20 Jan 2013 - Japan day 3 - Sugamo, Tokyo station

continuing from Yanaka, we went to Sugamo after lunch. the target was the shopping street called 巣鴨地蔵通り商店街 , which is nearer to the subway station than the Sugamo JR station - and when we arrived, it was a sight to behold!

the brightly colored decorations celebrating the new year lined the shopping street popular with the older generation, and the cute duck mascot was everywhere. there was even a giant furry fake duck butt near the entrance of shopping street about 2m high for people to pinch and pose with.

i really enjoyed the festive atmosphere of the area and there was so much to see, buy and eat.
 
there were shops with long queues - mostly those offering daifukus, like the shio daifuku (塩大福, where the mochi and filling is both sweet & salty) store above. 

 
we walked down the street and explored the different stores - i really liked the charming shops selling adorable cloth toys made out of the beautiful Japanese print cloth.

we also saw this shop selling red underwear - it's famous because people believe red underpants will give the wearer good luck. inside the shop was Haruna Ai's autograph!
my mom bought a red long-sleeve inner wear top because it was on sale.

then we went to Character Street in First Avenue Tokyo Station (東京駅一番街).

the above is the store for Rilakkuma. :)

we also went to the Calbee+ shop where people were queuing to buy freshly fried potato snacks, like the thick ridge cut chips with chocolate sauce topping.

we got lost in the vast underground shopping area, dragging our battered feet...

deciding to take the exit for the bus station, we finally emerged out to street level, and saw the illuminated brick exterior of the station, first built in 1914. 

we went in to see the reconstructed domes.

then, we took the train back to Ikebukuro, and had ramen, rice and gyoza somewhere at the east side of Ikebukuro station.
it was the best ramen i had in while.

Posted on 2.19.2013 by nya

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