Japan Trip – Day 2 – Ikebukuro (池袋), Shinjuku (新宿)
December 14, 200814 December 2008
Today’s destination was to Ikebukuro (池袋). True enough to Murphy’s Law, it rains when you wear a new pair of shoes going out, so.. Guess what weather it was on that day.
Anyway, it’s a good thing that Andon had umbrellas to borrow. Walked towards Sunshine City, a whole self contained “city” with many many stuffs like an Aquarium, Observatory, Arcade, Shops, Food…
Guess the weather
Rain + Morning = Tranqulity
Sunshine City
More & More Shops
But, we had our brunch before any exploration of the place! Lots of food stores here, but I’m lazy and will only post the pic of where we ate 🙂
Brunch was here
My udon
Her Tama Udon
This oji-san should be the shop's founder
Yes, it’s a shop specializing in Udon, though I normally don’t really like Udon, tends to be too sticky for my taste, but seeing that it’s Japan, why not? And true enough, the texture is just right, al-dente if you must compare. A non-sticky udon is actually a nice treat, with the nice satisfying soup, mmm.. 🙂 I’m actually getting addicted to Japanese food… There was also this father next to us, teaching his kid, and talking really patiently, like a kindergarten teacher, it was pretty heart-warming, cuz he kinda hit him, then started to hug and say that he’s sorry for doing that, the kid’s a pretty good boy too.
Anyway, walked around more after lunch, the crowd here is definately much more different from Shibuya, and stuff are cheaper too. It’s like a very big mall to describe it simply.
Shops like these are abundant
Anyone is free to wear whatever he/she likes in Japan
Yes, I do think that is a guy in the picture, and he wasn’t being stared at, lol.. instant shutters of SLRs are so fun.
Bags Galore
Mothers do dress up a lot too when bringing their kids out
1st Clear shot of the (in)famous Japanese School Girls
Took the above shot while we were sitting down for a break with some mango ice, makes me wonder why SG uniforms look so, erm.. plain… And the girls don’t feel the cold at all it seems.
Kimonos are really expensive
My X'mas present to Mina
Forgot this <something> kuma bear, or whatever it’s called.. bad memory..
Interesting...
Took the elevator to Sunshine 60’s top floor, yep, it’s the 60th floor at 240 metres to their observatory. It’s super high speed to the top, real fun and the whole elevator dims and shows holographics images like those in those special puzzles.
Lift Ceiling Lights
Interior of the Lift
The view from the top is , great! And there was a Wall-e thing going on there. Tokyo looks so cluttered from the top.
Tokyo from high up
End of the World?
Sunset over Tokyo
Rooftop Picture
Too bad the roof top has so many bars, but I guess it’s to prevent suicidal people from jumping off, there were a few guards there as well. Poor ah peks, they have to stand there all day in the cold, just to look at people.
Let's all save the world
One of the promo pics for the Wall-e space program.
Wall-e
Stopped for some high tea at one of the Pattiseries around, dessert culture is also very big in Japan.
High Tea at Pattiserie Atelier de Reve
Layer breakdown (damn.. didnt catch the girl's face.. lol)
Might need one of the below tights after all these eating and eating…
Do these really work?
Anyway it was pretty dark by the time we left the place.
Sunshine City (without Sun)
Carried on over the the Toyota Auto Salon, was kinda like, Oh, so it’s here! And went in to play with the cars. 5 Levels of showrooms, kinda feels like a glam-ed up multi storey carpark.
Manga Shops
Toyota Auto Salon
Lots of Toyotas
And the best car I’ve sat in ever, really comfy, and grand.. and a classic (some can say ah pek look), the Toyota Century.
Here’s what wikipedia says:
The Century is produced in limited numbers and is built in a “nearly hand-made” fashion. It is often used by royalty, government leaders, and executive businessmen. The Century is comparable in purpose to the Austin Princess, ZIS/ZIL, Chinese Red Flag, Rolls-Royce and Maybach limousines. The Toyota Century is equipped with the fender mirrors characteristic of Japanese cars.
A special version, called the Toyota Century Royal, was produced for the Japanese Imperial Household, to be used by senior members of the imperial family, with the same purpose of the Bentley State Limousine presented to the British Royal Family. This special version has wool cloth upholstery, granite running board steps and Japanese rice paper headliner. Five vehicles were originally ordered, but due to the cost per vehicle, only four vehicles were built. This vehicle replaced the fleet of 30 year old Nissan Prince Royal limousines that were beginning to show their age, when one recently broke down in service.
Only in Japan - Toyota Century
Carried on over to make our way to the station using a different route than the one we came from, and stopped by HMV to look for Ayu’s new single.
Don't see Sega in SG anymore...
Randomly made our way into Parco’s food basement, yumm!
Parco Food Basement
Us in Parco
It is also here that Mina saw a Ceceil McBee bag, that would be the main character in a later story.
The Bag
Sales clerk
And I’ve managed to almost perfect the art of shooting pictures, without aiming, simply by pressing the shutter and hanging the camera from my neck 🙂
<Edit: Missed out this part>
We then went to Shinjuku (新宿) for a little walk and for our dinner, ordered a Ikura Salmon Don and a sliced pork set. It’s interesting because it’s the first time I’ve seen Mina ever eating ikura, lol, and she became a new convert to these little salmon eggs.
Where we had dinner
Ikura & Salmon Don
Sliced Pork Set
Me at Dinner
Dear at dinner
Walked around near the station, nothing really very interesting since it was already past closing time for many places.
Spotted a couple of dogs outside the station though, furry and soft looking.
A dog in clothes
Kids playing with another dog
Keitai Shop
Took some photos outside, and noticed that we were at a taxi stand, haha…and I think the cabby might be thinking that we were potential customers.
Taxi Stand
I wonder if the driver is hoping we got in
Shinjuku Station East
Shinjuku is really much less crowded at this time, compared to places like Shibuya.
The streets at night, it's definately less crowded than other places
Me on the streets
Another street shot of Mina
Noticed that they do have designated bicycle parks as well.
A bicycle park
Choco catcher, we catch stuffed toys, they catch snacks?
Hm....
Tonight was colder than last night, 7 degrees + some slight wind.
7 degrees here tonight
Went back to Andon after this, also noticed that different stations do have different layouts, maybe it’s got to do with the age / operator of the lines.
Interior of Shinjuku Station, it has platform doors
That’s it for Day 2!
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<Gallery of the above pics>
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