Getting a good view in Tokyo

The Tokyo Metropolitan government building:

This building is a bit hard to miss since it is so tall, but the architecture for this particular building is developed by the same person as the building to the left in the photograph. I though it fitted Tokyo very well. The Japanese local that I went to the observatory with found this government building very fascinating and enjoyed the unique look of it, all in all it was a spectacular view.

 I highly recommend going here since it is free and open to the public: pick a day when there is something else going on in Tokyo, then you won't have to queue.

View from Tokyo Tower.

 The entrance fee for Tokyo Tower is 850yen and the tower itself is more impressive than the view. Plus when you go up there is another booth asking you to pay another 600yen to make it up a little further. At the Metropolitan government building 150m up.All in all I think I might have to check out the Hyatt and the Skytree.

Fan Fare - Kill Bill Restaurant - Gonpachi

Yes. Today we went to the restaurant that got trashed in Kill Bill.

Unfortunately it doesn't have the glass floor, but it is still way cool. When I got there I was expecting the stair case that she flies towards the second level during the fight scene but I guess it was a prop. Either way it was still super cool to go. It wasn't the easiest place to find and we were running a bit late since that is the Tokyo way. Being lost I mean. We were meeting people I had conversed with on Couch Surfers so into a  taxi from the station and 900yen and a couple of alley ways later we were there.

Upn arrival we were immediately greeted by the people we were meeting, and then when we stepped inside we were all greeted in one unison word by the whole staff of the building. Like a quick note that new customers had arrived. It was strange but I liked it, after that I noticed them doing it every time someone arrived. 

Of course they would have something like this near the doorway.

The staff were friendly and were from all around the world, from there we were able to order food. They had a variety of dons (meat on rice) and simple things like Japanese fried chicken. Also on top of your meal you can add the open buffet salad bar/drinks to your meal for an additional 300yen, which is what I did. The food looked pretty decent and was reasonably priced about 1000-2000yen for a rice dish but the menu itself was quite small - maybe they had a bigger selection for dinner.

This was everything they had the buffet for 300yen which is about $3CAD. So I hopped on the idea and ate my 3 dollars worth. Lol.

I think I'll go watch the movie now.

Fanfare - Maid Cafe

I initially didn't want to go to a maid cafe but I met up with a fellow couchsurfer for an anime event: Neon Genesis Evangelion in Ginza, which was awesome if you know what it is all about. Either way we were approached on the street by several different girls in Akihabara. A cute Japanese girl dressed up in a maid costume spoke to us in broken English about different locations that we could go to. There is a huge market for it in this otaku area since there were so many different brands of maids. 

They ranged between different coloured maid costumes and girls that probably do different acts and whatnot. We ended up going to one which was quite small in size. When we arrived we were greeted at the door and then at the table, they do a full introduction at your table and tell you how much your table charge would be. The one we went to was on the 4th floor and was a 500 yen charge per person per hour.                                                                                                                                                                                                             From there we had our maid tell us that her name was 'Mew Mew' she did little hand gestures. The cafe itself was all very pink and all the girls talk in this very high pitched voice, maybe some people would think it was cute but for me it was strange and would be very horrible if I was made to talk that way all day. It would have probably give me a massive headache after 15mins. 

The customers consisted of single men, couples, foreigners and one large group of salary men. They had huge sundaes for about $8, instead we bought a cute chicken curry teddy bear made out of rice, it wasn't fantastic but we had tonnes of fun eating it. Before we were allowed to eat it we were made to sing a song with the maid that dropped off our food, I assume that because of this table charge they had to entertain as well as be cute. 

During this time we were made to put on some animal ears which we did and so did some of the other customers. They did a dance and song and also tried to persuade people to buy a Polaroid for 500yen. They were tiny but very personable since they drew on the photos with markers. I didn't want to pay for a photo but they wouldn't let me take one with my camera. Either way it was an experience but a lot of people would think it is demeaning for the girls that work there. As for myself when one of the new girls started shift she jumped right into action and looked pumped to be at work. Go there and see for yourself.