Hey Hive!
If you missed the last couple of posts, we're currently on a new journey through Japan with my family and Sean, starting from Tokyo! Since we've been here before but it's my relatives' first time we had to bring them to all the popular spots we visited previously already, but it's all good.
Last week, we continued on our journey from the famous Tsukiji Fish Market to Ginza, and then ending the day at Odaiba! My relatives retired early but Sean and I took the rest of the night and enjoyed our alone time by playing some games at the arcade!
18 December 2017. Monday.
We had an early day tomorrow since my relatives went to rest early, so we had to get up early and everyone got Mcdonalds for breakfast!
They had a special Bacon and Egg Cheese McGriddles that looked pretty interesting so I decided to try that, and Sean and I shared the big breakfast since he wanted pancakes too. I think they didn't have the usual set we order in Singapore (i.e. the breakfast deluxe), but the big breakfast is pretty similar.
Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the inside, but it was a sausage patty, egg, Mcmuffins and pancakes if I recall correctly.
Anyway, for today we didn't really have much of a plan and since everyone was kinda tired from all that walking yesterday, we decided to let them explore Akihabara first and look at all the shops. Since it was Monday it would probably be less crowded.
So we brought them first to Bic Camera, and after a while the ladies decided to head to a cosmetic/drug store just down the street.
While Sean and I went with my cousins to see toys and games and I found a small section of Animal Crossing merch!
There was Pokemon merch as well:
Some Zelda stuff:
In the Zelda section was a Triforce pillow so I couldn't resist:
Seany's got a piece of my heart, or I have one of his..
Mario plush keychains:
And Kirbys!
There were just soo many different kinds of plushies, especially Pokemon!
And a Lego R2D2 with an army of storm troopers behind him:
Here's a whole aisle of Nintendo plushies! Man if I was a collector I would go crazy with all these. But I'm too practical. But looking at it now I really want that 1-UP plush not gonna lie.
Sean and his favourite Mario character!
There was just so much! But you know there's someone out there with an entire room full of these plushies.
I seem to recall I took an exact picture like this the last time we were here and it seemed fitting that we recreate it!
I'm not really into Gundam but I thought these miniature models looked so cute!
Here's a closer look:
And here's the wall of the legit Gundam model sets:
While waiting for the adults, there was a display with Mario Kart 8 so you just knew what we did:
Bic Camera has such a huge entertainment section, even one for movies!
There was also an entire section of peripherals! And man did these head models look kinda creepy.
How ironic that this was back when I never imagined myself streaming, and now I actually have a setup similar to this.
This rig is absolutely insane though.
I like how they even had this wall sticker! Man, what a throwback.
So after walking around and bringing them to different stores, we decided to stop by Sukiya for lunch! And I actually got something other than gyudon for a change! This was their curry udon:
It was actually pretty meh ngl. Maybe it was just the texture of the udon mixed with the viscous curry but it didn't really do it for me. It was still pretty good, but not something I would buy again. Especially since I was still pretty full from breakfast.
After that, we decided to head to Tokyo Skytree! I knew my cousin would want to visit all the Pokemon Centers in Tokyo and there was a pretty big one in the Tokyo Skytree mall called Tokyo Sky Town! And it also gave them a chance to go up the tower.
Since Sean and I had already gone up there just last year, we didn't really see the point in going up again. Particularly since it was pretty crowded. So we just bought the tickets for them and went off to do something else, just the two of us.
Like taking lots of seldies!
It was a beautiful sunny day out and there was a nice Christmas display outside!
And even a small little Christmas market! My aunts are obsessed with these for some reason.
The Christmas market had a lot of tables where you could sit and eat since they were also selling some snacks.
Sorry for the blurriness.
This polar bear reminded me of the Coca Cola bear a little bit. But he had his paw out like he wanted me to sit on it so I couldn't resist.
After a little bit we decided to head inside the mall and see what we could do to pass the time while my relatives were up in the observatory.
There was this cone of Christmas lights suspended in the middle of the atrium that looked so pretty!
We weren't sure what we could do since we've walked around this mall before the last time we were here. Until we found the planetarium!
Source: Tokyo-solamachi.jp
Called the Konica Minolta Planetarium, "TENKU" is an entertainment planetarium for adults where you can spend a special moment encompassed by the starry sky with SOUND DOME®, the latest in 3D sound; Healing Planetarium, scented with original aromas; all in the comfort of special Crescent Moon Seats!
I've always been fascinated with astronomy and thought stars and galaxies are so beautiful so I've always wanted to go to one of these and this seemed like the perfect time! Unfortunately the Crescent moon seats were already taken up and I think they cost more too so we just sat in the regular seats.
But it was actually pretty comfortable not gonna lie. The narration was in Japanese but there were some English subs and it was beautiful! We went on a journey through space, then took a short tour of Japan itself! At some point Sean fell asleep because it was so peaceful and quiet. He even snored a little bit haha.
At the end of it, we took some time to relax since my family was still in the observatory, and I wanted to grab some photos of the theatre itself.
And of course, one last selfie to commemorate being here!
After that we went back to the Tokyo Skytree and waited for my relatives at the Christmas Market, and man, we saw a truly stunning sunset!
The Christmas lights were also on now and it was so pretty!
There were so many lights around it really did feel like a Christmas village!
And of course, we found my relatives at the Pokemon Center, where my cousin bought a lot of merch, as expected.
I mean dang, how could any Pokemon fan resist this.
I came really close to buying this ditto Dragonite plushie though! Ditto's face is so derp and cute!
We also saw this pop up store for usamaru where they had a bunch of different merch as well!
I'm not familiar with this character but he looks pretty derp.
We also came across this funny looking caricature shop that had a central piece that caught my eye.
I thought the display of this Mt Fuji looked so cool!
And this entire display of small cat figurines was so cute and perfect!
After walking around and shopping, they were getting hungry so it was dinner time! They really liked that family-style Western restaurant we tried yesterday in Odaiba so we brought them to a similar place here, since there were only expensive restaurants to choose from.
We ordered some appetisers to share, including some onion soup, salad and a small personal pizza.
My mum decided to get a bottle of wine for us to celebrate as well.
I decided to try the omurice, which if I recall was a little meh. I think the sauce tasted too barbeque-y for me, and I'm not a fan of BBQ sauce. The omelette and the rice was fine though. But the sauce kinda ruined it for me so I swapped with Sean.
Sean got chicken chop with fries, corn and a sunny side up, and he also got an extra plate of rice. The chicken was alright, pretty average. The sides were normal, nothing to complain about. But nothing to write home about either.
But everyone seemed to enjoy their food and the restaurant itself was very comfortable so we all good. I don't really drink but the wine was alright.
After that we decided to head back to the hotel, while Sean and I went to chill at the arcade again!
And as dessert, we got a yummy cookie crust cream puff from Beard Papa!
Beard Papa's cream puffs never fail us, especially the cookie crust one. Crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside.. Absolutely delicious!
Well I guess that's gonna be it for this week! Tune in next time when we bring them to a special nature spot - Shinjuku Gyoen!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #114 (Japan 5.0: Tokyo): Shopping and Gundams in NY?
