Meeting old friends for the first time

I met Julie through out blogs many moons ago, she was starting out with Montessori and I think stumbled across my blog when looking for inspiration. We became bloggy friends, commenting on each other blog and so on and then when Facebook became a thing our friendship moved over there too.

When her son eldest son got sick, Ebi-kun saw the picture of him in the hospital bed and wanted to send him his robot that he had designed (I sewed) but robot had had a run in with a nose bleed so I explained it wasn't very hygienic! Ebi-kun decided to design a new robot, so we made him and sent him off and when Eli got better they sent us a fab parcel from Hungary!

It's funny how these little stories make such a big impression on out kids.

Anyway, Julie and her family are currently living in China and were planning a trip over to Tokyo so we arranged to meet up. It was great to finally meet her in real life! Although a bit weird too, just knowing someone online for so long then finally meeting them!

We went to an okonomiyaki place for lunch, where you cook the meal yourself at the table, the kids all loved the yakisoba!

Then we headed into Ueno park to the shitamachi museum. I have never been in this place before, if you are in Ueno with an hour to kill, go and check it out. It's only a couple of hundred yen to get in. It was also quite hands-on so the kids were having fun trying things out and trying to work out what everything was.

Then we had a bit of a walk around the park, Julie's family had plans to do Shibuya and Harajuku in the afternoon and we needed to get back, so we parted ways but not until the kids had a good run around the park. It took them a while to warm up but then of course they were best buds when it came to leave! Always the way.

It was fab to spend some time with Julie and I wonder about all the other bloggy friends I have met over the years, maybe I'll get to meet them too one day!

Fun in Harajuku

After the whole Kawaii Monster Cafe we really needed to experience the rest of weird and wonderful Harajuku, for me, this never gets old. 

We wandered the streets, absorbed the atmosphere, checked out the architecture, caught pokemon and basically just chilled for a couple of hours. The best way to enjoy Harajuku is to just wander the streets and see where you end up!

Harajuku in pictures

I always think Harajuku is best represented by pictures not words, words just can't do the weirdness justice!

I went down there a couple of weeks ago to get my hair done, so here is a collection of things that caught my eye... enjoy...

Poking Around in Shibuya

When I was looking for somewhere to spend out art date I spotted a free Damien Hurst exhibit, I figured it would only be small as it was free so kept it as a back up. From the map it looked like the place was just behind the station, it wasn't too hard to find! It was in the creative space on the 8th floor of the Hachi building.

before we found Damien's work, we came across a small exhibit of Japanese puppets, we had fun deciding what the puppets were thinking...

Then we found the Damien Hurst room, there were just a handful of prints, personally, not impressed. Especially after just seeing Murakami's work Hurst looked like a 5 years olds doodles in comparison.

We had a wander around the rest of the floor, there was a food exhibit for the 47 prefectures, not a lot going on to be honest but the set up was nice.

Then we decided to go and find something to eat and went down to the basement, the floor with all the omiyage, one thing Japan does so well is the displays... look at this chocolate...

And these were all spices, we actually spent a lot of time wandering around oooing and ahhhing but didn't buy anything! There did look like some nice cafes and restaurants on the 7th floor too, maybe we will check them out next time!

Get Specific When Talking With The Universe.

As you may know, I am a big fan of Denise Duffield Thomas and her Lucky Bitch Bootcamp. One of the things she teaches is to ask the universe for what you want. We have become master parking spot manifestors and we usually get the table we want at the restaurant too, except the big U had a lesson for this time.

We were at the Sun Cafe, on the 52nd floor so we wanted to sit by the window so we could take in the view, we asked the big U for a window seat, we were taken to our table and... yes we were right next to the window, the one that over-looks the lobby!

We did have a lovely lunch but it was a good reminder to use both that we need to be very SPECIFIC in what we ask for. 

If you think this is all nonsense, try it, next time you are trying to get a parking spot or a specific seat at a cafe or even a seat on the train, ask the big U... and remember to say thank you afterwards.

PS - I am an affiliate for Lucky Bitch, if you are thinking of joining, give me a shout, I am happy to give you a straight up answer to any questions, it's not for everyone so be sure to make the right decision.

Hibiya Christmas Market

[Saturday 19th]

Ebi-kun was feeling much better and had managed to get a relatively decent nights sleep so we decided to head into Tokyo to one of the Christmas markets. I looked into all of them and the one at Hibiya sounded the most promising.  How wrong I was...

Hibiya is quite a trek for us to get to but luckily the trains weren't too busy and the market was held in the park which is close to the station. We got there before it went dark but it was already heaving!

There was a big German tower thing, apparently the tallest in the world, so that was quite cool...

From what we could work out, there were only 4 or 5 stalls that were selling goods, the rest were all selling food - sausages seemed popular! Plus beer and mulled wine. Every stall has a massive queue so although we had gone with the intention of trying some new-to-us food we ended up just getting a mulled wine for me and a hot chocolate for Ebi-kun.

The cabins were decorated with pretty lights and there were various acts on the stage. We didn't get to see inside any of the cabins selling goods because neither of us wanted to wait in line for 20 minutes!

So we tried to make the most of it by taking lots of pictures...

Some cute little fellas on the roof...

Then we headed back to Saitama to meet Daddy for dinner. These German style markets having been popping up in Japan in recent years but maybe I have been spoiled by the ones in Manchester - which were great last time I was there, I was very disappointed with Hibiya and well, won't be bothering again unless we are actually in Europe!

Fancy an avocado?

When I last went to get my hair cut, I arrived a bit early, so I had a wander around the little streets near to the hairdressers. Down one of the streets I came across this massive avocado, so I had a bit of gander, it turned out to be an avocado cafe! The owner popped out and said hello so I decided that if I had time I would investigate further after my hair appointment.

It's a quirky and cute little cafe and every menu item uses avocado - well, I think there were maybe a couple of things that were avocado free, if you are one of those freaky avocado haters!

I'm not sure how to describe the style of the place really but it is homely and quirky, so I loved it! Behind the ghetto blasters was the drinks bar and soup.

I love this funky light too..

I ordered a lunch set, it came with avocado smoothie, there are syrups in the drink bar to add to it, it was good without the syrup but I tried strawberry and that was amazing too. Then there are a choice of drinks in the drinks bar and soup...

Service was great and the owner explained to me what everything was, he had lived in Vietnam years ago and worked with American troops so his English was pretty good. I had the locomoco don which came on top of a half avocardo and avocado balls on the side. It was great, I stuck with the regular size which totally filled me up but you can up the size, for those hungry men folk!

Apparently there are 2 other cafes in the group, I haven't tried them out but I will be coming back here after my next hair appointment!

As the place had just opened it doesn't seem to be on google yet! I don't remember exactly which little street it was down, just look for the big avocado! Somewhere near BerBerJin.

I also spotted this place down one of the side streets but sadly it wasn't open! Maybe next time...