Japan Diaries [Day 2]

Day 2 [September 27th]

* We hit Akihabara (known locally as ‘Akiba’) for a day of all things electronic! A lot of big Japanese companies (Sony, Toshiba, etc) have their bases here. Also a BIG anime/gaming franchise in this area called ‘Gamers’ (those of you who are into anime may know of the character ‘DiGi Charat’? Well, she was originally created as a mascot for this store), nine floors of anime/figures/manga ~ I was in heaven! Plenty of otaku there, it felt a little strange at first. My favourite level was one devoted to anime soundtrack CDs – with many familiar tunes playing throughout different corners of the room.

* Matt tracks down a place a friend had recommended, called Super Potato. Lots of old-school console games and systems, some very cheap, others very expensive.

* Lots of the stores in this district are multi-level, meaning we need to take lifts everywhere. Most are fairly smooth, other fairly dodgy ~ scary stepping in a few… very small, three people inside and it’s full!

* Adding to the ‘new foods’ list, we hit a café-style place for lunch, getting cold drinks and sandwiches, with a Japanese twist. My sandwich is half egg, tomato, mayo and lettuce, the other half is curried chicken and mayo! Drink is iced coffee with frothed sweet milk and little jellied balls sitting in the bottom, which dissolve while you drink. They end up kind of mushy and a little disconcerting when you suck a lump up your straw, but delicious.

* Successfully work out how to purchase a ‘Suica’ card, which is an easy way to ride the transport system here in Tokyo. Once we figured out which machine to access (there were several different ones in a row at Tokyo station!), you add credit to the card and off you go. Scan in and out of stations without buying a ticket everytime (you’re charged by the number of stations you pass, rather than ‘zones’, like in Melbourne; speaking of which, Melbourne is to be changing to a swipe-card type of system in the next two years. I was previously against the change, but after seeing how effectively the Suica system works here, I’m looking forward to seeing it implemented).

* We get lost trying to find a criminology museum north of Akihabara! So much walking and we STILL couldn’t find it, even after showing people on the street pictures and asking for help with directions. Hopefully we weren’t missing much (was supposed to have old interrogation/torture devices, etc).

* Visit stores that have wall after wall of ball capsule machines – very cool! Anime, games, and even a machine that dispensed plastic figurines of organs in the human body… weird, but fascinating!

* For dinner we risk a lack of English signage and dine at a restaurant called Copain Copine, which turns out to be a delicious choice (the place was full, and a small queue outside, so we thought I’d could be good to try). We order lots of little dishes to share ~ salad with a nutty oil, rice paper rolls and a giant layered seafood omelette (sort of okonomiyaki-style, followed by cocktails that are distinguishable only by their pictures, fun! Reasonably cheap (for a restaurant), we pay 4750¥ (about $45AU) combined, for meals, drinks and dessert! Cheaper night tomorrow though, we think :P