Big in Japan

This year I knocked off one of my big bucket-list trips-late Feb 2025 I went to Japan!!

travelling back in time....

Our travel time from Ireland to Japan was around 20-something hours altogether. It's not for the faint of heart! and I HATE take offs/landings from watching far too many Aircrash Investigations-type shows as a child...

I am one of those people who come fully prepared. So, travel sickness tabs, cozy clothes, crocs, sleeping masks and reading all the jmkl/rugleo I'd downloaded onto my phone made the flight pass quickly enough. I tried watching Sex and the City: the movie but my GOD, it was dire...

I'm Irish. The only airplanes i know are ryanair and air lingus-famously known for how much they cut costs. I also haven't travelled internationally since 2018... So you can imagine me and my sister's shock when the flight provided us with lots of food?? FREE DRINKS!? I WAS SHOOK... and it was nice!

We stopped in the netherlands for our layover. Luckily I'd a friend warn me that schiphol airport is GIANT and to make sure we jetted over to our next terminal. It's a quiet airport, so it makes the mad dash feel awkward.

After another 13 hours... we got our stuff (the pocket wifi (sakuramobile) was such a relief to have... how did people travel before wifi???) and got onto the JR line straight to Shinjuku!!

....where I crashed for about an hour. I didn't manage to get any sleep at all; it's my sister who has the amazing ability to fall asleep anywhere... TT when I woke up, we did our first famimart run!

first day

Our very first move on our first proper day... another Famimart run of course!

We accidentally bought this citrus water instead of plain for our cuppas (because, yes, we DID bring teabags)... but we ended up buying it multiple times throughout our trip because it was so tasty!!!

We watched a lot of videos about traversing the subway, so we were well prepared for the madness. But videos do not do it justice... it's rammers!! There's so many people!

We got the JR to spend our first day in Shibuyu! Shibuyu scramble wasn't as packed as I thought it would be, but in fairness we got there at 11am during late Feb on a weekday, so that might be the play.

Our goal of today-SHOPPING! We hit the Nintendo Store first. My sister is a massive Animal Crossing fan, so she had to grab it all. I picked up a Dom plush due to his endearing little 🥹 face, and he is my fav...

Then... I spotted a disney store...

I blame twst. I'd made Fellow and Gidel nuis, and I was praying the disney store still had these little Honest John and Gideon toy outfits... and they did! They fit perfectly!! I also grabbed a few other Honest John and Gideon bits ;w; I'd just missed TLK merch they'd done, but at least I picked up my other oshis.

After that, we saw our first Animate and had to go in. I'm on the lookout for some sewing books on nuis, but I found the twst section and dr gachapon... >:3 There was also the nui carry bags! So now my creatures can be safe on their travels in the great outdoors...

We grabbed our first menchi katsu sandwich of the trip... these things... are so good... I think we ate them everyday.

Leaving Parco, we found a Mandarake tucked away. They have it good in Japan. Ireland would NEVER. EVER. EVER!!! keep 2nd hand stuff this good, or sell it to your for a reasonable price. I wasn't expecting the Mandarake to be so BIG. It's packed full, corner to corner!! But luckily for me, all the series I wanted were in the same spot (FATE/TWST/DR) so browsing was easy enough. The staff were really polite. The shelf of all cu/archer... red/blue yaoi is so popular... Sadly no gilgamesh/kirei or any of the shirou/kirei I was hoping I'd be lucky enough to find. I DID manage find a cu/kirei anthology so I grabbed that, along with doujins of my otp; ruggie/leona... YIPPEE!!

There was a small western section... I'm still thinking about the catboy BBC sherlock doujin...

I wish printing was cheaper back home. A lot of artists would love to be able to produce smaller batches of B+W comics. I know one of the main printers in ireland got a new machine so fingers crossed we see an up-tick in zines/comics like with doujin. It's such a cool practise, it's wonderful to see all this amazing art being creating, kept and loved like this!

Today wasn't supposed to be a massive shopping day, but we got lucky finding all the major gifts all in the same spot.

second day

Shinjuku!

We woke up nice and early due to jetlag. Good thing we did because we headed right to the government metropolitan building!

Why? Well... We didn't book tickets for the skydeck LOL we were worried about the weather and im not exactly the fondest of heights. So we guessed this was the next best thing...

...And we were right! the we travelled so high up that our ears popped during the lift up...!! wow!! the sights were amazing! ireland doesn't have buildings that go over 6 or 8 floors so it's rare you get to see so much of the city.

