Momoko Gift Boutique

 

Okay, here's something that I'm gonna try once I'm back in Lawrence.

Momoko Gift Boutique!

You may ask yourself, “What is Momoko Gift Boutique?”. Well if you don’t know, then I’ll tell you all about it. It's a Japanese gift shop located here at KU. It's at 714 Massachusetts St. A Japanese toy store featuring mechanical claw machines as well as gifts like tumblers, bags, hair ornaments, pencils, pins, socks, jewelry and more. Gifts feature Japanese animated characters like Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Mario Brothers, and more.

Hey if you like this one, then maybe I can give this gift shop a try. Besides it's got snacks and sodas too. I wonder if there's some new flavors of soda I wanna try. I'll just have to wait and see.

For those of you who haven't experienced Momoko on Mass St., let me explain to you on the history of Japanese snacks and soda that I've experienced. I'll give you some detail about it.

First off, I went to World Market the other day and I got to try out Ramune Soda.

 It's a kind of Japanese soda that comes in a distinctive bottle sealed with a marble. It acts as a seal to keep the soda carbonated. And when you open it, you push down on the marble, which drops into the neck of the bottle. Anyway, I tried it and it was fizzy in my tongue.

I also tried the melon cream soda flavor from UCC, and it kinda tasted like cantaloup. But the mango cream soda was sweeter.

The snacks I tried from Japan are those Pocky sticks. The first flavor I tried was the strawberry kind and it tasted really good.

I also tried the chocolate banana kind, the chocolate flavor, and cookies and cream.

Those were good too. I even tried the matcha green tea flavor, but it tasted bitter.

I then tried the mango flavored Pocky instead. That was when I was on vacation with my mom in Norway. My mom and I went to that store once and she was finding something nice.

The mango flavored Pocky tasted good though.

Okay. Besides Pocky, I even tried other Japanese snacks.

I tried Meiji Hello Panda, Lotte Koala's March Cookies, Yan Yan Cracker Sticks, and many others. And I'm telling right about now, those snacks and sodas made me feel like a winner.

The way I eat those snacks, I feel like I'm in the mood for a trip to Japan with my mom. I really hope that I visit Tokyo for the very first time. I wonder what my mom and I would do in Tokyo when the time comes. Ever since I went to Epcot at Walt Disney World with my folks, I checked out Mitsukoshi Department Store which was full of Japanese merchandise and plenty of gift goodies. I first got my self a Japanese headband of my own. I look pretty with that thing on my head.

Okay, one time I tried the Calbee shrimp chips, and it kinda tasted salty and tastes like fish. It was okay but somehow interesting anyway.

And for Christmas I got me a box of Meisaki. It’s a collection of Japanese snacks that include manju, baked wheat cakes, and other things. When I first tried one of them, it tasted like vanilla with a little bit of wheat in them. It was really good. It’s high quality Japanese confection. I don’t know if you’d know about this also, but it may also refer to a Japanese BBQ or a Japanese art technique.

When I first come in to Momoko, I wanna take a big look around the gift boutique and see what's up. I hear that the place has claw machines there to win a prize. Just like in carnival games and in arcades. And sometimes for me, there could somehow be a problem winning one. But luckily it takes a lot of practice to do that.

The store is at 714 Mass St. and it'll be one of my stops for whenever I'm shopping in downtown Lawrence. I might be able to get myself something for my computer desk, and maybe give somethings special to some friends I know. And maybe also I can give a gift to Ms. Orth-Lopes, and I’d bet she’d really appreciate it a lot.

And one other thing about it. If I can visit Lawrence for vacation, I can check it out and see for myself. I’ll see what I can do though. So here’s what I’m gonna do. When I go to Momoko at least before I go to Japan for vacation, I’m gonna take a look around the store and see what’s new and what’s to come.

In the meantime, I think that’s probably it for now. If you like this blog entry, let me know on more ideas for my next story on my monthly blog. Catch you later and see you all next time.

Please note that my move back to Lawrence Kansas has been delayed for two years or at least a decision has been made. But don’t worry, we’re not giving up. We’re still gonna make this move work later on. My folks will let me know in two weeks though, so I’ll keep you guys posted on an update coming up soon.