Japan: Day Three ☆

Day 3 of the Japan trip and still going strong!

It helped that I saw S/mileage the day before.

Today, my mom and I were going to spend the morning together! ☆ My dad’s colleague’s found out he was in Tokyo for holiday, so they roped him in to have a meeting with the Japanese people. Seriously?

We had breakfast firstGrilled egg and german potatoes!

Thank you hotel-san!

I also went down to Family Mart and bought myself a mochi egg bun, yum.

Light and spongy!

While paying I zeroed in on a pack of AKB48 trading cards on the counter, so I bought them too.

We finally left the hotel ♪

My mom and I wandered around our beloved Ikebukuro that morning! (And later on Nakano broadway, which turned out to be my downfall. More about that later)

First, we visited Tokyu Hands

Tokyu Hands is a department store that sells the most amazing stuff ever, like novelty items, lifestyle needs, stationery, furniture, pretty much everything you could possibly need ★ It’s one of the greatest places to go to get brilliant souvenirs, and a favourite place of mine in Japan! If you go there, be sure to check out Tokyu Hands ~

What’s the best part of Tokyu Hands?

NEKOBUKURO
(Yup, I talked about it here too)

Oh my lovely paradiseIt was so lovely to see the cats again! I didn’t recognise a good number though, so I went around petting them all.

Here are a few pictures of cats.

I saw my Kuro-chan! ♡ But after three years, I come back to see him in the glass cabinAhhh. It was nice to meet him again after so long though, even if I couldn’t pet him.

The inner entrance

Iraishamase nya ~

A TV for you and the cats to watch!

Being surrounded by so many cats is such a pleasureSome of them let you stroke them everywhere (even gently tweak their tails), and some especially like to be petted in certain areas like their necks. Some just like to sleep.

Cat lovers, please go to Nekobukuro ♪

After spending almost an hour there, I wandered around the rest of Tokyu Hands. Like I said, the things there are amazing. AKB48 cosplay anyone?

Men’s size. MEN’S SIZE

There are tons of other costumes and accessories too!

Wigs in packets.

I couldn’t buy any of those costumes.

My mom and I left Tokyu Hands after that ♪ We headed across the street to one of the arcades and there I managed to get my mom to take purikura with me.

Before the trip, I did a lot of research on the different Purikura machines and makers, and I was able to find the ones that I liked(I’m a bit of a purikura connoisseur)

There were actually UFO catchers that had lots and lots of alpacas insideI just wanted to smash through the glass and bury myself in that mountain of cotton candy fluff.

♥♥♥ !

But well…I couldn’t win any. So I just walked away sadly.

My next stop cheered me up! I was set on going to Nakano Broadway. So I went. But for the next hour, I was in so much of a rush that I couldn’t take any photos of Nakano Broadway.

I went to Trio3 to get my secondhand H!P goods! There are three Trio stores in Nakano Broadway alone. Trio sells male idol goods. Trio2 sells largely AKB48 and other female idol goods. Trio3 sells H!P (and other idols) goods!

Because they were all secondhand, the photos were all ¥52 or ¥105 each. They were old, so all the photos I bought are of chibi Maimai

I also bought Yuuka’s photo book at ¥2100 ☆

♡

As it was, I made us terribly lateWe were supposed to take a train to Kyoto, and we just made it a minute before the train chugged off. That was the moment of regret for me, because I didn’t plan properly and I was too impulsive. It won’t happen again

Because I didn’t have lunch, I had a bento on the trainIt’s really pretty! The Japanese are always great in presenting their food spectacularly.

The three of us met Mieko-san in Kyoto. Remember her? She gave me AKB newspaper! (I never even knew those existed)

You can see half of Mariko’s face.

We walked down the streets of Kyoto at night. There was a particular street called Gion, where it had lots of old-fashioned shophouses and interesting alleys. Just what I wanted to see

With Mieko-san and her friend, they brought everyone to a tempura restaurant. It was incredibleThe tempura chef said he had 10 years of training before he could actually fry them for people.

The tempura cooker thing!

There were all sorts of tempura dishes, like shrimp, vegetables, and even prawn heads.

Mmmm…crispy.

With that, day three ended with our arrival in Kyoto! I had never been to Kyoto before, so I was really excited to see another side of Japan

The next day we visited famous attractions in Kyoto. Please look forward to my post on Day Four!