Curry donut

Can't decide between curry or a donut for breakfast? Fear not, the curry donut is here. It was just about edible, but I couldn't help thinking that some things should simply never mix.

Canned banana drink - tastes like it sounds

The vending machine in the office has a banana drink that I tried today and I can't say I'd recommend it. It had a flat, insipid taste, not helped by bits of floating fruit. Banana works in a freshly made smoothie, but clearly not in the form of a long-life can. As they say, you don't know 'til you try...

Meerkats and prairie dogs

I walked past an inner city pet store and saw a meerkat and a prairie dog for sale. It did beg the question: why on earth would you want a meerkat or a prairie dog as a pet, especially in a tiny Tokyo apartment? And they're pretty expensive as well - 250,000 yen for the meerkat (GBP 2,000/ NZD 4,000) and 480,000 for the prairie dog (GBP 3,800/ NZD 6,000). Bizarre.

An escape from the madness in Shinjuku Park

I recently walked around Shinjuku Gyoen, a great escape from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. It's almost 60 hectares and an interesting mix of Japanese, French and English gardens. Despite being located in one of the busiest parts of town, you feel a world away from urban life.

Golden Gai by day and by night

The tiny Golden Gai area, tucked into a unloved corner of busy Shinjuku really feels like a place forgotten by time. There are almost 200 minuscule, ramshackle bars packed into a few narrow streets. I wandered around during the day, to get an alternative take on a place that only really comes alive late at night. And then I went back for a beer in the evening to try out a couple of spots. I think this is a must-do if you ever visit Tokyo. Each bar has a special character and it has such a different feel from the rest of the city and really is unlike anywhere else I've been.

A great aerial view to show how small and tightly squeezed the Golden Gai is (credit to Unmissable Tokyo for this image):

One of the beaten up streets of the Golden Gai:

More French references in Tokyo:

I didn't try this bar yet...

Odd cat pictures on the front doors of one of the bars:

I have no idea what this sign means, but it looked interesting:

Grabbing a beer with Joe, who was visiting from New Zealand:

Albatross bar and its intimidating deer head:

More beer...

At the entrance/exit to one of Golden Gai's pedestrian-only streets:

And the temple right next door, complete with an 'ema', where you write your wish on a small wooden block and hang it up in hope of it coming true:

Ice cream bread and octopus crisps

I'm a big fan of English bread and butter pudding, but this Japanese version doesn't look so good. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to literally be a loaf of bread, with the end sliced off, and a pile of ice cream and fruit on top. God knows how you would eat it.

On the same day, I encountered this in a train station stall. What looked like a giant pine cone from a distance turned out to be a pile of Octopus crisps. I may have avoided Japanese bread pudding, but I had to try this one. I asked the woman how they made them and she said it was thin slices of octopus left out to dry and then baked and salted. It definitely tasted 'of the sea', though that may have just been down to the heavy salting. Interesting, but not something I'll be going back for.