Ikebukuro and Ueno Park

Hello again!

Long time no see.

Are you ready for another adventure?

Today I'll talk about my quick trip to Ikebukuro and the Ueno Park Zoo.

I decided to go to Ikebukuro because my friend told me they have lots of clothing stores that are reasonably priced.  So, I hopped onto the Yamanote Line and got off at Ikebukuro Station.





Right when you exit Ikebukuro, tall buildings and a pedestrian only walking street await you.  It's crowded and there are lots of shops already, seems promising no?

I heard a lot about Sunshine City in my research, so I headed there directly, passing by lots of arcades and restaurants.

Inside are a lot of shops and restaurants, and even an observatory where you have to pay a fee to ride the elevator up and you can see all of Tokyo.  I didn't go up...

So lots of stores, can't go wrong.  I didn't buy a single thing.  Am I too picky?  The quality of the clothes were a bit poor.  A lot of the clothing is made with cheap fabrics but trying to look like the expensive ones.  I bought a zip up in Shibuya 109, and I found the same one in a store here, but made with cheaper fabric and flimsier.

I tried looking for a nice bag or backpack, but I just couldn't find anything nice or within my price frame.  I'm not going to spend 4500 yen on a bag of questionable quality, even if it does look nice.

The mall is quite big, and it does have a lot of good quality clothing as well, but just not my style.  I came home a bit disappointed...

I did end up buying a bag of chips for 100 yen...it was on sale.

Anyways, so on another day a bunch of us went to the Ueno Park Zoo.  Entrance is only 600 yen!

We passed by a takoyaki stand on the way in.  I'm gonna get me some 'o that later!

Their main attraction are the Pandas since they're newly bought from some other zoo.  There's a bit of a lineup just to see them behind glass.  One was sleeping, and the other one was up and about.

I couldn't stop staring at their ears!

Really cute little things.  

They really have a lot of animals here.  Monkeys, flamingos, penguins, snakes, elephants, giraffes, all types of birds, and on and on.  You could spend a fair bit of time here.

After the zoo, we walked around Ueno park for a bit.  There were performers and a baseball game to see.  We walked by a small temple and decided to poke around a bit.  Very small, but still cool.

On the way out of the park I finally got my takoyaki!

It was melt in your mouth delicious!  Very hot though, and that plastic container is pretty thin.  The stuff in izakayas cannot even compare to this.  The inside was not doughy at all, but still kind of runny.  And the octopus wasn't rubbery or chewy, it was awesome.

I really love takoyaki.

Here are a few more pictures from the zoo.

That's it for today.  I got more so stay tuned!

-Jennifer