Week in... Tokyo?

Yup, you read that right. I'm in Tokyo for a week.

And let me tell you, travelling from Sydney to Tokyo takes just as long as it took to go to Honolulu to Sydney. 10-11 hour flight. You are better off spending a week somewhere else in Australia and save Japan for a completely different trip. I wouldn't have done it, if I didn't have a special reason to go this time. :)

At this time of year, hydrangeas are in full bloom across Tokyo, leaving large vibrant bursts of blues, purples, whites, and sometimes rarer variations of deep magentas and white petals outlined with purple. Shrines are a huge hotspot for both tourists and locals to see and take photos of the flowers, so make sure you wear sunscreen and bring an UV umbrella to last in the lines. While hydrangeas are everywhere across Tokyo, at least in areas where there isn't tremendous foot traffic, we visited Kamakura (Meigetsu-in Temple) and a hydrangea festival at Hakusan Shrine. Here are some photos of my favorite flowers:

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Unfortunately, we essentially lost an entire day because of a passing typhoon. On the bright side, there was a lot of cool wind throughout our entire trip which was a blessing comparing it to our experience melting last summer. It did make the viral disposable camera activity a little more difficult because those cameras need strong light to take good photos. Regardless, if you can fit it in your schedule, I would highly recommend visiting Kitamura Camera to start your photo-taking adventures. I haven't used a disposable camera before, but it was super fun. Just make sure your fingers are absolutely away from the front of the camera because you won't see them in the viewer.

As someone whose favorite foods are Japanese cuisine and especially desserts, Tokyo is a haven. Here are some of the best things I ate during my trip:

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One of my long-term Japan dreams was to go to the Kirby Cafe and I finally got to do it. Throughout my childhood, I remember playing Kirby Super Star Ultra on the Nintendo DS with my sister. And being surrounded by the Kirby theming and seeing Whispy Woods in the middle of the cafe was truly amazing. Also, they remixed tracks just to make an exclusive playlist for cafe patrons. Themed cafes tend to sacrifice flavor for visuals, but it was to my surprise that the food tasted surprisingly decent. I spent way too much money here to not share photos so here are some!

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And if that wasn't special enough, the real reason why I decided to take the long trip to Tokyo is because... I got tickets to see Laufey! Yes, she would've toured in Australia, but she would've came a month after I had left already. I can't believe that I had the chance to see my favorite artist, especially for my first ever concert. Considering how Laufey's music leans towards soothing ballads, I actually don't think that I handle going to other artists' concerts, getting overstimulated really fast. So in a sense, this was an ideal chance for me. We arrived at the venue later than we expected, partly because we got a little lost, but the venue was extremely organized and efficient. I don't really know how the concert compares to other concerts (as it was my first), but I didn't know Laufey's vocals could get even more magical. Not only that, but the visuals and lighting really took the performance to the next level. Here are some photos that I took that day:

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