First stop was to go to the Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku. I consider this to be the best laid out of the swtores I have visited. The floor plaqn in Shibuya is too confusing. Ikebukoro is smaller and has less stuff but sometimes better inventory quantities. The trains were packed on this Saturday morning around 10:15am
A newer esit that takes you directly to Takashimya is less used because the cars dont stretch that far. If there were more cars, this exit would be just as heavily trafficked as the others. The plus of this is I didnt have to get wet yet.
Emerging from the exit, the clocktower is shroudeed in clouds and a light srpinkle has been falling for a while. Later it was havier but still not enough to warrfant me buying an umbrella for use on a day or two. I guess I could have borrowed an umbrella from somewhere. Thats what happens in a society thats so trusting
I get up to the floor of Tokyu Hands that sells toys ande other gadgets. Its interesting to see whats new. Appropriately enough, they have Star Wars theme lightsaber umbrellas. Of course, they ar in color
Still alot of people in Shinjuku despite the weather. I found alot of people were still out and about at many of the places that I stopped off at.
I passed Takadanobab on the way to Ikebukoro. I wqas originally going to stop off here, catch the streetcar for a while before proceeding to Sugamo then Skytree. I wanted to check the Tokyu Hands here to see if they had anything different. They had a few more Stars Wars related items. But, I will come back to those later
I stopped in at Denny's for lunch. The menu didnt seem as appealing as I had remembered it. I settled for the small steak.
With lunch put away and the bill settled, I wanted to see what Yodobashi had. I was planning to do this tomorrow sinc ethey will be closing Chuo dori for pedestrians. Disappointingly, I found nothing that wowed me on the toy floor. Oh well. I began to feel hungry again as lunch didnt really carry it weight.
Since Coco Ichiban was close by, it was as good place as any. I havent had my curry fix yet. There is also a ramen shop a few doors down that I frequent as well but maybe not this time.
I ordered the standard tonkatsu curry. Crispy deep fried pork cutlet, still juicy. I love japanese curry over most kinds of curry because its the right level of heat and the thick consistency helps it to stick to the rice. You do have the option of thruning up the heat for a fee
As I left and went back towards Chuo dori, recognized this izakaya from a show called Shiru Shru Mishiru. I coulndt remember the name but it lloked familiar and it had the jr name on it as well as the 270yen pricing for each item. You order via touchpad that is multilingual. I will have to come back and try it out. I tried looking for a location on their website but it could not navigate the japanese
One new edition since my last visit is the addition of the AKB48 cafe. They have a show nearby at UDX so it amkes sense to open this up as weel. Of course they seel souvenir goods as well. The Gundam cafe has been here for a while and both had patrons waiting in the rain to get in..
Lastly, I waqlked around the area to the west of Chuo dori. Its not an area that I frequent as mush as the east side with the train station, Yodobashi and all. I ran across the Kotobukiya store. They are the ones who make the Star Wars chopsticks that I purchased on a previous trip. I browsed the store and saw some of their other Star Wars good on the second floor. Of note, and I saw this at Ikebukoro, were themed ice trays in the shape of things like theMillenium Falcon or R2D2. I liked the heads of Darth Vader and Stormtrooper, personally. The one I found most interesting was the one of Han Solo frozen in carbonite. Im sure these items are available online in the states.
