Maid Cafes and UFO Catchers

We were staying at Hotel Marutani, near Ueno station. As far as I’m concerned it was perfect; the location was great, the room was cheap, the internet was free, and there was a coin laundry in the basement. 

On our first day in Tokyo we set off to see Akihabara. We walked there from our hotel, although it was entirely by accident. We had turned left instead f right when leaving our hotel, and instead of heading t the train station we headed towards Akihabara, without realizing it. After about ten minutes of walking, we realized we had been going the wrong way, but we kept going anyway, and five minutes later came to Akihabara Station. We went to the famous Yodobashi Camera, don’t be fooled by the name, it sells far more than cameras. 

Kevin looked at electronic dictionaries for a while before deciding they were too expensive, so we headed up a level. I spent about twenty minutes in the make-up section, drooling over this and that, and marvelling at how much paler the Maybelline face powders are compared to Australia. The exact same mineral powder that I have is about three times paler in Japan. After buying a few souvenirs in another section we went further up. And much to my delight I found the music section. Complete with about five grand pianos, and a very large collection of sheet music. I spent about ten minutes oohing and aahing over various Studio Ghibli Collections before deciding on only one.  

After we left Yodobashi Camera, we were kind of looking around trying to figure out where the rest of Akihabara was, after a minute or so we realized we needed to go to the other side of the station, and off we went. Pretty much the second we stepped out of the walkway, and saw the rest of Aki, we were like “ahh THIS is more like it!”

The first thing we did was cross the road and go to the SEGA Club, and laugh at some of the things in the UFO Catcher games, before trying, and failing to win them. Although after my second try I turned out to be pretty good at them. I won a few ridiculous things, like a Hello Kitty sukiyaki pot, a Rilakkuma mug, an Angel Beats mouse pad and mouse set, a giant stuffed cat, and (my favourite) a capibara toy.

We wandered around for a while looking at shops, and laughing over strange things, and collecting Maid Café flyers from girls in ridiculous outfits. We started getting hungry, and Kevin desperately wanted to go to a Maid Café. After looking at the different flyers we had we set off for ‘MaiDreaming’. It was everything I expected it to be, and a whole lot seedier. However the food was good, and it was a very amusing experience, if a little on the expensive side. For a ‘drink + dessert + photo’ set it will cost you back about $30. The photo is a Polaroid of you and Maid of choice, in some ridiculous pose, with some cute comments written on it. Hardly worth the price, but it is part of the experience.   I never did get to a Butler Café, maybe next time I’m in Tokyo…..

After spending quite a few hours in Akihabara, we decided to head back to our hotel, drop of our bags and go somewhere else. As we walked toward our hotel, we could see what appeared to be some sort of market that ran parallel to the main road. After dropping of our shopping bags, we head out the back of the hotel and found Ameyoko Arcade. I am in love with this arcade, seriously. If I ever live in Tokyo, I want to live near, or IN it. It is definitely my favourite thing in Tokyo. (The Studio Ghibli Museum isn’t in Tokyo, so to speak.)

The arcade starts opposite JR Ueno Station (central gate exit) and runs all the way to Okachimachi. It is spread across about four of the back alleys, and had everything from restaurants to pachinko parlours, and more. There is a pachinko parlour every block, and some very seedy people. But it has a lot of amazing little clothes and shoe shops, and fresh food markets.

Curry Flavoured Caramel

The first thing we did when we got off the plane in New Chitose Airport was buy gloves.

 I already had a pair, but I wanted a second one, and it turned out I needed a second pair. We landed at around 2pm in Hokkaido, so it was probably the warmest time of the day, and we were freezing. I knew it was going to be colder than anything I had ever experienced before, but I still wasn’t fully prepared. Kevin didn’t even have a scarf. I had brought boots, thinking that they would keep my feet dry in the snow. And they did, but boots aren’t warm, and I didn’t have very thick socks, so most of the time, I couldn’t really feel my feet. So if I go to Hokkaido again, I’ll be sure to take very thick socks, and maybe a different pair of shoes.

After checking in to our Hotel, we tried to figure out how to get to the train station. According to Google maps, it was a 15 minute walk. Not too bad I thought, except Google didn’t take into account the fact that the footpaths were covered in ice for most of the way, so it ended up taking us about half an hour. Once we got to the station it was easy to get to Sapporo itself, if a little long.  I had picked Hotel Nikko because it was cheap, available, and was apparently close to the train station. Close is a very subjective term. Aside from the fact that it took us half an hour to get to the train station and then half an hour to get to Sapporo, it wasn’t too bad. Although we ended up getting a taxi back to the hotel each night as it was usually freezing by the time we would arrive at Chitose station. We had put our big suitcases in a locker at Haneda airport, before getting the plane to Sapporo, and I had left my camera charger in it. I thought I could charge it through my netbook, but it needs super strong power to recharge it. So after the second day in Sapporo, I had no camera.

