Day 9 & 10: Shopping & A Rest Day
by JD Porterfield on
I woke up later than I had meant to and decided then and there that it would be a lazy day. I had planned to go to Akihabara and spend a few hours there and ride back right before rush hour again. Oh how naive I had been.
After the 30ish minutes it took to get to Akihabara, I decided to visit stores in the vicinity closed to the station and then work my way down the street. I didn't really intend to buy anything so for a lot of places that I took pictures, I'm not exactly sure which stores they are from.
The first place I entered had an exhibit going on about the history of SHFiguarts, a company that makes anime figures. It was pretty cool overall and I was happy to see this exhibit so I could finally know which Sailor Guardian is which!
I ended up in atre 1, a department store, to check out a collab pop-up with an anime/manga franchise called "Dropkick on My Devil!". I've never actually seen it before but it looked cute and I was already there, so why not? The pop-up had the usual assortment of merch like acrylic standees, stickers, etc., and life-size-ish acrylic standees of various characters to take pictures of/with. Seemed cool but I didn't know anything about the franchise so I didn't get anything.
I was a little peckish so I planned to go to the top-level to see what food options were at this department store. Unfortunately, my trick of checking the top floor first back-fired on me. The escalator in atre 1 actually ends inside a cafe-type place so immediately upon exiting the escalator I was already being greeted and asked how many people were in my party. Eager to save face, I immediately said it was just me and got a table, determined to eat whatever type of food was offered.
At first, I thought they only served cake slices, which would have been OK but I had been intending to have something other than dessert today, but oh well. Luckily, the waitress brought over a menu and they had a lunch set that included quiche and a light salad so I ordered that plus an iced coffee. I actually didn't need to end up ordering cake at all!
After finishing lunch, I basically popped into every shop that was selling anime merch that I could. Although I had intended to only spend a few hours in Akihabara, this would turn out to take much longer than expected. Many of the stores have 7 or 8 levels with various shops in each level. Because of this, the prices or quality of goods could be very different between each level even in the same building, so you have to pay extra close attention just in case.
I didn't buy anything in the first few shops, but I did see a legendary Black Lotus out in the wild. And for only $150k USD??? What a deal!
After a few more shops, I went to GiGO to play some crane games. I thought I'd spend a few bucks there and leave but somehow I miraculously won something with less than $5 - an Anya travel pillow thing (not actually sure, see below). I think this is how they scammed me into spending another 40 without winning anything after that.
After realizing that beginner's luck doesn't always become intermediate's luck, I continued on my journey of exploring every shop. I bought a Kyaru figma that I saw for a huge discount (it said unopened so not sure why it was less than half MSRP). I also stumbled onto a couple collaboration pop-up shops. One was for Spy Classroom and was kind of lame since it was basically just acrylic standees and stickers of each of the characters in bunny suits, which isn't really something I'm interested in.
The other was actually really interesting to me - a Yuru Camp pop-up!
In addition to the regular anime merchandise and T-shirts and stuff, they also were selling camping gear and themed mini-skillets and things like that. I didn't actually need any camping gear, so even though it was cool, I held back. I did get some stickers and a T shirt though.
They decorations were pretty cool too. Some of the walls had storyboards and some had character reference sheets. It's always cool to get a little peak behind the scenes at that kind of stuff!
By this time, it had already started to get dark. But I actually felt that Akihabara was getting busier. Around the time it started getting dark, girls from various maid cafes began lining the streets, spaced really evenly like 1 every 10 feet or something. As you walk by they try to get you to go to the maid cafe that they represent. It was scary.
Just kidding, but I really don't want to visit a maid cafe, especially alone. I think the secondhand embarrassment would really get to me. One "moe moe kyun" and I'd be dead. And not out of happiness LOL
Next, I spent quite a bit of time at a store that specialized in secondhand goods. Most everything is still going to be in excellent quality, even if secondhand, but I noticed prices all over the place. Some figures sold for MSRP or even above (kind of makes sense though since many figures only have a single production run), but some were like 5 bucks or less. Other than figures, they had basically any kind of anime merch you could think about.
Even some unique items were for sale. For instance, this shikishi signed by the members of 22/7 for an event in 2019.
Or this signed, framed and matted Fate artwork for over $1000.
After exploring a few more places, I noticed more and more shops had begun to close so I decided to head home for the day. By this time I'd been out for like 8 hours, so probably a reasonable decision anyway.
On my way to Akihabara Station, I noticed a KFC and decided to grab dinner. There was a kiosk to place my order and somehow the order was ready mere seconds after I placed it. Were they watching me fill my cart???? Either way, after eating it I am sure that KFC in Japan is like at least twice as good as KFC in the US. Definitely recommend trying it if you end up in Tokyo for more than a week (if a week or less maybe don't use a meal on it?).
While in Akihabara, I had noticed a few flyers for collaboration events starting next week (I think they all started on 04/28 and ran for like 2 weeks) so it looks like I will have to go again. Google maps didn't track me well today since I never used navigation but Fitbit says I walked 11,766 steps.
Day 10: A Lazy Day Inside
For some reason, I woke up mega late and it was raining. I actually am unsure if me waking up late caused it to rain or vice versa or maybe even neither. Either way, I decided I would rest up and not go out in the rain at all, mostly because I didn't have any good idea of what I would do even if I did leave.
After a few hours of just playing games on my phone and watching YouTube, I did get a bit restless so decided to walk to get snacks and dinner from the convenience store. I had decided to go to the 3rd or 4th closest 7/11 so that I should get at least a little bit of walking in. Still, that was only like 500m or something absurdly close. There's probably a convenience store within throwing distance of most places in the city (assuming you're throwing like a baseball, not a shot-put).
The only photos I can offer you to prove yesterday existed is this one of my rainy walk
And this one of the new game I am trying out
It was a good rest day but I can't afford to waste any more days resting! Gotta make the most of the trip!