My first cat cafe

Feeling feline... I needed to write about Ikebukuro station, did a little research and it turns out the place is quite a cat cafe hub. I went in search of Nekorokobi, who's website I had seen, but wandering the streets I saw a sign with a big cat face saying 'Neko no mise 2nd branch'. I assumed this being a second branch that it was a popular company with good standards and the likely hood of it being busy would be smaller. Bingo! The cafe was super quiet, absolutely enormous and the cats oh so cute. Whats better than sipping Jasmine tea, reading a manga you can't quite understand and sitting with snoozing cats? Nothing I tells ya! It was a super chilled cafe, it felt far more like a library, which is my kind of place really.

It was also fairly amusing watching some of the Japanese girls who had clearly never interacted with a cat absolutely wetting themselves at everything, ranging from OMG SO CUTE to HOLY CRAP THE CATS ARE RUNNING ACROSS THE ROOM I AM GOING TO DIE. So for those who are anti cats its pretty funny to people watch.

Mori Tower

So, after my first meeting with Japan Tourist I ventured out into Roppongi, renowned for its day time business and night time party culture. However this post is devoid of both of those elements, sorry! I went to Mori tower in Roppogi hills to check out the Tokyo City View and visit the Mori art museum, both of which are spectacular and well worth the 1500 yen to get in. I was fairly early in arriving, around 11am, so the 52nd floor was practically empty! Though the weather wasn't at it's best, the view was still astounding. I plan to visit the Tokyo sky tree at dusk on a sunny day to catch a glimpse of mt fuji on the horizon. 

 

The gallery is of course very photo unfriendly but there was one piece in the 'all you need is love' exhibition by Kasuma Yayoi entitled 'love is calling' which wasn't so photo shy, and thank god for that, because its pretty hard to describe it's awesomeness in words.

 I was really blown away by this exhibition in general with work ranging from Frida Khalo and Salvador Dhali to Asada Masashi and Nan Goldin.


Though these tentacles don't half remind me of the rather dark side of Japanese culture.... *cough cough* 

Meiji Jingu

So, on my first free day (vaguely free of jet lag anyway) I headed up to Harajuku. My body still isn't on the right time yet, so I ended up arriving very early on a rainy Sunday morning, like the rest of the world, Tokyo is a little sleepy come sunday mornings, Harajuku didn't pick up till about midday at which point I was a hot mess from the humid weather!

I didn't get any snaps of Harajuku, though I did see my first 70ish ojiisan in full florescent pink tutu and body suit. Oh Tokyo...

However I did get my tourist on going down to Meiji Jingu, the gorgeous shinto shrine. It seems impossible that you can come from girls in 7 inch platform heels and gogo shorts munching on crepes to a tranquil woods in just minutes.





The shrine is lovely with iris gardens in bloom nearby, decorated sake barrels, and the wooden ema with wishes written on them. Even on a weekend it wasn't overly busy, but waiting for a clear shot of the temple itself is practically impossible!

Liz hits Japan

いっらしゃいませ

 Yes, these feet have finally landed in Tokyo, the place I have been dreaming of for years! I'm blogging/ writing articles for Japan Tourist and should shortly be posting on that website. But for now here’s a few snapshots of my first day.

 This has to be the essential Tokyo living, in an apartment block surrounded by hundreds of buildings, over head wires and trains.

 Of course, that being said, this is Japan and there is always room for a shrine next to the car park! Its a beautiful little sight that warms my heart, a little but of old Japan in with the new! I will be posting short blog entries on there that I wont be using on Japan Tourist, so this will be my day to day stuff rather than reviewing coffee shops and tourist destinations etc. Please visit the website and when you see my posts favorite and share them!

Black and white... oooh so dramatic

Because I am just so deep and interesting I decided to post a couple of black and white photo's that I like but wouldn't fit anywhere. Tadah, and so concludes my snapshots of Shanghai

Shanghai Local Markets

I think this is one of my absolute favourite trips during my stay in Shanghai. I was studying Chinese Culture and Society, and being taught by two amazing lecturers, one of the lectures organised for us to get out and see how old Shanghai is still thriving. His son, whose English was astounding, showed us round the old markets in shanghai, close to the Yuyuan bazaar and Gardens, teaching us about the culture, unusual foods, and market life in Shanghai.

