Spent our last morning in Tokyo doing some creative packing – we hadn’t exactly gone mad on the shopping, but seems quite a bit of the stuff we did pick up was just irregular in size and shape and hard to square away, so even though the Packing Gene runs in my family, it took far longer than I anticipated.
Once we had our bags all sorted we jumped the subway into town to pop into the Odakyu Department Store to hunt for homewares (of all things). Odakyu is a 16 floor department store with an amazing food hall in the basement and plenty of fancy restaurants on the top floors. In between is just about everything you might find in an enormous Myer/David Jones but with a Japanese flavour.
I love the plastic food outside of restaurants – there should be more of it in western countries, I say. 🙂 
The fresh food hall was amazing – and the seafood looked incredible.
Eventually, it was that horrible sad time to start our transit and head to the airport. We took the NEX (Narita Express) train which like all trains here was clean and comfy and well appointed. We arrived at the airport just in time to deal with the overly officious Japanese love of paperwork… passport presentation at the self-check-in kiosks, and again at the actual bag drog/check-in counter – I swear we were effectively checked in again at the ‘bag drop’ counter as the passports were all inspected, boarding passes double checked, baggage tags issued and the whole thing took longer than the self-check-in. Then of course, the security check where I got a thorough frisk down because of the underwires in my bra (and the security chickie was not shy!), then customs and immigration and it was passports again, and by the time we went through all this, the two hours early at the airport turned into 10 mins to find our gate!
Nevermind, we were there in plenty of time for a quick whip around they duty-free (only to discover nothing we actually needed) and a few minutes to charge a phone and then it was onto the plane with more officiousness… passports, scanning and stamping of boarding passes?! The Japanese LOVE their official stamps – even going into a tourist attraction or a museum, you will buy a ticket and then two minutes later another employee is putting a stamp on it to double check your ticket?? No idea why.
In the end we boarded our Air Canada flight without a small delay but without too much hassle. The fight was about… oh 15% good -largely due to the plentiful sake which just seemed to keep multiplying thanks to a friendly flight attendant.
None of us fared particularly well on the flight – being 8 hours of overtired, announcements in three languages and a few too many unhappy babies on the flight. But we arrived on time in Vancouver and were happily greeted by an unexpectedly smooth customs/immigration* and then transfer through to our smaller flight to Victoria.
*There is an epic administrative clusterfuck omitted here about how Canadian immigration processes for dual citizens have recently changed and Canadia citizens holding multiple passports are no longer eligible to enter Canada on their non-Canadian (in our case, Australian) passports using the very simple and cheap eTA visa system, but instead are expected to get their Canadian passports renewed (even if they haven’t had one for 20 years!) in order to be allowed back in their native country for a holiday. Which of course we were unaware of until about four weeks prior to departure, and passport applications were hastily submitted, but demand at the consulate was leading to inevitable delays and they weren’t going to be processed in time, leading to ‘Emergency eTAs being issued on the original Australian passport the hapless ex-pat Canadians wanted to use anyway! Details omitted because the huge time sucking drama and expensive of it all, has left those involved somewhat traumatised – though having just written this truncated version of the entire saga means it’s not really ‘omitted’ anymore, doesn’t it? #showerthoughts
Where was I? Oh yes, Vancouver International transiting over to Vancouver Domestic to find out our plane to Victoria (BC’s capital) looked like this… propellors. I hate small planes. Then we were delayed for about an hour, because they needed to put ‘snow tyres’ on the plane. 😮 Now, we could see this little plane on the tarmac the whole time we were delayed, and no one went anywhere near the tyres while we were waiting for that hour. Personally, I think the pilot was just running late… Probably off having a shag and lost track of time or something.
All good, we eventually took off, survived the rather bumpy short flight to Victoria and picked up our rental car and before you know it we were driving across the Malahat Highway towards Duncan. Now, when we booked this trip, we were aware that we were coming to Canada for a White Christmas that was unlikely to be white at all due to Duncan and surrounds being not far off sea level and hardly ever having snow… .but Mr K’s Parking Fairy seems to have kicked it up a notch and the further we got from Victoria, the more of the white cold stuff we saw! Seems the region had a very unseasonal snow dump on Tuesday and was scheduled for even more to come! It is currently even predicting it to be actually snowing on Christmas Day too – so we are expecting a White Christmas after all! The kids are so excited… oh screw it – I’m excited! And from the reactions of some of the Canadian relatives, they are pretty excited about a White Christmas too. 🙂 
TIL snowy and speed landscape photography out the car window, do not mix.
