Sunday Crazy Sunday

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No chocolate eggs this Easter and not a hot cross bun in sight. We did manage to find coco-pops in the local Maruman supermarket and that kept the kids happy. Though Milla is already talking about the eggs she's going to eat on Easter Wednesday.

We chill in the apartment for a bit this morning. Jules is trying to shake a headache and we are prioritising things to do. Theses small apartments aren't big enough for a family of 4 - especially with active kids. You can barely swing a ninja sword in the living area. But the kids are giving it a red hot go.

The apartment is about 50m* (google says average is about 60m*) and you can understand why there is always so many people out and about. You would rarely entertain friends at home like we do in Australia. Instead, catching up at the park, cafe, bar or shopping mall seems to be the go.

It's T-shirt weather in Tokyo today and we decide to do a bit of that ourselves today while we explore two more districts of Tokyo. First we are off to Akihabara. A renowned tech hub for electronics, gadgets and gaming. Emerging from the JR station is assault on the senses - even by Tokyo standards. The bright yellow and red of the SEGA buiding and the Manga/Anime inspired billboards adorning the buildings and bold and brilliant.

A predominantly male crowd cross between the various technology department stores and games shops. One building has tubular escalators running on the outside off the floors and appears to be packed with computers, cameras, gadgets and games consoles. We make our way to Super Potato Retro Games Centre and drop a 1000 Yen into Pac Man, Galaga and Street Fighter. If it wasn't for the smokers in this dank gaming den, we may have stayed for longer. These old games are cool and the kids really liked playing them. I could take it or leave it 😊.

On our way to Super Potato (i just like saying that name) we are given a flyer by a cute little maid and it shows these even cuter teddy bear inspired meals. Too cute to resist, we find her again and follow her to Maidreamin on 5F of some side street building.

In the elevator ride up to 5F she explains that Maidreamin is a magical place and instead of saying "excuse me" you must say "meow meow" and the maid we come to you. As we enter the "cafe" we are greeted with clowder of young girls dressed in black and white maids uniforms saying some obscure Japanese greeting in high pitched voices.

There are a few other patrons at the counter and tables. A Japanese couple, three american 20 something gaming geeks and a creepy old Japanese man. All of them are wearing headbands of Bunny, Cat or Bear ears. There's a lot of "meow, meow", "moi moi", "yay!" and clapping going on, and not just from the waitresses. Sorry Maids.

The maidreamin menu and cover charge is explained to us and they try to upsell us with souvenir photo packs and 2000 yen glow sticks. If we enjoy are food and/or drink we are shown how to respond. With heartshaped fingers we must move them side to side and say "delicious, delicious, moi, moi, ga!". This elicits and excited clap and giggle from the maids. You can only take pre-paid photos of the maids and you mustn't touch the maids - they are made of chocolate!

We came seeking a touch of cute Japanese cuisine, and the food is cleverly cute, but may have stumbled onto something a little creepier than first appears. The maids all look very young, the outfits are short but not strippery short, but the patrons (apart from us and other unsuspecting tourists) are much older and much maler.

It gets weirder when the "show" starts. One of the other patrons has paid for a show package. This involves one of the girls getting up on a mini stage and dancing and miming to a loud J Pop song that seems to go on forever. It teases us multiple times with finishing before kicking into yet another verse. The Japanese men in the room crack their glow sticks and sing and dance along. The creepy older guy at the counter (who may have paid for the show, meal and drink combo) pulls his personal glow sticks out of his briefcase and dances with gusto as the songs hits its middle peak. Imagine a Japanes Uncle Arthur on speed. We sing and clap along to the song, pretending to know the words. I definitely heard thank you in the lyrics.

It's all harmless fun and there is no nudity or inappropriate dancing or behaviour. And maybe it's our cynical western mindsets, but it just feels a bit wrong. Milla is loving the cuteness of it all, Deaks thinks it a bit weird and is charming the maids with his pigeon Japanese. We think he said the food tastes very good, but he might have asked a maid to marry him - we're not sure and her over the top reaction would have been the same anyway.

It is refreshing to see the Japanese guys let their hair down and dance like crazy. The locals all behave so properly and seem so reserved in public. I'm glad we got to see behind the curtain a little. Even if it is a bit creepy.

When we finally emerge from the maid cafe the streets are noticibly busier and there is noticibly more young girls in dress ups touting for business. Anime characters with pink wigs and white and black make up. Post industrial blue collar nurses in welders aprons. School girls with a nod to S&M. With the amount of lonely gaming geeks drawn to this part of town, this honey trap could get very creepy as the sun sets on Akihabara.

From Tech and Creepy to Rich and Trendy, now we're in Ginza. Most of Tokyo is a shopping mall but this appears to be where the serious stuff happens. They block off the streets on weekends to enable the hordes of shoppers to flow freely between the many department stores and high-end luxury brand signature stores. It's as crowded as Akihabara but the shoppers are more conventionally split across the genders.

The crowd here is much better dressed and the men here have partners and some have very expensive cars. Deaks and I go searching for an ATM. The one time you want a 711 you can't find one. I dare say the Yen / metre rent on this strip makes it uncommercial for a 711, Familymart or Lawsons to make ends meets. Deaks spots a "Lambo" and there are Lexus, Porsche and Mercedes. Most commonly we've seen Toyotas and Hondas driving around Tokyo but you don't wear Valentino or Prade in a Camry.

We all buy some clothes from a Japanese chainstore GU. Jules calls it the ValleyGirl of Japan. The clothes are cool and functional. Japan is expensive enough without adding a luxury brand premium on top and besides these other "luxury" brands are noxious across the world. We want some Japanese disposable fashion!

A little more strolling and browsing and we're all getting hungry. We've ticked of most of the Japanese food styles - Ramen, Tempura, Miso Soup, Soba, Yakitori, Yakisoba,Makizushi, Okonomiyaki, Tepanyaki, Sashimi, Onigiri, Curry Rice, Udon, Yakiniku, Takoyaki, Yuba, Nigiri, Tonkatsu - but we haven't had Gyoza! Gyoza in Ginza just sounds too perfect.

We abort a number of restaurants above the nearby train station due to the smokers inside but find a great little place serving a mixed platter of Gyoza, Yakitori and Chahan. We all eat ourselves to breaking point and Milla goes above and beyond and won't stop eating the Chahan - Japanese fired rice. From Milla's eating behaviour and our latter unquenchable thirsts, Jules suspects a touch of MSG in the meal. Regardless it was delicious! And I discovered that Suntory Pilsner is also bloody good.

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