After yesterday’s monster cultural walking tour of Tokyo, today we thought we’d take it a little easier and head to some pop culture highlights instead. Last time we were here, the Teenager was all over the Pokémon stuff on his DS and was loving the Pikachu love that was often on display in Tokyo. We even took him to the Yokahama Pokémon store and he loved it. This time, well, this time we are all a little Pokémon mad, having taken up Pokémon Go (which btw has proved to be excellent exercise over the last year) and so we decided to head to Pokémon central this morning – the Tokyo Pokémon Mega Centre in Ikebukuro’s Sunshine Centre.
Ikebukuro Main Street.
The Sunshine Centre is covered in Pokémon murals and accents before you even get anywhere near the place…
And then we found the place – basically a Disney Store but for Pokémon, and at this time of year – packed to the gills with people, lots of loud annoying music, kids running amok and more plush toys than you can poke a stick at.
Unfotunately not a lot of merchandise that was designed for adults… I was hoping to find something I could buy in bulk to take home for our local raid teams, but seriously? Golf balls, stationery or phone cases was about the extent of useful stuff that adults might like. I don’t think they are catering for their PGO market here – which from what I have seen is largely being played by 25-45 year olds. Oh well. Marketing opportunity missed there, Nintendo.
While we were there a legendary raid popped on the Pokemon Mega Centre gym, so of course we had to raid the Groudon. I managed to catch it, but Mr K had to try again on the other Pikachu gym right beside it.
Just as we were leaving, things got really out of control – a Santa Pikachu turned up with the staff and the kids went crazy! So much noise and excitement and absolutely none of it decipherable by non-Japanese speaking tourists like us.
And of course the ubiquitous vending machines full of Pokemon crap. Mostly Ditto for some reason…
For lunch, we found this restaurant which had some amazing looking okonomyaki in the display window… well, amazing for over glossy plastic representations of food, but we thought it looked like a potentially delicious cabbagey omelette spot for lunch.
However, we got inside and rapidly discovered that it was teppanyaki okonomiyaki? Cook your own damn cabbagey omelette restaurant? The Teenager looked somewhat unimpressed at having to cook his own lunch, but when in Rome, right? 
There was a pile of useful instructions, not in English of course, but it gave comfort knowing that locals don’t necessarily know how to cook their own okonomyaki either. 😉 
Our lunches arrived – raw. And looked full of possible deliciousness… so long as I didn’t fuck up the cooking bit. 😀 
Thankfully, our server was kind enough to show us how it’s done – for the first one. Preparing the plate, cooking the meat/seafood, mixing the cabbagey mixture and then forming it into a 14cm pancake. Cook covered on one side for 4 mins on a lowish temperature, then use the spatulas to flip it over and cook for another 4 mins on the other side. Handy hourglass timers were provided to make sure your okonomyaki was cooked through. 
Et voila! Tasty tasty okonomyaki lunch!
Lunch was delicious and went down lovely with a cold glass of umeshu and biru.
Next stop after lunch was on the Teenager’s ‘must do in Tokyo’ list – a place called J-World, which is an amusement centre based on his favourite anime shows, One Piece and Dragonball Z. 
He was pretty excited to be there… but only pulled this face for me after I prompted him to not look so blasé. 
Now I am not an anime fan, and have no idea who all the characters are but this amusement centre/theme park was pretty full on. Rides, interactive experiences, virtual reality stuff, Segway clouds (?), a restaurant full of themed food, and of course the inevitable gift shop. I had no idea this One Piece thing was so huge… it’s about a pirate named Monkey.D Luffy on his quest to claim the treasure, the One Piece. From what I can understand it involves a lot of high drama and screaming alarmingly in Japanese at other adventuring characters. 
This of course is the token female character… Nami. And this is how she is attired while her cohorts are wearing shirts and shorts or even suits or a long pirate coat. Poor thing, can’t afford clothes. 
Kinto-un from Dragonball Z apparently.
Many rides and hilarity later, it was time to get the hell out of the noisy anime amusement centre and find some solace… in sake! We left the Sunshine Centre and back to Ikebukuro for dinner. We wandered past some chain restaurants, and even a bloody Denny’s before we decided to head into the back streets to look for something a bit more local. We found a restaurant with a great looking menu, actual chairs instead of stools, and *drumroll please*… cheap sake taster plates!!
Sake fuelled, Mr K soldiers on through his biru while we wait for some dinner. 