Through the tour we saw live chickens, eels, frogs, home grown vegetables, animals and organs I couldn't identify, as well as health and safety standards that would make even your local greasy spoon 'chef' cry. It was magical, as Fudan University is not in central Shanghai we had glimpsed aspects of this market life, a life incredibly different from the millionaires drinking at park 97. In my opinion this is the heart and origin of Shanghai; the community atmosphere neighbours chatting on street corners and men in suits buying weird weird produce.

The places we where shown is a side of China that is too frequently hidden from tourists. However, I think that this rough and ready version of Shanghai is the most honest, interesting and engaging. I believe I learnt a lot about the traditional cultutre of China through this market tour and I am overjoyed to see that this type of life is still thriving. It something that died out long ago in England.

What I really appreciate is that though these people have access to Wall-mart and Tesco, they still chose these markets, that have been in existence for hundreds of years. It's great that the younger generations who want to buy their frogs and Peking duck at Wall-mart can, but for every one of those, there is still someone supporting the local economy and local environment through shopping at these Markets.

Shanghai Zoo

So I couldn't resist it... I'm pretty sure that whatever country I travel to, I'm always going to want to go to the zoo. For the first time in a while I didn't go on my birthday - this year I pigged out on Korean Barbeque, I think my age is showing. Anyway, so one blustery Saturday me and fellow animal lover Aimee headed to Shanghai zoo. Needless to say, it snowed again, we definitely jinxed the weather.

My first ever Giant Panda

 I was pretty astounded at this, I know China's national animal is the Giant Panda, but being able to see one blew me away, and of course it would be sleeping on a slide, what else could be more fit for a panda? What you can't see out of shot is a child's rocking horse, ridiculous you might think, but actually it looked pretty well used, I imagine being a Panda is a pretty peculiar lifestyle. But hey, when your species is that rare I guess you can demand Victorian rocking horses and whatnot. 

 These adorable Red Panda's had to be the star attraction in my opinion, there where absolutely loads of them, pattering about with their pigeon toed gait munching on bamboo its enough to make a 20 year old squee (seriously get on youtube). I am well aware that the sleepy Giant panda is the thing to see, but these adorable little ones did it for me. They seemed pretty active despite the minus 5 temperatures, thinking about it maybe the Giant Panda had the right idea snoozing through the snow...

Shanghai zoo for me really reflected some areas of Chinese society, it was by far the biggest zoo I had ever been to (they even had grizzly bears) and a lot of other animals that I have never seen before. I felt like David Attenborough, however I don't think Mr. Attenborough would have been pleased by what we saw. I am aware its winter meaning the animals where far grumpier, and not as happy as a majority of the year but I found elements of this zoo disturbing. Much like Shanghai itself the main  attractions where amazing; the Panda's where beautifully housed, as where the bears. But the shabbier corners where a little uncomfortable for someone used to western zoos.

In my local zoo I am pretty sure most of the animals are housed and fed better than I am, but several of the animals at Shanghai zoo appeared to have mange or where shut out in the snow with little or no shelter. We even witnessed a wolf housed in pen similar to those found at a kennel with no clean water shelter or food, this sight was concealed by some corrugated iron which someone had pulled away so that observant visitors could spy. The wolf could have been in isolation due to illness I'm can't be sure, but both Aimee and I found this pretty horrific.

 I think Elements of Shanghai zoo are incredible and I am sure that in the summer months things look spectacular and I imagine all the animals are well catered too. But in the short winter days where business is slow this zoo feels a little neglected. I would recommend a visit to this zoo, but perhaps not in winter for the feint hearted. I hope I haven't put people of this zoo, perhaps its a cultural difference between the east and west but parts of this zoo are not what I had hoped for.