Monday was rain – all day – as Typhoon #5 (aka Mambo) moved through, dumping sometimes torrential rain on the metro area. I was ready – I was armed with my penguin umbrella and….my shoes weren’t quite dry from Kamakura. Flip-flops it is, I guess. I’m still ready.
Shibuya is a great place for shopping and people-watching. Because of the heavy rain from Mambo, it’s mostly a people-watching day. But first: Don Quixote for souvenirs (lovingly referred to as Donki, which is not the donkey from Shrek nor a donkey named Hote). I planned on picking up a few flavors of crazy kit-kats like wasabi or sweet potato.
In the past year or so, Japan has gone crazy with speciality kit-kat flavors. There were at least 20 to choose from. The winner for strangest overall flavor goes to wasabi (which we’ve had before, and it is as strange as it sounds, but not spicy), and the winner for the most oddly specific flavor goes to red bean sandwich (not red bean, red bean sandwich). They also had some artsy hot springs super green tea ones with cats on them, and sake (which I grabbed).
Donki is much cheaper than many other shops, and the mega store has a great collection. I picked out my jillion flavors in bags and was on my merry and kit-kat encumbered way.
I wandered the very wet streets for a bit and when the downpour became too much, I settled in to watching people cross in Hachiko crossing from the Tsutaya Starbucks.
There was a very long line despite the rain to take a picture with the Hachiko dog statue – which is a statue placed to commemorate a very loyal dog who returned to the station to wait for his master every day for nine years while his master never returned. If you would like to shed a tear, he has a wikipedia article.
After becoming mostly drenched, I met up with friends in Ikebukuro to go do something indoors – an aquarium! I’ve never been to the Sunshine Aquarium (and indeed because Ikebukuro is on the other side of Tokyo from where my commuter pass was, I’ve not been there too many times before).
Sunshine Aquarium is located on the top floor of the Sunshine City shopping complex. Despite its name, the sun was definitely not shining, nor did the name appear to be a ward against the rain in favor of the sun. Oh well. The aquarium was not horribly busy, and for the price had a lot of pretty cool fish from around the various seas!
They had a lot of frogs as part of a Frog Rangers exhibit (some kind of children’s show, I suppose). The frogs were pretty amazing – they had a lot of poison dart frog colors and sizes.
The aquarium also had a nice outdoor area, with high areas for the seals to swim in, and a grassy penguin enclosure where you could get quite close. Due to the horrible weather, nobody was out there – we had the penguins all to ourselves! They didn’t seem too fussed by the driving wind and rain.
After Sunshine Aquarium, we were obligated to visit the Pokemon Center, the one in Sunshine City being the largest one. Of course, I gave Nintendo my money.
After Pokemon Center, I was graciously invited to my friend’s house for a delicious home-cooked meal of Mabo tofu. I even acquired the recipe – yesssss.
Tuesday was my last full day in Tokyo. Somehow the rain has stopped, but heat took its place (of course). I swam my way through the humidity to my alma mater to purchase some goodies. There was a sign at the gate requiring guests to register with the guard…but even after a quick chat with the guard, he seemed to not care at all and I tromped my way to the school store and back. They lacked mugs and it was upsetting.
I wanted to stay indoors as much as possible today, so I met up with friends at Odaiba, home of a giant mall and a big Gundam statue (also a statue of liberty because reasons). The Diver City mall (yes – diversity – a thing Japane does not have) is a large American-style mall, filled with floors of stores and restaurants. Malls seem to be dying out in America, but doing well over here. This one’s draw is obviously the giant Gundam, so I suspect it will be around for a bit.
And for my final dinner, more ramen from that wonderful mom and pop shop I found with my Yotsuya-living friend. Tomorrow I have just a half day left before heading home 🙁
I will leave you with these $6 teeny pineapples I found in the grocery store.
