31 October 2026
Still wet hours later
Niigata Bandai area
Despite my best efforts with the hair dryer, my shoes, wallet and phone are all still wet. Oh well, perhaps I will go out and get wetter in the rain, but no, there is no rain now, only when I am hanging off the side of a mountain.
Tonight I toured most of the busy parts of Niigata, on Halloween. The costumes were disappointing, mainly girls in angel outfits with bunny ears, and one guy dressed in a red devil suit. 90% of people had just put ears on their head which they had bought from Daiso minutes earlier. After Korea killed all their kids on Halloween a few years ago, Japan has gone all out to ban it, they have succeeded.
My journey was not far from the hotel to an area I believe is known as Bandai, but also Higashiodori, it is where everything happens but is not quite the station area, I will save that for tomorrow night. There were a lot of clubs and restaurants, and quite a lot of people, much more so than last night in the old part of town.
Now to continue drying things and work out what to do tomorrow, which will also need to feature a coin laundry.
Nightlife! Niigata is not a completely dead city after all.
Same street, opposite direction.
OK, this is right near the station, I was diverting to the other side of the road, but will leave the actual station area for tomorrow night.
Lots of restaurants.
Back in the area with the department stores, they have provided a strange upper deck that joins them all together.
There is even a deck garden. Not a roof garden, not a garden, and not much of a view. Isetan department store in the background.
And not many photos tonight, but here is my dinner, real curry. I chose 2, one of them was soy based allegedly? Not sure. Lots of nuts in both of them. The place specialised in curry, and pancakes.
Tomorrow is not a hiking day, so it will not be raining. No proper plan yet, will probably wing it.