in Tokyo days (as much as the mania allows!)…with a casual nod here and there to things I especially loved, mainly food!

Tonnes has obvs unsurpringly changed in a metropolis like Tokyo in the past decade, so plenty to keep me entertained. The first stop was to survey the city from on high. This place bloody loves a viewpoint (Nz….is that you babe?!) and Shibuya Sky is the new kid on the block to accompany the Tokyo Tower and the Sky Tree for panoramic vistas a plenty.

Attempts to book tickets, however, was a shitshow. After some QR code based tech support and translation help from staff, we got there in end, but who knows what will happen when I come back for my timeslot this eve. Also, I’m pretty sure someone may come for my firstborn child after likely, inadvertently, signing away the rights on one the pages… but we roll. Fingers crossed…see you at sunset!

I pottered the cute shops at the tower and headed back to street level for a stop by Hachiko. The famed bronze canine statue at Shibuya is a lovely monument marking man’s best friend and the ultimate reason why humanity absolutely does not deserve the purity of dogs! Legend has it Hachiko  waited for his owner to return from work every day at Shibuya station, only for his owner to pass away following a sudden and tragic brain haemorrhage one day, and never return home. The story goes that Hachiko still made the journey and waited patiently for his owner, who never returned, for 9 years (!!) until he himself went to doggy heaven. (I know…I’ve got something in my eye too…)

Went to recover from the emotional turmoil at Starbucks, which sits happily on the 3rd floor above the famous Shibuya Scramble crossing. Floor to ceiling windows provide the perfect outlook to watch the people swarm the streets, scattering like scarabs from one side to the other. I’ve recently noted that London’s Oxford Street – Regent Street Junction now has our own knock-off. We just need to quadruple our city population, and we will be somewhere close to the same scenes. Stay in your lane London town! You ain’t got shit on this scramble.

Next stop was to swing by the Harry Hedgehog cafe in Harajuku. Animal cafes are everywhere here, and you can have a cuppa with anything from cats to capybaras! Hedgehogs were the order of the day today, but upon arrival, I wasn’t sure.

Overwhelming final review was that I largely hated it. They had weird troughs of quite bemused, resigned hedgehogs dotted about the place and lots of cooing visitors manhandling them in gloves. I was reassured constantly by staff they are conditioned to visitors and very well looked after, which I figured was only probably partly true. Posed for forced snaps and plotted escape. Not before I’d met Saboro, their additional resident meerkat (?!) He was super friendly and came and sat and my lap as if to say please take me home with you (sob) and was also wearing a canadian waistcoat (of course he was!) It just made me sad.

They also inexplicably had owls there? because…Japan! So I sat for 20 mins, had the inclusive coffee, made my excuses, and left. The idea of animal cafes always seems so cutsey, kawaii, as they say here, but in reality, they’re always just like a sad pet shop with a rickety vending machine. Memories of calico cat cafe being the same a decade before. Not for me. Though I was a bit sad that the capybara one was fully booked 3 months in advance because it would’ve been truly insane, right!

Hot footed to Shibuya Sky, and man is that view a goodun. Asia knows how to do on top of the world well. Hopped up for sunset and caught a glimpse of both golden hour daylight, dusk, and the bright lights of nighttime. Gorgeous. Lots and LOTS of influencers of Instagram and felt a mug spending some time actually taking in the views and not just getting endless snaps. Only so many selfies my arm can manage. Even here.

Topped off a great day by meeting beloved Qiraat for dinner. What a joy. Qiraat is easily one of my coolest Ofsted pals (as well as you, Rach and Caroline!) who moved back here a few years ago after an initial stint living in Tokyo pre-covid.

She is a woman of great taste and picked us a delicious sushi spot in town. The sushi here was just as great as I remember. I mean, get in the actual bin, Wasabi, you paper thin pretender! Acutely aware it will take me a long time to readjust as I missed it for like 3 years when I last left. If every meal was fresh Japanese sushi, the world would be a better place. It’s just facts.

