Tokyo

Silver week is an ingenious invention by the Japanese where they string 3 public holidays in a row to make a 5 day holiday for the public! So a group of us JET's decided we'd venture through the wonders of Tokyo!

Arrgh! What's that big, scary thing next to the skyscraper?! Oh, it's just Tom.

Tom and I visited Disney Sea, which is more of an adults version of Disneyland. There's less kiddy rides and they serve alcohol! It was also decorated for Halloween with the Disney villains running the park and the shows. The most surprising part of the park was the overwhelming number of people that were decked out in full Disney paraphernalia! At least half the people in the park were wearing matching Disney character hats, shirts and bags. People went even further though! If you were there as a couple or in a group, you had to match your already matching character outfit to the rest of the group's already matching character outfits (shoes, socks and hairstyles included)! Luckily, we managed to each win an over sized stuffed Daisy and Daffy Duck which we were then able to (had to) carry around all day, helping us fit into the unwritten dress code a bit better!

Hello handsome! Oh, and hello to you too Gaston.

Daffy and Daisy got in trouble because the use of selfie sticks is banned in Disney Sea...

Sundays in Yoyogi are awesome for checking out the crazy Harajuku Girl fashions, as well as being able to catch glimpses of beautiful Shinto weddings at the Meiji Shrine. Luckily we, and the hundreds of other tourists at the shrine, managed to observe 3 different weddings occurring! The brides wore beautiful white, silk kimonos with large, rounded headpieces called Watabōshi, which shield their faces from the audience but not from their partner. Brides are able to choose between wearing the Watabōshi, or the more traditional Tsunokakushi. The latter is a headpiece that was designed to ”hide the bride's horns of jealousy" and shows her willingness to become a kind and obedient wife. From what I've read, younger Japanese woman are starting to move away from the traditional Tsunokakushi, opting for the Watabōshi instead.

This bride is wearing the traditional Tsunokakushi

This bride is sporting the more modern Wataboshi

It felt like we were walking in a forest instead of the middle of Tokyo!

That night we went to one of Tokyo's infamous themed bars. We chose 'The Lock Up', where a policewoman handcuffed us and led us to our cell. Pretty exciting so far, except it looked like we were being led into a haunted house, and the waitors were dressed more like ghouls and monsters than policeman?! The accidental change in theme suited us well as we began being served colourful test tubes and beakers of alcoholic concoctions, amusing the crazy scientists within us!

No trip to Tokyo is ever complete without a visit to Akihabara, the electronics and Otaku (Japanese anime and manga fans) district. Just to make sure we had covered it all, we went 3 times! The big red Sega building below is filled with arcade games and managed to keep us busy for a few too many hours! We quickly learnt how terrible we are at most games, especially the dancing and taiko drumming games! Tom and I were so bad at the Taiko game that we actually broke it and it could no longer be played!

We also visited a cat cafe (the owl cafe was booked out), accidentally walked in and quicky out of adult only shops, and we tried the crepes that all the girls at school kept telling me to try (they're filled with whipped cream, chocolate cookies, strawberries, and a little bit of heaven)!

So glad Tom finally got that haircut!

Mitch's face gives away how good this decision was!

We also managed to find the time to dabble in the Tokyo nightlife! The best night started inoculously with a group of us having a few casual beers on our terrace. At about 10:30pm, one of the boys realised it was his birthday the next day (they're easy to forget when you get to our age)! So we dressed him up in a party shirt and headed out to one of the best clubs in Tokyo's party district! The club we chose was filled with Japanese drag queens, lasers, shot bars, dancers dressed in LED robot costumes, and girls posing in skimpy outfits on podiums, staring hazily off into the distance like they were pondering deep philiosophical questions (like why they were posing on podiums in a nightclub in very little clothing at 2am on a weeknight). We had an awesome night, and Caleb was able to celebrate the start of his birthday in style, in a party shirt in a night club in Tokyo!

The awesome LED robot dancers in the club

Not as cool as these robots though!

Unfortunately this magical week of public holidays has ended and its back to normal school weeks until we stumble upon the next of Japan's many long weekends. So, later this month.