So after a lunch stopover in Tokyo, I decided to walk south of the district to the famous Ginza district. This is the shopping area for the wealthy - need to find the latest items at the most insane price (including $12 Cdn cups of coffee)? This is the place.

	The Glico company. The makers of that wonderful Japanese food product known as Pocky.
	Walking towards Ginza. Afraid of getting lost in Japan? Look down on the sidewalk for a plastic yellow line. These yellow lines lead you to the nearest train and subway stations. Gotta love the service here!
	I am in the Sony Building in the Ginza district. There is a showroom that displays the latest Sony products for families around the world to enjoy.
	A display full of MD Walkmans.
	Many MP3 Players on hand here. And look at the sleek sitting stools they have in the background. I want one!
	The PSX - a PlayStation 2 that also allows you to record TV shows since it comes with a hard drive.
	The Aibo dogs - they are the real deal. Robotic dogs that act a lot like the animal counterpart, but without risk of dog poop or rabies.
	This is just sick - that item is a super-mini camera. You know how much it costs? 399,000 Yen, or close to $5,000 Cdn. :P Now I know I am really in the Ginza district.
	Walking around the Ginza district.
	A newspaper vending machine. Hey, it IS a vending machine, so I have to take a pic of it!
	I'm guessing that is a rotating restaurant in Ginza (similar to the CN Tower in Toronto and the Seattle Space Needle).

After going through the Ginza district (and drooling over the SUPER HOT showroom models at the Nissan showroom - sorry guys, no pics taken, but trust me - they were HOT), I decided to head back over to the happiest place in Tokyo - Akihabara. I couldn't stop going through that area!

	One of the BILLION pachinko (Japanese slot machines) shops in Japan. Personally, I did not play pachinko because: 1) I did not know how to play it (although I learned that it was easy); 2) I don't want to end up spending all my Yen on gambling - I will NOT be influenced by gambling!!!
	Here are three different vending machines - all dispensing toys of various types. You can get yourself model tanks, dolls, or trains.
	Returning back to Ikebukuro. Now, the place I was staying at is on the Northwest side - I'm heading towards the more vibrant East side. Anyawys, here's an interesting story - while walking around the East side, I bumped into a group of black men who were hawking (yes, black guys, not Japanese). They knew I was a foreigner (my Canucks sweater and Canada hip sack probably gave it away), so they approached me with their flyers and all the yahoo, and they spoke in English (I was kinda happy they were speaking in English for some strange reason). They were promoting a shop a block away, where they will sell the latest in hip-hop gear and "bling-bling" (jewelry, chains, rings, etc). I did not go to it, but I did say I would check it out later (yeah, right). Anyways, I walk up another block - another black man approached me and asked if he can see my camera (which was inside my camera bag). He just comes up and starts trying to grab it. WHAT THE FUCK?!? I quickly grab the camera bag away from him, said "Sorry, man", and just walked away. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to steal my camera. But yeah, that was an interesting walk.
	Fact: 30 minutes after taking this picture, I started suffering back pain. I AM NOT KIDDING.
	I am in the Toyota showroom in Ikebukuro. And that, my friends, is a freakin nice F1 race car. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to test it out.
	The Vitz. You will see A LOT of small cars being driven in Japan - they are very popular.
	Damn - just seeing that car makes me want to play some Gran Turismo 4 right now...
	The Mark X car. Personally, I don't know why I took a picture of that car - doesn't look too special to me...
	Trivia time: At this spot, I knocked down a bike. Take a guess at which bike I knocked down! If you want to know the answer, click and hold the main mouse button, and drag along the next few lines to highlight the hidden text I have typed down after this sentence. If you think I knocked down the red bike at the front, you are incorrect. I knocked down a light blue bike that is to the right of this picture - that's right, it's not in the picture! :P Anyways, I was going to take a picture of this spot for no real reason other than there were a lot of bikes when the man you see in the picture nearly blindsided me from behind with his own bike. When I moved out of the way, I accidentally knocked down the light blue bike off the side.
	Animate - a store chain where you can find ANYTHING anime-related. This would be my little sister Brenda's DREAM store to go shopping.
	Official goods from the video game maker Square-Enix. You can buy actual necklaces, rings, etc. that were created from popular role-playing games such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.
	The Namco Sunshine Namjatown - I think this has the distinction as Japan's biggest theme park inside a building. And it's from Namco - makers of such fun games as Tekken, Soul Calibur, Ridge Racers, and Katamari Damacy! However, I didn't go inside - don't feel like paying admission fees.

After going through the East side, I decided to crash into my ryokan and get some much needed rest - my back was really in pain (yes, I do blame it on the statue I took a picture of earlier - also, I was carry a lot of stuff in my backpack during the time) and my feet were starting to really feel sore. Also, while I rested up in the ryokan, I felt the after effects of train riding for a couple of days, so my body was feeling some motion effects. However, after a few hours of good rest, I decided to scope around Ikebukuro one more time - besides, it was past dinner time and I'm worried that shops I might close around 8 pm (I think Japanese stores tend to close earlier than store in North America).

	Nike Pro dri-fit compression shirts. I am such a sucker for this products as well. Basically, these shirts are designed to wicker sweat while doing sporting activities - I love this product. I wear it for ice hockey ALL the time. It all started when my buddy Chris showed me an ad in The Hockey News with Markus Naslund of the Vancouver Canucks wearing this product - in summary, I bought 10 of these shirts over time (mostly from ebay). :P I was tempted to buy another one or 10, but FORTUNATELY (and I do mean FORTUNATELY), they did not have the short-sleeve versions of these shirts...
	Some street sign in Ikebukuro.
	A street alley at night.
	Another street sign.
	Another alley. Is it me, or am I starting to run out of ideas to take pictures?
	That is one cool-looking dragon. I'm pretty sure this was for another one of the arcade parlours.

Oh, I do have one more story before I start the next page... while walking around Ikebukuro, I noticed a Japanese guy walking towards my direction - he was wearing an Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey jersey... and I did notice that he was looking at my Vancouver Canucks jersey I was wearing. As we were about to pass each other, I just had to say "Canucks are better!" as we passed by. :P No fight ensued.

So that was it for now - a lot of Tokyo done in a couple of days. Man, it was such fun times exploring Tokyo on my own - however, I was getting much more excited to meet three great friends again in the next number of days. I anticipated even better times ahead.

Go to the next page...