Tokyo: Sunshine City (at Night)

Ikebukuro, March 2011

Ikebukuro, March 2011

In the evenings after my Japanese classes, I teach English at an eikaiwa (English conversation school) in Ikebukuro. My students/clients are mostly businessmen. I met one heir to a company once, and he and I were both sick. It was flu season then. I also met a branch manager for Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing brand that has just recently opened its stores in the SM Mall of Asia here in the Philippines. I was wearing my gray Uniqlo cardigan then, and I was telling him how comfortable it was and how much I loved the brand. I even got to ask him if they were opening a store in the Philippines soon. He just smiled (I guess that meant a "yes" and I wasn't a very good English conversation teacher). On my last night of teaching at the eikaiwa, I walked around Ikebukuro. I've never really had a chance to explore the Sunshine City. But that night was a good-bye tour of sorts. A few days after that, I would fly back to the Philippines.