Shopping at Tokyo

Updated 19 Nov 2009: Shifted the Kyoho Wine Cake to Kawaguchiko and added the chocolate crunch picture
Updated 21 Nov 2009: Updated the Mt Fuji mooncake like thing picture

Just came back from a short trip to Tokyo. I would say its a fruitful and very tiring trip. :) Shopping of course features quite prominently in my itinerary. I was there only for a few days so it is not possible for me to cover everything. However at least for guys, it seems that the impression that I had of Tokyo is the same I had about Hokkaido. Food and more food. You can refer to my other post about eating in Tokyo here. :)

For my first stop at Kawaguchiko station, I bought some rice crackers, chocolate crunch with the Mt Fuji "brand", some mooncake like thing with the Mt Fuji "brand" and wine cake. :) I tried a packet of the sweet rice crackers and they are quite addictive. It was finished in less than 10mins. :p Have not tried the rest yet though. Below are some pictures of what I bought.

Salty rice crackers on the left and sweet ones on the right

Mt Fuji Chocolate crunch packaging

Mt Fuji Chocolate crunch unwrapped

Packaging for the Mt Fuji mini muffin like thing

The Mt Fuji mini muffin like thing unwrapped

Mt Fuji Mini muffin with fillings in the middle

Kyoho Wine Cake packaging

Kyoho Wine Cake unwrapped

The next shopping area that I went was in Harajuku, known as the Takeshita street. Below is a picture of that street.

Harajuku Takeshita Street

For those going there, note that the shopping area does extend all the way across the cross junction to the other side and to the right-hand side. There are some interesting shops at the other end, especially for guys. The most prominent building in Takeshita street is Daiso, the 100 yen shop (excluding tax). There are 3 floors of stuff but don't spend too much time there. There are more interesting stuff around that area. Below is a picture of Daiso, in case you missed it. :) Note that there are different 100 yen shops around and they sometimes sell different stuffs. I bought quite a few interesting things from the different 100 yen shops I've been to.

Harajuku Daiso

I've also been to the Asakusa Kannon Buddhist Temple that surprisingly offers quite a bit of shopping choices. I believe the shopping area is known as "The Nakamise shopping street". They sell a mixture of stuff such as souvenirs, traditional Japanese food and even Kimonos. However, do note that most stalls only open at around 9.30am to 10am. Take your time to shop around. You'll find that you may be able to get stuff cheaper from another stall. :) Below is a picture of the stalls leading to the temple.

The Nakamise shopping street at Asakusa Kannon Temple

I've also been to various shopping areas like Tokyu Hands at Shinjuku, Shimokitazawa (another place for ladies), Sunshine city at Ikebukuro and of course Akihabara. You can refer to my previous post here about Akihabara. I managed to get some cheap stuff in the shops at the back. :) I have also managed to get some pastry recommended by a friend in Ikebukuro, Seibu. It's called Baumkuchen, a kind of layered cake. I got the small pack that is layered with sugar. All I can say is that I think I can finish one box by myself. :) Below are some pictures of the Baumkuchen.

BaumKuchen packaging

Baumkuchen unwrapped

There is also another place where you can do last minute shopping. That is the Narita airport. Previously I was on tour so we did not really have a chance to look around the place. This time though, we spent close to 2 hours within Narita airport (checked-in). There are many shops within the airport and even a mini Akihabara. Not everything there is expensive. The prices for the "food gifts" sold within the airport is actually comparable to the prices you can get outside (most are around 1000yen). You can even get the White Lover Chocolate in the airport. Below are some of my "food treasures". :)

Tokyo Bananas packaging

Tokyo Bananas unwrapped (yum yum)

Uncooked Soba (8 packs)

Even though I'm on a more flexible schedule this time around, it's still a bit of a rush because the trip is rather short and we were trying to squeeze in as many things as possible. Yes... Sometimes 2-3 hours is not enough as the shopping area is really big. Japan is really a shopping haven for ladies. :p

One thing to note though about shopping. Take note of the season in Japan. As it is now approaching winter, most of the stuff on sale are winter clothings, not exactly the kind of clothings you'll wear in Singapore. :)