13 November 2025
Longer than an epoch
Okayama Aeon mall
Geology lesson time. Eon > Era > Period > Epoch. Generally an eon is billions of years.
Now for a language lesson. In UK English it is aeon, in USA English it is eon, and in Australian English, it is also eon. This is one of very few words where Australian English differs from UK English. The most well known difference is kilogramme (UK) and kilogram (Australian).
Also the term UK English is also controversial, because until recently it was called British English. People burned copies of the Cambridge dictionary in protest when they changed the name to UK English.
So after all of that, Aeon is a huge mall, it is billions of years old. And yet much like today's castle, it looks brand new.
First I did some overpass time. You can see part of the Aeon on the right.
Next overpass.. and here is more of the Aeon.
I wandered away from the Aeon, looking for brightly lit neon areas. I am starting to think that other than the station, there are none in Okayama, which seems a bit weird. Anyway, this line is for a ramen restaurant. Impressive. I made sure it wasn't a soup kitchen for the well dressed homeless before taking the photo, I have made that mistake before in Gifu (I think).
After completing my loop of darkly lit streets, I am back at the Aeon. It has many levels, the lower levels are just shops, with carpet.
First food court. I was tempted.
But first I will keep going up above the atrium.
There is a roof garden, with no view. Schoolgirls were practising their dance moves, photographing that is too risky for me, I did not have my passport on me.
The upper levels have multiple restaurant 'streets' which generally had no lines.
That is not pork, it is pumpkin. Pumpkin omurice doria to be precise. So omurice with pumpkin on top, then cheese, then they put it in the oven for a while and serve it in a casserole dish hot enough to melt steel beams more effectively than jet fuel.
But wait, there is a food street above the food street. I will probably go here on another night.
And in further good news, basement level 2 of the Aeon is joined onto basement level 1 of the JR train station and my hotel is joined onto the JR train station. So no need to breathe fresh air at all.
Tomorrow, more castles, but without hiking.