Round Two

We fell short on time in Harajuku and decided to head back. On our way, we stopped by this coffee place we'd been going to since we arrived that does all their brewing with siphon brewers. It's beyond excellent.

Ooo, fish feet therapy.

Happened to stumble across this place, The Great Burger, it was the best mistake so far. I can honestly say this was the best hamburger I've ever had, which is a bold comment, I know. Really though, if you're ever in Harajuku, go here.

After finishing the best meal I've had here so far, it was off to Brussels, another accidental encounter. A Belgian beer bar fully stocked with beer exclusively from Belgium, most being very rare and hard to come by. The bar manager was a pretty awesome dude with limited english, he was still extremely informative and shared some great beer with us.

Unfortunately, this place closes kind of early so we set off for Baird Brewing Tap Room. A very well known Japanese microbrewery offering a pretty broad selection of styles, including several beers on cask.

Out of Place

Puroland, also known as Hello Kitty’s theme park. Every 10 year old girl’s dream. Something I never knew existed until Jennike insisted we go. I wasn’t opposed to the idea. I grew up knowing a handful of the characters and always thought Badtz-Maru was a pretty hard looking penguin who went against the grain. The thing that was odd to me was being the only full grown adult male in a sea of little Japanese girls. It wasn’t too weird, but when I caught myself trying to peek into Hello Kitty’s house along side several girls half my size, I had to restrain myself. There was several attractions, a boat ride, live performances, and getting to meet THE Hello Kitty herself. I don’t know if it was cool or not, but I had a pretty good time hanging with Monkichi.

Kurousa looking sad.

Monkichi looking hard.

The very creepy urinals.

Jennike ringing The Bell of Happiness.

After Hello Kitty blew me a kiss, we were off to our next destination.

We headed to Harajuku, Tokyo’s fashion district. Went to a few stores and bought several things I don’t need.

Supreme Harajuku.

Wasn't allowed to take this picture, but I did.

Stopped by Kiddy Land and saw the scariest Mickey Mouse I've ever seen.

Takoyaki.

Too Fast

First day, no time to waste. First stop was the Calico Cat Cafe in Kabukicho. Cat cafes are fairly popular over here. You pay a few dollars for admission and then spend some time hanging out with roughly 20 cats. They have a full menu of food and drinks to order and the cats even have their own Wii, let alone a television.

Had to put these on.

Cat Latte.

Next we headed to Akihabara, the mecca center for arcades, tech consumer products, and otaku fiends. Multi-story arcades are everywhere, but there are a few that are more popular than others, one of those is Club Sega. I had been to a really small Club Sega in Las Vegas, but it didn’t really last since there just isn’t much of a market in the US for arcades. But Akihabara’s Club Sega was unreal, roughly 8 floors of nothing but arcade machines. And there wasn’t just one, there was three on the same block. Arcades are more common than Starbucks here and its not really explicit to one age group or gender, everyone plays video games, it's ingrained here.

Mario Kart.

Classic Famicom Cartridges, affordable too.

I drank this when I got back to the hotel. If 'nothing' had a taste, this would be as close as you could get.