Christmas Shopping in Japan

Doing a wee bit of Christmas shopping at Lazona in Kawasaki. By this time of year, Christmas illuminations are up all over Japan which look lovely - a shame that they take em down on the 26th.

Our trusty Mirai Itasha takes us to Lazona which is about a 30 min drive from base.

We enter through the Unidy entrance which is like a DIY and home living center.

Picking up some houseplants which are called "Kanyo Shokubutsu" [観葉植物] in Japanese.

Discovered that Unidy sold a load of aquarium fish too.

Would love to keep some fish at home but don't think that I could make the time to look after them. How long do they generally live for anyway?

They also sold snakes ranging from 25,000 yen - 32,000 yen.

Edy is a widely accepted form of e-money. We got an ANA one which earns us air miles while we spend.

These hoses are 3 times smaller than the one we got at home. Would love to have this instead but no real reason to switch.

"Atsui" [暑い] = Hot
"Samui" [寒い] = Cold - use only for environmental temperature and not food. If food is cold then use "Tsumetai" [冷たい].
"Urusai" [うるさい] = Noisy

Kits to fix your brolley.

Kamen Rider tool.

Lazona was packed on a weekend with folks spending and spending. The economy is supposed to be in a bad state but I don't notice it.

The lovely Meisa Kuroki is just one of the Uniqlo image girls.

Going to stop off at Sanwa to get some munchies to nibble on.

Many folks pick these side dishes up for dindins but you can also just buy some to nibble on between meals.

Got inspired to have all displays in Miracle Mirai look something like this.

As I get older, I notice that I can eat stuff that I didn't like when I was younger and vice versa. I used to love Kiwi and Strawberrys but now don't really like em too much unless they have been made into a milkshake ^^;

And this is something that I can now eat that I didn't like before - green tea ice cream.

Om nom nom.

"Ochazuke" is a Japanese dish which consists of rice, toppings and hot soup or tea which is poured over the rice. Read more about how you can eat this at home in the Furikake post.

Topping here is Sashimi and sesame sauce.

This topping is cod roe and tofu.

Its the middle of the night as I write this and am starting to get hungry ^^;

There was a group called Deep performing at Lazona today so the courtyard was filled with fans.

Lazona is a lovely place to spend the evening relaxing with family and friends.

My body is out of shape so need to try on at least 5 pairs of trousers before I can find anything decent.

Hunting for a ceramic cup that can hold at least 3 standard cups of water. I got a glass one but for some reason tea tastes better in a ceramic cup - why?!

How about something for your girl/boyfriend?

Doraemon Darake. Stick the word "Darake" [だらけ] on the end of a noun then you get the meaning of "loads of blah." If you want to say "Loads of Oppai" then you say "Oppai Darake."

The Rilakkuma character merchandising is incredible.

Wifey spent 15 minutes in this section ^^;

Still hungry. Filling up the gaps with some Taiyaki.

Then its time to do some grocery shopping before heading back home.

Natto (fermented beans) is still something that I cant eat due to the smell - wifey loves it though! I start to make vomiting sounds"ueghh ueghhh" when wifey eats it.

While in the UK we had X-mas stockings, over here they have plastic boots filled with snacks instead.

Parking is 1,400 yen for the evening after a shopping discount.

Hokkaido milk tastes incredibly good.