We pulled up to Mr K’s uncle’s house and were greeted by this tree… which I had to double check was actually real, because it looks like something out of a store. But yes, apparently it’s real.
As night fell, it started to gently snow some more and the front yard looks like something from a movie.
So all up – not too horrid a transit, and being greeted by the prospect of an actual White Christmas made for a bucnh of very excited Aussies bouncing around last night trying to stay awake until a reasonable hour to turn in.
Back out on the street, even your regular little corner agift store is packed to the gills with merchadise in every nook and cranny. Everyone is a bull on the china here, there’s no avoiding it. They have so much merchandise all crammed into such tiny little stores that you can’t help but knock half the products… which is why they are all secured to shelves using clips and hooks and everything swings and moves as you walk through the store.
And of course, EVERY store has its adults-only upstairs areas (which are sometimes as many as three or more floors bigger than the floor of Dragonball Z toys and Pokemon plush that attracts people into the place! So much porn! When I wondered out loud, ‘Who actually pays for porn in this day and age?’, the Teenager replied, ‘Well, if you want something specific, you have to pay for it.’ 😮 
Gaming and vending machines are everywhere… throw in your yen, and manouvre the dodgy gaming controls for a chance to win an enticing soft yellow squishy thing! 🙂 
Or throw in slightly more yen and get a chance to win this off license Pikachu. 🙂 
Racks and racks of toy dispensing machines line the streets. They usually take between Y200 and Y500 and dispense a random little plastic toy-in-a-ball. They must be profitable, but I can’t help but wonder who is buying all these toy-in-a-balls? They’re obviously designed to be collectable but still…
This one is a corker – there are five plastic wearable badges in this machine, with one of five cute anime girls on each button which you will get at random…
…and on the bottom of the machine are pictures of a man having a sad/tired rough time. We used the Google Translate over the text and basically, it was saying that if you buy this badge, you can escape the drudgery of your everyday life and be happy! Happiness! This little machine is selling escapism and happiness… that’s one helluva badge!
Manga stores everywhere.
Even more floors of porn…
Mr K lost in the back of the porn floors… I didn’t go up, but he said, the higher up the floor the more ‘extreme’ the content gets.
Phew after all that searching through figurines and anime and dodging the porn, we stumbled onto the Mocha Cat Cafe. Now I am not a cat person as many of you will know, but the whole concept intrigues me somewhat.. why would you pay to go hang out in a cafe full of cats?
A lovely lady helped us with some hand sanitiser, slippers and of course, the Rules (rules? for being around cats?!?) and explained the cost – Y200 for every ten minutes you stay, and you must buy a refillable drink for Y350, so a minimum of Y550 per person to go in and ‘relax with cats’.
Inside was a space with a lovely decor, delighfully Japanese’d Christmas Carols playing quietly in the background and a huge anime library where you could sit down and watch some tv while you cuddle some kitties.
The anime library – with a huge selection, no doubt designed to keep you in the kitty cafe as long as possible.
Cats chillin in their weird little hanging birdcage things… very well fed cats btw. You can feed the cats for an additional Y500.
For 1pm on a Wednesday, it was amazing well patronised. There were quite a few people there, even one lady on her laptop who had obviously settled in for quite a while to get some work done.
After, oh I’d say about eight and a half minutes of quality looking-at-cats time (Nope – didn’t pet any, me and cats, meh), we went looking for somewhere for some cheap and cheerful brlunch. It was pretty cold today so we went looking for some small Japanese curry bowls which we thought would fill the bill given we were planning a very late dinner tonight. 
We came across this place down the road from the cat cafe that looked perfect – nothing on the menu but curry. So in we went. From the pictures on the menu, portions looked perfect for lunch and it was chicken, pork or prawn curry… order your curry and biru from the little machine and go take a seat.
