2017年 01月 01日 (日)
New Year, new start, new meee~ As a fair chunk of Tokyo is on break during the New Year season, it doesn’t leave a whole lot to do besides treatin’ yo self. As people were still in recovery mode from last night, Carolyn and I left without them. We were on our way to Odaiba, an artificial island home to a variety of entertainment institutions, large hubs of department stores and a giant Gundam.
Upon setting foot on the island, I quickly directed my attention to DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. I had two things on my agenda: getting my Gundam and Godiva fix. Abandoning Carolyn, yet again, I quickly traversed the floors to the top for Gundam Front Tokyo, a museum and merch store for the ever popular Gundam franchise.
Inside, there was your free zone and the paid zone. Having avoided paying during my first trip, I wanted to see what was behind the curtain. With the paid zone, you got access to: the ethereal experience in the Dome-G theatre, more replica displays from the Gundam universe, a small look at the Gunpla process and a workshop to assemble a complimentary Gunpla. Whereas the free zoners only got to visit the Gunpla Gallery and the Gundam and Strict-G shop.
For ¥1200, the exclusive access was worth the price of admission. I mean, I got a couple freebies and a sore neck out of it. Heading to the store, I was hoping to pick up some sweet kits. Flicking through their catalogue, I was shocked to see such abhorrent pricing. PGs were ticketed higher than anything I’d seen in a Yodobashi or BIC Camera. This didn’t just apply to its Gunpla range, either. Yet people still flocked to the counter with goods to buy. Crazy.
Saltily leaving the store with my wallet intact, I proceeded to look for Godiva, a gourmet chocolate shop that also served ice-cream and drinks. Refreshing myself with a cold, creamy shake, I re-joined Carolyn to continue the shopping spree, before some much needed lunch at some sushi place. Despite the low rating reviews (morons spouting nonsense), I can say that it's not the worst. There isn't much to expect out of a department store restaurant... Prices were reasonable, I happily ate the food and service was there when we needed it.
Reunited with our friends, we continued the Daiba day, touring the many department stores. Nothing special here. Just the usual rinse, repeat shop routine.
Going late into the evening, we dragged ourselves back home for another night of fun times. Thanks for reading this filler post and join me next time, as we break this monotonous pattern with a day trip out to Yokohama for some noods.