This time it was someone else’s turn to come to Ikebukuro and show me a place. Robert was in the area last night, and we went to Caravan Books, the used book shop located on the west side of the station. I was really impressed by the huge selection of books they had there (I was expecting something a bit smaller), and ended up picking up MIRRORSHADES, a cyberpunk anothology from the mid-eighties edited by Bruce Sterling, and a hard cover copy of William Gibson’s latest novel, PATTERN RECOGNITION. The cafe part of the shop was closed for renovations, so we went to a nice little cafe not far from there called Ha Ha. I’d spotted it in a magazine a while back, but hadn’t had a chance to go yet (I tried once, but it was closed for a private party). After a few drinks there, we continued on to Pause for a couple of decanters of wine, to finish the evening at Tonchin, where we were treated to delicious bowls of tonkotsu ramen, and an aerial display of noodle distribution. Beautiful.