Tokyo shopping adventure

Day two was a shopping day. My plan was to stay around and concentrate on shopping.
I went to Shibuya (about 5 minutes JR ride away from Shinjuku) because many people told me that 松本清, a cosmetic pharmacy store, has a good collection of goodies and is cheaper compared to other cosmetic stores. I did my cosmetic research before going to Japan so I already had a list of things I wanted to buy. 松本清 was like women's heaven. It kind of reminded me of Watson's in Taiwan but had more things. I spent about 2 hours in the two 松本清 stores infront of Shibuya 109 (yes, TWO hours!!). It was way past noon afternoon when I came out satisfied loaded with a variety of things from cosmetics, lotions, masks, to hair dye.

I did a very brief sight-seeing journey in Shibuya (not like there were so much to see there other than shopping). Below are pictures I took in Shibuya:

Infront of Hachiko outside of JR Shibuya station.

There's a heart-warming story behind Hachiko. For more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachiko

Shibuya Train Museum

This is an old subway train so it was pretty cool. You can see those old train seats that people used to sit on. Japan seems like a train-oriented place. The transportation between places is much more convenient compared to Canada.

After Shibuya, I headed back to Shinjuku since that's where shopping central is. First, I went to Maru department store to find Aimer Feel (a lingerie brand that Sandy recommended). It was really hard to find because there were too many department stores around the area. Aimer Feel has a lot of really cute underwear and the price is also very good compared to Canada (about $20-30 CAD for a whole set). The store keeper did not speak or understand ANY English at all so it was difficult for me to shop since the bra size is totally different in Asia compared to North America. After Aimer Feel, I went to Isetan, another classic department store in Shinjuku, for a brief tour. I bought a bento box from the food section in Isetan. Isetan's items seem to be more unique compared to other department stores. I saw a leather wallet that was really pretty and only about $80CAD. Other than that, all the other items in the department store were really EXPENSIVE *sob*. How can all these people in Japan afford these expensive clothing???

Bento box from Isetan (900 yen).

From top left: Grilled fish, Mixed stew with octopus, tofu, and various vegetables.

From bottom left: rice with pickeled plum and seaweed, sweetened eggplant, stewed bamboo shoots.

After lunch, I went to Takashimaya Times. It's a big big department store in Shinjuku. I didn't shop much in the main department store since everything was so expensive. However, Takashimaya Times contains , a creative life store that sells various household items, travel essentials, crafts, home deco, office/school supplies, YOU NAME IT! This Tokyu Hands has like 9 storeys. I spent the rest of my day here shopping in various levels. I bought materials for crafts, cute cute calendar and agenda for 2007, school supplies, cards, wrappers, whole bunch of Japanese stuffed dolls/toys, and a variety of other undescribable things. There was a cover for the flush on toilets. It was so cute and came as different animal shapes. I struggled for about 10 minutes infront of it but still decided not to get it because it was 3500 yen for a tiny little cover (about $35US). But it was REALLY cute!!! >_<>

For dinner, I went to the food section of Takashimaya Times and bought a beef bento. It was on sale because it was after hours (the food section in department stores usually have discounts after say like 5 or 6pm to get rid of all the left over food). It was a really good deal becaue the bento was only like 400 yen (?) and came with a half-cooked egg. For those that have fear for half-cooked egg, it tasted really good when I mixed it in with the beef and rice. After dinner I went straight to bed. I think I might have walked 50km in a day from all those shopping I did (well, at least it felt like 50 km).

Beef rice box from Takashimaya Times (plus egg) and "Jumbo" Pudding" from Cozy Corner in Sunade. Cozy corner had so many different puddings like "pudding", "jumbo pudding", "Ginza pudding", etc. By the way, what's a "Ginza pudding"? I never knew Ginza was famous for its pudding......???

Impression of Japan (Day 2):

- Things at department stores are really really expensive

- Buying cosmetics and lingerie in Japan is women's heaven

- People still walk really fast

- Bento boxes taste really good and who said food in Tokyo is REALLY expensive??

Enough with kaimono-ing. Day 3 will be about sight-seeing in Tokyo...