Wandering Fel

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: 5 Reasons to go visit Line Friends Store in Harajuku, Shibuya

1. There is a giant plush doll of Brown

And the store lets visitors to take picture with the giant Brown. Awww. Where else will you get the chance to take picture with a giant Brown?

2. A complete plush collection of other Line characters

The store is designed like "home" concept of Line characters. You can find whatever plush toys you'd like to have from James to Moon to Jessica and to Boss.

Line Friends Collection in Harajuku Shibuya Japan

3. Line Friends Cookies

If plush toys are too big for you to carry home, how about bringing back a box of Line Friends cookie instead? They are too cute to be eaten, seriously.

Line Friends Cookies in Line Friends Store Harajuku Shibuya

4. Brown, Brown, Brown

There are 2 levels at Line Friends Store Harajuku. While the Ground level has the most merchandises for sale, you have to visit the Lower Ground level of the store as there is a corner room dedicated to Brown and only Brown. I was really tempted to buy them all. Really.

Brown's Corner at Line Friends Store in Harajuku Japan

If that's not enough, the store even sells Brown's head! And a luggage too. The luggage looks pretty good but I wish it comes in other color except white.

Line Friends Luggage in Harajuku Shibuya Japan

5. A lot of things to buy

The final reason to go into Line Friends Store in Harajuku is definitely to buy stuffs that you can't find anywhere else. I ended up buying a Cony t-shirt, lots of badges, Moon's handphone stand (which does not really work for me because my phone is apparently too heavy for Moon to handle), and three sets of socks (my favourite!) of Brown, Cony and Sally.

Line Friends Store Harajuku Merchandises

Line Friends Store Harajuku's address:

Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya 神宮前４丁目３２−１３ JPR神宮前432ビル

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Grilled Butter Scallops at Dotonbori, Osaka

Our curiosity was immediately piqued when someone who looks like a professional chef in a restaurant, busy grilling scallops at the roadside. I wonder if he's cooking for a take away counter on behalf of certain restaurant nearby.

Oh well, not if that matters. What matters is what lies beneath our eyes. That grilled scallops look pretty amazing, don't you think?

And it smells good too. We quickly joined the crowd to make an order for ourselves. Hahaha. #easytarget

Yummy grilled butter scallops in Dotonbori Osaka

This is how you are gonna get your scallops. The chef grills the scallops with butter and then pours some soy sauce onto them. They are piping hot so do eat with care.

Continuing on our random journey in Dotonbori, we saw another weird creature inside one of the souvenir store. Okay, what is this creepy clown doing inside the store selling what seems to be a custard filling sponge cake?

What? The creepy clown seems to be a popular endorsement product as butter cookies in its shape has been declared as no. 1 to buy product in Osaka (at least in this souvenir store).

Kuidaore Taro Butter Cookies in Osaka Dotonbori

Turns out the creepy clown has been in Osaka since 1950 (oh my gawd, he's old?). His name is Kuidaore Taro and he was originally brought to the Cui-daore restaurant as a marketing tool to bring more customers into the shop. The clown is supposedly has an expression of "eating too much" [okay, that's pretty weird] as what his name, "Kuidaore", means in Japanese.

Kuiodaore Taro Honey Cookie in Osaka Dotonbori

But the clown's face is literally plastered in nearly all food products from cookies to cakes to puddings in this Dotonbori store really. After knowing the meaning of his name, isn't this an irony? LOL.

Kuidaore Taro Pudding in Osaka Dotonbori

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Dotonbori Famous Gyoza, Osaka Ohsho

Imagine you are walking with a hungry stomach and suddenly there is a big signboard in gyoza (re: Japanese dumpling) shape in front of you. What would you do in this kind of situation? Like what the saying says "if you can't beat it, join it", I...decided to eat it. LOL.

The big gyoza signboard turned out belongs to Osaka Oshko, a famous restaurant in Osaka specializing in gyoza. The restaurant at Dotonbori is very popular and we had to queue for at least 20 minutes before we got near to the cashier.

Osaka Oshko Gyoza Restaurant in Dotonbori

Take out menu is available and there is a rank on which item sold the best here at Osaka Oshko. Well, I guess that makes ordering easier for tourists like us. I suppose the no. 1 item, the Osaka Dumpling is a must to order. 5 pieces of Osaka Dumpling costs 200 Japanese Yen. There are so many things to eat at Dotonbori, so it is good to have an option to buy small portion. Hahaha.

There are seats available though, so we decided to dine in instead. After all gyoza tastes better when they are served piping hot. Yum!

If you are too full from all those eating at Dotonbori, you can visit the souvenir store here. The souvenir store at Dotonbori sells a lot of...erm...let's just say interesting stuff. For a start, there's a weird uncle doll which I totally have no idea who's ever going to buy. Really.

And if that uncle doll is not weird enough, there is this...uhh..fake boobies? Is this item supposedly for men or women? Will a guy be able to buy this item with a straight face?

If you are a bit turned off by the above stuff, don't run away yet, the souvenir store do have normal stuff like food. Hahaha. Well, at least the packaging looks normal to me. This one seems to be related to banana. Probably banana sponge cakes.

You can spend quite a lot of time here if you want to check out the items one by one. So do enjoy your time slowly at Dotonbori.