// a special second today //

12:34:56 07/08/09
i'm blogging at this special moment.

visited ION on wed with serene and shubin.
the building is at least 8 storeys high!
from basement 4 to level 4 or 5...i forgot
actually, unless u are those rich and influential, u might not want to venture above first floor!
imagine, a small piece of jewellery for an estimated $111,000!
unimaginable.

that being said, i like the basement 4 food hall!
cuz there are small vendors selling japanese street food like tokyo crepes..
takoyaki balls, hokkaido soft ice-cream and even the exact kind of bento sets i ate in Japan.
they even had the fake displays of food which is sooo ubiquitous in Japan.
it's great find, especially for me who missed the food in Japan alot!
wahahaha

in addition, there's this shop, Nippon-ya which self-proclaims it as a food boutique.
They imported those boxes of Japanese snacks/cakes which are found all over Japan.
Even the exact brand of wasabi-flavoured pistachios i bought.
Unfortunately and expectedly, the packet of pistachios which i bought for around $16 in Japan, they sold it for $22!
Also disappointedly, they did not bring in the famous hokkaido shiroi koibito (white/dark chocolate sandwiched in biscuits) but chose to import their poorer tokyo cousins.

On the same level, there's the muji, which shop layout is so similar to the one in Ginza.
I think this level must be dedicated to fans of Japan and expatriates.

On the whole, i do agree that ION brings a new concept of shopping to orchard, having different types of shops, from the middle to upper end.
Each shop has a special design of their shop front and those tv screens plastered on the walls are definitely going to attract shoppers.