First birthday in Japan, Cats, Sailor Moon musical and the 'Queen of kawaii'

BIG update ahead! (o^.^o)

Last weekend on the 23rd of June it was my 25th birthday! I celebrated by going to a 'cat cafe' in Shinjuku. This is where you pay to spend time with many cats all in the same place. You can play with them, stroke them and feed them treats! There are lots of books there to read so you can have a coffee, sit and relax reading a book or talking with friends and petting all the cats! :D I really miss having a cat so after 3 months with no cat contact this was super cute and exciting!

After going to the cat cafe we went out to Korea town for some food and onto an Izakaya for celebratory drinks. In all, Japan is still as exciting as when I first arrived. It seems every time I go out somewhere I find something new and interesting.

I was lucky enough to have a friend in Japan help me to purchase tickets to the Sailor Moon musical happening this September. I was SO excited to hear they were launching the musicals again after so many years. It's to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series. I NEVER thought I would get the opportunity to see one! In Japan many concert tickets are sold where you cant choose where you sit, it's like a lottery system. I got FRONT ROW tickets for the Sailor Moon musical. :D Super excited!

Japan's 'Queen of kawaii' Miss Kyary Pamyu Pamyu who I saw in concert back in London, is all over Japan right now. She's got a lot of advertising campaigns and her new album came out a few days ago, so promotions are popular.

After walking around Shibuya and Harajuku on a rather humid afternoon. We decided it was time for some food. So we went to 'Shakey's pizza' in Harajuku where you can pay just over 2,000 yen and eat all the pizza you like. You can mix and match different pizza toppings, so we decided to have a bit of fun and have a pizza that was half chicken teriyaki and half marshmallow and chocolate! I'd never eaten a 'sweet' pizza before. I was a bit worried but actually it was very delicious!

I also visited the 6%DOKIDOKI shop in Harajuku which was just as cute as I thought it would be. The staff were so cool, amazing and kind and helpful!



I've been getting a lot of 'purikura' photos whilst on my adventures in Japan. Mostly with MAH BABE Emilie <3 We used the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu themed booth yesterday and the decoration options were awesome! Here is a selection of various purikura:

Sorry for such a huge update... I should space these out more often.. for more of my Japan adventures as they happen, check out my instagram account: katie_2ne1

Hopefully off to Tokyo Disneyland next weekend! whoo! very excited! :D

xXx

Korean BBQ, Pokémon center, Akihabara and Alice in Wonderland cafe

I've been busy recently as it's golden week in Japan and I've had some time off to explore Tokyo :D
Therefore this whole post will be full of photos! You have been warned! haha

Golden week started after a tough Saturday of working for so many hours I lost count. However, because we had to work late my Head teacher who is awesome bought us all pizza :D

The vacation began with a day of catching up on sleep and washing. Then it really kicked off with an AMAZING Korean BBQ in Korea town with my other staff members. It was SO much fun and the food was incredible! Afterwards we went to Karaoke which was really fun as always!

Chillin' with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu in Shinjuku and GDragon in Korea town.

I went to the Pokémon center (Tokyo branch) and my inner 9 year old was rejoicing. They had everything pokemon related, ranging from stuffed toys to cooking utensils. I bought a few things including CHARIZARD SOCKS.

I wandered around Akihabara and explored the various anime and idol shops that are there. The third Evangelion film has just come out so there were Evangelion themed things everywhere! 

I found a store with some Sailor Moon stuff but it cost more than my rent... so there was no way I could buy it! I did buy a few small things though including an Asuka figure and T-shirt, a stuffed Jiji from Kiki's delivery service.

Guess who was on the side of Akihabara station? :D Sailor Moon! I saw this and had a total 'fangirl moment'! The new anime starts this summer and they were advertising the new toy figure coming out soon. Here is my shelf with the new Asuka figure and Jiji on it, along with some other geeky things.

I went with a friend to the cutest cafe that has an Alice in Wonderland theme in Shinjuku. It was one of the best things I have done in Tokyo so far! The food was incredible and SO well presented! The cafe's decor was also amazing! The cafe was on the basement floor so it really was like falling down the rabbit hole and entering Wonderland! I had a beef dish in the shape of the Cheshire cat and a pudding that looked like a card soldier. Afterwards we went shopping in Harajuku finding all the lolita shops. I ended up buying some shoes but no lolita outfit... yet! 

Purikura in Harajuku :D

xxx

Korea town and the Ramen museum

Korea Town

Last Sunday I went to Korea Town in Tokyo. 

I think it's my new favourite place in Tokyo! 

It was full of cute Kpop shops and cafes with tons of amazing Korean food. They were literally playing Kpop songs in the street. They was so much merchandise. I had to resist buying so much! Just bought myself a BIGBANG hat and T-shirt.

We found a restaurant that had a special 'BIGBANG' seating area where you can go and eat whilst being surrounded by BIGBANG posters. It was impossible to resist! There were even BIGBANG cushions on the seats! The food was absolutely amazing too.

I was also amazed that they had some TV's in the restaurant and they were playing back to back BIGBANG live performances whilst we ate :D We also found another Korean cafe where we had milkshakes and they were playing BIGBANG and 2NE1 music videos from a large screen projector on the wall. It was awesome!

I was overwhelmed by everything! It was so amazing to be in a place literally full of all the things you like. Cafes playing Kpop are so rare in London. It was great to see it being loved and appreciated.                   Later we walked to Shinjuku and got some purikura. My first time using a real purikura booth in Japan! it was great! 

Ramen museum

Last Monday I travelled to Shin-Yokohama to the ramen museum. The museum is designed to look like Japan in 1958 when instant noodles were invented. There are many different small restaurants inside that sell different types/ flavors of ramen. You can try whichever kinds you like. I wish I could have tried all of them but it was impossible to fit it all in! 

VISA and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu concert

My VISA for Japan is ready! 

Less than 20 days to go and I am so excited but also starting to realise the serious amount packing I am going to have to do in the next couple of weeks... Deciding what shoes I can take and which pairs I will have to leave behind will be a struggle! haha! (Although I am sure I will end up shopping and buying more shoes when I am in Japan!) In fact... I have a feeling I am going to end up buying a lot of things when I am there!

Last night I was lucky enough to go to the Japanese 'Queen of kawaii' Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's concert in London. It was a really good night, the atmosphere was so positive and everyone was super happy! Kyary has so much energy! Her back-up dancers are also amazing. 

There were many people dressed up in amazing fashion and some in Kyary cosplay. It made me even more excited about visiting Harajuku when I get to Japan. (These are some of the photos I took during the concert.)

I also visited the Japanese purikura booths in London with my friend for a bit of fun. I am going to miss her and all my friends and family when I leave!

xXx