A Discovery!

In all the tourism and travel books I have consulted (and believe me, I have read many), not a single one mentioned this neighbourhood: Kichijoji. Sweet baby carrots, there’s a lot of good shopping to be had in this ward. Yet all you hear about and read about is the good old Ginza (ABSOLUTELY a waste of time unless you’re the kind to pay 3,000$ for a purse) and a few others like Shinjuku, Harajuku for fashions and Asakusa for souvenirs. But never Kichijoji. It has everything. You want cute little fabric buttons with ladybugs on them? Kichijoji has them. You want red and purple leather shoes? Kichijoji has them. And food. Glorious, glorious food stalls and little terraces. Son and I were so excited to find that spot. And not a single gaijin in sight. We felt like locals (except we look nothing like locals…as was painfully apparent when I tried to buy a t-shirt and was up to 3xl and they still were too short…I’m only 5’8″ and wear size 8-10 in Canada, so I’m no Valkyrie!). And the shoes, I won’t even go there (size 10…yeah.).

And now, photos!

Some things are the same, yet different. Yes, peanut butter. There’s a teenager here, you know.

And I thought Germany was thorough about its garbage disposal and how to handle it. Holy tofu! Look at that chart. Plastic bottles need to be peeled and uncapped THEN placed in its own bin. And then food trays in another. And then food stuff in yet another. No wonder there’s a chart that’s two feet wide. We live in constant fear that we’ll mess up the delicate garbage equilibrium.

Yesterday and today was reserved for gaming. So to Akihabara we went. I have never, ever, ever heard so much noise and been bombarded by so many ads and neon signs and vendors exhorting their wares. We were there for the opening and Sega does something really fun: they have metal curtains over their windows, but you hear them behind, yelling and getting psyched up, louder and louder. Then the curtains rise and the employees rush out like a bunch of Banshees and spill onto the sidewalk, shouting and clapping. It was HILARIOUS!