永利 (A Chinese restaurant in Ikebukuro)

I went to Tokyo the other day. Or specifically I visited 池袋 (Ikebukuro) in Toshimaku, which is an area in Tokyo where many young people hang out. There is a renowned university called "Rikkyou Univ" in this area, and you can see many of its students walking there.

 But one thing that is notable about this area is that there is an increasing number of Chinese people living in this area. This is a restaurant I visited which seemed to be run by Chinese. 

 When I got in, there were already customers, all of whom were speaking Chinese. There are many people who are against Chinese people in Japan. But you know, no matter what they say online, they don't curse when they see them in person. And I'm a pacifist too. 

 This is a dish called "炒飯", which is something like fried rice. The Kanji reads "Chaahan". It's a Chinese dish, but we have it at home as it's easy to cook. But it's not easy to cook it like a pro. 

Do you know there is an area in China where Germans lived? This is the beer of the area "青島(Tsingtao)", and this booze is called Tsingtao beer. We can buy this beer in our neighborhood as its tasted would be liked by any beer-loving people. 

There are some Chinese shops where you can buy some as souvenirs. While 新大久保 (Shin-Okubo) is a place where Koreans live, this Ikebukuro is where you can see many Chinese.

FIRE HOUSE

The Golden Week lasted until yesterday. During the week we're supposed to do something special like traveling to a faraway place, but in my case I've come to Tokyo many times for the past years. So my friend and I had searched online for a restaurant in Tokyo where we could have a nice dinner.

The one we found was a hamburger shop that was in Suidoubashi, Tokyo. It's the station people use to go to Tokyo Dome where big concerts are held and baseball games are played.  

You might have noticed in the first pic, but there were these hamburger objects in front of the shop.  

 When I went in, I was happy to see the interior decorated in the old-fashioned way. In my opinion, all the furniture was like from old American movies. 

The hamburger I ordered had an egg sunny-side over. The taste was also classic, and it was what I was expecting from this shop. 

When I was seated a women at the next table was reading a book silently over tea. It was such tranquil atmosphere that I wanted to come here again soon.

AKB during Golden Week

As I explained before, we have a long vacation from the end of April to the beginning of May. It's called "Golden Week", and many Japanese go abroad to enjoy themselves. But since I went to Taiwan last November, I decided to stay in Japan.

As I had expected, AKB (Akihabara) was really crowded. I suppose some people came from the countryside, because they seemed to be amazed at the whole anime thing.  

 I dropped by this Doujin shop "White Canvas". It sells mainly Doujinshi, and there were other original goods that must have been invented by amateurs. It's only Sunday or holidays that you can see such goods sold in front of the shop. 

I had curry for lunch. There weren't many people at this restaurant "Ajanta", so my friend and I could relax over coffee. This set was "chicken curry", and the chicken was really soft, which made it easy for me to have it with the naan. 

I walked from AKB to Ochanomizu to buy CD's. I took this pic from a bridge where I could see the Chuo Line, which is the orange-striped cars. I bought Korn's unplugged live CD. 

If you come to AKB on Sunday, you can enjoy the pedestrian paradise in the Chuo St. But one thing you have to be careful about is that some electronic shops of AKB are closed on Sunday.  

This is a pic of Sofmap Nigoukan (the second annex). You can see the Madoka's pic, and it was an ad for her figurine sold in there.  

 During Golden Week you can see this flea market where you can buy many kinds of thing from figurines to ordinary T-shirts. It was hot like summer, and the weather was ideal for the people to open their stalls. 

I got this AKB map near the station. You can see where the Chuo St. is, which I mentioned in this post.

I was watching carefully if there were many foreign people, and I thought there were more than this time last year. We still have small earthquakes, but less frequently, like three times a month.