A friend told us this is a “must do” if we’re anywhere near Tokyo so we went to the Shinjuku Bus Station on Oct. 9 and purchased tickets for the 10th (3,300 yen pp). We left Shinjuku at 8:30am and arrived at Gotemba at 10:15am. Our return was scheduled for 4:30pm so we had six hours to shop.

Whoa, this place is huge! There are three sections of shops: West Zone, East Zone, and Hillside, terraced along a hillside with 200+ stores. We saw people rolling suitcases; they were serious shoppers!

This is not your typical outlet mall … We found Brunello Cucinelli, Isaia Napoli, Celine, Loro Piana, Breitling, Prada, Kenzo, Bally ... All the high-end stores I would want (and more). I was looking for a Mexico 66 shoe at Onitsuka Tiger for a friend; I found one in a different coloration for a very good price.

I purchased ties at Isaia and Ted Baker, shirts at a couple of other stores and some stuffed animals and ended up spending $285. I would have purchased clothing at Brunello Cucinelli or Loro Piana, but they were featuring winter wear, something we don’t need in Hawaii.

We had lunch in the West Zone food court then found better places to eat in the Hillside complex. Oh well, next time. Haha, I found two places with Hawaiian names: Sam Choy’s and Manoa Pancake House in the West Zone. Interestingly, the latter was serving poke bowls; pancakes were limited to desserts. I had a beef bowl with a raw egg and a glass of beer from The Beer Bar for 1,300 yen.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the bus pickup point. Traffic going back to Shinjuku was bad, so it took 2+ hours to get back.

I’ve been told there are a couple of other outlet malls near Tokyo; the largest being Mitsui Outlet Park Kisarazu in Chiba, with 250+ stores. Can I handle two outlet malls the next time I’m in Tokyo?