I went to Shizuoka the day after Sports Day. I hadn't been to Shizuoka yet (except just passing through on a train) even though it's easy for me to get to. I just take the ferry across the bay and then a short train ride.
Here's a picture I took on my way to the ferry.
Here is the ferry arriving in Toi.
I was really excited to see Mt. Fuji! I could see it better than it appears in the picture, though it still wasn't a super clear view.
Before getting on the ferry I went to 7-11 and bought a snack. Recently milk chocolate Pocky came out and I love it. The regular kind is dark chocolate and I don't like it that well. The Fanta Super Fruits was OK. I was about to get Peach (which is awesome) when I noticed this new flavor. It's a mix of white grape, pomegranate, mangosteen, and camu camu. I had no idea what a couple of those fruits were until I looked them up just now. It's definitely an interesting mix. It was good, but I probably wont buy it again. I'd much rather have the peach flavor. :)
I first arrived at Higashi Shizuoka station. As I exited the station I saw something very frightening... a giant robot! It looked like it was about to destroy the city.
Actually, this was one of my reasons for going to Shizuoka. I had seen this advertised and wanted to see it. I have never watched the Gundam anime and really have no interest in it or robots in general. But a giant statue of a robot? I had to see it!
The area around the statue was like a festival. There were many food stands (I ate gyoza) and a stage with dance performances. I stopped and watched a few.
The giant model robot was pretty impressive because it is so big. It also moved its head and there were some flashing lights. It's sword (light saber? I don't know...) lights up at night, but I didn't get to see that.
After a while I headed back to the station and took a quick train ride to Shizuoka station to do some shopping around there. There was a mall connected to the station and I bought a cute purple rug for my bedroom later right before I left. :) I also walked to a mall a few streets away because it has Loft, one of my favorite stores in Japan.
I came across some food stands.
One of them had Welch's Strawberry Soda. I was so confused why they had it. It was obviously imported since the packaging had absolutely no Japanese on it. It was so strange though because I have a hard time finding this in the US. It made me happy though!
This statue was strange.
I came across more dancing in the streets. I had received a pamphlet at the Gundam thing that showed different dance groups and had maps and times showing where they would be. I wasn't particularly looking for any of them, but I came across a strangely interesting one.
I will probably go back to Shizuoka again, mainly because of Loft and some of the other stores. I'm glad to know that there is a Loft store I can get to pretty easily. It's not as big as the ones in Tokyo, but it is still nice because it has a lot of the things I like to look at such as cute stickers and stationary. :)