This was a Tuesday morning, and apparently we made the right call heading here at opening and on a weekday. We passed the metropolitan government building on the way to the train station, and on the weekend... the queue wrapped all the way around the carpark and onto the streets!! We couldn't believe we'd gotten so lucky. There was NO way I'd wait in a queue that long... but apparently it's just the done thing in Japan? You can't get Irish people to queue properly for a BUS!!

after the metropolitan government building, we decided to check out shinjuku properly and find the Baby, The Stars Shine Bright shop there. I've been a fan of their clothing since watching Kamikaze Girls when I was 15. I was dying to get some pieces from them...

We tried a mister donut, sadly no diglet doughnut. It's nice? It's a different sort of sweet compared to the fried ones back home. The sweet stuff tended to be more on the "natural" side.

Sadly, the BTSSB shop in shinjuku didn't have the bits i wanted... So we decided to try...

...Harijuku!

THE FASHION...! THE GIRLS...! THE ITABAGS!!!

The queues... the queues!!

Sadly, neither the Shinjuku or Harijuku BTSSB shops had the items i wanted : ( i was hoping i'd grab a blouse or one of their famous teddy bags, but they were all out. oh well, looks like I'll simply have to go back to Japan again...

We went into Kiddyland for a quick look. Big mistake. I've never seen that many people in a toy shop. Everyone was after some Chikawa! I did grab one, even though I do not know the lore... but I like how they look.

We looked at all the boutiques. I wish I did more research into alternative brands, or planned on clothes shopping. The clothes were to die for.

third day

SUNSHINE CITY DAY (DUN DUN DUNNN)

We THOUGHT we going to have an easy day... Little did we know...

We went out to grab stuff from a 7/11. My feet already hurt. There was a lucky penny but we did not pick it up.... This happened twice... This was a sign...

On our way to the station, we grabbed snacks and insoles. We did not put them in. They were too big. We should have gone back. This our biggest mistake!

Another omen-I got a massive hangnails that ripped, I looked down and my finger was bloody orz

Then we got turned around at the station. We quickly sorted it but it was a point of panic T__T I was near the priority seats and they're heated??? THEYRE SO FAR AHEAD OF US...

Despite it all, we got to Ikibukoro, safe and sound. We misunderstood the signs to Sunshine City. They're a bit hard to read for foreigners LOL the maps are always a bit tricky. We missed the way into Sunshine City and decided to figure it out as we walked. Our next mistake.

We went into the Parco, thinking we could find the Chikawa cafe/and the Aquarium. We were so wrong. You could buy the merch but nothing stood out to me. I GOT ANNOYED... MY WORST FLAW. At this point my feet hurt so much I was getting snappy.

After sitting down, grabbing something to eat-we were back online.

We went back outside to find the Animate, which we found quickly. The rollercoaster peaked. We found a load of great finds here! I got my nui books!! They have lots of information about techniques... my nuis will grow stronger...!! I got some fabric I'd see youtubers recommend, nui stands, a Koyanskaya charm and the TWST Playful Land handkerchief! It was such a cool store, massive. I wish I kept up with manga release because the BL section was amazing. We also got Spotify stickers from a promo they were running?? They linked to anime playlists lol

Sunshine City

WE FOUND THE ENTRANCE TO SUNSHINE CITY!! And the horrors began anew. Me and my sister don't do too well with overhead lights and low ceilings... So we were very very out of it lol

We went to Pikachu Cafe first to get ourselves back together. Which was cute! Not the best food ever, but needed the sugar rush and our spirits were recovered. I'm gonna bullet point the rest of this day, since so many things happened....

• the Sylvainan store! My sister grabbed her stuff while I waited outside. A lot of them have a ticketing system. This was pretty empty compared to...
• The Pokemon center! I got a cute sleeping Psyduck, and oh my God the queue... The queue... It wasn't too bad, just long! 😭😭
• I SAW THE ROOK NUI PERSON!!! IN HIS LOLITA FIT!!!
• We tried the capsule machine floor, but we were wrecked lol. It does have the biggest selection, but it did smell weird lol. Tried rolling for Fellow, but got Mallificent and Cruella
• Got a peach water and menchi sandbo at famimart o7
• Got some capsules for my Dad (marvel) and Sister (Sylvainan)

THE KBOOKS SAGA

There is a proper order. Me and my sister went in the wrong order.

WE DID FIND THE DOUJIN ONE. Grabbed a lot of Rug/Leona and Jamikali-but disaster struck. I thought I lost my card! My heart stopped and I was able to freeze it instantly. But I was almost in tears. Luckily my sister was able to pay for me! I was scarlet!! The worker was SO nice, she must have seen the look of horror dawn on my face.

