Dans Den: Back in Tokyo

This is my second day back in Saitama, I was a little too tired to update the blog at the time.

Wanting to avoid the incredibly long journey (losing a day and a half) by coach we opted for the Shinkansen this time round. Unfortunately, Waiting until 14:00 for the train meant spending most of the day waiting in Hiroshima station (to make sure we didn't accidentally miss the train)

No photographs that day, but there wasn't anything to really get pictures of anyway.

Returning to Tokyo really made me realize the differences in climate between the Kansai (where Hiroshima is located) and Kanto (where Tokyo and Saitama are located). It's hotter in Kansai but it's a dry heat. Kanto is much more humid.

On the first day back, there was work that Kyle needed to do so I did my own thing for most of the day. Original plan was to go back to Asukusa, however, due to my famous lack of direction we decided against this. Instead I went back to Akihabara - somewhere much easier to navigate. So I hopped on the Musashino line to Minami-Nagareyama and from there hopped on the Tskuba Express to Akihabara. Fortunately this was an express so I was able to skip most of the stops.

Akihabara: First priority was to grab lunch. It was 14:00, I hadn't eaten and my stomach was growling. Venturing off the main street, I found a nice little restaurant. Given the recipe was all in Kanji and Katakana (my Katakana still needs a little work, got Hiragana sorted) I used the old "pointing at pictures" trick. Using this process, I ordered a chicken ramen and some gyoza. Suitably fueled, I went back to the figure shop I saw on the first day and bought an evangelion figure.

Mari Illustrious Makinami

The figure I bought was Mari Illustrious Makinami from the second "Rebuild of Evangelion" movie. Mari is a new character introduced in this movie. Mari is a pilot (and appears to actually enjoy piloting an eva) and is, well... nuts. When first piloting an eva (and fighting an angel), one of her lines was "Shit! This would really hurt, if it wasn't so much fun!"

I still had plenty of time so I had an extended wander around. I stumbled upon the Tokyo Anime Museum, but much to my disappointment I found that it was closed for temporary works. The fact the sign was dated Februrary, made me a little suspicious. When going up the floor of the building where the museum was located, I stumbled across an interesting little typo on the Lift:

Whoops!

In the evening, we met up with Tony, whom Kyle has known since University, and his friends. The evenings entertainment was a horror themed bar. Tokyo has some great theme bars.

The food followed a suitably spooky theme and the drinks resembled something out of a mad scientists lab. Definitely creates an atmosphere. It's a unique experience performing something akin to an experiment when making a cocktail or drinking beer from a lab style flask.