Cookie Monster Stranded In Harajuku: A MariCar Experience

Needless to say, I never envisioned I would find myself waiting for emergency assistance on the side of one of Tokyo’s busiest roads in a Cookie Monster outfit. This is the story of my MariCar experience.

I had been sent videos in the past by some friends, who said: “you go to Tokyo a lot – you should do one of those trips where you dress up as a Super Mario character and drive around Tokyo in Mario Kart themed go karts.” And it had been on my list of things to do.

Picking Your Experience

But it didn’t begin to feel real at all, until I ran into the Antarctican paramedic in Osaka who told me about how to get the International Drivers Permit that was required to actually partake in the event and drive around the streets of Tokyo

MariCar has several locations in Tokyo, so if you want to cross the Rainbow Bridge, drive up the busy thoroughfare of the Ginza shopping district or even pass every sumo fan’s paradise, the Ryogoku Kokugikan, you can do it.

But the gent I crossed paths with recommended the Shibuya event, simply because you get to drive through the famous Shibuya crossing. It’s an absolutely bonkers intersection, with streets and alleys peeling off in every direction, and a massive pedestrian scramble crossing in the middle. It’s one of the most photographed and videoed sites in Tokyo, and probably one of the most documented crossings in the world.

Booking the Tour

Making a reservation was easier than anticipated, if a bit bizarre. Rather than making a straightforward booking on the MariCar website, you’re taken to the company’s Facebook page, where you interact with the MariCar bot via Facebook messenger. Customers must answer a serious of questions about the days, times of day, locations, number of participants, and a general understanding of the overall rules. After a short period of time, a customer service rep takes all of the answers and will contact you with a number of available times at your chosen location.

The company is extremely thorough regarding the requirements to participate. Don’t bother coming if you’re not fully clothed, with close-toed shoes. And don’t forget your passport, driver’s license and international driving permit – you will need them all. Insurance is offered at the cost of a reasonable ¥500 (about USD $4.50). If you don’t buy it and get into any kind of wreck, you’ll be liable for 100 times that, so it’s a worthwhile expenditure. You can offset some of these costs if you promise to write a review or social media post, which saves you ¥1000 off the ¥8000 ticket price. Phone use is strictly forbidden, but “action cameras” (similar to a GoPro) can be rented for ¥250 an hour from the store, with 16GB Micro SD cards available for purchase at ¥1000.

Equipping for the Trip

For what it’s worth, I headed to a local electronics store – and Tokyo is not short of them – to see if I could get a better deal on Micro SD cards ahead of the event. I actually couldn’t find a better deal than MariCar’s ¥1000 price. As it happens, they buy their SD cards in bulk which keeps their prices low. There are, however, some decent options on Amazon.com, so planning ahead can save you a few bucks and also some time.

On Amazon, you can actually get a Samsung 32gb card for $7.99, or a SanDisk 16 gb card for $5.77 at the time of writing. Both of those would be pretty good deals. I did however spot a Micro USB to USB A/C adapter in the store, which I grabbed as the best way to transfer any video to my laptop. Assuming your computer doesn’t have a Micro SD or SD port, you’ll need one of those to move any video you capture at the event from your GoPro or “Action Camera” back to your computer. Amazon also has a decent one of these for $7.99, cheaper than the price I paid in person at LABI in Shimbashi (about $13).

Arriving at the Depot

When I got to the shop, I arrived to see karts parked in the garage, and was met by a friendly shop assistant. It was impossible not to notice the after-effects of Nintendo’s lawsuit against the brand, as all of the karts and shop were plastered with signs saying the experience was in no way associated with Nintendo.

After agreeing to a number of terms and conditions on a tablet, the MariCar employee checked that my passport and international drivers permit were valid. I paid for the tour, less ¥1000 for following the shop on Facebook. After insurance and the cost of the camera rental and the micro SD card were added, it worked out to ¥8750 (about USD $80) in total.

The staff loaded the camera with the micro SD card for me, and showed me how to operate the device. As they went through this process with the other patrons, I had my choice of about 50 costumes. All participants must wear a kigurumi plush “onesie” costume during the trip. You can either wear a used costume, or purchase a new, sealed kigurumi for ¥3500. I opted for a Cookie Monster kigurumi.

