European Christmas (2) - Swedish Christmas in IKEA

After seeing a Finnish tiny Christmas in the movie, I went to IKEA, a Swedish furniture store. It took about 40 minutes to go there from Fushimi by subway and maglev train. It is situated near Koen-nishi Station in a town Nagakute, and directly connected to the station with a pedestrian bridge.

As I expected, there were many people. Model rooms were decorated beautifully for Christmas, but it was difficult to take pictures without including any person. I could manage to take only a few. I think star-shaped objects are uncommon in Japanese interior shops.

This big round mirror was also nice.

And I got interested in the cat in the room.

In addition to furniture, IKEA is known for their restaurant that provides popular and reasonable Swedish dishes. Some years ago, I heard that they started to provide veggie balls in addition to traditional meat balls. Before leaving home, I searched the website of IKEA in Nagakute to see the restaurant menu. Unfortunately, they do not have veggie balls.

I thought there was nothing for me to eat in the restaurant. But the smell of the food captured me when I passed by the restaurant. It was the smell of Sweden. I couldn’t resist the temptation and entered the restaurant. There I had a cinnamon roll, almond cake, and lingonberry drink. They were all very Swedish.

Someone said that memories are often associated with food. It may be true. I have to admit that it is difficult for me to ignore cakes and buns that contain good dairy products from Northern Europe, though I try to be a vegan. It is understandable why many people have difficulty giving up meat. They may have happy memories of feast with their family or friends.

In the Swedish food shop on the first floor, I found many vegan bread and cookies. I bought some and left IKEA to go back to Nagoya.