ikebukuro-fukurou

Met D. in Ikebukuro in order to try a Chinese veg restaurant there, Roran.

Unfortunately, upon arrival, we discovered it closed. On Saturday. Great business plan, guys.

We ended up eating Indian food at a place called New Delhi and talking animately in the bowels of the station, trying to keep warm, before hitting up the Disc Union and then the mangakiss next door to take advantage of the drink bar, the three of us squeezed into one booth, sketching and drinking.

After, in the station, we came upon a statue of an owl in the entrance of the station, which prompted a discussion about the town's name, Ikebukuro. To my knowledge, the characters were those for "lake" 池　and "bag or sack"　袋. Lake Sack. Very poetic. But the owl statue, whose belly people were touching for good luck, reminded me that owl is also "fukuro" in Japanese. Could the town actually be named 池梟- Lake Owl? Much prettier. But no - after doing some character lookup and sign-checking, we realized that the first translation was the right one, and that owl is actually "fukuroU", long o, and that the statue was just a play on words. Still. Lake Owl sounds nicer, don't you think? That's how I'll think of Ikebukuro from now on.