Day 17: Shinjuku

I ended up in Shinjuku today since I had wanted to go see if anything cool was happening at Kabukicho Tower. I realize I could have looked this up ahead of time but since I had first visited mere weeks after the building was opened to the public, I feel a certain affinity towards. As much of an affinity one can feel towards an unfeeling glass and steel structure tucked into a part of town that one doesn't particularly enjoy all that much.

It seemed to be doing well, and still had its frosted tips like it was trying to relive the glory days of the early 2000s. There wasn't actually anything going on nearby and the whole plaza in front of the building as well as the first few floors including the food hall and game center weren't very busy, which was nice compared to it being overly packed.

Speaking of the game center, although it was nice aesthetically, I am definitely on the edge of calling it a scam (for legal purposes, I mean this in the colloquial way!). One of the claw machines was ¥400 per play!! 4 times the going rate at the likes of Game Panic or Adores! 2 times the price of GIGO which I had already previously said was a scam! Needless to say, I didn't play here.

But don't fret! I did end up playing crane games elsewhere. Right next to Kabukicho Tower are actually multiple game centers. Both GIGO and Game Panic are right next door and there's also a Taito Game Station right down the street. I didn't want to spend more than ¥1,000 on crane games today so had to be very choosy. Luckily at Taito Game Station, there was a "beginner friendly machine". You'll see these types of machines marked with signage that has the beginner's badge on it: 🔰.

It was more expensive than usual at ¥300 but the chances of getting a prize are much better because they usually grip stronger, etc. in order to make it easier for beginners. The one I tried was basically full of random items, probably overstock from past collabs and stuff, but I managed to get the thing I was aiming for on my first try!

I didn't even end up spending my alloted ¥1,000 either. I wasted like ¥500 more on random machines and then left to do some shopping. I mainly ended up checking out some card shops in the area as well as BookOff, which is basically a second hand store that sells books, video games, electronics, etc.

If you ever want infinite keychains or straps, you know where to look

Probably the find that I least expected was the Japanese DVD set of the complete season 2 of Pimp My Ride. It's pretty interesting to see what gets localized and even has physical copies. I was really tempted to buy it but decided not to.

I think you could buy a bunch of physical media for US shows here if you wanted. I saw a couple seasons of Supernatural for ¥500 per season. I guess you'd have to make sure they weren't only dubbed over but otherwise it would probably be cheaper than buying anywhere in the US, assuming you have the extra luggage space.

Speaking of luggage space, good thing I thought to try packing my luggage. I think I'm about at the limit of what my suitcases can handle (maybe just 1 more figure...) so I guess I'll need to slow it down on the crane games and secondhand shops in the next few weeks.