Abeno

Today's Japanese Word of the Day:
買い物
Kaimono
(Noun: Shopping)

One day we went shopping in Abeno. It was really a very cool mall. Mostly for clothes, which made one of the other girls very, very happy, but nonetheless it had some cool stuff in it.

I don't have a picture of it, so this is a pretty good spot to talk about it. We went and took purikura pictures here. It's kind of hard to explain... you walk into a photo booth, and pick a few settings. It makes your eyes bigger and your skin smoother and paler, so everyone looks fabulous. When the pictures are finished being taken, you walk out and go to a touchscreen computer on the side of the booth, where you put a bunch of text or clip art pictures on it. You see a few of them in the Nancy Drew game in Japan. I don't have them in electronic format, but if you ask me when I get home, I can show you my physical copy.

Alright, pictures!

Remember how in my Shitennoji University post, in the skyline picture, I mentioned I was going to show you a picture of Japan's tallest building close-up? Well, here it is. Pretty tall, isn't it?

This is a view of the outside of the mall as you're walking up to it. I like these city shots. They kind of set the scene.

Now, this next picture is probably my favorite one I've taken thus far. I really, really like this next picture.

This hotel is certified un-shady!

This right here? Ninja supply store. Ergo, touristy Japanese goods. Almost all of us got something or other here, myself included!

On a completely unrelated note, the only person still on my shopping list is Mom. I think I've got an idea for what I need for her, though. Hopefully I'll find one soon!

What am I looking to get for my mother, you ask?

It's a SECRET!

If I had a hundred dollars and a way to get it past customs, I would totally have bought one of these swords. These were in the ninja supply store, by the way.

Leaving the ninja supplier now, we briefly visit Drug Store's Shop.

There are a few things in this world that you cannot get away from no matter where you go. The "Call Me Maybe" song (playing on the intercom in this store). SpongeBob. Perry the Platypus. All on that list of inescapable things.

There was also an arcade in this mall, and this seemed to be one of the more popular games. It was like Guitar Hero, only with drums. The guys playing it are in the program (Christian and, um, that arm might belong to Daniel). I promise I didn't take a picture of a random couple of people.

Another thing you cannot get away from even in Japan: Tomogatchi. Except here, there are plush dolls of them.

Another interesting difference between American and Japanese malls are the mannequins. These ones have anime eyes, which was a little unusual, but all of the full-body mannequins wear wigs. Most of them are standing in posed positions--or even sitting. The one I'm thinking of was sitting in its own armchair.

In the middle of all the bubbly pink frilly clothes was this island of black and spikes. I felt rather ill at ease, but the other girls loved this stuff to death.

...I have no words for this.

This, though, I have many words for.

Another interesting difference between American and Japanese stores are the food displays. Rather than having big blown-up pictures of plastic food, all of the restaurants (not just in the mall) have these glass cases that showcase their food. They're probably still plastic, but it still looks amazing. These are giant scoops of ice cream placed in the middle of four cookies (or wafers, or whatever they are). They convinced me to buy an ice cream cone from this place.

And it was good.

Close-up. Craving some ice cream yet?

Here's another example of a food case from a different restaurant.

This bridge is awesome. Why build a regular, boring roof when you can build a folded-up awesome roof?

Here's another one of those city shots I was saying that I liked. This one is showing the street underneath the bridge (which I am standing on).

Remember the bikes and the scooters?

This warning sign kind of made me giggle. Beware shady people!

A Pikachu ride at the arcade for the little 'uns. I so would have been all over that when I was six.

Finally, on our way back to the train station, we stopped by this concert going on and listened for about thirty seconds. These guys were really good, and really, really cute.

After getting back to our area, we went out to karaoke. I don't have enough pictures of that to be satisfactory, so that's on hold until we go again. But don't worry. It was über cool, and we will be going again, and I will get more pictures, and I will post!

~Amanda