Here’s a place that I’d love to go:

Since being a child I’ve watched a lot of cartoons and played a lot of games that are made and set in Japan. Broadly, I would love to travel to Japan, but specifically, I’d love to go to Tokyo. Here are some fictional things that I’m a fan of that are set in Tokyo:

The World Ends with you (review here) – this is one of my favourite games, it’s set in Shibuya

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne/Lucifer’s Call – I’m playing this game at the minute, it’s set in a world that is just Tokyo

Digimon – The first 2 seasons, the ‘real world’ setting is the Odaiba district. I was a big fan as a child.

So, I really want to go to Tokyo.

Here’s another reason I want to go:

I’m a massive nerd, in case you couldn’t tell. I love Pokémon and would really love to go to a real life Pokémon Centre. I’m not really really into shopping and buying things (I own a personal finance blog for goodness sake!) but I’d love to go. The merchandise looks awesome and yeah. Massive nerd.

Oh and I’d have to try one of these:

I love the strange novelties that Tokyo seems to have, including Maid Cafés (and Butler cafés too). I’d totally love to see what they were like (although I’ll avoid the ones with mirrors on the floor towards the red light district, oh erm).

Although, would I have the courage to stay somewhere like this?

Capsule hotels are something pretty exclusive to Japan. Japanese people like to get as much use out of a space as possible, so they designed these hotels. Your rooms is one of those little capsules that is not much bigger than a single bed. I’ve heard that they’re quite comfortable – they have entertainment systems in them to keep you amused. I believe they’re primarily designed for businessmen who travel a lot but don’t have the budget or time for luxury travel. I think that some capsule hotels are only like £5 a night, and some people choose to live there rather than rent an apartment because it’s cheaper.

To be honest, I’d rather muster up the courage for one of these hotels instead:

OK, here’s another kind of hotel you’d have to have courage for: a Love Hotel. They are usually found in seedy districts, and the signs indicate two prices, one of which will be ‘to rest’ – in other words, rooms are rented by the hour, if you know what I’m getting at. However, some love hotels are very cool and they have themed rooms and stuff – I think it would be fun to at least stay for that. If you want to get an idea of what some of the rooms look like, I’d suggest this cool photography project. Some of them are just cool themed rooms that you could potentially get anywhere, other have like, chains and restraints and things, if you want to try it.

Alright, moving right along. Because I’ve played too much TWEWY, one district I’d love to go to is Shibuya:

Shibuya is a shopping district. Japanese fashion is very weird and I’d love to have a look at clothes that I like but would never wear.

However, I would eat a lot of sushi – I love sushi, but over here it’s difficult to find nice sushi that wasn’t made in a factory and eat it at a good price (I had no issues with this in Stockholm, funny enough). I’d eat loads. And would probably happily pay a premium to get a really cute bento box like this. For more cute bento boxes, check this post.

One other thing that I would want to do while in Tokyo – go to a Persona Live Concert. I’m a big fan of the Persona games and the music used within them. The live versions are stunning:

And finally, I’d have to go to a place that’s very recognisable to my younger self:

Odaiba is an island in Tokyo that happens to be the ‘real world’ setting of Digimon (well, the seasons I watched, who cares about the rest). It features a giant Ferris Wheel, the Rainbow Bridge as well as a Statue of Liberty clone. Yep.

So, anyone been – any suggestions to give me?

photos by: id_1325 & alisdair, Andrew Currie, LHOON, ffg, shibuya246, luckysundae, tompagenet