Today was the Emperor's birthday so Dennis had a day off from work. First we went to Kappabashi to get a part of the our new year's gifts (yes ,we were too late for them to be Christmas gifts). We wanted to see the Christmas decorations because most of them will be gone after Christmas. We walked to Ueno and we even passed the neighbourhood were we stayed at a weekly mansion. We recognized the big red wooden tori gate at the beginning of the street to a small shrine but a lot had changed. They repaired the sidewalk and a lot of shops seemed to be for those special shrines you can place in your house for a dear diseased person. There were still a few shops with traditional items, like a taiko drum shop, but not as many anymore. The ramen shop we visited was still there as well, must be very good ramen! The street near the railroad was still crowded with small food shops. It was nice to see everything again. At Ueno there are many shops we could visit to find gifts. Luckily we found some special gifts. Soon after we discovered some really nice light decorations at Ueno park, one of them must have been from the zoo because it visualized all kinds of different animals. Another one was a big tree who gave a light display, every time some other part would light up so that it was different every time. After we shopped a bit we went to our next stop: LaQua Tokyo Dome City. We saw some posters at the train stations that advertised the nice Chistmas decorations they should have there, so we wanted to go. We must say they were amazing, it was worth the trip. They had an amazing gate with a lot of colors which were changing. When you walked through it they even mimicked shooting stars coming from the front until the end of the gate, amazing. There was also a light-dome where you could sit underneath and enjoy the colored light show of colors changing and going off and on. The masterpiece was a nice big globe with smaller globes underneath, also changing colors. Again worth our trip and we made some nice pictures as well. We even got a free pair from LaQua, they were making pictures in front of the globe and the big Christmas tree with an instant camera and putting them in a key-chain. We got one each and all this... free! LaQua is a mall with a rather strange combination. Of course there were shops but in between they had some attractions you normally find in an amusement park. We could even see a big track of a roller coaster going straight trough the building. It was not running though, it must be because it was too cold to ride it in the evening. There was a water track with logs you could sit in (I have no idea what this is called in English but in Dutch: Wildwaterbaan) and this one was fully running. If you think that mall/attraction park is strange already, try adding a spa and fitness club. They had that too in case you were looking for some exercise or relaxation. We did some shopping and found some great gifts and decided we wanted to grab some food. Although this place was amazing to explore there was a small disadvantage, because there were not many restaurant where you can really sit and enjoy your meal. Everything was very small and because of that very busy. Eventually we settled with a small hamburger-restaurant where we found a place to sit. The hamburgers were not nearly as good as at Lazona but when you are hungry this is quite nice. Afterward we explored the rest of the stores and eventually went home. This was a great day!