This post was written in 2008. Some information may be out of date.
Here’s something people visiting Tokyo tend to miss: Chiba has quite a few good spots for a shopping run. There’s IKEA, there are outlets, and there’s Carrefour. It’s not an outlet, but there’s also a big shopping mall called LaLaport. (There’s a Costco too, but I’ll leave that one out.) Yet hardly anyone in Korea seems to know about them.
A married couple I’m friends with are setting up house in Japan -_- so they wanted to go to IKEA. There’d be a lot to carry, so I brought the car. IKEA had so much worth buying that we wandered around for ages. Photos aren’t allowed, so I didn’t dare take out the DSLR. Maybe I should buy a compact digicam, I don’t know..
The 100-yen IKEA hot dog I had while taking a break after the serious shopping was done
Unbeatable value.. I buy one every time I come to IKEA.
Toppings
Sauces
All you want.
The finished product
It feels a little flimsy, but for 100 yen this is really solid. They also have 50-yen ice cream, so I order that now and then too.
Bottomless drinks, added for another 80 yen
On a weekday I’d have sat and had a few refills, but on weekends there are just way, way too many people. We ate what we needed and got out quickly.
The outlet in Makuhari, 1
Around Tokyo, this is pretty much the only place I buy clothes. Not as cheap as Korea, but cheap. Now that the exchange rate has flipped, though, I should probably be heading to Garibong instead..
Mario Gelato
My favorite gelato place. I always stop by.
The outlet, 2
The outlet, 3
The outlet, 4
There’s more womenswear than menswear, but it’s still worth a visit. There’s a pretty wide range of brands for shoes and dress shoes, too. My friend bought a pair of Regal shoes. Apparently Regal is a pricey brand or something..
Done shopping, we head off for sushi. There’s a decent place nearby called Sushi Yamato. The fish here is fresh but the nigiri skills are so-so, so I’d really recommend the chirashi sushi, but since it was dinner we just ordered nigiri.
Assorted sashimi
Nice and fresh, and good value.
Premium sushi set
The anago and toro were the best. But the rice was way too hard, as I expected. And lunch seems to be tastier. By evening the freshness seems to drop off a bit.
Miso soup
Ordinary.
Kyoto-style miso-marinated tuna (saikyo-yaki)
Nicely salty, so it’s great with drinks, but I had to drive, so no alcohol with it.
Tuna sushi set
Good value, but again the rice-making skills fall short. Still, I ate it reasonably satisfied.
We stopped by Carrefour too, but I have no photos. The wine selection was good. I’m still unemployed so I couldn’t go on a big spree, but one of these days I’ll set aside a day and clean the place out.