[Tokyo Fall 2008] Anpanman Barber Shop!

We saw this when we were at the Anpanman Museum:


Is that a barber shop?


It's true. It's Anpanman Hair Salon!

So how is Anpanman Hair Salong different than other hair salons?


You get to sit on Anpanman and watch Anpanman cartoon while you get your hair-cut. Sounds cool doesn't it!

At least you're not required to have an Anpanman haircut. :D

The whole hair salong was cute and cozy, with a hint of elegance.


Even the waiting area looks lovely!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Super Anpanman

At Anpanman Museum we saw how well he transforms...


He can turn into balloons.


He can turn into a powdery(?) santa.


He can even become an Onigiri, or an Inari sushi (tofu pouch sushi) as shown on the right of the board.


Anpanman Onigiri close-up.


Anpanman Cakes!


And he can even become Anpanman bao (steamed buns)!

He's so cute!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Yokohama: Anpanman Kids and Pigeons

There were cute kids and adults at Anpanman Museum.


He looked very mature for his age for some reason (probably thinking about Anpaman), and I think he's going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up. CUTE.


These kids were eating bread from Uncle Jam's Bakery... but watching something under their feet...


What do you know, there were pigeons around waiting for kids to drop their bread and crumbs... These two little guys did not want to share their bread with the pigeon apparently, and their mom was making noise and trying to get the pigeons away.

Cute people.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Yokohama: Anpanman "uncle Jam" Bakery part.2

"
So what did we get at Uncle Jam's Bakery?

After we got into the bakery, more fresh bread came out!



We decided to grab Melon pan, Toast pan, and Curry pan.


The girls at the counter were really nice and they seemed very happy. Who wouldn't when you work with cute and yummy bread all day!


Toast pan and Curry pan.

Toast pan was two thick slices of soft white bread with custard center! It was really soft and sweet. Yummy.

The Curry pan was still hot when we ate it because it just came out when we went into the store! He had ketchup eyebrows and mouth, with yellow mustard nose and cheeks. I believe his eyes were cream cheese and chocolate(?). The inside was of course curry (with savory ingredients)... I loved it!


cute little Melon pan.

She was so cute. I had to have someone imitate her:


OK I don't think it worked.

All three breads were yummy!

CUTE!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Yokohama: Anpanman "Uncle Jam" Bakery part.1

One of the first shops we saw at Anpanman Museum area was "Uncle Jam's Bakery."


Uncle Jam's Bakery.

There was a sign by the door indicating when fresh breads were coming out... and we waited for the new batch. I was watching the bakers work inside the window. I think they were a little shy when they saw me.


Raw Anpanman waiting to go into the oven.


Ahhh Anpanman and friends inside the window.


Anpanman in progress.

And then there was a bell... the new breads were out!


Uncle Jam and his apprentice(?) welcome you.


Lovely pan lady.


cute cute cute.


umm... I didn't quite know who he was, but he seemed nice. Confused, but nice.


custard pan.


It was almost Christmas, so there was Santa Anpanman.


curry pan.

There were other cute breads but they were gone in a just a couple of minutes! "What did you get?" you may ask. Let me post another entry for that.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Heading Off to Yokohama + Anpanman intro

One of the easiest ways to get to Yokohama is to take the Tokyu Toyoko Line from Shibuya.



When John and I were in Tokyo, we wanted to spend a whole day in Yokohama, so we also purchased a day-pass for Minatomirai Line, which runs from Yokohama Station to Motomachi/China Town area by the bay. There are a few very fun spots along Minatomirai Line, and the first stop we made was at the Shintakashima Station, where the Anpanman Museum was!

Shintakashima Station is the first station after Yokohama.


We saw an Anpanman as soon as we got off the train, and according to him, we had to take exit #2 for the museum.


Apparently Miratomirai Line is very deeply into the ground... these stairs head up to exit #2! We saw similar long stairs/escalators in other stations as well.
And you guessed it, we took the escalator.

After we got to the ground level, we saw some kids (some wearing Anpanman t-shirts and accessories) walking with their parents and we just followed them. According to the Anpanman web site, it's a 7 minute walk from the Shintakashima station.

We walked and walked.


And then we saw this guy (Baikinman) at a window!


More of Anpanman's friends at another window.


We eventually saw this sign... I knew we were close.


We were there!

In case you're wondering who Anpanman is: He's one of the most popular animated characters in Japan. Anpan means "red-bean bread", and he has special "pan" power. You can read more about him here.

The museum was fun. John and I had a lot of fun there, even though we didn't go inside the actual museum building. I'm going to write more about it later.