05/30/2023

Starbucks for breakfast today! I had this cookies n cream chiffon cake at a Starbucks in Hiroshima, and it was so good that I immediately went for it again at the sbux nearby our hotel in Akiba.

A small group of us wandered out to explore & shop since we had a free day today. We had plans to go to character street (and for some, the kirby cafe) but first, crepes!

Ironically, I did not order a crepe despite being in love with the fake food display. Ever since arriving in Japan, I became slightly more obsessed with soft serve than I ever have been in the states. So I ordered a small cone for 300JPY.

A bunch of us craved something savory after the dessert and got kebabs from the stand next door. Thank you Jess for holding my chicken kebab as I took the photo above ?

We shopped around character street and I got to experience some of the cute kirby desserts with those who went. We also stopped by muji!! Weird to say, but I’ve always wanted the handheld paper shredder from their website but the shipping costs stopped me before. I was able to snatch one in person for myself during our short drop-in and I was living the life.

By around 5pm, we were getting HUNGRY. I had a date to meet up with a friend for dinner tonight, so I thought I could eat a few pieces of sushi and still be hungry enough for dinner. Jess and I went to a sushi place where I made a huge mistake. For some reason I didn’t think I would get full off of a full set of sushi and happily chowed down on the fish & miso soup.

The sushi chefs were super friendly & funny with us, and we were enjoying the food so much that I just ate as much as I could. I met up with my friend in Ikebukuro 3 hours later and ended up only ordering a slice of cheesecake due to how full I was from the sushi.

I met up with my friend to grab a package that I had shipped to her earlier this year, and to make a trade off with our merch. She works as a professional translator, moonlighting as a mangaka & illustrator in her freetime. She had recently tabled at an event and sold out of her original series but she had saved one copy for me, so I greedily asked for her signature while sliding over some of my own merch as thanks!

The meal she ordered looked delicious, and unfortunately I ate the worst cheesecake of my life this night. The little pink bud things on the whipped cream were sakura flowers. For some reason I thought they looked fun to chew so I popped one in my mouth and a sour taste immediately blossomed in my mouth, mellowing out to a bitter taste a few seconds later. I died a little. The cheesecake itself was insanely dense (in a bad way) and very tasteless?! The berry sauce unfortunately did not help the flavor much, not to mention how TINY the slice was. It was around 700jpy and it was the first time I felt juped by the pricing of food since I arrived in Japan.

We went karaoking for almost 2 hours after dinner, and then said our tearful goodbyes at the station before heading back.