Just FYI kawaii means cute in Japanese and younger people use it a lot to describe something that's sweet. But basically because everything is small and cute in Japan they use it a lot. For example these two girls from the video- soon after I stopped filming they...

And finally, the blog that my mother has so desperately been waiting for...and I have to say I'm pretty excited about it myself. National Geographic if you're reading this and like any of my photos, I'm totally available. Kyoto is where you go if you're looking for...

We were so shaken and stirred by the maid-o cafe (or perhaps it was the latest round of "guess the food by putting it in your mouth"), that we needed to get away from the mania of tokyo quick-sharp and a normal train just wouldn't do the job. We needed something...

Everyone who guesses a food correctly gets a drink from me on my return: can you name every type of fish on this plate?    before  after    pickle pick n mix          

On a scale of one to seriously weird, our next activity was about a seven and we were extremely excited to see what all the fuss was about. Having met up with Takae, who was back from her business trip to India,  I insisted she take us to a maid-o cafe. Maid-o...

So Tokyo isn't all neon lights, smiley faces and cartoons. East Tokyo is the older part of town, which had its hay day before WW2. Asakusa at its prime (3-4 centuries ago) was the place to be, where you could find anything from kabuki, a popular Japanese theatre...

Some of you may already know what Shabu Shabu is. I must confess even with my mad love of Japanese food, I had never heard of Shabu Shabu before. So when I asked where to eat black cod and it came along with a recommendation to try the Shabu Shabu, I presumed it was a...

For continuity's sake we decided to get all the nerdy stuff over with in one day. Our next stop was therefore Akihabara, the nerdville of Japan. Akihabara is the tech district of Tokyo where all the video games, comic books and memorabilia can be found. And boy is...

So Anna and I decided to go check out one of Japan's favourite traditional pastimes - sumo wrestling. The sport is over 2000 years old and is based on an ancient fighting style called sumai (meaning to struggle). The tradition is still super popular with the Japanese...

Here's a video proving my point from earlier about how polite Japanese people are. The driver of our randen gets up and bows at everyone as they leave. I mean seriously- you don't get that kind of treatment from TFL   

If by chance you are a child who has accidentally stumbled upon my blog please look away now- this is unsuitable for under 18 year olds. Entering the love district is an experience of its own in Tokyo. Not just because of the kinky, wonderful and just plain weird...

Our second night in Tokyo we made our way to the world's smallest izakaya (the Japanese equivalent of a pub). Think pub except much smaller, much quieter, you have to take your shoes off when you enter and the toilet is clean enough to eat off. We later discovered a...

So our first trip to Shubuja is when Japan really hit us. Shibuja is one of the main shopping and going out areas, where you can find pretty much anything you want, including the love hotels area where couples and "couples" go for a romantic meal and a romantic...

You may have seen them in London every now and then and even been a bit weirded out by them but here they are everywhere. Almost everywhere you go there are people wearing face masks      Anna smelt fine i can vouch for that  I delved a little...

So everyone knows Japan is not cheap and Tokyo even less so. Most precious of all is space. When we left Europe we left behind wide open spaces forever. Seriously, if you are claustrophobic do not come here. Rooms and apartments are tiny, streets are narrow and even...

They are amazing. Seriously. Heated seats, washing from all angles, even simulated flushing noises and always super duper clean...   

So the next day we left the hotel ready to explore Japan properly and confident that our street wise, charm and useful three phrases would get us through every cultural barrier. Our confidence was crushed about thirty seconds later when we approached the metro and had...

So Anna and I are off to the other side of the world to spend 10 glorious days in the land of sushi, geishas, hello kitty and weird men obsessed with inflatable dolls. Despite our busy working lives we've been preparing hard: we know where we will be sleeping every...