Geek central and Sumo in Tokyo

Well here we are, back in Tokyo for one night only!

Caught an overnight bus from Hiroshima last night, we left there at about 8pm and got back to Shinjuku station in Tokyo at around 7am this morning. I think I managed to grab a few hours sleep, which was fortunate because when we finally found a hostel that had room this morning, we couldnt check in until 2pm, so we had to leave our bags and then drag our weary souls around the city for six hours until the room was ready!

In the mean time we went to Akihabara, which is famous here for being the land of anime, manga, every electronic gadget under the sun, and beloved of all girl and boy geeks. We checked out a couple of enormous dedicated manga stores which were seven stories of mags, books, dvds, characters, posters, costumes, drinks and every anime-inspired trinket under the sun you could ever possibly imagine.

After that we went to Don Quijote which is a department store in Akiba, but it's the Japanese version of a department store, which means tens of stories of the most crazy, bonkers, beserk shops and cafes you have ever seen in you life. Think complete sensory overload...tiny skinny escalators packed with girls and boys dressed up as Cosplay characters and floor after floor after floor of tiny corridors bursting with the most weird and wonderful items, from trinkets and toys to Hello Kitty vending machines, endless rows of cute pink cosmetics and beauty products, rainbow wigs and sweets, Harajuku girl fashions, and of course most of all, millions of things that we had absolutely no idea what they were. And at the same time everything is making a huge racket, the floor tiles light up/speak Japanese when you tread on them, music pounds through the store, electrical voices come from every shelf and every toy. On the fifth floor of the building is the famous At Home cafe, where all the waitresses dress up in Cosplay gear, call you mistress and sir, and you can even play games with them to win drinks and sweets. Its quite simply a bizarre and brilliant place, completely overwhelming and completely Japanese.

After Akiba I was feeling pretty burnt out from lack of sleep so we headed back to the hostel for an hours kip on the sofa as our room wasn't ready yet, and then we went out to the Ryogoku Koguigkan, which is the Grand Sumo wrestling tournament in Tokyo. It's a huge sport out here and televised all over the country, but only on for one week three times a year, so we were so lucky to see it. Of course we bought the cheapest seats and were sat way up in the back, but we enjoyed a few Kirins and watched and about three hours of bouts. It was fascinating to see some of the best fighters in the world, and all the pomp and ceremony - the stomach slapping, salt throwing and drumming, and the ceremonial robes. The competitors aren't all Japanese, some were Russian or Estonian, but they all had one thing in common - they were absolutely enormous!

I'm going to try and do one last blog to sum up all my thoughts about Japan and why I love it (excerpt - heated toilet seats and the fact that they play fake birdsong at train stations to make them more pleasant!) I'll also talk a bit more about Hiroshima as I didn't have time yesterday, but for now I'm off to enjoy my last sake and say goodbye to this fantastic city.

So, sayonara from Tokyo, and arigato goziamas for reading!