We were right about this being a great curry restaurant but not so much on the polite portion sizes. We got huge plates of curry, which I have to admit did not look so appetitisng… but once you tried it, absolutely delicious. Probably the best katsu curry I have ever had. 
The Teenager was very happy with his wash, probably the first meal we’ve had that filled him up!
After I was waiting outside and found out from the signs that this place has prize winning curry in 2015 for some big curry conference/competition – so no wonder it was good. I have no idea what the place was called though. Couldn’t fathom it for love or money.
After lunch, we went for a wander into Shibuya, just because we could – to do a bit of shopping and have a look around.
Oddly, this slick black store is a Disney Store… and no, I didn’t go in. The retail pain of working the Disney Store over Christmas is still altogether too raw.
Then it was back to Shinjuku for our booking at the Robot Restaurant. When we were in Tokyo two years ago, we had booked tickets to take the then, Small Child, to go see the Robot Restaurant as we thought it would be quite the spectacle for a kid. Unhappily at the time, it was closed for renovations the week we were here. Now, we come back and I thought he’d be over it, but unhappily he still wanted to go. So we duly went and bought tickets.
Right from the front door you get an inkling of what you are in for – more glitter, sequins, neon and mosaic mirror tiles per square inch than you would have thought humanly possible.
We were then welcomed into the Guest Waiting Room whereupon it took my eyes a full ten minutes to recover from the visual assault on the senses. It’s like Versace and Las-Vegas-Fat-Elvis had a litter of tattooed, vajazzled love children, and they vomited all over the place in here.
This is his, ‘somewhat overwhelmed but trying to be blase about it look’. 😉 
Neon ceilings floors and walls, golden seashell glass-topped tables, gilded rose embossed chairs, massive tv screens and oh, so so many mirrors just on every surface.
Even the bathroom was a sight to sore the eyes.
Then the bell went and it was time to descend into the basement of the building for the show itself. We were treated to quite a few Christmas Carols in the waiting area while we sipped on our freebie sake (which tasted nothing like sake…?) and I was getting concerned that we may actually have been stuck with an entire Christmas themed show… I definitely would NOT have signed up to sit through that.
Upon being shown to our seats – the first thing wheeled in front of us? The souvenir cart swiftly followed by a drinks cart. Then it was a few safety rules (keep your hands in, don’t touch the robots, no flash photography) and it would soon be on with the show. 
We then had a fifteen-minute interval where, you guessed it, they tried to sell us more souvenirs and drinks. 🙂 The next vignette appeared to have some sort of post-apocalyptic theme running through it – robots had taken over the earth but the humans were fighting back or some such. It was all a bit obscure, to be honest, and passed in a blur of lights and loud noises.
You may think these photos are out of focus or dodgy, but I like ’em!
And yet, through all this noise and lights and pyrotechnics and craziness… these two beside us slept through the lot!
By the way, if anyone is interested in going to this overpriced tourist trap, err, I mean unique Japanese cultural experience – there is a Tourist Information centre at Shinjuku bus station that has tickets for about Y2,000pp cheaper than you can buy online or at the RR. It’s well worth a couple of bucks on the subway to head down there to pick up discount tickets.
We were headed to the Kachi-kachi Ropeway to go up to view Mt Fuji. 🙂
The Kawagauchiko Ropeway takes travellers up Kachi-kachi Yama, which translates roughly as ‘Fire-crackle Mountain. The ‘kachi-kachi’ bit being an onomatopoetic word for the sound a fire makes, and ‘yama’ meaning mountain. The cute little hiking rabbit and his tanuki (Japanese racoon) companion are a cutesy little theme that run through the complex. 
Lake Kawaguchiko and the town of Fuji-Kawaguchiko.
Mt Fuji. On our last trip, Aunty Mary, Mr K and the Teenager all hiked to the top of Mt Fuji, but this is the first time they have actually seen it! The weather was so poor they climbed the entire mountain in raid and clouds and fog, so they never actually saw the peak of the mountain after their arduous journey.
The Usagi shrine dedicated to the rabbit from the Kachi-kachi Yama myths… must have been one special rabbit!
