Japan 2006 - Day 2 - Omiya

Well, on this cold, windy freezing day, it's best to stay indoors. And that was exactly what I did today. I have no idea where the wind came from. It is still blowing strong right at this moment. I could hear the wind howling outside. The problem is that I can live with the cold, but not with the bloody wind blowing all this cold air right into my face. Many bicycles that were parked along the street were blown over by the strong gust.

Anyway, the indoors is my only safe heaven. I stayed inside shopping centres around the Omiya station, which is the closest main train station around my place. Even though this is not the first time I came to Japan, it never ceased to amaze me by the number of commuters who travel on the trains. The station is packed of people... all the time. Just like every country in the world, the trains get really packed at peak hours. I wonder how claustrophobic goes to work.

One good thing about main train stations like Omiya is that the station is literally a giant shopping centre. Lumine is right on top of the station. Sogo is just 100 metres away, and there is a Daiei further down from Sogo. Unfortunately, I was confined by the weather. Every time I walked on the street, all I could think about is, "Where the hell is the next shopping centre!?" That all I could think of. The wind was so great that it made me want to dive into the next open door and get inside a building. Any building. I guess having so many shopping centres certainly helps. Didn't buy anything, but it was good just looking at, well, things.