Tokyo, March 21

10:01PM JST - “Shopping in Sunshine city~”

I don’t feel like writing a lot today so you’ll make to make do with a somewhat shorter log today XD Today we snatched some bread from the breakfast buffet of the hotel and ate them in our room. I really couldn’t get out of bed but we’re in Japan, I have to because I’ll waste a day otherwise.

For today the plan was to go to Ikebukuro and explore the city there. In Ikebukuro there’s this really big shopping center with several entertainment facilities inside. It’s called Sunshine city and there’s an Aquarium & a Planetarium inside. There’s also a small theme park called Namjatown. It’s basically as the name suggests; a small city. Well unfortunately all the facilities were closed :,) so we couldn’t explore any of them. I mean it was to be expected but it’s really a shame the closing of big touristic attractions is extended. Anyway there were still a lot of shops to explore and so we did. I bought several gifts and stuff for myself :D Sunshine city is really big so we spent a lot of time there.
We found an Ice cream shop called ‘cold stone’ and we decided to grab a snack there for lunch. Everything looked really cute and there were several combinations of ice cream and toppings you could choose from. We decided to choose an existing combination, I got mint chocolate ice cream mixed with brownies and chocolate chips. Jo-anne got something with vanilla and chocola, I can’t quite remember it. It was served in the same waffle as ice cream cones are made of but then it was formed in these little ‘trays’. It tasted really good and was a nice snack :)
The girl who helped us asked where we came from and she told us that usually it’ a lot busier here in Sunshine city but because so many things are closed people are staying home. She was really kind and asked me if there was a Cold Stone in The Netherlands. Unfortunately not but we should hahaha it’s a really good ice cream shop.

We strolled around Sunshine city some more and I got to say, watching around in stores is nice but here in Japan they really want to help you or at least be customer-friendly because you pick something up to look at it and someone will immediately come to you and give you some information on what it is or how much it costs. It’s sometimes quite obnoxious, I can’t feel at ease while shopping because they’ll come up and talk to you and like.. I have eyes too thank you. To give an example we were in a store at the skincare section and I picked up a lip scrub. It literally said ‘lip scrub’ in English and a woman walked up to me pointing at her lips and saying ‘very good for lips’! Okay fine, I smile and nod and it’s all good if it wasn’t for that she did that with everything I even so spared a glance at. A moisturizer cream, Primer for make-up, a night gel mask.... :) Thank you but I can read and I just want to observe your products in peace please. So I ended up not buying anything and just walking away XD It’s not like that in every store of course and she meant well but yeah sometimes it’s not needed XD.
I also caught my attention that there will most of the time be an employee stationed at the front of the store of even just on the street to lure people in. They’ll shout something about a discount or whatsoever and will always greet you if you make eye-contact. It’s quite different if you’re used to just walking into a store yourself. Imagine someone from the H&M or Apple store standing on the street and trying to make eye contact with everybody who walks by and once they do they’ll point to the door and say ‘Hello, welcome! Come in!’ and you’ll just have to awkwardly ignore them because you don’t want to enter hahahaha. Well I learned how to not look people in the eye here XD just make a polite bow with your head and be on your way. That’s how we’ll avoid those employees~

Anyway after we were done exploring Sunshine city we walked around in Ikebukuro and found a really nice K-pop store who sold second hand but official photo cards. We had the time of our lives there searching for the ones we wanted and ended up buying quite a few :D

For dinner we really craved some Gyoza and traveled to Shibuya to a gyoza bar :) Gyoza is such an invention, it’ super delicious and easy to make too! I should try to make it once. I know how to make dumplings and gyoza is basically the same but instead of only being steamed they’re also pan-friend. Shouldn’t be too hard.
The gyoza bar was super cozy and the food was delicious. For dessert we just bought a small pudding from the convenience store and ate that on our hotel room.

That was about what we did today~ We did shop a lot today but that’s what I came here for too XD I didn’t work so hard for money to not spend it here.
For tomorrow we want to go back to Yoyogi park. It’s said to be 23°C so we’re expected a nice day for a picknick and chilling in the park. I also want to visit the Meiji Jingu shrine which is located right behind Yoyogi park so I’m looking forward to that too. I kind of miss the beautiful sights in Kyoto.
I have to admit, from what I’ve seen of Tokyo right now and I compare that to Kyoto I would actually rather live in Kyoto. Tokyo is really cool and all and I love the 24h Economy here but I think Kyoto as more atmospheric and cozier than tokyo and also less intense. I always thought I would find Tokyo absolutely lovely and I do but I think Kyoto lovelier :)

Well that’s my confession for today XD
Enjoy the rest of your day and I’ll talk to you again tomorrow.

- Yaru