Tokyo - Candy and Cuteness

Thursday the 22nd was our last day in Tokyo and the end of our summer traveling. :( We started out the day by going to Tokyo Station to put our luggage in a coin locker. First Jonathan got a drink from a fancy vending machine. There were a lot of Star Trek ads all over Tokyo that week.

The vending machine showed information like the weather and how many calories were in each drink.

After putting our luggage in a locker we went to the Marunouchi side of the station to see the new renovations. Now this part of Tokyo Station looks like it did before the bombings of World War II. It was under construction last time I lived in Japan.

 

I had originally planned for us to visit Meiji Shrine that morning but Jonathan didn't want to be out in the heat much. I didn't mind though because that meant I had time to go back to Shinjuku and visit Shinjuku Marui One. :)

We passed by Bikkuro and stopped in to look at the Lego displays.

As we approached Shinjuku Marui One I was very happy to see that it was open! It's filled with lolita stores including two of my favorites: Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty. Photos weren't allowed in the stores and many mannequin displays near the elevators had signs saying not to take pictures, but I didn't see a sign on this display. It was Disney themed which was kind of neat but definitely not the cutest stuff I saw there. I really wish I could have taken photos in there!

I saw a really cute pink jumper skirt at Baby the Stars Shine Bright and the girl there said I could try it on. I really wanted to but I didn't because I had no intention of buying it. It was about 25,000 yen.... :(

On our way back to the station we saw something really exciting. Menchie's! It's a self-serve frozen yogurt place. Jonathan and I went to Orange Leaf, which is very similar, a lot back in the US. I went to Menchie's once there too.

It was very small and didn't have a huge selection of flavors (six I think, plus three swirled combos) but it was fine because they had chocolate and banana. When I went to Menchie's in the US banana had been my favorite flavor.

I put bananas, some flavored chocolate pieces, marshmallows and sprinkles on mine. It was SOOOO tasty! :)

Next we headed to Harajuku. Before doing any shopping we went to Jonathan's for lunch. I've seen a few around Japan and always tell Jonathan he has to go and we finally did. When we went in we had to write our names down on a waiting list and I was amused that I got to write "Jonathan."

The picture below shows the Jonathan Salad with J's Dressing. He got it, haha.

I had hamburg (hamburger without a bun) with grated daikon and mushrooms. It was tasty!

I also got the drink bar which is always nice because refills aren't common in Japan. I took advantage of it and got melon soda, ginger ale, and tea. They had a selection of about ten different loose teas and special cups with infusers. I had the guava blend.

That sign says "Jonathan" in Japanese.

After a good lunch we headed towards Candy Show Time. First I got distracted by a store with cute cat themed products, but the stuff was a little pricey.

Candy Show Time was a lot of fun! The name is very fitting because you get to watch the candy being made.

The workers were layering different colors of the candy and rolling it into a large log.

Next they stretched it out a lot.

The showed us what the design was. It was a winking man with a hat and mustache and it said "Look!" I don't know why it said that, but it was really neat and so detailed!

They cut the candy into shorter lengths and then rolled the rods around on a cold surface to harden them.

Then they quickly cut the candy into individual pieces. The woman who did that was really fast! Next she passed out samples. I'm not sure what the flavor was, but it was more flavorful than I expected.

They had little bags that were three for 600 yen. I bought grapefruit, kiwi, and strawberry milk. The grapefruit ones are good, but I don't care much for the strawberry milk ones. They're just kind of sweet, though they're kind of what I expected all of their candy to taste like. I haven't tried kiwi yet.

Jonathan hadn't been looking forward to Candy Show Time but he ended up liking it. He didn't know that you get to watch them make the candy.

Next was... Kiddyland!

I was amused by the instant cameras. I thought now with digital cameras that Polaroid pictures were long gone. They had some really cute film though. Rilakkuma and Little Twin Stars and Hello Kitty!

So many Totoros!

I got excited to see an ad for the Sailor Moon action figure. Too bad it's about 4,000 yen. I would pay like 1,500 but definitely not 4,000. Why are action figures so expensive???

Yotsuba and Sailor Moon! So much happiness!

The top floor was half Rilakkuma and half Sanrio. Sorry for the horrible picture above with the random woman looking at me, but I wanted to show what each half looked like.

The Rilakkuma side also had a small selection of other San-X characters. I bought a stuffed light pink Mamegoma. :)

After Kiddyland we walked down Takeshita, the crazy street of Harajuku. Jonathan hates that area of Harajuku so I didn't get to look in many places.

There are new signs at the ends of the street. This one was just displaying a boring image of people walking around. There were some balloon decorations, but I like the older sign better. It was more colorful and fit the street better I think.

The last stop of our Tokyo trip was Akihabara. First we visited Super Potato which has a TON of old video games. Both sides of the aisle in the picture below were filled with nothing but Super Famicon (Super Nintendo) games!

They had a lot of Dreamcast games, too. You never see that in the US!

I tried to take another picture of the store as I was leaving and really startled this guy. Hahahaha. This picture cracks me up!

We went in a random store (well, actually it was several different stores in one building) that ended up being really fun. One floor had tons of gashapon (capsule) toys so if there's ever a particular one that I really want and can't get I know where to go. Many of them were a bit more expensive than you would get from a machine, but it's better than spending a ton of money trying over and over again and getting stuff I don't want.

One floor had a bunch of really adorable dolls. You can make your own doll by buying separate bodies and heads and decals for the faces and stuff.

At first I was sad that I couldn't take pictures of the dolls because there was a sign saying no pictures allowed, but on the case it said that you could take pictures of just the stuff in the cases. Yay!

The doll floor was really cute and fun, but also creepy because it was all men shopping there until towards the end when an elementary-aged girl and her mom came in. Oh and there was a female working there too which helped tone down the creepiness a bit.

Next time I'm in Tokyo I think I'll buy stuff to put together a doll. There were some really neat accessories and stuff. They even had scale models of gashapon machines and train ticket gates and shopping carts.

The top floor had some old Sailor Moon action figures which I was excited to see. I didn't see a price though but I'm sure they were expensive.

I was also excited to see Yotsuba phone straps. I had seen them online but not in any stores. There are five different designs and it's a mystery which one you'll get. I got the raincoat one which was my second choice. The yukata one was my first choice.

When we cut through the station to get to Yodobashi Camera I saw ads for the Sailor Moon action figure. Seeing Sailor Moon stuff made me so happy!

After spending a little time in Yodobashi Camera we grabbed a quick dinner at Vie de France. I can't remember everything that mine had, but it included boiled egg, mushrooms, edamame, and bacon.

Jonathan's had macaroni!

Then we went to Tokyo station, grabbed our luggage, and got on the 6:30 train. I was sad to leave Tokyo, but I was also excited to get back and work on my blog and talk about my trips.