Bangkok - Central World - Japan Festa
The giant shopping center in Bangkok, Central World !
They call it not shopping center but shopping complex. It's the largest shopping complex in Bangkok and the sixth in the world.
The area has 550,000 square metres of shopping mall. Hmmm, 550,000 ? Can you imagine that ? Considering a football (soccer) field as about 7,000 square meters, the mall will be about 78 soccer fields wide. Are you sure ?? :D
It has ZEN department store on the left, a seven-level trendy lifestyle megastore not only for young people but for all family members and ISETAN on the right, a Japanese department store based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Maybe, I guess,
when men (who are not good at shopping) visit here, they will lose their
way while crying, have no idea of where to go because it's unbelievably
wide.I recommend you check their websites beforehand if you don't go shopping so often.
- Web sites of the department stores
- Central World - http://www.centralworld.co.th/en/ (English / Thai)
- ZEN - http://www.zen.co.th/en_index.html (English / Thai / Chinese)
- ISETAN - http://www.isetan.com/icm2/html/com/en/thai/index.html (English / Japanese)
ZEN department store on the left and ISETAN on the right
BigC, the popular supermarket for daily life across the street.
Check below about Information around this area:
- Welcome to the Heart of Bangkok - Ratchaprasong
http://www.heartofbangkok.com/en/index.aspx
Don't have a bird ! A narration runs automatically.
You can visit this CentralWorld by BTS SkyTrain: get off Siam or Chit rom station, then walk for several minutes on a pedestrian way called "Skywalk" connecting the stations and Central World. When I went there last time, Japan Festa in Bangkok 2013 was being held. This page shows pictures mainly of the event. Now, here we go !
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| View in a larger map | View in a larger map |
CentralWorld - Let's go to CentralWorld ! |
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Now, welcome to the giant shopping center, Central World !The picture above was taken when Japan Festa in Bangkok 2013 was held. Very crowded in the square in front of the department buildings. Check websites of each department store below about the stores in detail:
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| The appearance is like this. You'll see ZEN department store on the left. | One shot of inside, just showing a part of it. | ||
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| Is this just getting in ZEN from the side of Skytrain station ... ? | A door of an elevator. The design is very cool. | ||
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| モスバーガー written in Japanese: MOS BURGER, Japanese Fine Burger and Coffee. |
A huge head standing out in front of the building is a woman of India. Why is this kind of statue here ? |
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| Skywalk The pedestrian way connecting CentralWorld, Siam station and Chid rom station. |
ERAWAN SHRINE The most powerful power spot in Thailand is across a intersection. |
INDRA SHRINE A little away from ERAWAN SHRINE is INDRA SHRINE, the God of a thousand eyes. |
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| Around CentralWorld Wow, so many cars. Very crowded ! The street is stack with cars, buses, taxies and Tuktuks. Don't so hurry and drive safely, please ! :D |
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CentralWorld - Power Spots ! |
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The Power Spots in front of ISETAN at Central World, TRIMURTI SHRINE - the God of Love and GANESHA SHRINE - the Elephant God of wisdom, education and remover of obstacles.The bigger shrine on the left is TRIMURTI shrine. Trimurti made up of the three Hindu gods, Brahma(the creator), Vishnu(the preserver) and Shiva(the destroyer), is the God of Love. The smaller shrine around the center of the picture is Ganesha shrine, the Elephant God. Thailand is a Buddhist country but you'll see Hindu Gods here and there especially Ganesha often. Very curious. (About Ganesha: see Wat Samanratanaram famous for Thailand's largest reclining Ganesha. If you visit around Central World, don't forget to drop by this Power Spots ! |
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| GANESHA SHRINE The elephant-headed deity - the Hindu god of wisdom, education and remover of obstacles. |
Decorations in front Decorations in front of TRIMURTI SHRINE. Elephants, buffalos and so on. A lot ! |
Chants ? This shows in front of TRIMURTI SHRINE, if my memory is correct. Chants for praying ? |
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| From a little distance You see some people are praying. |
The street in front Very busy street with a lot of cars. |
CentralWorld - Japan Festa in Bangkok 2013 ! |
