Final Tokyo Stop: Ginza

Ginza is the "Beverly Hills" of Tokyo. Upscale shopping is not really our thing, but it was interesting to look around. My must stop was Itoya, a multi-story building dedicated to stationery supplies. D couldn't believe there could be so many floors to a stationery store.

Running low on blood sugar, D stocked up on sakura mochi and stopped at McDonald's for a breakfast meal. We also bought a chocolate croissant at a cute store called Choco Cro and saved it for our afternoon snack. I had actually not heard of this chain during my extensive culinary research of Japan, and was pleasantly surprised. The croissant is nice and flaky, and the chocolate was melty inside.


Tokyo had been cloudy since we arrived, but for the first time, it started to sprinkle during the daytime. We ducked into a place called Ippudo for hakata-style ramen. There is an English menu, and we ordered one "white bowl" and one "red bowl", and upgraded with gyoza. They also gave us a pitcher of cold ice tea which had a menthol-aftertaste.

The red bowl has more of a kick. There was also fresh garlic cloves along with a garlic press to add even more kick.


Perfect for a rainy day.


By the time we finished lunch, the sun came out!

D checked out the fancy showroom in the Sony building.


I was more interested in the fancy Hello Kitty store by the subway station. (I was unable to go to the HK store in Shinjuku, with the largest statue of Hello Kitty in the world.)

They were selling these bouquets outside of the store. There was also a nail salon for HK manicures inside.




Blinged-Out Hello Kitty

There wasn't too much selection and I didn't buy anything, but it was fun to gawk.


Wako building. We stepped in, immediately felt underdressed, and walked out.

Our final stop was another famous department store, Matsuya. D looked at the clothing/shoes in the men's department and felt weird having several employees bow to him every time he walked by.


We also checked out the depachika (department store food hall).

One place sold fancy fruits. One mango was over $100! Can you imagine? It is meant to be given as a gift, but still...

Crazier still...

White strawberries, also around $100!

More lovely looking dessert display cases:


When we first walked past this bakery, there was a long line of people standing in a queue separate from the regular cash register.

Turns out they were waiting for Ginza Choco bread, which apparently is only available during certain times of the day.


Cute Easter-Springtime pastries

I chose a coffee bun from Johan to eat later on the shinkansen, and it was my favorite sweet of the trip. I guess I can understand why people wait in long lines for the choco bread!