 |
| Tokyo Bay Skyline |
 |
| Where in the world am I? |
 |
| Banksia flowers - very pretty |
We got the Yurikamome line across the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba. The first thing we saw when we left the station was the Statue of Liberty? Very strange, not a 100% sure why it is here - something to do with the Americans being present in the country after the war maybe? Anyway, it makes a good tourist attraction and they have built a nice promenade going round it, so all good stuff.
We strolled around the sea front, through a couple of parks. As we do so the clouds began to break up and the sun came out. Typical - I had left sunglasses, cream, hats etc at home as I thought it was going to rain all day.
Oh well, after exploring the parks (oh - they seem to have banksia type flowers here just like Australia) we headed into the first shopping centre: Aqua City. Here we found a Daiso (100 Yen shop) and were too excited not to look round, so that we did. We were quite restrained and only bought a couple of things, but we were both making mental notes of things to get in the future before we leave.
 |
| Tucking into Okonomyaki |
We also had a good look around the restaurants and decided on a lunch of Takoyaki. We bought two plates, thinking we would get the larger share, but Tom really enjoyed them and equalled us on quantity - poo!. We carried on exploring the shopping centre, we went up onto to the roof for a good all round view of the harbour and to see the shrine, oh and a good look around Toys R Us - last time we were here we got some great Japanese pyjamas from Toys R Us and were hoping to do the same again this year, however, the sizing of boys ends at 120 and Tom is now 130! Oh well. We found loads of great train related toys etc but once again were quite restrained and managed to leave empty handed.
After a sit down and a drink (it is very humid here, meaning we are constantly thirsty) we headed over to another shopping park - this time called Tokyo Decks - opposite the beach, so there were loads of Hawaii style shops, beach shops etc. There were also lots of children's stores including one which did have Japanese style pyjamas in the right size (just), so they got purchased just in case it was the last set we see. This was the place with loads of children's entertainment - including soft play and toddler friendly computer games, then Legoland etc. A place we could spend a lot of money. We picked up leaflets for everything and then headed past, not wanting Tom to get his hopes up too much.
 |
| DR YELLOW! |
We then headed to Diver City, yet another shopping centre. As we walked into this one we were faced with a shinkansen shop - selling everything and anything to do with shinkansen. It even had a huge Dr Yellow in it for children to play on. Our eyes nearly fell out of our sockets. I don't know which of the three of us was more excited! This time things were bought (see below), but once again we were quite restrained considering the variety of products on offer.
 |
| Eating a Happy Face Donut |
After that, we needed a sit down to recover and ended up at Krispy Kreme donuts. My first experience of them. They were good doughnuts, but I really don't quite understand the hype around them?
Once fortified, we headed around the mall. We found a Uniqlo where we went quite mad. Tom got a Komachi T-shirt and Matt 2 new T-shirts amongst other things. We also found another, bigger Daiso and spent another happy hour exploring it, making some more purchases. We are happy this time as the exchange rate is in our favour. Last time we came to Japan a 100 Yen shop was an 80p shop, but now it is a 60p shop. The things you can buy for 60p are outstanding! If we didn't have a luggage allowance, I would go absolutely mad in those shops.
After a quick look round some more stores, we realised that it was actually after 5pm and we were all hungry. It was time for dinner. On our travels we had come across a Sushi Train restaurant, where your sushi orders arrive directly to your table on a shinkansen train. How could we not eat there?
 |
| Big beer |
 |
| Collecting a plate off the shinkansen |
It was the most exciting and novel dining experience any of us have ever had. It was a sort of round sushi restaurant but with an extra novelty factor. Basically there was an ipad on your table, which had the menu in English. You scroll through it and click on what you want to eat. The kitchen get your order, load it on a shinkansen which carries it to your table. You unload the shinkansen and then send it back to the kitchen. How exciting is that?
 |
| How much food? |
 |
| Raw fish - yummy! |
None of us could believe our luck and Tom - well he was in seventh heaven, very excited and suddenly very very hungry! We had so much fun, we ended up eating quite a bit. In fact we ate 20 plates of food between us, however, it only came to roughly £26, in our minds very good value for the fun we got. Don't think Tom sat still for longer than 30 seconds during the whole thing. He certainly tried lots of new things, and in the end would only eat raw fish, refusing things like chicken karage etc.
Video of the Sushi Train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suY1XNf7eXQ
 |
| Gundam |
 |
| Sunset over Tokyo |
Finally we dragged ourselves away from there and paid up. We then headed home, via Gundam - a huge robot outside the shopping centre. Tom was scared of him - said he was too big and was happy when we were walking back towards the train station again. We were greeted by a lovely sunset behind the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower, so stopped to take a couple of photos before heading home. It was a good day, we didn't get back to the flat until after 7!
Today's purchases:
+ New bigger Japanese pyjama set for Tom
+ Shinkansen T-shirt (Komachi)
+ Shinkansen socks (Komachi)
+ Shinkansen sleeveless T-shirt (lots of shinkansen)
+ Shinkansen toothbrush
+ Shinkansen dividers
+ Shinkansen fridge magnet
+ Shinkansen sticker for the suitcase
+ Shinkansen iphone case for Matt
+ Banana cutter
+ Pliers
+ Garlic peeler
+ LED nightlight
+ 2 x T-shirts for Matt
No comments:
Post a Comment