Monday, August 1, 2011

DAY 4: YAY FOR FOOD AMUSEMENT PARKS!

personally, i was really excited for our itinerary today. today we went to ikebukuro, and it was like a smorgusboard of fun. but first, we of course had breakfast. bread with "peanut cream". 



peanut cream sort of tastes like a mix of peanuts and caramel? i guess? it's really good!!! afterwards, we were off to ikebukuro! 


sunshine city is a must in ikebukuro. 

especially the tokyu hands building because on the 8th floor there is a pet shop and cat cafe (i'll get into what a cat cafe is in a few minutes hahaha...don't worry, you don't eat cats)!
here is the pet store! i REALLY almost bought one of these for kahlua! 


fancy-schmancy cat treats for spoiled kitties!

hamsters...

and they had these guys! they are really similar to mudpuppies, and look so cool!


and stag beetles! very popular in japan

this bunny was too cute! but he was about $100!!!


now onto the cat cafe! since buying a pet is so expensive in japan (dogs, and even cats can be $1,000 - $2,000 dollars), there are "cat cafes" so people living in japan can come visit and play with kitties to get their cat fix :) this one is called "nekobukuro" which is a play on words involving "neko" (cat) combined with it's location in ikebukuro. cute entrance!


the set-up was really fun inside. lots of things for the cats to climb on, and about half are walking around while the other half are in glass cages to get a break from the kids haha...






cute lion tail!

this kitty really loves being groomed!

the cat's bios haha...


safe spot really high up away from kids haha



the smaller kitties getting excited because a cage was being set-up outside their glass cage for them! they heard the noise and knew they would be out soon.

whee!


older cats not caring...

THIS ONE WAS MY FAVORITE. MUNCHKIN CAT!


this cat spied erik's backpack strap and REALLY wanted it


more kitties just hanging out



cozy!



after we got our cat fix, we went to namja town which is very close by. we were SO excited for this because it's like a food amusement park! i wish we could have tried more things, but our tummies are only so big!


this is called "gyoza stadium"!!! gyoza are potstickers

YUM!

inside there were a TON of different gyoza restaurants. hard to choose which one to go to! 


these ones looked cute!

here are the ones we got. they were really good! handmade, and fresh! they were pork inside :)

the circle ones had shrimp in there with the pork! SO GOOD!

for dessert, we walked around namja town some more and arrived at "ice cream city". yesssssssss....

there were SO many options for ice cream. not only in little tubs like these, but also soft serve, shaved ice, everything i think!

the little tubs had a ton of flavors. some were normal like these...

and as i'm sure you suspected, others were not to normal...
this one is chicken wing:

eel & wasabi

a variety of alcoholic options haha...

garlic! almost got this one! i want garlic ice cream one day! maybe we will go back ;)
i also love how on the tub it says "dracula" haha

fried noodle, curry, caviar, viper, saury, silk, miso noodle and ox tounge...i don't even know what viper and silk would taste like!

shark's fin & noodle:

craziness! i got "rice" and erik got "curry". both were really good! mine tasted vanilla-y, but a bit different, and has rice in it! erik's really did taste like curry! but a sweet curry. it has a little spice to it, but it was really perfect and well done. 

here are some other examples of fancy food you can get!

really cool :) afterwards, we went to toys R us/babies R us because it was nearby. they have a lot of the same things that we do, but some were different. this lego display was really awesome though!

this game is sweet! it's a baseball game, and the bat is attached to it, and when you swing the bat, it swings the player's bat on the board! 

mario BOARD GAMES! the mario kart one was SUPER cool. you can drive around on the course! and it's not a video game! a board game!

the writing on this made us laugh. 

okay, done with that! now we were making our way towards animate, a store with lots of, well, anime and manga! took this shot because i love how all the highways are above in the air.

here we are! many floors (as usual), but honestly? it was only "eh". we really like anime, but this store had 2 whole floors of just books (in japanese). so there wasn't much there for us. the upper floors had cute knickknacks/figurines, but it was nothing special. 

on our way back to the hotel, we stopped in a grocery store (cheaper to buy things here than at convenience stores all the time!). they had thin AND thick asparagus!

absolutely perfect looking grapes

whoa, japan...slow down there. 

another amazing day!!! our sleep schedules are getting better, so that's good :) definitely easier! hopefully tomorrow will be even better sleep-schedule wise!

5 comments:

  1. I can't count the number of times I've been to some of those places. I hadn't had the chance to visit nekobukuro, though, so it was nice to see what it was like.

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  2. Haha, you tried peanut cream!!!! The consistency is really different than PB- when I first tried it at my aunt’s house, I was like WTH? But, I really liked it. She told me I had eaten it as a child, but I guess I had forgotten all about it.

    I loved the cat collars from Tokyu Hands! Japan has just some of the most interesting things for your pet and home, don’t you think? That bunny is adorable!

    That Cat Café looked so much fun. Were the cats friendly? How did they play with the children?

    I am so glad you went and took lots of pics of Namjatown! I am definitely adding this onto our “next time” agenda. I loved all the various flavors of the ice cream- so neat. How was the price point?

    I completely agree with you on Animate. It was like anime overload, and the same stuff floor-over-floor. We walked through a few floors and that was it for us.

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  3. you're definitely right about how japan comes up with unique things for your pet! yesterday we saw YUKATAS for your cat or dog! so they could match you!!! omg they were too cute hahaha...

    the cats were friendly, but a little skiddish because of the kids haha...you can tell they've pretty much had it with kids petting them, but when an adult scratches them on their neck or something, they like it more. some don't give you the chance because they just dont want to be touched. the kittens were a riot though. LOVED the kids, and didn't care about anything lol

    namjatown was pretty awesome! the ice creams were pricey though (Y400 for a tiny cup), but they had really interesting flavors. we actually really want to go back and try more, but you also have to pay Y300/person to get INTO namjatown :\ so, those ice creams are getting more and more expensive if you want to go back to get a different flavor. ah well.

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  4. I love the cats!! So many are of them are really cute. What a great idea, if you can't own one yourself! I would miss owning a kitty, though. Or being owned by one. Ha. I've had my baby since he was one day old, as his feral mama was scared off by someone. :(

    Those ice creams sound awesome. Somehow I can't fathom an ice cream that isn't sweet, but I'd have to give it a try.

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