We watched a somewhat entertaining instructional video, in order to learn how to operate the go-karts. At the end of the video, we were instructed to tip our guides following the tour, which I found a bit strange. Japan has a notoriously tip-free culture, and I would have been just as happy for them to build the cost of a tip into the tour price so that their guides can be properly compensated. Finally, we loaded into our vehicles, had photos taken, and took to the streets!

On the Road

Having never driven in Tokyo, I was first and foremost pretty focused on the road. Shibuya is one of the busiest areas in a city of 37 million people, and so my first priority was just feeling out the machine and making sure I didn’t veer into traffic, given that I was driving on the left side of the road! But generally, following in the queue of karts was easy enough, and I started to relax.

I drove a bit conservatively at first, but as we were instructed to stay 1-2 car lengths behind the next driver so as not to get split up by cars merging into our lane, I had to air it out a bit more. My kart was having trouble keeping pace, and my fellow drivers continued to overtake me at every green light, so I knew something wasn’t quite right. Eventually, I ended up in the back of the group.

Where’s Lakitu!?

As we rolled into Tokyo’s popular Harajuku shopping district, the group shaped to make a right turn, and came to a stop in the middle lane of a busy intersection. Unfortunately, when the light changed, my car simply would not go.

I honked furiously (as I had been directed in an emergency) as the rest of the group pulled away unknowingly. I restarted the kart, but it was to no avail. As I was continuing to block traffic, I hopped out of the kart in the middle of the street and cleared a way to pull the kart over to the side of the road so that I could call for help.

In all of my moments traveling the world, I don’t think I ever would have imagined I’d be calling for assistance in a cookie monster costume with my hazard lights on in my go-kart in the middle of Tokyo.

A couple of local young women came up to ask me what happened and stayed and chatted with me for a while. They told me my costume was at least kawaii, so that’s something.

Rescue Mission

Once I got a hold of the shop, they had me send my location through Facebook messenger, and called ahead to the tour group leader to come back and find me. She was a little irate with my fellow drivers who failed to indicate someone was missing, until she reached a light and turned around to photograph the group.

Eventually the guide came back and confirmed the kart was dead. I offered to just get the train back to Shibuya to return the costume and camera, but she wasn’t having any of it. She said she could use her cart to push me!

This became a bit of a challenge, as my powerless vehicle needed extra muscle to steer through the streets, and I only had my brakes available as an energency option. The tour leader would push me through the streets and around corners, and then ease off so I could at least build up some speed of my own when going down hills, in order to at least have some of the experience.

Changing Lanes

As we returned to Shibuya and closed in on the world famous Shibuya Crossing, the shop assistant sped up next to us in a reserve car which he then had me switch into while we were stopped at a red light. He then took my unusable kart away for maintenance. I have to say, having felt pretty down about my experience to that point, it was impressive to have the situation fixed in such a manner. 

Once I had made it back up to speed and our group was again fully mobile, our guide apologised to everyone and said she would make it up to us by extending the trip and making another lap around the Shibuya area. We were operating at a much reduced speed over to the 10-15 minute period where I was being pushed, and she didn’t want everyone to just lose that time.

We made a loop around the busy Shibuya station and rocketed back through Shibuya crossing in a really exhilarating way, and the remainder of the time spent driving really made me understand why MariCar has become such a popular and controversial attraction. 

A Final Content Capture

When we got back to the shop, our guide sent us all of the pictures from our trip via bluetooth, and then printed out a commemorative photo for us to take home. The shop assistant took my camera and handed me the micro SD card in a plastic bag for safe keeping.

The staff apologised heavily again for the issue with my broken kart. When I took off my Cookie Monster costume, I found a message on Facebook from the shop’s head office telling me they’d be happy to schedule another tour for me at another time. I did really appreciate their attempts to make it right, without me asking.

That being said, I wouldn’t have wished for the heart attack moment of having a stalled go-kart in the middle of Harajuku traffic while wearing a Cookie Monster outfit to begin with!

… Even if it did make the experience that more unforgettable.

 

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