This morning Bec and I walked to the Meiji temple. It was a bit of a let down as far as temples go, but there seemed to be some sort of wedding ceremony going on there, so that was cool to see. It was also a really good day weather wise, so a good day for just pottering. From the temple we walked to Harajuku where we spotted the cat cafe, which we obviously couldn't pass up! The cats were adorable, although I can't say they were any friendlier than the ones in the Edinburgh. They seemed happy enough though.
While we were walking we spotted a ridiculous queue for a cafe called Detective Conan. The queue went down about 3 flights of stairs and as far as the eye could see down the street. We were curious to see what the fuss was about so went up for a look, which is where we discovered the cafe. It's apparently a pop up cafe based on a Japanese anime show and sells limited edition collectible items. It all starts to make sense now. The Japanese go mental for that stuff.
At this point we're starving as we haven't eaten all day. We went to a gyoza dumpling place I'd heard about called Harajuku Gyozaro. We shared 4 plates of dumplings (two steamed and two pan fried). They were delicious and we could easily have eaten another couple of plates. We spent the next hour wandering around Harajuku and looking in the weird and wonderful shops they have there. The place was absolutely rammed though!
Not content with our cat fix, we hopped on the metro to Roppongi area where there was a hedgehog and bunny cafe. The queue for the hedgehogs was a 30+ minute wait so we couldn't be bothered with that, but there was no wait for the bunny so we went up. When we sat down we found out that it cost around £9 to gold a bunny for 10 minutes, and that they didn't serve any drinks, so it wasn't really a cafe. I said that I could hold Marie's rabbit back home whenever I wanted, and that she even lets me help cut her bum fluff for free, so I was loathe to pay. We got up and left.
This evening we went to watch Kabuki which is a traditional Japanese dance-drama. It was bloody weird. The show lasts 4.5 hours, but you can buy tickets for the 40 minute acts, which is what we did thank god otherwise I wouldn't still be living to tell the tale. For about the first 30 minutes of the act some guy literally just 'danced' around the stage with a fan. Jen bought an English guide, the rest of us didn't bother so I was a bit lost as to what was going on. That said, even with the subtitles the story made absolutely no sense. Anyway, it was an experience that's for sure.
After, we went on the hunt for food. We were starving so ended up in some random Japanese place that was empty by the time we got there. Bec and I ordered yakitori which was actually really tasty, apart from the last skewer which tasted foul and had a weird texture. When we later discovered this was actually chicken heart I thought Bec was going to spew it back up as she was so horrified. I didn't enjoy it, but I've certainly put worse things in my mouth since I've been out here!
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