So what is a Manga Kissu? Basically, its an internet cafe where you book a small cubicle like this, with dvd player, internet, comfy chair, and just enough room to turn your ass around. But there is so much more!
Free hot and cold drinks, food vending machines, dvd and manga library, magazines, and free showers! But the best thing is that you can spend the night for very little money (if you dont mind sleeping in a chair.) People usually do this when they miss the last train after clubbing and want to avoid an astronomical taxi bill.
Of course this is only an option if you dont mind your fellow internet users occacionally snoring, and the obvious other activity that many people come to do here. However, the staff is mixed gender and very kind, the place is very clean and there is a nice 'Ladies only' section. Actually, about half the customers were female. Overall: not as dodgey as it sounds. You pay less then 10 euro for 8 hours.
Another bizarre vending machine, this time with warm 'meals'. It was a bit soft, but otherwise quite tasty.
The morning after in Shibuya. This place was PACKED with party people last night, now all that remains is some vomit for the ravens.
I needed a big locker for my backpack, however there seemed to be a problem with the paymachine. Because this was the very last big locker left in the entire station, I was determined to wait untill it was fixed. This couple did the same, and while the man tried to help out, the woman started a conversation with me to practise her English.
They were from Fukuoka and spending the weekend in Tokyo for business and shopping. We talked about the Netherlands and Japanese holidays. After 30 minutes the repair-guy told us he had to wait for a superior repair-guy, and gave us money to buy warm drinks as an apology for the long wait. In the end I did get my locker!
Cute corner cafe between Shibuya and Harajuku.
Park entrance to Meiji shrine.
Kids were so enthusiastic for the purifying ritual (required before entering the temple)
I saw no cosplayers at the Harajuku bridge. Neither did I see any famous Rocka billies in Yoyogi park. But at the Meiji temple, I saw not only one, not two, but FIVE weddings. So yeah, no complains here :D
It was photographers paradise. They took their time posing for their own professional photographer, but didnt mind at all to pose a lot longer for the many tourists (most of them Japanese sightseers for the weekend).
They even seemed happy with all the attention!
As you can see, I was not the only one. The entire place was like a fashionshoot, with many spots where they stopped and gave people a chance to take snaps. Japanese photolovers were walking around with huge cameras and lenses, making use of the excellent weather.
Unmarried girls wear the colorful Furisode with long sleeves. Other girls wore western formal clothing, like black dresses.
Japanese mother and western father, they treated her a bit like a doll... constantly fidgeting and taking a billion pictures.
the little brothers were cute too! The family had a big crowd of photographers moving around them as they walked from one hotspot to another.
Married woman wear the elegant black Kurotomesode.
Breakfast in the Yoyogi park: milk tea and cafe latte are surprisingly good.
Soo many runners on a saturday afternoon.
A professional photo shoot.
Many people having a picnic, or playing ball with their kids.
Or practicing a stage fight with kendo swords. There were many group activites, like theater improvisation and dancegroups as well.
Like I said, HUGE.
This is Ai, who I met through Couchsurfing and joined for lunch. I had hamburger with avocado (!), which came with fries, side salad, mini quiche and tiramisu, and onion rings. Delicious! We talked about growing up in Japan and housing in Tokyo.
Afterwards she showed me the nice designer shops in the backstreets of Shibuya. Between all the modern buildings was this shack that looked like it was from Cambodia or something, including messy tiny garden.
My new host Taro showed me his incredible 360 rooftop view.
Tokyo tower in the distance!
Another mysterious glimps of Mt. Fuji.
Their spacious living room.
Beer, rice snacks, and he even made me Nabe later (a miso soup with vegatables and meat).
The view form the balcony shows a garden from his neighbours. Taro told me the neighbourhood is quite expensive and he even has a rockstar living in the street, with a very modern villa. His 4 floor flat is a rarity here, most houses are villas or family homes, and even have the luxury of private car parking.
The tv! One of the channels only broadcasts programs about math and physics, in a very old school way. (Taro says its the university channel!)
The quiet neighbourhood in the middle of Tokyo. You can encounter children going to school or old people walking their dog.
Taro showing how to purify a statue in a temple near his house.
The temples of Asakusa!
The shopping street towards the temple. It was a sunny Sunday and very crowded.
The shops sell traditional items like kimono accessories, but also nice tourist souvenirs.
Bunny sweets? So many snack shops looked so autentic and beautiful. Even if you buy a single cookie you get a nice packaging.
One of the very few tacky 'cheap' looking souvenir shops, this one sells Idol stuff.
People taking their entire families to the temple.
Schoolkids enjoying snacks like roasted corn. I think relgion wouldnt be half as popular here without the food.
The incense is believed to purify the body and mind. People rub into their body through their clothes.
Cute detail of medieval princess on one of the shops.
The traditional lantern shop. He didnt seem so happy about photographers, but yeah what is he gonno do about it, covered waistdeep in paper and tools?
It moved up and down in a cute way to attract customers!
In Ueno park it was equally busy. This guy was sketching the pagodas and temples.
The Tokyo National Museum is like their Louvre, focussing on all Japanese crafts and arts. It was huge and beautiful, with soooo many comfy chairs and benches. The information was also excellent. Could be an example for some european musea. Here is a girl sketching a sculpture.
One of my favourite pieces of the museum: a 'modern' scroll painting (1959). The details are so expressive and funny, almost in a cartoony way. Also people in the audience are so cute, wearing mouthcaps and glasses and almost falling asleep.
