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Shokoku Gotouchi Plaza
location: Basement floor of JR Tokyo station
phone: 03-3212-0020
open: 9am -8:30pm

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Have you been to Gotouchi Plaza in Tokyo-eki Ichibangai? In other words, it’s in the same area as Rilakkuma store and character street. That is to say, you can get yummy or strange local foods that are usually only available at every local city Japan, while you can get your favorite character goods and Japanese foods at one place.

Local chips

Wasabi chips from Shizuoka…wow does it make us cry? ^ ^;

Local curry. They are so tempting. I want to try them as many as I can~ while I cannot visit these local cities. I was brought up and spent my life in around Tokyo. I’ve never lived any other part of Japan but Tokyo area. (I’ve never lived inside Tokyo, to be exact. That’s because it’s expensive to rent an apartment there. I’m originally from Saitama, and I’ve lived in Chiba and Kanagawa. Any of the locations are very close to Tokyo. That’s why I say “Tokyo area”.) I thought I was lucky because I could shop at Harajuku for example since I was a very kid. But now I feel like living more different parts of Japan to explore new life.

Local ramen also look so good! I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like ramen.

But everyone has different tastes, especially when it comes to ramen! This means we do not always like highly rated ramen. For example Kitakata ramen is just OK to me. I don’t love it so much.

Hokkaido is also famous for its ramen. But when I tried some Asahikawa ramen in Asahikawa, I didn’t like its too much oil over ramen. They use much oil to cover ramen so it should not get cold under their cold weather. That makes sense. But I don’t like too oily stuff. If I have to take in extra calories, I do want it from the food I love. ^ ^;

Local furikake. Furikake is a sort of seasoning that we eat to put it over steamed rice.

This year Japanese people went crazy about “ra~yu” or chili oil, that contains some food flakes inside. “Karasoude Karakunai Sukoshikarai Ra~yu” (meaning something like this; Ra~yu that looks spicy but not that spicy in fact but a little bit spicy) by Momoya was a mega hit this year in Japan. It’s always out of stock at any supermarkets or online grocery shops.

Local candies…but some of the flavors are very weird!

Who in the hell likes garlic candy? Potato x butter flavor is good for chips but how is that for candy…?

Or beer candy? …lol Most of candies from this corner looked weird enough.

Anyone who misses Takoyaki from Osaka, here’s Takoyaki flavor snack. As for myself, I don’t like Takoyaki so much, which is because I’m fed up with it. My father is from Osaka. He cooked Takoyaki every weekend and my mom also cooked it often as a snack for us to eat in-between meals when I was a kid. This made me dislike Takoyaki any longer. Same can be said to most of Japanese foods, I guess. :p

Accessory & Deco for Men
6/MAR/2010 on air

Street snap at Harajuku. Today’s theme is accessory. Bear accessory has become the latest craze. Some people wear food, toy or even bubble soap as accessory. A man wears accessories as heavy as 1kg, which in total costs 2 million yen.

Handmade cafe where people can make something while having a coffee or tea is also very popular among women.

Verbal-san’s big jewelry was inspired by black artists. He refers to American comics when he designs his accessory.

Kenji-kun’s profession is a care worker, but look at how he dresses differently on weekends. He makes everything he wears. He and his girl friend have been often on KERA magazine as “dokumo“. The couple lives together in a small 6-mat room where accessories that Kenji-kun has made are laid out. He’s just started working, he doesn’t have enough money to buy his girl friend a luxurious jewelry at a moment. Instead he gives her handmade accessories he makes for her.

Lady Gaga was selected as the best accessory dresser in the U.S. Parts of her accessories are made by a Japanese designer Kajitani-san. She studied jewrly making in Paris and her unique jewerly design is highly supported by Hollywood celebs and Monacan royal families.

Johnny Rotten’s punk fashion style became a hit in Japan again in 2010. But materials are replaced by something different. Likewise, accessories that are made of new materials and combination of pearl, for example, are hot now.

3 high school boys make accessories from wig or even a computer keyboard.

Japanese jewerly industry has shrunk its sales by over 60% compared with the time we enjoyed bubble economy in 1980s.
How are they going to survive?
TASAKI erased a pearl mark from their logo that they have used for the past 56 years. Their imaged targeted customer has been women in their 50s so far, but they try to shift it to working women in their 30s and 40s. They used Thakoon Panichgul from New York on the design of new collections that are suitable for powerful women. They also used Yasuhiro Mihara on men’s jewerly with use of black pearl.

