6 November 2025
Mall pasta
Aeon mall Tokushima
I have not been to a mega mall yet. I have not been to a food court yet. I have not had pasta yet. Lets go do all 3.
The more rural the city, the more likely they are to have an Aeon mall, Tokushima does not disappoint. It is about a 50 minute walk (in each direction) from my hotel. I made sure to walk there and back using a completely different set of roads. On the way there, very well lit, many convenience stores and overpasses. On the way back, dark and not even a foot path.
As for the mall and the pasta, mall was ok, food court was great but I went to the restaurant floor instead, probably should have gone to the food court as the restaurant pasta was slightly expensive and slightly bland, despite coming with unadvertised bacon.
Tokushima is the king of pedestrian overpasses in Japan. Taipei still has it beat overall, but in Japan, nowhere I know of has so many of these, including the great 4 way ones to assist you in crossing diagonally, or just running laps.
Because I can read Chinese characters, I now realise this is a rice vending machine station. There are a few grades on offer, the most expensive being 5kg for 5,000 yen ($50). I don't think we have unmanned rice vending stations in Australia. Also, new style bank notes not accepted, 500 yen coins not accepted, yet it is cash only. It really seems as though they prefer to not sell rice.
I entered the Aeon mall through the Aeon supermarket.
Tonight is the super beaver moon (seriously), so I wandered out along here to look at it. I have no zoom so the photo is useless, instead check out the Aeon mall sign.
Inside is much the same as all mega malls, except carpeted.
This shop sells nothing but bean bags.
Now for the food court. It was large enough and nice looking, but then I noticed upstairs was a restaurant floor.
And so I headed up to the slightly more expensive food. In hindsight, cheaper would have been better.
Because here is my small serve of pasta, over priced at about $12, although I think it may have included all you can drink coffee and soft drinks. It was not a Salzeriya (popular chain store), they had one of those too, those are super cheap. Also I did not expect it to have bacon, in fact I think it translated to vegetable pasta.
Tomorrow is a hiking day, with a bus, cash only bus that comes once an hour.