These large dolls are antiques, but you see modern versions EVERYWHERE in the city. They are part of the Doll festival in march.
So cute! It was tiny but wonderful. Look at their little happy faces!
The doll section was definitely my favourite.
A little note would tell you if a piece was considered a 'National Treasure' .
I love it! You can zoom in to see all the details.
Octopus balls in the park.
WIth sauce, mayonaise and onion crisps.
I returned to the main Asakusa temple at night, and there were STILL many people wanting to throw a coin and make a prayer. Although the doors were closed, they placed a single prayerbox outside and people waited neatly in line for their turn.
Dolls in the window of a restaurant.
While I was wandering around a department store, I was lured to the top floor and found the greatest surprise of my life: an ENTIRE floor for kimono!! I could not believe my eyes. In the Netherlands its like looking for a needle in a haystack. This discovery felt like stumbling on a needlefactory or something.
The saleswomen wear it too of course.
In contrast, the rest of the department store sells HIDEOUS brownish old lady clothing.
You have to take of your shoes for the tatami matts.
For older, married women.
Sushibar with Taro.
It's a bit different from sushibars abroad. The big red box on the right contains ginger, the long box chopstics. The container on the left is green tea powder, you put it in a cup and then you fill it with hot water using the private tab on the left! You can also write your order on the paper if you want it reaaally fresh. Also notice that there are two belts, one for sushi and the other for clean cups.
The plates contain a chip to determine their price. After asking the bill, they scan all the plates in one quick sweep from the bottom up. No counting!
Taro and Shouta the last night before their hellish work week starts again.
On monday I got up at 5.30 in the pouring rain to visit the famous fish market.
You can imediately tell who knows what they're doing and who's not: the first wear rubber boots, the second not. Even elegant female restaurant shoppers came prepared!
The Lonely planet says: ' Please keep in mind that this is a working market when visiting ' which is a great understatement. There are HUNDREDS of people running, riding, biking and shouting around, and you are pretty much constantly standing in the way. If you want to stand still for five seconds you have to watch your back in 4 directions to not get run over or splashed.
There is an army of these small carts racing around to get things from A to B, at very high speed. The drivers sometimes even casually do it backwards, with one hand one the wheel and in the other a cellphone, umbrella or cigarette.
This nice fellow his cleaning is sword/knife after very precisely cutting a tuna fish twice my weight.
The people working here are even more fun to watch than the fish. The men wear white towels, weird brown paper bag-hats, or plastic fisher hats, like they've just come from sea.
Here you can see the tiny little alleyways. The market had hundreds of these, coming together in larger streets. It was like a little city.
In the back of the 'shops' there are the most fantastic women in tiny cramped boxes doing the money work, shouting in old fashion black phones, drinking coffee together. Whoever said that all Japanese look alike has never been to this place, the faces are fascinating.
Proof how early it was!!
This guy values the big tuna fish, after checking them with a professional eye, like a wine or art expert.
In between the alleys were the backsides of the shops, with storage and more crowded stuff. The plastic boxes end up in a giant mountain of trash outside, where another team of workers cleans it up with bulldozers.
Bicycle!
Hey guys who recommended me the best ramen shop of Tokyo: IS THIS THE PLACE? it was quite a quest to find it.
Anyway, it was delicious. Ice coffee and ramen with meat and mushrooms at 9 oclock. You eat it standing.
Ginza, the glamorous shopping district, in the evening.
During my first visit to the Kabuki theater I met these two students, Naoto en Yusuke. They are only 21 and are already job hunting. We had a great chat about student life and japanese vs european service.
Make a face!
One of the many fancy art galleries, I really liked the calligraphy in this one.
The interiors of the big shops are Crazy Beautiful, here is Omega. with an indoor garden.
And many kimono shops too. All very exclusive and pretty.
The Tokyo International Forum, a conference hall/subway station/restaurants plaza near Tokyo station.
It was kinda addicting to photograph, every location gives new view and insight in the building, especially with the curved lines and bridges.
The materials and details were beautiful and subtle.
I liked how the smooth curves have a 'knack' at some well chosen points.
To make another fiiiine tokyo contrast, outside there appeared these cuty little lunch take away vans!
So many different types of food to choose from!
I decided to go for Jungle Food curry box.
You get rice and curry and can pick 3 toppings. The guy is sitting on his knees btw in case you were wondering.
Not bad for 5 euro.
This exclusive shop sells Belgian waffles, more tasty and beautiful than I ve ever seen in Beglium! Notice how they used the Heineken 'e' in the logo.
In another shop people lined up for something called Baumkuchen and looks like expensive cake.
I went to a afternoon and an evening performance of Kabuki, tradiitonal Japanese theater.
I couldnt take any pictures during the show, but here is the flyer showing the stars. Each show consisted of 3 or 4 short stories, or acts, varying from medieval very formal and symbolic, to more modern and comic plays.
The tickets for whole shows were already sold out for weeks, but if you didnt mind waiting in line, you could get a cheap ticket for just one act. It was very popular, even when there were only standing places left!
People have drinks, snacks and complete meals with them during the 4 hour performance. From the 4th balcony I couldnt see the rest of the theater, but had a great view of the stage.
I saw two shows with english audioguide/translation, who explained a lot of the stylized dances and gestures. The show also featured two 'living treasures' actors. The audience cheered and called their names when they entered. The screwed eye is part of a famous pose/moment in the play, depicting an 'intense emotional glare'. People cheered and shouted when he did it right.
Final picture is the Kabuki theater by night.
