Several days have passed without writing anything. Sorry. It’s just that, when returning home in the evening, we’re always pretty beat from all the impressions and experiences we made during the day.
Tokyo is an incredible city. It’s not huge, it’s endless, as we confirmed yesterday from the observation deck on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. But let’s go back to Monday, when we changed our couchsurfing host and moved closer to the city center (only 20 minutes on foot from Meguro station). Before arriving at our new host’s place in the evening, we spent the day in Akihabara. It’s geek heaven. Dubbed the “electrical town” because of all the electronic stores (that sell everything from used Hasselblad cameras to old consoles games), Akiba (as it is called by locals) is so much more than that today, boasting anime and manga shops, maid and butler cafes, and everything that makes otaku culture so fascinating. We spent hours looking at anime character figurines, and it was hard work not to give in to the temptation of taking everything home. The wonderful thing here in Akihabara is that being a geek is nothing to be embarrassed about. This is changing in Europe as well, but in a forced (and sometimes uncool) kind of way, while here in Akihabara, you find shops catering to otaku buzzing with beautiful, styled, and hip youngsters, who make no difference between going nuts for the latest fashion or latest manga release. It’s truly a dream for someone like yours truly. Also tried some giant ice-cream-on-toast something, which looked cool, but was rather … well, it’s okay we tried it once, let’s not do this again.
Ice-cream on toast
In the evening, we met with our host, who lives in the most beautiful residential area that seems even further away from the big city than where we stayed before, but it’s actually pretty close to everything. We have a beautiful (and huge) traditional tatami room with sliding doors, and the futons are comfy as can be, so we’re sleeping like stones here.
Tuesday was shopping time, as we spent the morning in Harajuku, where people watching proofed to be a spectacle on it’s own. Teenagers dressed up as gothic maids, stylized punks, beautiful people taken straight out of fiction – it was pure awesomeness. Oh, how we wish we were younger and could participate in this awesomeness without embarrassing ourselves … Harajuku also has the Evangelion store, where we spent lots of time and, in my case, money (as was to be expected).
Meiji shrine
After a short visit to Meiji shrine, we continued our shopping tour in Shibuya, where we crossed Tokyo’s most famous crossing (the busiest one in the world) and visited two big and famous department stores and Mandarake, a huge manga shop hidden away in a creepy but glorious basement.
Shibuya crossing
Yesterday, we spent the morning in Ikebukuro where I was delighted to recognize some settings from Durarara!!. Danie finally found some shoes she liked, and also bought herself a coat one would never find back in Europe.
Ikebukuro highways
After that, we decided to go back to Akihabara to finally try a maid cafe. For me, that was a much more fascinating experience as for Danie, I believe. It would not have hurt if the food had been slightly better, though. But definitely another check point: visited a maid cafe in Akihabara. Also, I had to drink a Dr Pepper in Akihabara. El.Psy.Congroo.
Maid cafe food and latte art
In the evening, we went up the TMG building to enjoy a free night view over the never-ending Tokyo skyline. Of course there were lots of (thematically completely unrelated) souvenir shops up there, where we discovered some more unexpected geeky treasures.
Night view from the TGM Building
Today it’s time to get out of the big city and visit Kamakura, which is dubbed the Kyoto of East Japan. Can’t wait!