Serruria is a successful jewerly shop because they used fashion models, who are well known as jewerly collectors, to design their jewerly. They used Reiko Takagaki.

A mom and a daughter shop is doing well thanks to the daughter’s idea of using bear as a motif of accessory.

KAI-kun is a 18-year-old high school boy who is good at art and drawing. He also likes to make moldings and transform himself as a character that he imagined from his drawing. Earl of Pink for example has a totally different character from how KAI-kun is. His dream is to become a makeup artist, and he wants to create various kind of characters from accessory and makeup.

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Kirin’s opinion:
I think it’s natural that men enjoy wearing men’s jewelry. But it’s also very interesting to see boys who like making accessories like Kenji-kun or KAI-kun. In Japan men are becoming like women these days. It maybe even natural that boys are interested in deco and makeup too. ^ ^;
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Disclaimer: Tokyo Kawaii TV is a TV program owned and broadcasted by NHK Japan, and has nothing to do with this blog.

***There are archives of episodes listed under the page titled “Tokyo Kawaii TV” that is just located under the title banner of this blog.
***If you want to know the music that was used in the episode, please refer to this page and help yourself to find it by selecting the date when the episode was on air in Japan.

My house is not far from Tokyo, while it’s not so far from beach and mountains, either.
Having a hard time taking vacation with my hubby who is busy working and studying, I went out to Kurihama by myself. I just wanted to locate myself somewhere different from ordinary life, and noticed Kurihama (Yokosuka city) was within 1-hour travel from my station. I also found a dog goods store there, which was a good reason because I needed to purchase a dog food urgently anyhow.

There were only a few people during a daytime on weekdays at Kurihama. I wanted this. I don’t like crowds.

It was about 15 minutes walk or so from the Keikyu Kurihama train station. I don’t drive. I don’t even own my car. My driver’s license is gold, which means “excellent driver”. That’s only because I’ve never driven a car since I got it. lol To live somewhere near Tokyo while wish to save money needs no car. My life is quite compatible without a car at all. Buses and trains are available every 5-10 minutes. I use a bicycle a lot for shopping at grocery stores or drug stores in my daily life. I’d feel so stressed if I have to drive a car as daily chores…Yes, I’m so bad at driving!! I could kill people or myself. I have a strong feeling that driving will collapse my life. lol

I like the shade and bench under trees along with the beach.

Too bad I see no nice cafe around the beach. The eateries on the other side of the street were far from cozy and good atmosphere restaurants. They looked shabby and old. I searched convenience store and just bought something left over. The time was past 1:30pm, nearly 2. Most of snacks were sold out at the minor convenience store I found near the beach. But I didn’t feel like going back to 7-eleven. First time for me to try the Starbucks ready-made coffee from convenience stores (only available at convenience stores) but…I didn’t like it. It’s far from original taste of course, and I thought I liked ready-made coffee from Doutor or some other brands even better.

I didn’t go inside but there was a Perry Park across the street. (The arrival of Commodore Perry from the United States in 1853 marked the end of Japan’s isolation and the resumption of overseas trade.) Well…we’ve been open for overseas trade but mentality of Japanese people sometimes gives the impression of isolation to foreigners even today.

The sign reminds us that we live in a country that can be hit by earthquakes any time.

Then, how can we explain this condominium just next to the beach? Some rooms are still on sale. “1 minutes to the beach!” sounds great, but how do they cope with Tsunami? I was curious. :p

I like looking at houses inside and outside, anytime anywhere. That’s because I was engaged in house renovation business before or because I am interested in properties to invest in. It’s also fun to imagine a life in the place. I asked the reception at the condo (they have a room model inside the condo) if I can see the room. I asked how they are going to cope with Tsunami and salt breeze that could deteriorate the facade or the structure of the premises. They answered that they built the 1st floor 1 meter higher than the ground level so the Tsunami, which is supposed to be 80cm at maximum in this area, should not hit the premises. They also used stainless steel instead of normal steel to avoid deterioration due to salt breeze. The view from the balcony was great, even though it was 2nd floor. I wonder how calm and soothing my life will be whenever I look outside it is just a tranquil sea, instead of the detached house I see from my house.

I wish I could stay there longer but since there was no good cafe around and I had to shop a pack of dog food and walk Pi-chan after going back home, I decided to go back home.

It was just a short day trip but it was a good change to me. I thought casual day trip like this once in a while maybe good until I’m prepared for a big trip abroad next time.