9 November 2026
Even more parking
Tsuruga suburbs
Much like Toyama, Tsuruga suburbs did not disappoint as far as eating and shopping options go. It does now seem to be a thing that in Japanese regional cities, the city is dead, the families and shops all moved to to 'the suburbs' and like to drive everywhere and enjoy convenient parking. American style way of thinking I suppose.
So tonight I headed west for a few kilometres and took in all the sites of the parking lots of restaurants, big box stores, drug stores, supermarkets and of course, Donki.
It was interesting, but it also felt like being in Perth.
Now before going to bed I have to find out if my 2 stop train journey tomorrow takes IC card, you might remember that yesterday's 1 stop journey did, tomorrows journey starts from the same place and is on a JR West line, but no, IC card is not accepted. Well that makes a lot of sense.
First up is the big Donki, Mega Don Quijote to be precise. These all have bus parking for Chinese tour groups, which are now banned (by China), and to make matters worse for poor old Donki, the tax refund counter they rely on is now dead too, instead tourists have to apply for a refund at the airport. Donki will be lucky to survive this double whammy.
Donki had a small food court, with a couple of options open, but it was too early for my dinner.
The above photo makes it seem a lot smaller than it is, it is a Mega Donki, so 5 levels high, with many non Donki shops surrounding the central Donki. OK I have said Donki enough.
Now to start the tour of the restaurants and other stores, here is Matsuya with parking.
Japanese JB Hifi.
Tomato & Onion American dining specialises in curry, hamburg steak and omurice.
Here is my choice, and I had selected it before I started my walk this evening, it was time for Ramen again.
And it was good Ramen, I was all set to choose the spicy option, but then I found 'everything ramen' and the choice was made for me. It was a bit pricier due to having everything, about $12AUD.
Next up I took a tour of the local Hard Off, second hand store, it had some good prices too, I find the second hand guitars in Tokyo are now really expensive, and the only people looking are foreigners, here in Tsuruga, cheap stuff for locals.
What is this? Super Kabos, I have never seen it before, turns out it is books and stationery.
To end the night I headed into the local pachinko parlour to see if I could win some tokens to exchange for washing detergent while enjoying the horrible noise and everyone smoking.
Tomorrow is as mentioned, a hiking day, the latest weather forecast is.... all day sunshine. Wow.