(Day 9) The Carnage Sale

Boxing day sales in Japan are not quite the same as in North America, but one thing is for certain – people are out, and people want to save a bit and spend a lot. We met up with Maya and her lovely Mother in Shinjuku station and walked over, with the hordes, to the Keio Plaza Hotel to take part in Isetan’s multi-floor sale extravaganza.



A nice hotel with impossibly slow and congested elevators. When we arrived on the first sale floor, there was carnage.





You’d think big department store + designer brands + boxing day sale = near-bankruptcy for me. I didn’t buy anything. You see, sales in Japan aren’t like sales here, where stuff is actually cheap. It was like, “Hey! These $400 Fendi sunglasses are now only $300!” (not to mention that they are almost double the price in Japan anyway.) So…nothing. Also, the time spent to actually physically purchase an item was stretching into the 45-minute arena. I know because we had to wait while Maya bought a coat. Mayhem I tell you!

After being jostled by people from every angle, I was eager to just sit my ass down in a restaurant somewhere and relax. That we did, inside the Odakyu department store at Saint Marc. Window seat!






All-you-can-eat little breads! Oh Saint Marc, making me fat.


CALORIES! (For some reason I care today? Nope.)


Wonderful!



We DID go wander around Shinjuku again for a bit so Janelle could try on her Chanel shoes, but headed home for a rest before meeting up again with Mayuko in Shinagawa for dinner number two at nearly 10 PM.






Mayuko loves sweets. For dinner.



Look! It’s my face inside of Akira from Exile’s face! Trippy.

So after we left Shinagawa, we did what any normal person would do. We went home and prepped for a trip over to Lex. Again.

Sunday nights are beginning to be our thing. The place was quieter again but we met up with our old buddies Yutaro, Koji, and Vitaly, and made a few new ones whose names I can’t remember. Obviously we weren’t very good friends, but we did drink some Moët with them. We ended our semi-calm night with a little chat with Taka and Koji outside. Secrets were revealed. I’ll take them to my grave. Or not. I might have told you already.

Tomorrow we kind of do nothing. But we do actually do something. I guess you’ll see.