Ikebukuro

After looking at my planner and realizing that I only had five weekends left in Japan, I decided to go out on a day trip by myself to Ikebukuro. I hadn't actually thought of making it a destination until my neighbor from Sweden mentioned that there was a lot of shopping there. It actually is another big tourist spot. So I decided to research the area first and found out that they had a 9 floor bookstore called Junkudo that sold english titled books there. That sold me and I had to go the first chance that I got.


This particular weekend happened to be the weekend when everyone was either busy with other friends or studying for midterms the following week. I had just taken my midterms the previous week so I was free to do as I chose for the day. My friend gave me her chinese guidebook and even though I couldn't really read it, I made use of the detailed maps and colorful pictures of the must see places. She suggested that I go to a Ramen shop that was featured in her book which turned out to be directly across the street from Junkudo.


So at 10am i jumped on the bus from my apartment to Machida bust station and then headed from Machida to Shinjuku via the Odakyu line. Since I ended up taking the Odakyu around 11 am, the train heading to Shinjuku was packed and I had to stand the whole 45 minutes on the way there. When I got to Shinjuku I switched over to the Yamanote Line and within 7 minutes I was standing in Ikebukuro station.


Second to Shinjuku, Ikebukuro is one of the most busiest stations in Japan because may of the rail lines run through that stop. As mentioned before, Japan has a lot of department stores that are associated with the rail lines. It was very common for department stores to be intermingled in the labryinth of the subway systems underground. It was supposed to afford the ultimate convenience: the stores were right there and you didn't even have to exit the station.


Ikebukuro is flanked on both sides by three of the biggest department stores in Japan: Seibu, Tobu and Parco. I skipped those and headed straight for Junkudo. To my delight they held some of the latest fiction titles just released in the US. It was so great to be able to get reading materials besides japanese magazines. Afterwards I headed over to the Ramen place that my friend had suggested. After an hour and half wait which was passed by reading my new book, I finally got seated in the ramen shop. It was a very tiny ramen shop that took your order while you were waiting outside. So as soon as I sat down my food was ready instantly and it was absolutely delicious. Ramen is the one thing that the Japanese can never get wrong.


I decided to browse around the shops and Sunshine-dori which is the most popular street in Ikebukuro. Along Sunshine-dori were many arcades, stores, and places to eat. Also located on this road was a Tokyu Hands where on the top floor you could pet cats for a nominal fee. I decided to follow Sunshine-dori heading towards Animate and Sunshine City. Sunshine City is a mall full of stores (the one and only mall that I had ever seen in Japan) and Namja Town; a themed city of food. I didn't stay long in Sunshine city since I wasn't in the mood to spend a whole hell of a lot of money, but I decided that I would have to return soon.