Japan - Day 6 - Shimokitazawa and robots!

Omg reading robots with laser beams! But more on that later. We decided to have a low key day before our Robot Restaurant experience tonight, so we spent the day wandering around Shimokitazawa, a tiny part of Tokyo with hipster vintage clothing shops, tiny bars and restaurants, and a much more relaxed vibe. We decided to have soufflé pancakes for breakfast, so we joined a (very long) line to wait for Flippers pancakes, a new place that looked amazing. In spite of the long wait, during which we were fanned intermittently with a giant cardboard spatula, the food was worth it. Imagine pancakes an inch thick with the consistency of very light meringue crossed with sponge, with summer berries and cream. Sooooo good. Andrew had the bacon, eggs and pancake option, and the bacon was about half a centimetre thick and delicious (apparently). Andrew was beginning to feel under the weather again, so we did a slow wander through some shops, and then stopped for snow cones.

The snow cone is made by shaving a big block of ice into a cup, intermittently squeezing flavouring on, with a beautifully satisfying machine that looks like something pre-electricity. The tiny wooden building that housed the snow cones was next to a little outdoor bar, so we popped in for a beer and cocktail of iced oolong and shochu. Refreshed somewhat, we continued our meandering until it was time to head to Shinjuku for dinner and our show.

Godzilla is now a permanent feature in Shinjuku, so we went and took a few photos of him, and then had a quick tea. We had a cheap dinner of gyoza and chicken karaage, and then it was time for robots! This show was quite expensive, and we had to pre book, so our hopes were high, and it didn't disappoint.

The building itself is utterly insane both inside and out, with lights, mirrors, gold, bling, velour, crystals and absolutely no taste or restraint whatsoever. If Liberace and Trump had a mirror ball baby, you might get close to the style of decor. We were treated to some excellent live jazz saxophone and guitar while we waited, which was thoroughly incongruous with the setting, and then we went down three floors to the stage. What looked uninspiring initially quickly became an overwhelming performance that included drums, dance, giant robot women/dinosaurs/dragons/sharks/transformer-esque/war machines. There was the most ridiculous 'story' and the dialogue was reminiscent of the Power Rangers in style and content. In short, it was awesome, well worth the price of admission, utterly insane and difficult to describe.

We left with our ears ringing, and to quote the loud Americans behind us, "what did we just watch?" In need of some quiet time, we stopped at a tea and cake house, had lovely cake and coffee, and then made our way home. Andrew still wasn't feeling well, so we visited a pharmacy where the pharmacist was very insistent that the medication is not to be taken with anything else at all, with food, with water! So it should do the trick nicely. Time for tea and rice cakes. Until tomorrow, oyasumi.

- Jess