Ooh.. maybe there is fugu / blowfish on the menu? Do we risk it? Ah, not so much. 
Drinking on an empty stomach is never advisable but dinner was well worth waiting for… fresh sashimi – the tuna is so much better here, I swear all the tuna we have in Australia at sushi restaurants is frozen, or frozen poorly or something. In comparison, I can honestly say I have never had good tuna back home, excepting maybe Sono at Hamilton. The texture is entirely different.
Grilled chicken and pork pot stickers.
Gyoza – of course, no meal seems to be complete without some.
Some weird bean sprout omelette yumminess the name of which I can’t remember.
Sake! All the sake!
Then it was back to the trains – have I mentioned how awesome Tokyo trains are? Cheap, clean, efficient… kinda easy to navigate once you get the hang of them, super easy to navigate if you travel with your own transport industry professional! 😉 They’re great, and people are polite and mind their space, I love them – to go to Tokyo Tower.
Several stops and what seemed only a few minutes later, and up we pop in a new part of town, and the Tokyo Tower in front of us. Tokyo Tower is a communications with public observation decks in the Shiba-koen district of Minato. At 332.9 metres (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. Apparently it is inspired by the Eiffel Tower, and it is not difficult to see how. Allegedly, its distinctive orange and white colours come from a necessity to comply international air safety regulations…which then begs the question why isn’t the Eiffel Tower orange and white? Hmmm. #showerthoughts
I came here on our last trip to Tokyo and it was pretty cool to get a chance to go up the tower at night as well as having been up during the day. At the moment it is all Christmassy – lights, themed photos, projected snowflakes everywhere, and live performers on the observation deck. 
Oddly, but completely in keeping with our visit to J-World on Anime Day, we stumbled onto a One Piece 20th Anniversary exhibit and store at the Tower. There is Nami again in her signature green bikini, and loads of cool merchandise – cooler stuff than they had at the offical store in the city.
More One Piece – the little guy above with the ‘X’ on his hat is called Chopper, and he is supposed to be a reindeer that area a Hito Hito No Mi devil fruit which makes him anthropomorphic (or as the Teenager would say – makes him into a human hybrid or allows him to have human characteristics at will).
Anyway, back to the Tower… it was covered in projected snowflakes and sparkly Christmassy stuff. It was lovely. 
The views were great and my little handheld camera either totally didn’t cope or I was completely inept, because my photos from up the Tower are not great.
We stopped for a bit and had a blindingly sweet coke spider (yes, it’s freezing cold outside but there is still ice cream and frozen treats everywhere) and then after that sugar rush my photos got way better. 😉 
Thus endeth out second day in Tokyo! 🙂
Mediterranean Style Spiny Lobster Cake…
Black Tiger Prawn and Papaya Salpicon…
The Grill Salad with Grape Balamic Dressing…
Black and Blue Onion Soup…
14oz Rib Eye…
Filet Mignon…
The Crown Dependence Dessert Selection…
Lemon Meringue Pudding Tart…
Burrata alla Panna con Carpaccio de Pomodori…
Vitello Tonnato…
Spaghetti allo Scoglio…
Penne con Brascato de Manzo…
Tris d’Aragosta…
Lombata di Vitello al Forno…
Zabaglione…
Torta Profumata ai Limoni di Sorrento…
Made to order – Hawaiian with shrimp and anchovies! 😛 
Carving displays.
Working hard hustling out up 1200 meals at a time!
Sesame Marinated Big Eye Tuna Carpaccio, Yuzu Dressing…
Lobster Tail on Buckwheat Blini with Caviar Citrus Vinaigrette…
Beef Tartar with Horseradish…
Panko Coated Black Tiger Prawns…
Fortina Cheese and White Truffle Mini Quiche…
Creamy Italian Carnaroli Rice Rissotto with Wild Porcini Mushrooms…
Roasted Orange & Crystallized Ginger Sorbet
Double Impact Surf & Turf
Baked Cambert with Pinenuts…
Chocolate Raspberry Mousse and Hazelnut Brownie, and French Macaroon…
And this? Well I have no idea what this is. The Maitre D’ was speaking to some people about dietary requirements (we had one vegetarian and two no seafood and two no lactose on the table), he turned to me and asked if I had any dietary requirements, and I said to him, “No allergies at all, sir. Though I have a particular dislike for all things chocolate!” Which 1) raised some looks of incredulity from my fellow diners, “How can you not like chocolate?”, and 2) was information that was obviously filed by the Maitre D’ and they made me a special non-chocolate dessert! I have no idea what it was, but it was fabulous, something vanilla mousse-like in layers of soft caramel biscuit thing. Delicious, and so very thoughtful. 