It is said that if you ring the Bell of Tenjo while watching Mt Fuji and make a wish, your wish will come true.
The rabbit helping the poor, crying tanaki.
No idea what is going on in this one…
The two friends looking off the mountain, farewelling guests.
I couldn’t tell you what they are exactly, but apparently, there are a smattering of references to this myth in Super Mario Sunshine.
At the base of Kachi-kachi Yama is the world famous Fujiyama Cookie shop! Where, you can buy all manner of Fuji styled cookies and candies.
Camembert cheesecake… sounds amazing. Amazingly suspicious!
Also – the widest variety of weird KitKat flavours known to man… Wasabi flavour, Strawberry Cheesecake flavour, Sake flavour, Apple flavour. 
Nearby was the Ide Sake Brewery, unfortunately, we spent too much time up Kachi-kachi and missed the last brewery tours, but we made a mental note to make up for it this evening.
After this, it was back into town for a little shopping and then the bus trip back to Shinjuku bus station, whereupon we did a little more shopping 😉 and then went hunting for dinner.
Saw this on the menu. Obviously, we had to order it to find out what it was… turned out to be a tasty tasty Martian alien octopus thing.
And the most delicious and affordable sushi platter ever, Y990, which at the moment is around AUD$11. Fabulous food in a busy little restaurant – I would highly recommend hunting this place out if you are in Shinjuku.
Another wonderful day in Japan over it was back to our shoebox hotel room for… another soak in the tub. 🙂 This time with extra sake!
Highspeed landscape photography isn’t really a thing, but you can get a bit of an idea of what the countryside looks like.
After a 40 minute bus ride, we reached our destination, the entrance to the park. Unsurprisingly, the few restaurants and inns out here seem to use monkeys in their logos.
The park entrance leads the way to the 1.6km walk to the thermal pool that the Japanese macaques congregate in during the winter, and it is the only way to access the area. Jigokudani means, ‘Hell’s Valley’ due to the steam and boiling water that is found in the geothermal valley. It is surrounded by steep cliffs that in winter make for a formidable and hostile landscape.
The walk into to the monkey’s thermal pools is fairly flat with only two steep-ish areas, though in these conditions it is very slippery with ice. We all had decent hiking books on but more than one of our party went arse over (including me) on the ice. Ice or no, it sure is beautiful to see the valley covered in a layer of fresh snow.
The drive back from the park afforded some beautiful views of the mountains in the Nagano area. The Winter Olympics were held here nearly 20 years ago, but the locals like to keep showing that one off with souvenirs still available and signs to the event sites.
After visting the snow monkeys we made out way to the Zenkō-ji temple, one of the most famouse Buddhist temples in all of Japan. The original temple was built in the 7thC AD and the city of Nagano which was established in 1897 was effectively built up around the temple area. HIstorically Zenkō-ji is famous for it’s use as a staging point in the battles between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shngen in the 16thC. It is also one of the few temples which serve as a pilgrimage site in Japan.
This hibutsu hidden Buddha, is rumored to be the very first Buddha statue ever brought to Japan and it is by ‘commandment’ of the temple that the absolute secrecy of the statue is maintained. Even the chief priest of the temple is unable to view it. The first replica however, (not the one above) is shown publicly once every six years in the spring time in a truly bizarre special ceremony called Gokaichō. 
Nearby is the Scholar’s Shrine – students will come here to make offerings to pass their exams. They will give their coins, write on a stone their desire to pass their tests, and then strike the gong using the rope. Passing exams in Japan can mean the difference between a happy life of lifelong prosperity working for a good company, and a life of destitution floating from job to job. Obviously, the pursuit of a ‘life-job’ is become less of a goal in the fluid modern job market.
A very sad monument to children and babies that have died. People who visit this shrine all have a very heart-wrenching story to share. There are two shrines dedicated to this purpose in the temple complex.
Pilgrims sandals hung on the outside of the Niōmon gate hung when pilgrims set off on their journeys to give them good strong legs for their endeavours. Also hung here can be found pairs of ballet slippers for aspiring ballerinas who also want to have good strong legs for their careers.