We were to meet Jun at Sapporo station, and he was worried we might get lost. I didn’t understand what he meant until I actually got there. It is huge. The station itself is quite large, and the building it is in has three different department stores in it to, and an observatory, and a cinema. We had dinner at Ramen Kyowakoku, a collection of ramen shops from all around Japan, in a little corner of the station building. There was even a souvenir shop where you could buy ramen flavoured things, and of course ingredients for ramen. They had curry, ramen, Mongolian lamb, and normal flavoured caramel. There were even beer flavoured candies, I of course bought some.

After dinner we went out into the cold to see the Snow Festival.  If you are ever thinking of going to Hokkaido, or just Sapporo, go in February when the festival is on. It is absolutely beautiful. Although I may be slightly biased as this was my first time seeing snow I real life. We went to Odori Park first, to see the snow sculptures. Also in the park was a large ski jump, where extreme skiers were doing all sorts of crazy things.

The next day we went to the Tsudome site. It is mostly for children, with things like bamboo skis, toboggans and snow tubing. However not everything is children only. We went on the snow tubes, and it was pretty fun. Going up the stairs carved out of ice was a bit difficult, especially dragging a giant tube behind you.  After we finished there we went to see Sapporo itself. This involved lots of walking, and lots of shops. We were also searching for an adapter that could fit a three-pronged Australian plug. We tried about four stores before we finally found one. One store had a ‘universal’ plug, except it didn’t fit the O-type (Au/NZ) even though it clearly stated on the packaging fits Types A, B, blah, blah and O, O2. Good thing we checked before I bought it. After shopping we went to Susukino to see the Ice Sculptures. They were fantastic, such detail, and some of them were huge. There was even one with (dead) fish frozen into it; it was kind of creepy, but kind of cool at the same time.

The next day, Monday, we met Jun outside Sapporo station at 8:30am to go to Mt Moiwa to ski; or to attempt it, at least. The slopes were fairly empty, with most of the people being elementary school students having their weekly ski lesson.  In Australia we have swimming lessons, in Hokkaido, it is ski lessons. One class was carefully lining up, in preparation for a run down the hill. All the kids except one had lined up, and when the last one skied over he fell into the end of the line. And that caused a domino effect; it was hilarious.

We spent about an hour practicing skiing and then climbing back up the slope of the practice area. I never realized how hard it is to get up without using your legs. Thank god for ski poles. After a while Jun decided that we were ready to use the chair lift. Of course both Kevin and I stacked it almost immediately after getting to the top of the slope. We did make it off the lift properly, but the downward slope was too much. After we recovered from the ignominy of falling over right next to the lift we made it around the corner onto the actual slope. It was fairly deserted, which was fantastic; because neither Kevin nor I were very good at avoiding things.

It took far, far longer than it should have for me to get to the bottom of the slope. I would ski about ten meters or so and then attempt a turn and after a small success, promptly fall over. Kevin was fairing much worse. I eventually made it to the bottom, and waited for Jun. He had gone back up the slope to help Kevin, who was still only a quarter of the way down. After they made it to the bottom we decided a rest was in order.

Walking in ski boots is so weird; however I soon got the hang of it. After a drink and a rest, Kevin decided that he wasn’t going to try again. So Jun and I headed back outside and up to the chair lift. We tried the other slope this time, which was fairly disastrous, but I made it to the bottom in better time. I was getting the hang of it, but very, very slowly. After a few more runs, I was exhausted. And it was nearly closing time for the slopes, so we headed back to find Kevin, and return our gear.

After skiing we headed to an onsen, for food and a very relaxing bath. The water was about 40◦C and so good. There was even an outside area, where you could sit in the water and watch the snow fall around you, it was absolutely beautiful. And for the record, the baths ARE segregated.

We had a short bath, and then put on a yukata and went to the restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was a traditional Japanese style one, with low tables, and small cushions for you to kneel or sit on. My legs were too sore from skiing to kneel though. The restaurants food was amazing, and not to expensive either. I had a full traditional style meal that consisted of a hotpot, rice, miso soup, tempura vegetables, soba noodles and salad. I made the mistake of wearing my sterling silver necklace while I went into the water, and due to the mineral levels in the water it tarnished it so badly. However a good polishing and lots of angry words got it shiny again. After our meal we had another longer bath, and then headed back to Sapporo.