23.11.2014
I feel so sad typing this post now, backdating this to more than 4 months back. Can't wait for the next time I visit Tokyo again.
----------
Anw, the only thing we have on our itinerary today was Daimon - Pokemon Center.
Chio shoes. ✌
We arrived at Daimon Station at around 10-11am Tokyo time and Google mapped our way to the Pokemon Center which should be a 5-10 minute walk away if you know your way.
When we first arrived at the entrance, we were very very excited because we have heard and watch videos of people who went to Pokemon Centers in Japan and it sounded/looked amazing.
Coincidentally, the were having an event for visitors whose birthday falls in the month and I managed to get a free gift, which was, tbh, completely useless. They gave me a pokemon-themed cardboard crown and a card -.- BUT, if we happened to own a Nintendo Ds, I think we could have gotten a game or smth. Didn't really pay attention cus we didn't own one anyway.
This was the pokemon center we visited. Which is actually….very small. And disappointing. There was nothing else except soft toys and a few other merchandise with very limited selection. Most of the pokemon are those of the new gen which we have never seen/heard of before. Those of the first gen left are mostly pikachu. They have first gen pokemons printed on merchandise like towel, plastic files, socks, etc la but really at this age, you want to use a pokemon file or towel meh?
We only bought a few merchandise for keepsake and left the store within an hour.
So, we went back to…shop some more! Hahahaha. Back to Harajuku.
When we went to the branch that we'd been to on Day 5 (21.11.2014), we were told that there was another branch that we missed out (p.s. because we went to ask the staff cus we feel like we haven't buy enough tape stuff lol). That was when we realized that the branch we went to on that day wasn't the Harajuku branch, but the Aoyama branch, which is the Bape Exclusive store.
I did a google search when I came back and found out that we had accidentally ventured into Aoyama on Day 5 after we exited Yoyogi Park and tried to find our way to walk to Harajuku.
Aoyama is actually one of Tokyo's wealthiest destination which explains all the buildings with polished exteriors and expensive-looking interiors we saw. Apparently, it's where high-end labels will set up their second stores after Ginza.
Aoyama is actually to the west of Harajuku so most people see it as part of Harajuku but it is actually an entire shopping district on its own with a more sophisticated and cultured feel.
Which also explains why we found the Tokyo Exclusive Bape tees only in that branch.
Anyway, we were given directions and we finally found our way to the last branch, Bape @ Harajuku.
I found a lot of stuff that were either too expensive for me at that time, or out of sizes, so I took pictures of them should I find any in my size in the future.
I wanted this jacket damn badly but JP managed to convince me to hold it out till their next design because 1, it looks similar to my Aape one, 2, it's too expensive for my expenditure budget that trip.
If any of you see this (the authentic one please) selling on carousell please let me know :)
Can you believe they don't even have caps in my size :(
We continued shopping on the way while looking out for places to have lunch at and found a place with quite a long queue (not super duper long but there was a small crowd). Being atypical Singaporeans, we did not join the queue. Hahahaha. We continued walking to search for places to have lunch and we got hungrier but still could not find a suitable place to eat at.
So, we kept walking around and passed by this place again and the queue shortened to the point where only 2 of the chairs left outside in the queue were taken so….we went for it. Hahahaha.
We did not know how to order at all because the english menu did not have pictures so we just ordered whatever we think sound nice.
Hahahaha ok I promise to try and take better videos the next time. But make do with this ok. And don't watch this at night. If you do, don't blame me for getting hungry.
Continued shopping a bit more before heading back to Ginza again for more shopping.
JP wanted to find a Pandora store there so I could add another charm to my bracelet that would serve as a memory of our trip to Tokyo so he went to search on his phone for a branch nearby. Apparently there were results for it and he Googled mapped the address and eventually took me on a wild goose chase. -.-'''
Went passed this carpark and realized, this is the much talked about automated parking technology. It's really damn cool to be seeing it up close, and I actually waited for a car to be parked just to see how it really works in reality. Lol at me being suaku.
But if you don't know how it's supposed to work, then you more suaku than me. Wahahaha.
Walked into Chrome Hearts again and this time...
Got it ✌
Once again, we went to look for dinner after all the shops had closed and we were very lucky to see a sushi restaurant on the 2nd level from the outside of the building. We almost went to another ramen stall because the price was reasonable and the picture on the promotional poster looked promising. But, I decided to go for sushi instead because I love sushi more.
And so, upon chance, we had the highest quality sushi we'd ever eaten.
I couldn't remember the price anymore but I do remember that despite it being a bit pricier, it wasn't very expensive.
Sorry I didn't manage to get most of the food places we'd been to in Tokyo. All of the restaurants, food stalls, cafes, etc that we ate at were discovered by chance and they just so happened to taste awesome. Most of the time, I was either to excited to move on or too cold to stand outside and take pictures of the stall's name so I don't have many pictures of the exteriors with the name of the place. It's such a pity cus even I won't remember where these places are the next time I visit Tokyo again. But hopefully, our luck with running into famous stores/ awesome food places don't run out.
I promise to be more diligent in taking travel photos the next time 😛
The positions Mickey was put into by the hotel staff who cleaned up our room over the past 2 days .
My loots for the day:
1. Pokemon Crown, Card and File in courtesy of the Birthday Event.
2. Cosmetics (in the transparent bag) bought from their drugstore. If I'm not wrong, it's either Matsumoto Kiyoshi or Drug (With a Japanese word that looks like the Chinese Character "藥", which means medicine)
3. Stockings from random department store
4. Pokemon Merchandise from Pokemon Center
5. Ring from Chrome Hearts
6. PLAY tee from CDG
JP's loots, which looks crazy, but these are for the past 7 days, and not just today.
Starbucks drink we bought from Family Mart.
Jason Marks shoes cleaner which I forgot to include in my loots.
Super nice food and drinks, also from Family Mart. Love the vent for the cup noodles, which helps to either cool it down for the soupy ones, or to pour out the water for the dry ones. Their innovation in everything helps make our everyday lives there so much easier.
Luggage as makeshift table because the only table we have in the room is already filled with our barang barang.
And we are very satisfied with the fact that despite the small room space, we can still have a bathtub :)
The hotel lobby has a "guests' corner" where there are bath soaps and bath essence that are free for the guests to take. They also have like coffee powder and stuff but we hardly take those cus we always buy ready-made ones from Family Mart on our way back.
Had yet another fruitful shopping trip of getting mostly cosmetics and skincare products today. The pokemon center was a tad disappointing but we will still visit other centers when we visit Japan so it wasn't a big deal. Plus, we weren't hardcore fans so it wasn't that bad for us.
I'm so sad that the trip is coming to an end but hopefully, I'll visit either Tokyo or other parts of Japan soon enough.
X
No comments:
Post a Comment