We had until about 6:50 to do whatever we wanted before we had to catch the train, so we just went to Shinjuku and tried to find something to do there.
So we went to the conbini and got some new drinks to try! We're living life on the edge, I assure you. Mine is something called "haru ichiban", which basically means "first spring." And since in Japan, spring is signified by the blooming of the cherry trees, it tasted... like cherry soda.
Cinnamon bravely tried the brand new Fanta flavor, "moo moo white." According to her, it tasted like vanilla yogurt, but with fizz. And every time she took a sip, she'd look at the bottle and proclaim how weird it was. Needless to say, I don't think she'll be getting that again.
We walked and walked, from Shinjuku station past the old Koma Theater, then to Seibu Shinjuku station and nearly to Shin Okubo station and back.
Eventually, we came upon this neat little area, and sat down for a little bit.
This is what we look like when we're killing time. By now it was about 5pm, our stomachs were growling, and we still had almost two hours to kill.
To the left of where we were sitting, there were some big buildings (and the moon).
This building is called the "Cocoon Tower" and, to me, it's the quintessential Shinjuku building. I think of it when I think of Shinjuku, and if I see it in the distance, I know where Shinjuku is. I have no idea what's actually inside it, though.
As you can see here, there are all sorts of different trash cans in Japan, for throwing away all kinds of different garbage. It's not very often you find all the cans together like this. A lot of times you can only find bins for PET bottles (the recyclable plastic ones we know in the US as having numbers 1 or 2 on the bottom), and cans. This was always frustrating to me because last time we were in Japan, my favorite beverage, Lipton's peach tea, came in a carton, and I could never find a place to throw it away after I was finished with it!
After our little break, we walked back to the station and shopped around in the Subnade (pronounced Saab-naw-doe) area that's in the basement. Once we were done looking around there, it was time to hop on the Chuo line and head to Den!
Yum~! Just look at that tasty spread!
Yay, yakiniku! We're starving!
Cinnamon is ready to eat. Just look at that excitement!
Courtney's focused on her food as well.
We ordered a plate of meat and finished it off rather quickly, as our coals were super hot this time around. So we put in another order (which you do via the electronic touch screen device that you can see in the picture of Cinnamon--it's that yellow thing on the table), and waited for it to arrive.
...And we waited.
...And waited some more.
Finally, we decided to put in another order, since we were hungry and we knew we'd want more. We ended up getting that order, but not the first one. Apparently it got lost in cyberspace or something.
Doesn't this look tasty? Cinnamon says no. It was tasty, though. And it cooked very, very fast!
...Maybe a little too fast. It got pretty charred on one side. Still made for some good eating!
When we had our fill of beef and rice, we headed back home to Shinjuku. Only we took a different exit out of the station (and keep in mind Shinjuku station has about 30 different exits) and ended up somewhere that was definitely not where we were supposed to be. But we weren't concerned about it. The night was pretty nice, so we just walked until we figured out where we were supposed to go. Turned out we were on a road that pretty much paralleled the one we usually take. So it just took us an extra half hour to get back to our place (though we did stop at the grocery store on the way).
And we came across this "professional shooting service" sign. Any ideas as to what it may be? Cinnamon said it's probably not nearly as fun as it sounds.
Thursday, we had a productive shopping day in Ikebukuro! Then we went to Coco's for some delicious curry~
Cinnamon tried the spinach curry this time. She said it could use more spinach, so she's considering getting spinach curry with spinach topping next time.
As for me, I had my usual half hirekatsu curry, which I am currently pouring tonkatsu sauce on. It was delicious as always.Then it was back out into the 20-something mile an hour wind on the walk back home.
And now it's Friday (in the picture), and it's raining. But we did not let that deter us! We took the Rinkai line (which is stupidly expensive) and headed over to Tokyo Big Sight.
As you can see, there aren't very many people on this train. It goes underwater and across the bay, to places like Odaiba (which has that big ferris wheel we rode last time). But we went there for a running expo. It was hot inside, and there were all sorts of things going on. Cinnamon bought some new running clothes, and we both managed to score a free (and rather large) Puma running bag (one of those reusable eco-friendly types--with a zipper!), a bottle of water, and some hydration tablet things. So it was semi-productive!
On Saturday, we shopped in Shinjuku and had a crepe, then shopped in Shibuya and bought some new music. Then we went over to Courtney's place for curry and a watching of her new Maharaja Mode DVD she had just gotten in the mail that day. (It's a *pnish* performance). We stayed late into the night, finally leaving around 1:30am. It was sprinkling when we left, so we walked down to Higashi Shinjuku station (which is on our way home)... and camped out at McDonald's, where we had a McFlurry and waited for the rain to let up. By the time we finally made it home, it was nearly 3:30am! But it was a fun night~
Yesterday, we got our JR passes, then went to Nakano, which is a place we hadn't been before. We shopped around at a place called Nakano Broadway, which sort of reminded me of a swankier indoor flea market. It's a covered street full of shops and restaurants of all kinds. Some places were selling clothing or shoes. Some were selling old collectibles and anime merchandise. There was also a pet store, several arcades, a few drug stores, and a supermarket inside. It was pretty crowded and busy while we were there.
Today we went to Asakusa looking for a souvenir. However, we couldn't make up our mind what to get, so we left empty handed. But we ate dinner at a new restaurant called Royal Host, which seemed kind of like a fancier version of Denny's or Village Inn. It was good, though! Cinnamon had omurice, and I had pork and mushroom pasta. (Pictures forthcoming). After walking back to Ueno station to catch the train, we went to Ikebukuro again and had some gigantic crepes for dessert. They were very filling, but also very tasty. We made a brief stop at Courtney's apartment to borrow a phrasebook from her, and lo and behold, it was raining lightly when we left. So we hurried home.
Tomorrow, we're headed off to Kyoto, then Busan (South Korea), and Fukuoka. Right now, it's time for me to get some well-deserved sleep!
1 comment:
I also got free raisins!
Post a Comment