(Day 22) Quoting 'Hummingyay'

‘Hana Yori Dango’ is a Japanese television show that I watched in early 2007 after I arrived back from Japan last time. The show ran for two seasons and has also spawned a hit movie to finish up the story. I think it is safe to say that most Japanese people will know what you are talking about if you say you like “Hanadan”, as it is called for short. The reason I’m launching into this explanation is because there is one particular place that is featured prominently throughout the series – Ebisu Garden Place.

Mayuko loves Hanadan as much as me and was happy to head down to Ebisu with me.



Scenes from ‘Hana Yori Dango’:




Domyouji waiting for Tsukushi.


Scenes from my life:


Grr…move people!


Eeeeeek! It’s like I’m Domyouji.



Instead of staring and then running off, we decided to eat some lunch here at Ebisu Garden Place and chose the restaurant ‘Ginza Lion’. “Roarrrrrrr!” said my stomach, not unlike a lion.




I had this amazing curry plate. I would highly recommend if you are ever in Japan, at Ebisu Garden Place, are hungry, and in the mood for curry, this should be your dish.

Near Ebisu was Daikanyama, a place I had heard about courtesy of ‘Lost In Translation’ and numerous websites, but never had the time to visit previously. Mayuko and I decided to scope out this trendy neighbourhood.






I love the circle-y cement.

Daikanyama was a much greener neighbourhood than most, with many stylish shops lining the roads. It is fairly residential and yet somehow glaringly sophisticated with an urban vibe. Yeah, that’s right – I said urban vibe.

We wandered around Daikanyama in search of the Vivienne Westwood store, which my hand-drawn map displayed quite inaccurately. Perhaps I will not go into a map-rendering career after all.


We found it, thanks to Mayuko’s cellular GPS. Technology trumps me again.

Vivienne Westwood stores are always a magical place to me since I love love love Vivienne. In stark contrast to the snobbery I experienced in London, the ladies working here were friendly and more than willing to show me their excessively overpriced goods. I spotted the exact same necklace I was wearing that I purchased in Scotland for $130 in the display case, on sale for 44,000 yen (approx. $560!) Yipes. When we got outside, Mayuko lavished me with comments on how I rich I must be. I’m not…but I can see how she would think that…

We continued walking through the neighbourhood and decided we would walk north to Shibuya.



While walking, we spotted a crew busily working near a restaurant, preparing for the shooting of a television drama…


We waited across the street for a while to see if anything exciting would happen, but we got tired of waiting and moved on. Now that I think of it, it really looks like a restaurant they used on ‘Ryuusei no Kizuna’…I hate my timing.

After walking down crooked back alleys behind houses, we emerged suddenly in the hub of teenage excitement, Shibuya.




Notice those three heads on the 109 building? Yes, it’s another shameless shout-out to ‘Ryuusei no Kizuna’.







Mayuko wanted to try some ice cream at Fujiya, so we skipped merrily along as we entered the establishment with the cutest little character ever.



One characteristic about Japanese restaurants that I think should be brought to Canada is that of the call bell. At informal restaurants, there will often be a call bell that you push when you are ready to order or would like to request something of the server. Fujiya’s bell was also cute, which never hurts.



I had to order something too, so I went with pancakes.



There were a few stores (always more shopping) that I had yet to visit in Shibuya so we wandered around for a while checking out the scene.




Mayuko checking out karaoke prices on her keitai.


Center Gai

We decided that we loved karaoke and it loved us more so off we went to find one that tickled our fancy.

Mayuko often would choose Tackey & Tsubasa songs so she could scream like a fangirl while the music videos played and I could go prematurely deaf.






She loves Tackey (on the left).

After karaoke, we headed once more back to Hino, this time, free of drunken bums! Yippee! We stopped at Family Mart (it’s been a while, eh? No? Maybe a day or two?) and I picked up a chunk of spicy chicken and some little bun things with gooey yum in the middle.


I lurrrrve Family Mart.

Tomorrow we visit a National Treasure like in the Nicholas Cage movies, except non-American. And I eat more things, for some of which there are pictures.