Day 29: Just Akiba Again

I feel like last year I was in Ikebukuro all the time, but this year I'm always in Akihabara. I've pretty much shopped myself out, mainly because I don't have the luggage space and I've seen everything in all the mains places I'd want to shop at and the stock hasn't cycled yet. So it's pretty safe for me to hang out there when I don't have any ideas lol

I was originally going to head to Kamakura for the day but woke up at a time I'd consider a bit too late since it would limit the daylight hours I'd have there since it would still be another 1.5 hour train ride as well.

Before heading to Akihabara for the day, I decided to eat some spam musubi and get a drink and realized there was actually a small shrine bascially where I was staying.

In Akihabara, I stopped by Bic Camera to grab a luggage scale (editor note: I'm just barely under the limit so let's hope it was accurate!) but was astounded at the sheer power of Pikachu

How can this rodent command such a display over 25 years later? I wonder if Pikachu will ever lose its ability to sell merchandise?

I also stopped by the official Hatsune Miku store inside the Don Quijote Akihabara complex. There was tons of Miku merch, and the plushies were even a reasonable price compared to other places I had seen in the area. It also had some huge Miku & friends status. It's hard to tell from the figure, but I think it was like at least 2 feet tall

I also saw another cool collab with one of my favorite anime, A Place Further than the Universe. If you've never heard of it, it's about a group of girls joining an Antarctic expedition. They all have their own reasons and ambitions for joining and overcome many hardships, it's super touching honestly. It's been a while since I watched it, so I should rewatch it again!

Anyway, the collab was cool because it was commemorating the real life 66th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) which will set out on November 20th aboard the Japanese icebreaker Shirase which is portrayed in the show as the Penguin Manju Go. I ended up getting a clear file and an acrylic stand of the character Yuzuki. I felt like I sort of owed it to her since she's been my discord photo since the show aired in the first place LOL It's also technically not anime merch but it kind of felt like it so I also bought a JARE polo shirt as well

There were also some collabs with some other series I liked as well incluing Spice & Wolf, Yuru Camp, No Game No Life, and others. I'm not even sure how or why Yuru Camp is so popular, but in the 2 months I've visited this and last year I swear I've personally seen like at least 5 pop-up shops for the series. I'm also sure there were a lot of other collabs too but that I basically ignored becasue I wasn't as familiar with their IPs.

Finally, I headed back home and took a small nighttime walk.

It had been pretty busy around lunchtime, so it's always fun to see how different certain areas are at different times of the day.

Some of the shrines also have this cool juxtaposition of them immediately sandwiched by paid parking and I thought it looked cool.

I also had a somewhat ominous view of Skytree, which was occasionally turning red. I wonder if that looks pretty cool at night from other observation decks. I guess I'll have to add that to my todo list for next time.