And of course, Chef Giovannis’ Homemade Gourmandises…
Lovely custom napery…
Personalized menus…
Tian of Seafood…
Butter Poached Lobster Tail…
Norman Love Fantasy Delight…
Okay, so I am pretty well travelled I guess, but for some reason, I have never found myself on a Hop On Hop Off Bus. Most cities have them and they’re designed to mass transport tourists directly to the sights, but I have somehow managed to avoid them, either by just going places on foot or by using public transport. Today, feeling rather tired after yesterday’s stressful and exhausting adventures, we decided to get on the HOHO bus and just potter around Barcelona and see where we ended up.
This building was a personal residence owned by some very rich earl – it takes up an entire block and the family typically lived on the bottom floor and rented out the top floors.
The Segrada Familia in all it’s be-scaffolded and be-craned brilliance. This is such a beautiful building and it is much further completed than when I was here 20 years ago, I dare say a trip back when it is finished would be well worth it… 
Sarria
The Monestir de Pedralables
The Palau Reial-Pavellions Guell – but unable to get a decent photo of the famous dragon gate… more Gaudi.
Futbol Club of Barcelona
Pg. de Gracia – More Gaudi
Painted under a street awning.
In the pavement.
We drove around for about two hours – most of my photos were crap. Too many people, cars, lamp posts, trees in the way. The commentary was good, but if I can’t move to a better vantage point or wait for people to leave my shot, I can’t take a decent photo. So I guess HOHO buses are not for me.
Duck breast lasagne
Seafood paella.
So tired. Going to have an easy sea day tomorrow in my hotel room, I think!
Also woke up to the news of a violent military coup in Turkey affecting Istanbul and Ankara and oh shit – Mum is supposed to be flying to Istanbul in less than 20 hours. So, of course that meant as soon as we got to decent wifi, I spent the better part of two hours trying to call travel agents, tour operators and travel insurance providers to find out how to cancel, rebook, claim a whole bunch of messy shit to change her plans. The tour operator – Peregrine for anyone who is interested – were originally adamant that the tour was still going ahead. That once they got out of Istanbul that everything would be safe enough for their passengers. They did seem to be overlooking the fact that there were tanks in the streets in Istanbul, citizens rising up against the rouge military, a President holed up at Ataturk airport, and orders to shoot down planes that were not following lawful military commands! There were over 80 people killed and hundreds injured when I was doing this, and later in the day some 3000 soldiers arrested and court judges exiled. So yeah, saying you’re going to continue with your tour in a country with no stable government seems a bit well, fucking stupid to me.
Public fountain on the corner of some building… so cool.
Above the doorway into the cathedral…
This cathedral has the typical high vaulted gothic arches and is lined with little naves on either side of the main part of the church. Each one is dedicated to another saint and holds a scene with elaborate paintings, statuary, tapestries, and ornate gold painted carvings.
There’s a lift that goes up to the roof, so we got a chance to go up and have a look at the city roof tops, as well as see some of the restoration efforts that are happening as they repair the roof.
The outside of one of the stained glass rose windows – there are many of these above the buttresses, but from the ground inside you can hardly notice them they are so high off the ground.
We also had a chance to go out the side where there is a huge cloistered courtyard, with many tombs of important cardinals and bishops, as well as more naves dedicated to saints. This beggared belief to me – there were 13th-15thC paintings out in the courtyard naves that were not protected, not in humidity controlled environments and just outside! Bizarre.
Naves in many nooks to the right…
This nave is OUTSIDE! Paintings and all.
Centre of the courtyard.
There was also a museum area within the complex, which was a ‘no fotos’ area. But we still managed to get a snap of this Rowan Atkinson look alike on the ceiling…
Last nave as we were leaving the cathedral.
We eventually got back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and then went to find our own hotel. By happy coincidence – or just me being forgetful – it turns out we have a rooftop pool, and nothing could have been more welcome this afternoon. We went up for a quick swim, cooled right down, and came down for a bit of a nap before meeting back up with the others for some dinner.
Grilled octopus with chorizo on hummus.
Marinated duck breast with asparagus and orange flavoured puree something? 😛
Scallops carpaccio with avocado and tomato salsa with dill or something.
All fantastic – 10/10. Would go again.