It was so good to catch up with a pal and it felt like I’d seen her yesterday. Despite warning me ahead of time, it was dress down Friday –  she’s was the same effervescent, immaculately dressed dreamboat from 2015. I imagine Qiraat’s version of dress down Friday is a bit like everyone’s else’s Met gala. Her outfit combos were one of our highlights of the dreary London office, and I was so glad we had the chance to have dinner. She plied me with exceptional suggestions of local stamp of approval things to do here, to really soak up culture of the place, and I’m so grateful so many came in use. Thanks for the glorious company, as always. Here’s wishing you and Will all the very best for the next year here and adventures on the other side. Til soon, gorgeous lady.

Had a much needed lazy morning, wired until 2 am, thanks to late night matcha. And since I am not proud to admit my own basic bitch levels of being insta-influenced, I decided to come for famous souffle pancakes at Flippers. I queued for a whole houuuuuur! The one thing about a hop to a city with 37 million people is that there are people everywhere and loads of them have the same idea as you! The Japanese also have this exceptional ethos to be early, patient, and wait …for everything. Every day. And they’re totally chill about it. Probably insert something about it’s not the destination but the journey here…blah blah blah, but ergh. Also illogical Asian approach to common sense seating arrangements where if a table of 5 is first in the queue the entire line waits for a table for 5 to become available before they seat the next guests, despite smaller groups behind and smaller tables available. We queue. And we wait. That’s just how they do it here. And it’s massively annoying!

Once again, Kindle to the rescue and finishing Adam Kay’s ‘This is going to hurt’ kept me company til brunchtime. As did the unwavering thoughts of, I wish I had swung by 7 Eleven for an elite level snack before I joined this queue! They are famed for their convenience store grub here, and it’s hyped for a reason! Especially their iconic egg mayo sando, which would’ve gone down a breakfast treat (my brunch pancakes were fast becoming late lunch pancakes, and I was not impressed!)

They were playing yacht rock on a loop in the cafe, presumably in attempts to quell a hangry mutiny, and I was told, along with my (lost in translation) 2 mimosas, that food would be about 30 minutes after being seated. I could’ve cried. God bless that kindle and ever improved core strength getting used to queues everywhere. Good training for Disney!

Almost an hour and 40 mins after joining the queue, I am fiiinally gazing on a serious stack of jiggley delightfulness, praise be!

Sacherine and satisfying for the first few bites…then I realise quickly, some tables of 2 are sharing a portion….gulp. But Mamma Thurlow didn’t raise no quitter, so I soldiered on bravely and scoffed the lot. I know, I know… my pride of Britain should be on the way, etc.  Sat in quiet contemplation for a while….with my second mimosa thinking life choices may once again come back to haunt me. This time via the medium of 5pm sugar crash (or potentially diabetes!). What holidays are for eh.

Going from a country where you’re seemingly the only person in the world to 37 millionth in line for everything has been a bit of a challenge, but when everyone is utterly adoreable, it’s fine. Shit tonne of brash gross Americans is the only exception to the rule….but ain’t that the truth everywhere, eh?

Wandered the shops in search of clothes cooler than me for a few hours and took up a Qiraat tip. Nestled within the red light district, sandwiched between a love hotel and a strip club…is Lion. Lion is one of Tokyos’ meikyoku kissaten which aptly and adoreably translates to classical masterpiece cafe.

This place and concept are like a throwback to another age. The café is a two-storey audiophile listening theatre dedicated to classical music. With custom-made, 3-metre high wooden speakers and a no talking policy. Lion is a 93-year-old establishment and surely one of the most unique places to hear records in the world, and I bloody loved it. It smelt like a damp and dusty loft full of buried classical vinyl treasure. All guests sat perched on church pews. It was a serene escape, a veritable oasis of tranquillity from the ensuing mania that is Tokyo central! Heavenly for an hour, sipping a soda and soaking up the supersonic soundsystem.

Dinner was a local Tonkatsu place. I’ve also been thinking about this dish since I left a decade ago. As with sushi sampling, it is just as delicious as remember. Obvs a queue but tiny local fair and no tourists (like me!) so assumed it must be a winner. After much nodding and polite pointing, im not really sure what I ordered, but whatever it was, it was delicious. Ha.

Made a late night photo booth stop, whilst wandering back to the hotel, because when in Japan do as the Japanese do and all that jazz…and looked back on a coupla very oh so Tokyo days, indeed.

Early ish night as need to try and conserve some energy…she says!…for the busy few days ahead. Til soon x