My very first apartment in the Land of the Rising Sun was affectionately known as “Funky Town”. When I first arrived in Japan my company had allocated me a modest monthly allowance to cover property rental and furniture. I was excited to get out there and get my pad sorted, but before heading off on a spending spree I fired off a question to my manager to get the low-down on what expenses the accommodation budget would cover. The response was that I could spend the amount on anything that I wanted, and as a demonstration of the broadness of the scope, by way of example my manager said that if I wanted to I could spend the whole amount on prostitutes each month and sleep in the gutter just as long as I got receipts from the prostitutes.

Armed with this directive, and being a single guy, I rented an unfurnished apato in a cool part of town. The only furniture that I bought was a one-seater leather recliner, a big arse TV. Oh, and a bed. I used the remaining amount of the budget on essentials like black lights, strobe lights and lava lamps. For the complete effect, I plastered my ceiling with a constellation of those tacky glow-in-the-dark self-adhesive stars and planets. Thus, “Funky Town” was born. A bachelor stronghold and popular party pad.

When it came time to tie one on in celebration (or is that commiseration?) of a buddy’s pending nuptials, “Funky Town” was nominated as the starting point for the festivities of the evening. We decided to kick-start the night with a few looseners at “Funky Town” before moving onto further debauchery in what was being touted as a surrogate bachelor party (or stag, buck or bull party depending where you are from). Given that the number one rule at a bachelor party is to humiliate the bachelor, our man Nick was requested to be attired in a Pink Power Ranger outfit for the duration of the evening. Like a champ, Nick, without argument, donned the garb and everyone queued for a photo with Mr Pink.

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Kigurumin, a sub-category of the gyaru (ギャル) sub-culture, is a style of Japanese street fashion. The fashion is based upon kigurumi (the Japanese name for costumed animal characters) where wearers parade around in full body pajama-suits with hoods or hats styled after animals or cartoon characters with accompanying manba make-up.

Here are three manba wearing Godzilla, Kanga from Winnie the Pooh and Pikachu kigurumi costumes.

Teacher, writer, performer and Mum, Wendy Horikoshi has lived, breathed and worked in Japan for a little over 13 years. Taking a left turn from tarting up medical journals and wedding speeches, she takes a look at the Kawaii culture that envelopes Japan.

If it isn’t Kawaii in Japan, it just doesn’t rate a mention.

With Hello Kitty everything, bank cards, bentos (lunch boxes), and dish sponges in the shape of characters and cake, you can’t escape the cute.

Now, I am not really a Kitty fan. Little white cat, with no mouth? Needs everything to be twee and adorable? Nah. Then along came my babies. Two hard core Kitty fans, both boys, with kitty spoons, socks, toothbrushes, pyjama’s and kitty dinner sets, my house is overtaken with cute. I am drowning in pink and white bows, little hearts and sparkle on everything.

Before I was somebody’s Mum, I was in a punk band, with black nails, purple hair, and many, many piercings. Cute just isn’t my cup of tea.

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