We were resigned to going BACK to ALL THE OTHER KBOOKS when decided to check my purse again... just in case! And what do you know? The second I checked my purse properly I found my card behind the rest. Phew!

That was not to only accident! I set off the alarm in the Disney one 😭😭😭 I went up with Honest John/Gidon figs to show my sister, assuming you could pay upstairs. Of course, in my haste to catch up with her... I missed the extremely clear signs on the stairs that tell you you CANNOT pay for items on different floors. Again, the staff were so nice and told me it happens all the time o)-( I ran back down the stairs. Scarlet!!!

Bullet points again for clarity:

• Found DR and Fate sections in our second-to-last but the character merch I wanted was all too much... RIP Junko and Kirigiri... Maybe next time... We were about to give up on finding the TWST KBooks... and of course it was
• The literal last kbooks. We should have gone the other way!!! I got myself a Leona and Ruggie lab wear badge. Sadly, Leona's a popular boy with a price tag. My sister however, is a Sebek stan and got to grab all of his merch for a song. I honestly blacked out my feet hurt so much.

All in all we went to 9 of the 11 kbooks... Kill me

• We walked home... Ate our konbini food in a daze back from the station...
• WE FOURCED OURSELVES TO THE DIASO FOR NAILCLIPPERS... never let yourself be caught out by a hangnail
• Too tired to go to ichiran... But we went to coco curry again!!! YAY! The stuff is like crack. It's SO tasty. My sister got 200g of rice since the video tells you the recommended portion for women is like 1oog... But she couldn't do it LOL
• We went to the family mart to grab socks lol we also grabbed a scissors to cut the insoles (which ended up being great! We were just too tired LOL)

fourth day

HARIJUKU V2

Went back to Harijuku today! We wanted to find WeGo to get itabags. This was the last "big" thing we wanted to get. We discovered the West Concourse route into Shinjuku station... Much easier way for us to get to the station vs travelling outside! A straight route!

When we go to Harijuku (around 11am) we decided to check out Meiji junji temple. It's amazing how youre a street away from the busiest tourist spot! The walk was so serene!

We saw a wedding! The bride and groom looked beautiful ;_;

We cleaned ourselves, got our fortunes (put photo of fortune here) and did our prayers for the new year. The line for the wooden amulets was too long, so we went for the paper option. I wished for patience and love and wellness for my family and friends!

NOW FOR SHOPPINGGG on Takeshita street!

Our main goal was WeGo for itabags, but we stopped in several shops. There's so many! We stopped in the Sanrio shop. Finally found WeGo... After going to the wrong WeGo across the street LOL

Got our itabags! I got two, then my sister got one for herself and our youngest sister.

Then we went to the Picaro basement at the top of the street! We didn't understand how it worked the first time LOL I didn't know there was such a short timer... So we lost our first set. But we got it the second time around! I don't think these face apps do European faces too kindly... I looked like a pixie MegaMan with a 5head... But they have their charm. It's cute seeing all the gangs of girls pile in to take photos!

We were VERY tired so we headed back to our hotel for a shower and to put on a wash

Then... ICHIRAN!!!!

SOOOOO tasty! And fast! They aren't lying! I just picked the most popular deal (with a beer) and settled in. The food came out quickly and eaten just as fast. It was SOOOO good... wahhh... I might go again to try a richer broth! I loved the whole experience!!

Then we used our lush bath bombs and called home lol

Another konbini run! Grabbed some onigiri for brekkie and a peach mix with some green tea ice cream. I've only ever had hot green tea, but I can see if you grew up with this taste why it's so popular. There's something about it.

Ice cream 8/10 peach mix 10/10

fifth day

POKEMON CAFE DAY!!

Chill start to the day! We woke up very early still, so we relaxed in our hotel room. We bought brekkie the night before so it was a cuppa and onigiri for me!

Set off the to the Pokemon cafe!

We tried searching for character street at Tokyo station but we just couldn't find it. We kept getting turned around!

Left for the Pokemon cafe, which was about a 15 minute walk away

IT WAS RAMMERS for 12:20!! Plenty of time to spare, but there was sooo many people! It was a Sunday and it's a bit far out of the way, but we didn't think so many people would be there solely for the Pokemon center!

They're very prompt! We queued for about 5 minutes before sitting.

