RyokOhio: The Lewises In Japan Blog: Japan Trip 2016, Day 12: Tokyo

The beginning of today was toilets. Like, actual, literal, toilets. We went to the TOTO Tokyo Showroom where the latest of toilet technology, from the leading bathroom brand in Japan, had it all on display. Think of the showrooms in IKEA, how they have everything set up with entire rooms decked out with stuff they have on sale. Even demos of their product. Well, don't go thinking you could demo a toilet right there in the middle of the showroom, that would be awful, but they did have cutaway examples of how they work, how little water they use, and it was pretty neat! TOTO had model rooms of both kitchens (that we could never afford, they were VERY swanky) and bathrooms. The sad part is we COULD afford the installation of a basic TOTO bathroom, but only here in Japan. The water pressure, plumbing, and electrical output needed for the Japanese appliances would not work with what we have in America. And while there is a TOTO retailer in America with items you can buy, it is too expensive and does not have the cool bells and whistles on it that makes the Japanese bathrooms so freakin' awesome. Booo. All we could do was marvel at the self-cleaning toilets that opened up when motion was detected, played sounds to cover bathroom noises, seat warmers, intuitive faucets, bidets, and so many other cool things! I don't care how weird it sounds that we visited this on our vacation, Japan has it so much better than we do in the bathroom! XD

Once we were done marveling at toilets, we took the train from Shinjuku to Harajuku, just one stop away. It being Sunday, once upon a time, this meant there would be cosplayers and bands in the park. I guess that doesn't happen anymore because there were neither. No Rockabillies or Lolitas, or even beginner bands handing out their singles on homemade CDs while playing in Yoyogi park. Man, now I have to marvel at all the cool trees and fall colors and nature. Bah! No, Yoyogi park is a great place full of beautiful nature right in the middle of Tokyo, kind of like Central Park in New York. It was also a great place to go live on Facebook and share the beauty with friends and family.

Yoyogi park is huge, and within it is the Meiji-jingu Shrine, which had streams of people heading towards it. This was going to be a continuing trend: Sundays have massive crowds in any of the popular tourist spots. SO. MANY. PEOPLE! Everyone was off that day, and the day was clear, sunny, and finally warmer than the others had been, so all these conditions brought people to Harajuku and Yoyogi park. The shrine was gorgeous but crowded, and the line to get its goshuin was too long that I decided to skip it. Besides, I was getting hungry, and there was a cafe I couldn't wait to try out in Harajuku.

The Kawaii Monster Cafe!As I described on Facebook Live, imagine if Tim Burton and a unicorn had a love child, you would get the Kawaii Monster Cafe, where everything is bright, rainbow colors, spiral-y, the music is dance and techno, the main performers and waitresses are pastel goths, and even the food is colorful! Each section has a different theme and we were seated in the wonderland garden theme. In the middle of the floor is a giant, spinning birthday cake carousel and every hour there is a performance on it, where the pastel goths do a dance. We ordered some colorful food, including fries with 5 different colored and flavored dips, I had rainbow spaghetti, and Jeff didn't get his food until 30 minutes after mine. And by then it was cold. And he got chicken and waffles and the chicken once again had ginger in it. So, while the cafe is wonderful and colorful and a wild time, if you order food, keep it small and simple because the waiting service is a bit unorganized and/or slow.

It was definitely a day where we went from one loud crowd to the next. As we left the cafe, we had no time to rest as we were plunged into the crowd that flowed through the main street of Harajuku: Takeshita-dori. Harajuku is known for its crepes, but too bad the current of bodies pushed us right past those. There's also a great, 4-story 100 yen shop called Daiso there, and the current split off and even there a crowd pushed you through the aisles. No time to think, do I want that item or not? Put it in your shopping basket or you'll never have the chance to go back and get it, that would be like trying to swim upstream. Cha-ching! A basketful of cheap but cute little souvenirs were bought and Whoosh! It's back out onto Takeshita-dori. Oh look! ACDC Rag! A store I like- never mind, swept past that. See any cloth face masks, Jeff? I know you were looking for one. No? Too busy being yelled at by an Indian woman who thought it was a good idea to bring an entire, bulky stroller into this crowd and is angry she rolled over your foot? Quick, let's duck into this alleyway. No cloth facemasks, but here's a larger and better ACDC Rag! Cute jacket GET!

And so it went, until the crowd stopped at the end of the street and we were able to break free and wander some back alleys to the Harajuku station. And, coming full circle, we went back to Shinjuku, where we were this morning, to visit the store Yellow Submarine, for all your gaming needs in Japan. Jeff was excited to look at their RPG books and see if he could sell or trade any of his Magic cards. Meanwhile, I waited outside because it was a billion degrees in there and I would have literally caught fire. So I watched the UFO catchers (crane games) across the street, hoping to learn a trick or two on how to win them, but the teens I watched playing it were as bad as I was and left empty handed.

We picked up some food from a 7Eleven to take back to the hostel, and ate that while our phones charged. I needed mine charged because on it I have saved all the songs I wanted to sing for karaoke and lyrics that weren't kanji for the Japanese songs. We only had two nights left, and I was determined to sing karaoke for both of them! At the recommendation of our hostel, we went to Rainbow Karaoke, just down the street by Donki. For an hour of karaoke it was $12/person. That was definitely better than the big name karaoke places, like Big Echo or Shidax (please!). Plus, that includes drinks! I finally got to try grape Qoo (kuu), but it wasn't as magical as I was told it was. Fanta melon is still the best! So, as usual, we didn't have the remote controls figured out until the last song, which we had to cut short due to time, but each of us got to sing about 4 songs. Now that we know what we're doing, and Jeff found the DAM website with the song codes, we'll be ready for more karaoke tomorrow night!

So tomorrow, besides more karaoke, we get to go to the Mega Pokemon Center!! I'm super excited. I hope we have room in our souvenir suitcase.... I packed it up today and we finally got a sense for how many souvenirs we have..... It's a lot. But also tomorrow will be the giant Animate store in Ikebukuro, sooooo anime stuff (maybe I'll finally find some Yuri on Ice merch?), and also, with the help of Google Maps, perhaps we will finally find Otome Road, the street lined with anime stuff just for girls! Here's to hoping!