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16/03 Ikebukuro

 I'm writing this blog on sunday because I got home really late yesterday and forgot to write it. Yesterday I went to Ikebukuro, the neighbourhood me and my grandma will be staying in once she gets here. I passed by the hotel to see how far it was from the station and in what area it was. 

Because it was a really sunny 20°C day I decided to go there by bike. It was a really nice ride but also a really big pain in the ass to find a spot to park my bike at. In the more quiet neigbourhoods like Nerima there are loads of bike parkings, some are free and at some you pay money because there will be someone keeping an eye on the bikes. But in the bigger neigbourhoods not many people ride their bikes, therefore there are barely any bike parkings. After looking for a parking for a good 30minutes I finally found one.


 

I went to Sunshine city, a 60story building that has a shoppingcenter, foodmarket, hotel, aquarium, pig café, appartments, sky garden and the top floor also functions as a viewpoint to see the amazing city. You could honestly spend days and days in this building. I walked around the first 4 floors and the top floor. 





When I got to the top floor, it was already dark. But I didn't mind at all since this was the view I got! 


When I got out of the Sunshine City building I headed for a Japanese casino. Other then the casino's we are familiar with, Japanese casinos require 0 interaction and are mostly just coin machine and slotmachine games. I had some fun playing a game on one of the coin machines and descided to head for dinner. 


On Friday, I had korean food. One of my colleagues doesn't eat pork so she had a seperate meal, a Bibibap. This is basically a steaming hot stone bowl filled with rice, veggies, egg, meat...that you mix all together in the bowl. I had a small bite and absolutely loved it, so I descided to find it in Ikebukuro. After looking for a bit I found a Korean restaurant and sat down. Ordered myself a cheese bibibap, some fried chicken and a pineapple sour. (you can get any kind of fruit in a .... sour here, it's a very popular cocktail) 

The bowl suprised me because it had a raw egg on top, raw eggs here in Japan are actually safe to eat! You had to mix everything togheter with the big spoons and the egg acted as a sauce for the bowl to make it really creamy and moist. It worked so well togheter! I enjoyed my food and headed back to the bike parking. 



Walking back to my bike, a weird African man approached me and started smiling at me. I have had a couple of encounters with men late at night trying to talk to me and taking me home here in Japan and suprisingly it's never the locals. I had my headphones on and just started walking a little faster, but my jacket got stuck so I had to stop to get it loose. The dude came closer to me and started talking to me, I kept ignoring him but he kept saying 'hey, hey!' a little louder every time. He started tapping on my shoulder and screaming even louder so I just started running haha. All of the locals were looking at him super weird and even acting kind of protective towards me. Its not really that I feel unsave here in Japan, just that sometimes when I go to these districts that are a bit more known for the nightlife, men also get a bit more flirty. But I have absolutely no interest and just want to be left alone😅

I ran straight past my bike since I didn't want to stop and give him a chance to catch up with me and made a little extra walk to be sure he was gone. After I returned to my bike and got it out of the parking I ran in to him again. He started shouting at me like crazy that I was rude and needed to answer him so I just got on my bike and drove away hehe. Hope I never run into this crazy man again 👎

Anyway, I had a great bike ride home and went to sleep right after. Have a good evening y'all! 

Reacties

  1. Mamasa(rah)18 maart 2024 om 09:50

    Amai, liefst niet te veel van zo'n verhalen... Mijn moederhart! Gelukkig kan je je mannetje staan. Stay strong, girl!

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