This Week in Dulture…

Approx 5 minute read:

👕 Exclusive pick ups in Japan

👺 You can’t NOT take a pic here

😺 Kawaii overload

🐷 A pig cafe story

Dulture weekly mix

This week’s mix belongs in a Japanese arcade, specifically the floor with all the music games where you can’t hear yourself think because the guy playing the game where you touch the screen in circles is getting perfect combo after perfect combo as your eyes glaze over watching him.

Google Chrono Circle - everything will make so much more sense, including this mix.

Torii Gates Galore

Generally speaking, the places in Japan that you see most on social media tend to be the ones rammed with people and frankly, just aren’t as good of an experience.

Unless you’re trying to take pictures for social media.
(instead of appreciating what you’re actually seeing)

Fushimi Inari technically is one of those social media spots, but there’s really nothing like it in the world, so it’s a must visit if you’re in Kyoto.

Lined with over 1000 torii gates, the shrine at Fushimi Inari is like no other.  

The buildings date back to the 16th century, which is enough for a history buff to appreciate the place.  But it’s truly the torii gates that attract people to check out the shrine.

As you walk up the 4km hike the pathway is lined with what seems like endless torii gates.  And obviously endless Instagrammable shots. 

But as you walk higher and higher, the path opens up as less people care to actually try to hike the mountain and are much more content with just taking photos at the base of the shrine.

HOWEVER.  The majority of the world misses out on some spectacular views and tranquility that the ancient hike offers.  We only hiked up to the first look out as it was nearly 40 degrees Celsius that day, but this view was enough for us.

The shrine itself is open 24/7, it’s just not lined with lights so you’d have to figure out how to light up the path yourself but the later you go, the less tourists, which is always a great thing in Japan.

Kawaii x A Million

Part of me thinks that Japanese people just never want to grow up, which is ironic given their aging population issue.

Japan loves their cute stuff.  Like legit, LOVES all of it.

We went to Sanrio Land aka Puroland and, I mean, if you like cute stuff this place is heaven on earth for you.

From the likes of Hello Kitty and Pompompurin, to allllllllll the other characters (kinda felt like they made up characters just to fill the place at one point), Puroland points the kawaii gun at your head and fires a million cuddly cute, squeaky sounding fuzzy, soft, cuddly (I said that already) stuffed animals at you, whether you like it or not.

The amusement park is one of the easier ones to do in a day as there’s only two main rides, which aren’t really rides but rather photo ops of, and with the characters - surprise surprise, more photos.

The main draw, from what I gathered, was the parade that takes place in the afternoon and taking pictures with your favourite Sanrio character. 

In watching the Japanese sit on the floor and wait for over an hour for the parade to start and take photos with their favourite characters, I realized when they love something, they REALLY REALLY LOVE something - even if it’s for little kids.

If you’ve got kids then this is a good spot to check out.  Otherwise, this is a great date spot for the kidless community as well.

I also realize that if you know nothing about Sanrio, you might’ve just asked yourself wtf did you just read/see…I get it bro, trust me.

What’s it Like at a Pig Cafe

You can’t go to Japan without checking out a cafe - whether it’s filled with cats, hedgehogs, otters, women in maid outfits, or in my case, pigs.

Let’s throw all of the animal welfare stuff aside for a second and get to the meat and potatoes of this cafe (lol - sorry).  Animal cafes are an interesting experience because you technically go there for the animal itself but they still serve you a drink while you’re there...it’s a cafe after all.

Mipig cafe is a place where you can sit on the floor, put a blanket down on yourself, and wait as the oinkers parade around the cafe and eventually walk up onto your lap and just pass the TF out.

And that’s basically what you do. 

When it comes to animal cafes, the idea is to go to one where you’ll like the animal that’s roaming around inside.  Then the experience is that much more fun.

While in the cafe, you can pet the pigs, watch them run around and try to bite each other, and pet them some more.  

Again, you really have to like the animal to try the cafe out.  They aren’t cheap to go to either.

Would I recommend going to one of these places?  I guess so, for the novelty? 

However, just know that these places aren’t really cafes but rather stylish indoor petting zoos that definitely throw the tourist surcharge on their pricing knowing we all live somewhere where we’re never going to have a cafe with pigs running around in it.

I also I ate one of the best sandwiches of my life that day so here it is for your viewing pleasure (not at the cafe). The end.