The interior of the Sanmon gate is covered in plastered on papers or stickers bearing people’s names. While it is illegal to place these stickers, it is said that the higher you place your name, the higher you are towards enlightenment. Some very determined individuals have their names as much as 6m off the ground. Oddly (given you are literally leaving evidence of your crime) no one is ever prosecuted for leaving a name sticker due to Japanese naming protocols leaving so many people with identical or similar names.
Another shrine, this time dedicated to long life and good health. This shrine is the ‘reason’ that the people of Nagano are known to live the longest lives, of all the Japanese people. Nothing to do with healthy living and good diets, it is this little shrine which brings them longevity.
This bronze oxen has a special house to himself and he has come to represent ‘Unexpected Good Fortune’. The story of the oxen includes a washerwoman who did not believe in spending her time going to the shrine to pay her respects to Buddha. While the rest of the townsfolks would go to the shrine, she instead would go to the river to wash her clothes. Buddha was annoyed by this, and one day he turned himself into an ox and ran through the washerwoman’s clothes collecting them on his horns. Away he ran, with the washerwoman following him, to the shrine, whereupon he turned into his proper self and showed himself to the washerwoman wearing the clothing she had been washing.
Outside the temple are statues of six Bodhisattvas (followers of Buddha), who gave up their own pursuit of Buddhist enlightenment, in order to help and provide salvation to others. The Bodhisattvas are said to represent and be able to commune with the six realms of hell, starvation, beasts, carnage, human beings and divine beings. The Bodhisattva on the right with his foot dangling in the mortal world is the one representing hell.
This is the main temple of the Zenkoji temple complex. Inside is housed five sacred wooden statues, which, you guessed it – are not available for public viewing. Also inside the temple is a statue of Binzuru, a physician who was said to be Buddha’s follower. Visitors to the temple touch the statue in order to cure their ailments – so if you have bad knees you touch his knees, if you have a bad back… you get the idea. The statue of Binzuru is made of wood and is 300 years old, I’m surprised that people are still allowed to touch a religious artefact of this age – but of course I rubbed his back anyway! 
This prayer wheel had many characters engraved into it but over the centuries has been largely worn smooth. Observants would touch the prayer wheel to feel the characters of their prayers and spin the wheel to pray before the temple. 
Within the temple district is this one Shinto shrine – the Japanese tend to be born as Shinto, marry as Shinto and/or as Christians (they like the big white fluffy princess wedding dresses!) but they die and have their funerals at Buddhist temples surrounded by the ideas of rebirth into the next life.
At this shrine was rows and rows of little men standing only about four inches tall, that all have the names of important ancestors in history on them. People come and search the racks for their own names, and leave small offerings (in the form of beaded necklaces for the little statues) to honour their family ancestors.
The other shrine dedicated to children who have passed away – this one is much more widely used and is more popular for some reason. It is surrounded by offerings made by mourning parents who wish to send their children into the afterlife with tokens, such as toys or clothing items. 
After we visited the temple, we made our way to a nearby sake brewery. Where we were treated to a sake tasting of 6 different varieties of sake, three varieties of amazuke and some really unusual sparkling yuzu sake. A very welcome warming of the cockles after a day in the cold. 🙂 
After that it was back to Nagano Station to hightail it back to Tokyo Station on the amazing (I want one!) bullet trains. I seriously love these trains, so fast, so clean, lots of leg room, power points, a lovely lady with a tea trolley and before you know it – you are at your destination.
We then made our way back to Shinjuku for a bit of late night shopping (Shell, if you are reading this, I have stocked up on sunscreen!), and a bite to eat at a cheerful little ramen restaurant. 
Found what appeared to be the Attagirl outlet store – no knee pads though… #confused
Shinjuku is really quite lively any time of the day – but at night time it really seems to come alive and is transformed into the Tokyo we have all become familiar with from movies and tv. People are everywhere, the lights of the advertising don’t just rival Times Square in New York, but completely eclipse it. The atmosphere here at the momen is just electric – everyone is cheerful and doing their Christmas shopping and carols are steaming out of all the stores. It’s been a huge day, so after our shopping/dinner in Shinjuku it was back to the hotel for another well deserved soak in the tub!
The
Ikebukuro Main Street.
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.
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.
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! 🙂