Nipper in Nippon
My sister (whose nickname is Nipper) came to visit us in June. Her flight had been booked for months so it was hard to believe that she was finally in Tokyo. Here are the headlines from her visit!
Day 1
Nipper arrived in Tokyo several hours later than planned - things could only get better.
Day 2
As Nipper was pretty jetlagged, we started the day off easy and soaked up some local sights and snacks.
The only downer was that we accidentally dressed identically that day. It was as if we had gone back in time twenty years, except that mum wasn’t responsible for our outfits this time and we could have changed but we were too lazy to do so. Whoever guesses what our identical look was wins a prize.
After the quiet start to the day, we decided to opt for shock therapy to wake Nipper up and went to Shibuya! I am not sure the shock therapy worked as she was basically passed out in a really nice cafe that we stopped at on the way home. If she reads this, she probably won’t even remember the cafe.
Day 3
The fact that it was Wil’s 30th birthday should have been the most memorable aspect of the day.
But this is what I remember instead... Nipper got up, had a shower and was making an effort to style her hair. So far, so good. Whilst she was getting ready, I popped out but soon received a photo showing her hair tangled beyond belief in a round hairbrush. Oh how I laughed. Well at least for a few minutes before beginning a hunt around the local shops for combs and implements that could be used to extract her hair.
After trying various home remedies over the course of the afternoon, she accepted her fate and asked me to cut the brush out. Although I am always looking for opportunities to play hairdresser (ask Wil if you don’t believe me) I absolutely did not feel like taking responsibility for her look. Luckily for me, Japan is overrun by hairdressers so we wandered over to a nearby salon. The hairdresser’s face as my sister walked in with a brush attached to her head was quite something. At moments like this a language barrier is no problem.
It had been quite a traumatic afternoon for Nipper - her hair is fine and she’d been growing it out so having a chunk several inches long cut out at the front was pretty horrendous but the hairdresser did a stellar job and it wasn’t noticeable unless you knew you were looking for it. Sightseeing was no longer on the agenda for the day, so we went to a local arcade to play some games to distract Nipper.
We were done shooting zombies just in time to make it to Wil’s 30th birthday meal.
P.S. For those of you who are worried about Wil, he did not have to participate in hairbrushgate on his birthday as he had opted to go to work that day so that was definitely a win for him. And after his birthday meal, we had a lovely evening at home involving cake, presents and decorations that were Wil-esque (Mario Kart bunting).
Day 4
With hairbrushgate a distant memory, day 4 was an absolute triumph. It was a pretty busy day and highlights include going to a lovely shrine that tourists don’t know about (I’ll reveal the name in exchange for a reasonable fee) and visiting an observation deck to see sprawling Tokyo from above.
As a surprise for the evening, we had booked a table at the Pokemon Cafe and my sister lost her mind when a Pokemon came out to dance. The menu was very meaty so we indulged in desserts instead.
We stopped to pick up a light dinner on the way home and Wil was beginning to worry because over the four days it became apparent that my sister had an obsession with eating prawns.
Day 5
The highlight of the day was spending the day at Teamlab Borderless which is an interactive 10,000m2 art museum. It offers a multitude of Instagram photo opportunities which were wholeheartedly seized.
Despite making several references about going to “da club”, Nipper did not make it to da club that evening as she is a grandma (much to my relief).
Day 6
Disneyland!
Day 7
I’m not sure if it was Nipper’s first time indulging in criminal activity but it was definitely mine. WE DID NOT PAY FOR LUNCH AND MADE A QUICK GETAWAY ON A BOAT.
But before mum has a panic attack, I should reassure her that our dine and dash was accidental and I have not adopted a gangster lifestyle since moving to Tokyo. Our goodbye to the cafe owner was protracted and he had ample opportunity to present us with the bill and we genuinely forgot to ask for it. Conveniently I only realised that we hadn’t paid after we had embarked on a boat tour around Tokyo and were miles from the cafe.
Despite having lived here for nearly 18 months, it was my first time on a boat tour in Tokyo so it was fun to be a tourist with my sister rather than a tour guide!
But I did spent the rest of the day gladly playing tour guide through various Tokyo neighbourhoods and ended the night in glittzy Ginza.
Day 8
It was the weekend and it was time for a roadtrip to head out of Tokyo! We drove to Nikko, which is a popular trip from Tokyo, and is full of beautiful, old temples and attractions.
We had filled our quota of exotic Japanese food earlier in the day and went to McDonald’s for dinner. With prawns not on the menu, Nipper made do with Filet-O-Fish (another one of her favourites) and I joined her because it is the choice of champions. But much to Nipper’s dismay, McDonald’s in Japan did not stock curry sauce no matter how many different pronunciations or accents we put on to convey what we were after.
After dinner, the plan was to go back to our hotel and play some games but grandma was too tired.
Day 9
Nikko town is surrounded by some stunning scenery so we drove into the mountains and spent the day hopping between various ridiculously photogenic landscapes. The day was probably one of the highlights of my sister’s trip and the perfect escape from bustling Tokyo.
Day 10
We spent the day in my neighbourhood and then had a pretty indulgent evening. We started with drinks at a bar known for good views of Tokyo and had dressed up as it is a fancy place. We looked and acted the part until I had to help Nipper flush the toilet. In her defence, toilets here have a million buttons on a panel, but none of these seemed to flush the toilet, and I luckily spotted that this one just had a regular lever - how novel!
The rest of our indulgent evening consisted of a hefty Italian meal followed by enormous pancakes for dessert.
Day 11
My sister had a pretty chilled out last day in Tokyo and her highlight from the day was probably visiting a hedgehog cafe. I had flashbacks to a video of Nipper aged 10 or so declaring “I want to be an animal sanctuary” as if it was a job title. I think past and present Nipper have got some reconciling to do.
Day 12
Wil and I took Seerat part way to the airport and we could see her looking a little teary as she got on and was waving from the final train to the airport. Wil went off to work that day and our flat felt very quiet and empty when I was at home.
On her flight home Nipper managed to get epic views of Mt Fuji!
Since she’s got home, Nipper has text us a few times to say that she misses Tokyo. We’re unsure if this means she also misses us or just the city but I guess we will find out when we visit home this month!
Setting the scene for as I wrote this blog:
Location: Dining table with some watermelon to snack on.
Weather: It feels like 43°C degrees. HAHAHA.
Soundtrack: Vampire Weekend.
Bonus fact: For any Disney fans out there, not only does Tokyo have Disneyland but Tokyo has the world’s only Disneysea.
