Shopping Around Ikebukuro, Tokyo - New Year's Japan Travel Day 3

Monday, March 5, 2018

Shopping Around Ikebukuro, Tokyo - New Year's Japan Travel Day 3

My husband and I traveled Japan during this New Year's holidays. As I mentioned in my previous entry, we enjoyed our lunch at Matsuya while waiting for his new eyeglasses. Then, we went shopping in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

We enjoyed shopping at Tokyu Hands (東急ハンズ), Loft, Daiso (ダイソー) and Sun Drug (サンドラッグ) there.

Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro

There were many adorable cakes inspired by coming the year of the dog on the first floor in Tokyu Hands. :)

Products I Purchased

These are what I purchased in Tokyo.

Loft and Tokyu Hands Haul

You can check out my previous entry for information about these products.
■What I Got Loft and Tokyu Hands in Japan - Japan Haul

Drugstore, Discount Store, Daiso and Loft Haul

You can check out my previous entry for information about these products.
■14 Best Japanese Beauty Products I Purchased in Japan - Drugstore, Discount Store, Daiso and Loft Haul

We also purchased this Kororo, which is fruit gummi candy, for our first time at Sun Drug, a drugstore. I was really surprised that this one was so delicious! I felt like as if I were eating real grapes! That's why we purchased more of Kororo at another store in Japan. :)

Kororo Grape

Shopping Sprees
Shopping sprees is called bakugai (爆買い) in Japanese. The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan has rapidly increasing these years. I sometimes watch Japanese news on TV about bakugai. Asian tourists enjoy shopping sprees in Japan, and it helps Japan's economy. Many Asian foreign tourists in Sun Drug were purchasing a bunch of Japanese facial masks, sanitary pads, high-end skincare products and over-the-counter medicine. When I visit Japan, I also purchase a lot of Japanese products, but they were purchasing more than I do. ;) Sun Drug was also offering Tax Free Service for foreign visitors, but there was a long line for it, and we finally gave it up because it looked like that we would have needed to wait for it forever.

Do You Think Japan Is Always Super Safe?
While I was shopping at Sun Drug, my husband told me, "There are too many plastic bags in front of the store. I thought those were trash bags, but they are actually Uniqlo shopping bags! Some people left those in front of the store."

After shopping there, I also saw these and was very surprised about that. I thought that some tourists had purchased so many clothing at Uniqlo and left these there while they were shopping in Sun Drug, which is a pretty narrow and small drugstore. As you might know Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, but leaving your belonging outside the store isn't a good idea because of too many strangers walking on the street. Even in the country with the lowest crime rate, there are some bad people such as thieves. I think that they understood that they were taking a risk though (It's rare but it also happens in Japan.). If we had been them, one of us would have kept eye on our belongings outside the store, and the other one would have gone shopping in the store but tried to finish shopping as quickly as possible (It's actually what we did during shopping at Bic Camera in Haneda Airport because we had some large suit cases at that time.). If you are planning on visiting Japan, please do not overestimate Japan's safety.