Resisting the temptation to go to the nearby McDonald's or Mos or Lotteria (read: fastfood place) for breakfast, we headed for Becker's inside the Ikebukuro Station (North Exit) --
We were a bit apprehensive because it was our first time to order (without the help of my brother) -- thankfully, all restaurants in Japan have a picture menu and you can just point to what you like. (It does help to understand a bit so you know what you are ordering -- more on this later.)
While waiting for our order, Johann was observing the people around us -- he wanted to make sure we did things right and proper. He noticed that, after a meal, people would dispose of their own trash -- segregating paper from plastic from PET, etc.
Our meal was delicious -- we both opted for the croissant (over toast) and he had sausages while I had bacon. (Sorry, no pictures!)
After our meal, we walked to Sunshine City, which is about 2+ blocks from our hotel. There's also a Tokyu Hands beside it so we stopped by there first.
On our way to Sunshine City, we found this:
<-- it's the Johnan Cram School. At first glance, we thought it was "Johann" -- ^_^
We also found this:
<-- Illy ready-to-drink coffee! Glee! >_<
And also saw this:
<-- One of the things I love about Tokyo is her deep love for her traditions -- ladies in their kimonos walking alongside other women wearing the latest fashion. It's an amazing mix of old and new.
Our main goal inside Sunshine City was Toys R Us -- and we spent most of our morning walking around, making the difficult decision of which toys to buy for our two kids.
We were slightly hungry as we were heading back to our hotel and the lure of the fastfood chains was irresistible --
So we went to McDonald's and I got a Happy Meal (because the toy was cute) and Johann got a Shrimp Burger.
Throughout our stay, we ended up trying the Shrimp Burgers of McDonald's and Lotteria and had made plans to try out Mos Burger ... but didn't have the time and opportunity.
My brother was waiting for us at our hotel and we all took the train to Nakano.
Our plan was to visit Nakano Broadway Arcade for our anime/manga/gaming needs. When we exited our station, we heard the soft beating of the drums and decided to follow it. There was a mini-festival happening in the nearby park so we took time to check it out.
We stayed for 2 performances (more were scheduled throughout the day) and tried out the foodstalls --
<-- Dragon Fruit juice sold by:
<-- these cute kids in their cute aprons =^_^=
<-- Grilled Pork (So, so yummy!)
At Toys R Us, I kept seeing these flat plastic mats being sold and I didn't know what their purpose was. Turns out, moms carry one or two in their bags and lay them out for such occasions:
Our first stop at Nakano Broadway Arcade was the takoyaki stand --
I remember watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and how cute he looked struggling to eat the very hot takoyaki ball.
There is no waiting for the takoyaki ball to cool down -- you can blow and blow until you think it's cool enough but the inside will still be steaming hot -- it was a delicious albeit painful lesson to learn.
Broadway Arcade is an awesome place for anime/manga fans -- the second (and third) floors are filled with little stalls selling merchandise -- unfortunately, I am very out-of-touch with the new titles so I wasn't really able to appreciate the place as much as I should.
Our trip to Nakano Broadway ended with dinner at Capricciosa where we had a rice croquette, a pizza and two types of pasta.
<-- a rice croquette is a rolled ball of rice with cheese in the middle. It is then fried crisp and served with tomato sauce. Glorious! Given the chance, I'd probably eat one by myself.
<-- we were very full so my brother took this home with him. And, yes, they even packed the shell!
* * *
Because I am ancient, my memory is a bit fuzzy but we also visited another place near Nakano (Shibuya? Shinjuku?) --
We went to Yellow Submarine, a local gaming store (with branches in other parts of Tokyo) and also to a place that had this:
<-- Gashapon Heaven!!!
They had a gashapon for everything!
<-- Evangelion
<-- donuts!
(Apparently, there are even "naughty" gashapons found at places of ill-repute. O_O)
There was this cute bear, meant to draw people into the Sega game arcade. The bear was doing a lot of cute poses. --
It was really cute! A lot of girls stopped to take pictures of it and with it. (While others were screaming "kawaii~" at the sidelines.)
Our very last stop for the day was Book Off -- I don't know where we were at that point -- my feet were hurting and my eyes were bleary na by then.
<-- even my pictures were bleary!
BookOff specializes in used books -- they buy and sell used books. (My brother sells his old manga to them. ^_^)
The branch we went to had a very good selection of English books and Johann was able to find 2 graphic novels and a book. I got a copy of Anne Rice's Christ the Lord for my sister. They were having a sale on English titles when we were there -- 20% off the price. So my sister's Y350 became Y280 (or about PhP140) --
It is an excellent place to find Harry Potter hardcovers in both UK and US releases ...
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