Kinokuniya, for those who don't know, is a bookstore specializing in Japanese import books. They have three floors; ground floor is for stationary, first floor is English books and Japanese books, and the second floor is Japanese books (manga) and anime merchandise. When I walked in, I was drawn to their section on tattoos. I had not seen this section before and it looks like they have a lot of material just dedicated to it. They also had a lot of art related books and design books that are worth reading despite that it is all in Japanese. I saw a series of books dedicated to ukiyo-e paintings and more specially on the depiction of hell. Those paintings were so gore filled and violent, but they were so beautiful to look at. The exaggerated faces and bodies of the demons are so interesting to look at and the way the artist handles with the brush is amazing. It varies from precise to expressively brash. I was so tempted to buy it and I turned the book over to see a price of $35. My wallet is not so fat and the book despite its awesome material wasn't worth $35 in my opinion. Some of the illustrations were in lower resolution and the way the book was typeset was awful.
I advanced to the second floor and was genuinely pleased. They were playing the latest music namely ENAMEL by SID, Aoki Tsuki Michite by Akira, and Ignite by Aoi Eir. I was more interested in whatever books they had available. I spotted the Gintama series that I have failed each time to complete. Now I know I can come here to buy manga. (Except for Hoshin Engi which I always fail to complete.) There were a new selection of artbooks and anime magazines. I was looking for a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure artbook, but it appears that the store didn't stock any. They had a beautiful Sengoku Basara 4 artbook however. It showcases all the in game character designs and drawings. Even though I don't play the game, I would love to own the artbook just for their renderings. I'm glad I bought The Last Party movie artbook last year. Perhaps next time I go, Kinokuniya may stock a copy of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure animation book of some sort.
When I met up with my friend, we agreed to go to Hanamichi. It's a Japanese restaurant run by Koreans and they specialize in casual dining. Their menu has sushi, ramen, tempura combos, and the usual dons you would find in any Japanese restaurant. I ordered a unagi don (eel over rice) for $12 and my friend ordered a Hanamichi combo which has three pieces of prawn tempura, deep fried something with cheese inside, a bowl of rice and a side of curry. Our little plate pf appetizers were kimchi, pickled sweet daikon, and pickled jalapenos. My unagi don has unagi, two pieces of avocado, 4 pickled garlics, and pickled ginger over rice and garnished with shredded nori and a drizzle of unagi sauce. Surprisingly I walked out the restaurant full and I was very happy. I haven't had eel for some time and eel is one of my favorite seafoods.
The kimchi was ok, not the best though. I was pleased with my unagi don though I would appreciate it more if it had as much unagi as the picture on the menu had. The pickled garlic are the sweet and sour kind that Chinese people eat as well. I'm not sure if it is genuinely Japanese or if this was the restaurant's twist on unagi don. Unagi is typically on the sweet side as this unagi don was. I liked my order and I would come back again to try other lunch specials.
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