We had read reviews (and the Pikachu Sweets Cafe) that the food wasnt that great - but me and my sister were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food! Its better then Disneyland food lol It's cafe/restaurant quality. Some of it does come out cold, but that's the nature of this sort of thing. They could have skimped but they go above and beyond with it

I got the Pikachu curry, the gangar smoothie, a iced mocha and a parfait! My eyes were bigger than my stomach

• the pikachu curry was the perfect size! I guess they assume you're getting a drink and dessert so it's juuust the right amount. The rice was delish...
• Gangar smoothie! I'm not a huge grape person-- but this was light and sort of tasted like those long ice pops you'd get after school lol. I wish I could of had more but...
• The parfait!!! YUMMMY!!! the fruit was lovely, the ice cream ❤️❤️🥰🥰
• And the mocha.. I had to get with my ride or die Venomoth... O7

Waiters were quick and polite! They've mastered the experience.

Our character was Pikachu!! MY GOD THEY CAN MOVE IN THOSE SUITS. It's so cute seeing everyone do the song and dance with Pikachu... He even wiggled his ears!!!

The Australians beside us were so over it lol 😭😭 it's sad because there's so many people who'd love to be here! Like... Just smile and enjoy yourselves and don't ignore Pikachu and run off the second you can... Very odd

Tried looking for Character Street again but we just couldn't locate it! It's fine, there was nothing we wanted but there was no sign of it whatsoever!

Yesterday we saw a massive q outside the government building where there is an observatory Jack we assumed it was for voting or something but today there was a much smaller queue and we found out it was actually the line for the observatory. We were shocked!!! The queue yesterday took up the whole carpark!! We got really lucky going on the day we chose...

Konbini dinner! This trip caught up to us and we decided to spend the evening relaxing... I got this AMAZING Lipton tea mix.

the final day...

Had hotel breakfast! There was a bakery at the hotel we stayed at, and we finally grabbed some pastries from there. I got a macha muffin! I don't know if I like it or not, but I think I'll get a macha craving in 3 months lol

• Unquilo - heattech leggings, top for becky
• hit up don quixte
• ran back to the disney store to get stuff for my older sis
• found makeup for my other sister

Today was the "we have to grab this for [family member/friend]" and other last-minute shopping bits. So our kit-kats, our Unquilo heattech, makeup and everything else.

ALWAYS PEE WHEN YOU HAVE TO. DO NOT WAIT. We walked to Shinjuku... I thought I'd be okay... But none of the shop open until 10/11! I had to double time back and find a loo underground 😭😭 it was fine but IT HURT LOL almost gave myself a uti

Got turned around going to all the Disney stores... We returned to the flagship to take part in the lotto for a character bag! I got my oshis!! Yippee!! nwn

Finally grabbed famichicki... it is fucking deadly. It tastes exactly like chipper chicken here which is so greasy so tasty and so fantastic... I'm glad we discovered it on our last day because we would have just been eating it the entire time we were here.

Walked around the park by the hotel and saw the shrines and all the cute dogs!! Saw two Chihuahuas nwn dashounds and poodles are very popular! Got a peach tea in the vending machine... Yummy 😋

OUR BAKA GAIGEN MOMENT... My sister was in the bathroom and the hotel cleaners came into our room 😭 I was scarlet! We had to run our of the hotel room and slink around until they were done. I was so embarrassed!! 😣

We went out for our second serving of Ichiran! I got a richer broth this time. It's crazy how quick it comes out. We spent probably 22 mins there tops. Me and sister keep saying how this is needed in Dublin, the schools near us would keep an Ichiran in business, not a bother.

They're right. Ramen and beer are perfect together!!

WAHH we spent the night packing for our flight 😭 dispite how much we stuffed into our suitcases (and spent lol) we managed to be well under the limit!

Now to rest!! We got mochi and some other goodies for our final konbini run 🥺 I'll miss Japan! Until next time!!

Final Thoughts

It was such an incredible trip, if you're able to go, it's 100% worth the travel time.

I'm so SO happy we went. This has always been on the bucket list, but I never put the wheels in motion due to one excuse or another. I'm so, so delighted we went! It's such a beautiful place. The second we landed, me and my sister have already started planning the next... I'd love to travel outside Tokyo next time; and FINGERS CROSSED I'll have my license by then so I could rent a car (thinking...)

Stuff I noticed:

• They love their bikes
• It's so hilly!!
• People are very VERY polite
• So... much... walking!! You'd easily be very fit here
• The food is SO CHEAP and tasty! I wish we had this back in Ireland... TT
• It's very clean!
• The difference walking on the main Street vs backstreets in Shibuya/Harijuku/Shinjuku is mad. It goes from the busiest, packed, rammers place to... Nothing.
• The buildings are beautiful.
• We got lucky with the weather! Clear skies in late Feb... might be the play.
• I didn't think about work at all? I ACTUALLY RELAXED??

This was so long... thank you for reading!

--xoxo becky