EDDIEWONG

I joined with a few girls from my ex-employers to visit Utsunmiya (Tochigi prefecture), a place that is famous for its dumplings, gyoza, and Oya stones (image: that frog is carved from Oya).

The girls basically named this trip, gyoza eating trip: go around to a few famous gyoza restaurants and just try ‘em all and see whos the best. So yeah, I thought it was just an eat-till-you-drop kinda thing. But to my surprise, they had plans to do a bit of sightseeing too which is always great since I do not venture out of Tokyo all that often, if ever.

The journey took us about 1hr 30mins (train ride). Upon arriving, the first thing I noticed was, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of people. Certainly, this place is no big city but nor is it really countryside. Anyway…

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To end the day, Yuki, Hiromi and I had dinner near Roppongi Hills (just across the road, actually). The Xmas illumination is identical here every year - they need to do something different… like… change the colours of the LEDs on the tress? Hahahahaha… OK, maybe not…

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After the Imperial Palace, we grabbed something to drink in Marunouchi (trendy business district which is just around the corner) before heading off to the Tokyo Tower, a place I last visited close 11 years ago…

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Yuki is in town again from Osaka so I met up with her and her manga-artist friend, Hiromi, and did a bit of sightseeing here in Tokyo.

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I’m pretty stressed right now, no words can describe my feelings. I decided to go to my fav place today, Odaiba, so I can sit on the artificial beach and let the breeze clear my head then walk around and take some pics. But shortly after I got there, I lost the mood so I headed home instead…

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I only just found out about this new LaLaport shopping mall in Toyosu a week or so ago via a TV program. The TV program mainly focused on the Kidzania part of the shopping mall which happens to be a huge in-house theme park. Because I was busy cleaning Ulala’s cage at the time, I didn’t pay a great deal of attention to the program but I do clearly remember seeing kids with their families riding on small coasters, seeing facilities for kids to learn how to put out fires, construction cranes which kids can control, etc., etc. I think it’s more than your average kinda themepark clearly with educational purposes in mind too.

The program didn’t say too much about the shopping aspects, which is understandable since all shopping malls are cloned with the same shops, anyway.

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From yesterday, I am no longer a Maid Cafe virgin. That’s right! I went to a Maid Cafe for the first (and probably last) time. Me and a visiting friend went around Akiba to get some stuff until we saw lots of maids on the streets and realised that despite how popular Maid Cafes are, we have never been to one before. Since we were tired and thirsty, we thought “ah, why not? Might as well try-out a Maid Cafe” therefore we strolled into the nearest one which is in the Don Quijote building on the 5F.

Upon arriving, we realised that the people queuing to get in were not just the everyday geeks of Akiba, instead there were some trendy males, couples and girl groups. I guess due to the recent popularity of Maid Cafes, people from all-walks-of-life are a little curious, just like me and my friend (^_-;). To my friends delight, which was to my disappointment, no photo signs were splattered all over the entrance area! Damn, I so wanted to take some pics of my friend being served by a maid, something which he disapproved of well before we came anywhere near the building (he knows how reckless and dangerous I can be with a cam).

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Finally made it to Ikea in Minami-Funabashi yesterday after wanting to go for months. You’re probably wondering why I wanted to go since I am from England and that we have our fair share of Ikea stores there. Well, it’s just one of those things: something new opens, everyone is talking about it, everyone is going, everyone is queuing for ages to get in, etc. Yep, that’s all - sad, I know…

Well, what can I say? It’s Ikea as I know it: it’s a huge warehouse, the exact same floor plan that’s more than a decade old, has a cafeteria, etc. But most surprisingly, a lot of the stuff is dirt cheap just like back home! I was expecting the prices of things to at least double the price of what it would cost back in Europe (anything in Tokyo that is imported from the west tends to get a hefty price tag. Except for my income, that is). Actually, some things here seem cheaper…

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Earlier today, I went to a hospital to visit my friend who is recovering from an operation. I didn’t even realise Tokyo Tower was nearby, let alone right outside, until she pointed it out to me from the hospital’s in-house restaurant. I’ve only been to the Tokyo Tower once and that was a little over 10 years ago…