Christmas Shopping in Tokyo

 First of all, I am wayyyyyyy behind in blog posts! I got sick twice in December and once I felt better I spent most of my Christmas vacation in Kyoto and Tokyo. I have a LOT to post, but now that I have some free time I'll be able to post quite a bit this week. 

This post is my weekend in Tokyo on December 4th and 5th (wow, that's over a month ago now). I went there to do some Christmas shopping. I didn't go anywhere new, but here are some random pictures from my trip.

I had a nice view of Mt. Fuji from the train on Saturday morning.

When I arrived in Tokyo I got a bento at Tokyo station. This shows how my tastes have changed recently. Just 9 months ago this wouldn't have appealed to me, except for the rice. Even then I wouldn't have wanted the mushrooms in the rice.

I started off my shopping in Asakusa to buy a maneki neko for my sister. I went on a street I had never been on before and thought the stores looked neat. 

I'm not really sure what this sign says, but it has a pooping bird and a crying girl so I had to take a picture.

 

The ginkgo trees were very pretty! :)

 

Yay! A Hello Kitty sign!

Then I went to Ginza to go to Itoya and buy some cards. There were some nice Christmas decorations, but nothing amazing. Though there was one large tree that was attracting a lot of attention. It was big, but besides that it wasn't very interesting. It wasn't even really decorated. It just had lights. But people crowded around it to take pictures. If it weren't for all the people taking pictures of it (that's what I wanted the picture of) I might not have taken a picture.

On the way back to the station I walked past a department store and saw people around a Christmas tree inside. The song Last Christmas was playing (I've heard about a million versions of that song in Japan) and soap "snow" was falling. It was neat, but I thought it was really interesting how people stood there and watched it throughout the entire song, even though nothing changed throughout. I like the "Happy Smile Christmas" on the pot the tree is in. :)

Next I went to Harajuku to go to Kiddyland. When I arrived I was sad that the store was closed. I thought I was too late, but then I noticed a worker standing outside the store. She told me that the store had moved to a side street and gave me a map. Yay! I was happy that I could go! 

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this miniature Rilakkuma stuff. It's adorable!!!! I want that mini kotatsu!

After buying several gifts for friends in Kiddyland, I bought a hot lemonade. It's a pretty common drink in vending machines this time of year. It was my first time having it and I loved it! In the colder months, vending machines have both cold and hot drinks. The drinks in the bottom row of this machine are hot (marked by the red color).

I walked along Omotesando for a little while and saw some pretty Christmas lights.

Hehehe, there was an Arashi train and I of course had to take a picture. I wasn't the only one taking a picture either. However, when my train arrived, it was just the usual plain boring train. :(

Before going back to my hotel, I stopped in 7-11. I found Rainbow Pocky! The flavors inside were: chocolate, green tea, banana, orange, strawberry, grape, and blueberry. They were all good (my favorite was banana!), but I definitely prefer the regular pocky size over the giant pocky.

I also did a lot of shopping on Sunday. In the morning I saw a Pokemon train. But again, when my train arrived it was just plain.

 Shibuya

I went back to Kiddyland because there was something I forgot to buy. I saw these three dogs sitting on a planter. They weren't tied up (I don't know where the owner was), but they just sat there. They were very well behaved and posed for the camera!

I wish this picture turned out more sparkly. This tree is in the window of a Swarovski store.

Then I went to Ikebukuro to shop at Book Off (used book/movie/music/video game store). I stopped at Beckers for lunch. I liked the random combination of this set meal. It was taco salad (rice, ground beef, tortilla chips, tomatoes, and cheese) and minestrone soup. Very tasty though! :)

Well, that was my shopping trip in Tokyo!