Monday, September 14, 2015

Japan Trip Day 8: Ikebukuro, Akihabara

A few days ago, I still had the thought of going to see Tokyo Tower and Asakusa before shopping at Akihabara at the last day. I sort of changed my mind. I find Ikebukuro quite far from anywhere so I don't think I want to stay here again the next time I am back to Tokyo. Thus I asked my friend to split our ways today as I wanted to explore Ikebukuro area first before going to Akihabara since Mandarake only opened from 12pm.

I tried going to Ikebukuro north exit area and I thought the area was shady and sleazy. I know there are a lot of clubs and hotels around my hotel but this north exit area made me feel unsafe and uncomfortable. I explored Tobu shopping centre which has Uniqlo on the 9th floor. On the 8th floor, there was Hokkaido food fair from which I bought my dinner tonight.

I had lunch at the same curry shop that I had lunch on the first day and then I explored more shops in Akihabara. If I know how to read Japanese, I would definitely burst my wallet at Book-Off. Some mangas are on sale for 100 JPY each and the condition is still very excellent despite them being 2nd hand. Gosh.. There are opened Kuroko no Basuke Character Bible and Prince of Tennis 10.5, 20.5, 40.5 which I have been tempted to do. Now I know I won't buy them as I can read no shit.

I went to Laox which I promise to avoid. It is like a shop catered to tourists from China. They even have staff from China and when I was there, there was a tour group from China. Bleah.. I got irritated to get "Ni hao! Ni hao!" as I am not one of them for goodness sake!! Yeah.. I don't know what's wrong with my face. So far, the shopkeepers have been treating me as if I am also a Japanese. Mix me with tourists from China and suddenly the shopkeepers thought I am from China. But on a serious note, the shop is pretty good. They have COSPA items, they have kimonos for sale, they also have Conan plushies which I resisted not to buy because my bed is already too full of plushies. I am just being biased.

My main destination today was Mandarake and I just prepared to be thick skinned to get the Final Fantasy Chrome figures. I literally asked the person to open each box although in the end I only purchased 4: Cecil, Tifa, Magic Pot, and Terra. I asked the person if they could ship the items since I have online account and the person replied me something about not by ship but by plane. Okay I gave up! I did not want to offend him. Foreign credit card is accepted and the machine is quite cute. It displays the price in the currency of the credit card and asks customer if they want to pay using own currency or JPY.

I wanted to try Animate cafe but I was still feeling full. I went back to Kotobukiya shop but there was nothing new to buy. I went to buy some Nitro+Chiral artbook from Animate shop. I wanted to buy from the Kebab shop that I had dinner at a few days ago but I reminded myself that there are still so many nice food at Tobu Hokkaido food fair.

I really had fun shopping at the food fair. I bought a beef bento, sweet potato, stuffed squid, some bread from Vie de France bakery, and potato chips from 7-11. I overestimated my eating capability as I only managed to eat the beef bento and stuffed squid. I initially thought it was pregnant squid but it turned out to be squid stuffed with rice. I was famished!!

Finally this is my last night in Tokyo. Haiz.. I will definitely miss this place and I want to return. No wonder I have friends who never fail to come here once a year. There is just no end to eat. I am praying for a safe flight, especially for Genie. Although his box is huge, I measure the dimensions and they don't exceed the allowed cabin luggage.

No comments: