Shopping in Ikebukuro

September 16, 2019・3 min read (537 words)

We were woken up at 1210 by the doorbell but went back to sleep. It’s actually happened a few times so I guess door-to-door salesmen are well and alive here.

I left the house at 1545 to find the small Chinatown in Ikebukuro but since I can’t read Chinese and the Chinese shops are apparently mostly not on the ground floor, I didn’t end up figuring out where it was. Perhaps it’s more of a distributed thing rather than a single street.

A ramen shop, Ikebukuro: can't complain.

Ramen eggs are usually my favourite part of the meal.

Recently I haven't been able to predict whether I'll be able to eat a lot
or a little. This time it was a lot, so I asked for kaedama (a noodle
refill). The waitress asked if I had a student card but I didn't bother to
bring it to Japan, so I had to pay the ~100 JPY. — Recently I haven't been able to predict whether I'll be able to eat a lot or a little. This time it was a lot, so I asked for kaedama (a noodle refill). The waitress asked if I had a student card but I didn't bother to bring it to Japan, so I had to pay the ~100 JPY.

After window shopping at Labi (another electronics store), I spent something like two hours at Bic Camera leisurely looking for gifts and picking up some requests. When I finally checked out at closing time at 2200, just after the attendant had scanned everything, she told me that if I liked them on Facebook I could get a coupon to use for my purchase. Since I don’t currently have a Facebook account and it might take a few minutes to set one up, I gave up and apologised, saying that I’d come back another day, leaving all my items there for someone to put back on the shelves. Not too bad I suppose since I now knew what I wanted to buy and where to find it. That night after making a Facebook account and looking at the Bic Camera page, I realised that all I needed to do was find their public page and show the picture containing a coupon code, without needing to make an account.

Yangguofu Malatang, Ikebukuro: I stumbled across some Chinese food when I
wasn't looking for it, and then realised how much I missed this particular
style. All the customers spoke Chinese, and the lady at the counter spoke to
me in Mandarin straight away. I must've looked very confused because then she
tried Japanese, and I still had no idea what she was saying. I tried to ask
in Mandarin if she spoke Cantonese but I'm not sure she even understood me.
She asked me what soup I wanted and I asked what her recommendation was and
she had a look no one had ever asked her that
before. — Yangguofu Malatang, Ikebukuro: I stumbled across some Chinese food when I wasn't looking for it, and then realised how much I missed this particular style. All the customers spoke Chinese, and the lady at the counter spoke to me in Mandarin straight away. I must've looked very confused because then she tried Japanese, and I still had no idea what she was saying. I tried to ask in Mandarin if she spoke Cantonese but I'm not sure she even understood me. She asked me what soup I wanted and I asked what her recommendation was and she had a look no one had ever asked her that before.

I loved the quail eggs as always. The
soup was way too peppery, so I guess when she recommended me a soup, it was
the pepper soup. I couldn't finish my noodles because I really couldn't taste
anything except pepper. It wasn't spicy or anything, but it felt like my
tastebuds were warping or something. — I loved the quail eggs as always. The soup was way too peppery, so I guess when she recommended me a soup, it was the pepper soup. I couldn't finish my noodles because I really couldn't taste anything except pepper. It wasn't spicy or anything, but it felt like my tastebuds were warping or something.

Home, Ootsuka: again, not super supple anymore, but still good.

There was one left in the fridge so I finished it off. My dinner wasn't
that big anyway. — There was one left in the fridge so I finished it off. My dinner wasn't that big anyway.

I sat on my laptop for ages and I only started blogging at 2800, so I slept rather late.

Waking hours

1440–3015

Written by Daniel Tam