Edmonton (West Edmonton Mall)

Day 8 (11 Sep) — West Edmonton Mall, a paradise in a frozen land

Today we went to one of the highlights of the trip, West Edmonton Mall. It's a shopping mall like a giant version of Aeon in Japan. Apparently it's one of the largest in North America, a facility that realised the ideal of Edmonton residents who live with harsh winters. It has over 900 shops, plus an indoor water park and even an amusement park.

The amusement park seemed very much for small children, so this time we just walked through. There's no admission charge. The classic scenario is probably the husband bringing the kids here while the wife enjoys shopping.

Canadian McDonald's has a maple leaf in the middle of the M.

Cars were on display all over the mall. The Lamborghini on the far right is a luxury sports car worth tens of millions of yen, but it's not for sale; it will be given to the winner of a draw among customers who entered.

That day a live concert was being held where the skating rink normally is. It was very popular.

There was an indoor pool, a sea lion show stage, and even a mini aquarium.

Today's lunch was KFC.

Japanese sushi seems to be a major food here too. And we had dessert at Yogen Früz, which has recently come to Japan too. It's far cheaper here, and you get more! Why is Japan so stingy...

It was show time, so we went to watch the sea lion show. Watching close up costs money, but watching from a little distance is free.

Trampolines right next to the indoor pool. It does look fun, but wouldn't it be quite embarrassing to just keep bouncing for 10 minutes in front of a crowd?

Tonight's dinner was a real luxury: teppanyaki! I think it was about 3,000 yen each. The steak, using AAA-grade Alberta beef sirloin, tasted exceptional. This restaurant is actually Japanese Village, which we also visited a year and a half ago. The chef cooked for us while emphasising Japan at every turn, but with the familiar knife-twirling performance and the DJ-like live patter, it seemed to have gone beyond Japan altogether. It's not just the meat: their pride is the sauce, rich with sesame. Great poured over rice too! A place I'll always want to visit when I come to Edmonton. Sadly, the Japanese woman who was there on a working holiday last year was gone.