Akihabara

August 25, 2019・7 min read (1019 words)

I watched TI in the early afternoon, and since all the teams that I cared about had been knocked out, I decided not to watch the grand finals, which freed up the rest of the afternoon and night to go to Akihabara.

It’s not like it’s a secret, but the public transport in Tokyo really is great. If you want to go somewhere, you don’t really need to think about what time the train comes (unless it’s late and you don’t want to miss the last train). We just missed a train as we got onto the platform, and the next train seemed to arrive in less than a minute (which I believe is short even by Tokyo standards).

Akihabara: it happened to be Sunday, so the main street was closed to cars.

As we were taking photos of the main street, we noticed a nearby adult store–which I’ve read is one of the things to see in Akihabara–so we went to check it out even though we were dying for food. I didn’t take many pictures since there are signs all over place saying “no photos”. There was a sign explaining one of the reasons: it could potentially shame or embarrass customers¹, which also might explain why the two upper floors didn’t permit women from entering. Needless to say there were plenty of interesting wares.

I noticed that the majority of people in this particular store were tourists who were probably also just there to have a look. I also saw that they sold “supplements”, and there was a sign explaining how due to some law (which I assume they were attempting to skirt) they weren’t legally allowed to say what effects these supplements had. Sounds a bit snake oily to me.

Some adult store, Akihabara: for some reason you could take photos of a specific brand of products.

We were starving since it was 1830 so we found a noodle store nearby to eat dinner (lunch? breakfast?). Elbert noticed that all the staff were Vietnamese and actually spoke Vietnamese amongst themselves. I asked him how to say “thanks” in Vietnamese and he fooled me for a second when he replied with “du ma”.

Some restaurant, Akihabara: ordering off a tablet at the table rather than
prepaying at a machine up the front. I prefer this way since there are pictures
for everything, as long as the tablet/software isn't complete garbage like
you find at sushi trains in Sydney. — Some restaurant, Akihabara: ordering off a tablet at the table rather than prepaying at a machine up the front. I prefer this way since there are pictures for everything, as long as the tablet/software isn't complete garbage like you find at sushi trains in Sydney.

Abura soba (soup-less oil noodles) with miso soup on the side. Yummy. This
time I mixed the egg in rather than just slurping it up. — Abura soba (soup-less oil noodles) with miso soup on the side. Yummy. This time I mixed the egg in rather than just slurping it up.

Afterwards, we popped into an anime/games hobbyist store², which had plenty of cool stuff.

Some anime store, Akihabara: this place had a Studio Ghibli section.

Might've bought these if it was still super hot.

Assembled "paper theatre" things. You slot and glue them yourself.

The camera doesn't really capture the nice depth that you get from the layers.

Showing the layers. I bought the catbus. I wanted to buy some more as gifts
(and to make the 5000 JPY tax free threshold) but I didn't know who might want
them. — Showing the layers. I bought the catbus. I wanted to buy some more as gifts (and to make the 5000 JPY tax free threshold) but I didn't know who might want them.

What made them choose these models to sell these cases 🤔

Unfortunately the Gundam Cafe was closed by the time we got there, which was a shame because apparently the toilets are interesting. The themed food not so much since I don’t know much about Gundam at all.

We popped into a nearby supermarket for some food and saw that they had 50% off a lot of pastries as well as meat skewers and 30% off sushi. We didn’t end up getting much, I only bought a half price donut and a full price pudding. When the checkout lady was scanning my items, she noticed that the pudding wasn’t on sale and made sure that I was okay with it, which was very thoughtful.

Some supermarket, Akihabara: store made donut menu.

They like to label things with Hokkaido whenever they can. It definitely
sucked me in to make this 350 JPY purchase. — They like to label things with Hokkaido whenever they can. It definitely sucked me in to make this 350 JPY purchase.

Made on the 24th. Really tasty. This one actually had the taste of dairy which
made it taste fresh and less processed, while the Famima one and others taste
more processed. I'd still prefer the Famima one if I had to choose. — Made on the 24th. Really tasty. This one actually had the taste of dairy which made it taste fresh and less processed, while the Famima one and others taste more processed. I'd still prefer the Famima one if I had to choose.

This donut wasn't bad, it had a cake rather than regular donut texture. Half
price stuff tastes better too. — This donut wasn't bad, it had a cake rather than regular donut texture. Half price stuff tastes better too.

It was almost 2100 by the time that I finished eating my snacks at the supermarket and everything was closing. I was surprised that everything was closing so early (maybe it being Sunday affects it too). We’d already seen a lot of girls in costumes trying to get people to go into their maid cafes, but on the walk back to the station we saw a super frilly, puffy, impractical one that just didn’t look fun to walk in.

Home, Ootsuka: a one meal day and my natural tolerance meant that this 500mL
can got me more drunk than I was expecting. — Home, Ootsuka: a one meal day and my natural tolerance meant that this 500mL can got me more drunk than I was expecting.

Pringles-like chips. But in a small can.

And with more packaging. They tasted like what you'd expect, which is good
since regular Japanese potato chips are expensive and not great. — And with more packaging. They tasted like what you'd expect, which is good since regular Japanese potato chips are expensive and not great.

I went to bed quite drunk at around midnight but woke up at 2800 sober, so I went on my laptop again. I took a while to finish my rather large Tokyo Midtown blog and slept late.

Waking hours

1145–3105

I guess while it might be more accepted in Japan (as evidenced by the sheer number and size of these stores) it’s not like it’s completely normalised either
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I wanted to call it an anime store but Elbert said that it would be more correct to call it a hobbyist store. This is the compromise.
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Written by Daniel Tam