Consumerism and entertainment seem to be at constant peak in the vibrating cities of Osaka and Tokyo. Tourism has a firm grip on Kyoto which geisha district (Gion) was mysterious but hauntingly dark and quiet at night. Whilst roaming the streets for discoveries of style, culture, history, new things, faces and places, we also chewed our way through culinary experiences like PacMan on acid! Japan has beautiful and exquisite cuisine, beautiful green tea, refreshing Kirin and Asahi as well as locally recommended plum wine and sake. Fruit and red meat are however hard to find…

With the lack of these nutrition sources and lots of active/passive smoking, we wonder what makes the Japanese skin look so plump and smooth… Perhaps the high intake of Omega-3 and avoiding damaging sun rays as well as the access of endless beauty products help? We also found one of the natural ways from thousands of hot springs (onsen) to soak in for the skin.

Read more and blog about Japanese Style and Japanese Fashion with us:
http://www.mecho.com.au/her/fashion/japanese-fashion-and-japanese-style/

We were also thrilled to attend Tokyo Designers Week 2008 with key events such as 100% Design Tokyo and au Design project at KDDI Designing Studio. Japan also has cool street art as there’s legal graffiti in Japan and the art form is dynamite!

Special features from Tokyo Designers Week 2008:
http://www.mecho.com.au/lifestyle/tokyo-designers-week-2008
http://www.mecho.com.au/lifestyle/kddi-au-design-project-future-of-mobile-phones/

Ryogoko (tokyo’s sumo town) its free but check out first if they welcome guest…and make sure you get the early morning around 7-8 am

Check out my food / photography blog on where i ate and shopped: http://www.jenius.com.au/asia_north_east

Must eats are:
- fresh Hokkaido crabs
- tayokai in Osaka
- kobe beef
- ramen in random tiny noodle houses

GO TO:
Shibuya – very cool fashion district of Tokyo. Walk through the little streets in this area and you’ll disocver lots of hidden treasures – funky shops.

TSUKIJI – is a MUST! Get up really early (4am) and go to the Fish markets, and you won’t regret it. The best raw fish you’ll ever eat and a really fun experience too!

EAT:
You should definitely find an Okonomiyaki to eat (it’s a Japanese Savoury Pancake which you can never find done well in Australia).

Teyandei 2-20-1 Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 03-3407-8127
A fab little restaurant (izakaya) that has been converted from a house in Tokyo. Seriously yummy Japanese food and not too expensive. Really fun vibe and traditional funky interior.

And I didn’t have a chance to do it, as I was only in Tokyo, but if you’re venturing out of the city then going to a tradiotional onsen is a must do too. I am seriously looking forward to my next trip to Tokyo just so I can experience this.

Am very excited for you. I simply LOVED Tokyo. The people are so lovely and it’s so safe walking the streets (which is a massive difference to the some places in the rest of the world).
The one thing that I noticed is the amount of trees. Really beautiful. The Imperial Palace is a good place to visit too, and it’s amazing just seeing the size of the outskirts of it.

Hope that information helps.
xxxSam

Dammnit! LOL