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Welcome to Japan Festa in Bangkok 2013 !This festa, 9th time this year, was held from 31 in Aug. to 1st in Sept. in the Central World square in front of the buildings. This event attracted a lot of local people who love Japan. See ? The site was really packed ! I'm really happy as a Japanese that Thai people enjoy this kind of Japanese culture related events very much and hope this Japan Festa in Bangkok will be held every year and forever. :D |
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| Full ! Very crowded with visitors. Cosplayers are a lot as well ! Why ?? :D |
In front of Central World So many visitors around the woman of India statue. |
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| More and more ! Wow, can not walk through easily. Everyone, have fun ! |
The space with an arched roof There are two venues like this. |
Japan Festa - Stage show and booths of students |
| One of the venues with an arched roof had a big stage and showed a dance performance, and a lot of shops were opened in another venue by students who, I guess, studied Japanese in universities. |
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| Stage show When I passed around here, a dance performance with two dancers in Japanese style having umbrellas with music. Is this,... a Japanese dance ? (Or, a Japanese dance in Thai style .., ? :) ) |
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| Booths by students 1 Sakura (cherry blossoms) and a locomotive booth by King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang of Thailand on the left. A booth of (maybe) a Japanese shrine by Chulalongkorn University on the right. I want to know what the kanji characters say ... |
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| Booths by students 2 On the left, a woman posing as a Japanese candy GLIKO's mark by Thammasat University in Thailand. On the right, a coin throwing game with Totoro, the cartoon character of the popular movie, "Tonari no Totoro" or "My Neighbor Totoro". If you throw a coin and dropped it around his belly, you can get some gift. I tried once (about ten coins) but couldn't at all. :D By Rangsit University in Thailand. |
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| Oooo, Rokuro-kubi.... I'd never imagined I would see Rokuro-kubi in Thailand, long-necked monsters in Japan. By Thai Chamber of Commerce ? |
Hungry ! A restaurant under the roof. It shows a very good atmosphere of a Japanese festival with a lot of Japanese lanterns. |
Station When I went back, the Skytrain station nearby was very crowded because of this Japan Festa. |
Japan Festa - Cosplayers |
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| You would see soooo many cosplayers here and there in this event ! It was a little funny because I'd never seen a lot of cosplayers at once like this and it made me feel that they thought showing a lot of cosplayers was the Japanese culture. Maybe there was a cosplayer event in this festa, I guessed. They showed their favorite poses for you when you tried to take pictures of them. Cool ! (I'm not used to this kind of situation. I was too shy to take a picture from their front, just took them from their side or from a distance. Haha.) Personally, I was happy with Kamen Rider, one of the famous Japanese TV hero among kids, created in 1970's. This is the first Kamen Rider because he has two lines on the side of his body. You'll see cosplayers in the event below. They are only some examples. Do you know what they are ? |
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Japan Festa - Hokkaido Fair ! |
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| Hokkaido Fair was held in ISETAN at CentralWorld. They had a tuna cutting show that we wanted to see in Japan someday. My wife was sooooooo excited. :D Very crowded. |
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| Tuna Cutting Show 1 Wow, they brought the big tunas from Japan for this event. Thank you. |
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| Tuna Cutting Show 2 A lot of people tried to take pictures of this show. This view was very curious to me as well. |
Hokkaido food 1 Cash desk here. Buy a lot ! |
Hokkaido food 2 Miso (bean paste) and dressings ... ? |
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| Fruits ! Strawberries, pears, peaches and so on. Very expensive to me ! (compared in Japan) A peach was 1,000 yen or 10 dollars. Cry,... |
See food ! Sea products such as salmon caviar and salted cod roe . Looks yummy ! |
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| Instant ramen - Japanese noodles Various Hokkaido instant ramens. I didn't know that but they have a ramen named "Caution - Bears !". That's Hokkaido ! |
Dried see food Dried see food such as dried squid and dried salmon. |
The Japan Festa in Bangkok is held every year and this year, 2013, was 9th time.
I really hope they will hold it for years to come. :D
- I found their official website:
Japan Festa in Bangkok - http://www.japanfesta.com/ (only in Thai)
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