In the morning Misterpiggy took his first train ride in Tokyo and went to Ikebukuro, a major train station and shopping area. There are lots of places to shop in Tokyo, and one of the largest mall complexes in Ikebukuro is called Sunshine City. It has it's own anime amusement area and observation tower.
Nearby the train station were many busy and smoke filled pachinko parlours. Misterpiggy was surprised that so many people were there instead of working.
The malls in Tokyo are usually located very close or even on top of the train stations, usually 6 to 8 floors with 2 basement levels. The top 2 floors are dedicated to restaurants. The 2 basement levels are supermarkets, selling everything from high end chocolates, pastries, fresh fish, packaged/prepared foods. These malls are so huge you could spend at least 2 full days just in the basement levels alone. Misterpiggy gorged himself from all the free food sampling! Anyways, there were many more of these mall complexes in Ikebukuro, such as competitor stores Seibu and Tobu but Misterpiggy just didn't have time to visit them all.
Inside the Ikebukuro station, Misterpiggy visited Toyota Amlux salon. More than just a car dealership, this 7 floor(!) showroom displayed racing cars and prototypes in addition to their regular vehicle lineup. A showroom dealership and car museum all in one!
For lunch, Misterpiggy found a conveyor belt sushi restaurant! One sits at the counter and the sushi goes round and round. When you see something you like, you take the plate off the conveyor belt and eat the sushi. There are different coloured plates for different priced sushi. On the wall they show you the different plates and how much the corresponding sushi costs. After you are done eating, the restaurant staff come by and simply count your different coloured plates to give you a total cost of the meal. Misterpiggy had lots of fun at the sushi go-round!
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