Japanese New Trip 2014 - Day 6 (Akihabara, Asakusa and Yamashita San)

As I woke on the first day of 2015, I felt as if the Kami were already cursing me. It was clear at this stage that I had a hangover (is there a Kami of hangovers?). With hindsight, Ryan and I picking up a bottle of sake on the way back to Kyle's apartment (for further new year celebrations), was not a good idea. The fact that Ryan ended up showing less interest in the sake once opened and leaving me to consume it did not bode well.
Kyle needed to do some work that morning so Ryan and I needed to keep ourselves occupied for the morning and early afternoon. Fortunately, I was not at the point of summoning the spirits of darkness so Ryan left the apartment in search of new and interesting places.
Our first stop was... Akihabara. Okay, that wasn't very imaginative but this was our last full day so it was our last chance to see electric town for a while.

Looks like Cross Ange is available on DVD and Blu-Ray

While we were there, we decided to check out a few of the new stores. Strangely, one of them was called "Fewture Shop Akiba". I took this to be a typo but when we entered the shop we found that this was indeed the name. It would be easy to laugh but in the west we do the same thing - look at Super Dry!

Fewture - it's like the future, but betterer!

While investigating Fewture Shop and a few of the other shops in that building, we decided to procure fukobukuro - lucky bags. One way of clearing old stock at the end of the year is to package various items in a paper bag. It's luck of the draw, you pay a fixed amount and see what you get. Sometimes they can have some very expensive items in. Consequently, big stores often have large queues of people waiting to buy their fukobukuro. The bags we bought were for Yokai Watch - so Kyle is really going to hate us for that! (Yokai Watch has taken the place of One Piece so now that's the show/game he's sick of hearing about)

Another noteworthy point was that the Tokyo Animation Centre appeared to be running some kind of Macross Frontier promotion. This caught me a little off guard as it's an older series, released in 2007. This made me quite nostalgic as the 1980's series Super Dimension Fortress Macross was the first anime I really got in to (although I didn't watch it until about 2009)

Ranka Lee on the left, Sheryl Nome on the right... I'm not sure who's in the middle

While we were in that area we could see one of the other new year traditions - sales! Various street vendors were carrying out clearances of their old stock.

Also, I noticed that there was a "Mister Donut", that chain features quite heavily in Bakemonogatari (and the rest of the Monogatari series)

After a little geeking out in Akihabara, we moved on to Asakusa. Ryan was keen to see the Asakusa district, having been there a few times before, it seemed logical that I show him around in the afternoon. The plan for the evening was to meet at Kyle's and spend the evening with the amazing Yamashita San.

Although I'd already been to Asakusa a few times, it's a place I like to come back to so I was happy to show Ryan around.

By this point, my stomach had recovered from its battle with sake and I was in serious need of food. I've often said that the best places to eat are a little off the beaten track. The little places that are not immediately obvious and don't look too touristy will often have good food and are reasonably priced. Following this guidance, we found a little place squirrelled away just off of one of the main streets.

Lunch was a nice tempura and udon set with rice. It hit the spot.

With fuel for the day sorted, we set about touring the area. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of Asakusa for this post. If you're not familiar with the area, please look to some of my earlier Asakusa specific posts for more details. One thing I did notice was that there was a... cat themed shop. I'm not quite sure whether this is cute or creepy.

Previously, I said that I was the logical choice to show Ryan around Asakusa as I'd been there a few times.There was one slight flaw in that plan - I have virtually no sense of direction. So I'm sure you've guessed that we (okay, I) got lost on the way back to the train station. Being a chapskate, I resisted turning on data on my phone (that's expensive! It's probably going to cost me 1500 Yen!). After a little wandering, I noticed a large building near to the train station so we just used that as a landmark. Problem solved!

So we made it back to Kyle's with a little time to spare (okay, not much) before Yamashita San was due to arrive. As Yamashita San was also bringing over a printer I could use to print out my boarding pass (as I'm pretty old fashioned, Ryan opted for electronic boarding passes on his phone) we made sure to bring plenty of Yebisu (premium malt beer) for him.

After an evening of drinking and discussions with Yamnashita, our last full day drew to a close.

Japanese New Year Trip 2014 - Day 2 (They maid me go!)

This story is entirely non fictitious, names have been changed to protect the (not so) innocent

After a good night's sleep Ryan and I felt refreshed and ready to take on the day (at least Ryan was, I resembled an extra in The Walking Dead). Being the only one of us who was fully awake, Ryan offered to venture out and bring us breakfast. Because Ryan and I were interested in trying more Japanese food he brought back... McDonalds (sometimes I wonder what goes on in that guys head).

After a breakfast of egg mcmuffin (covered in maple syrup - what's with that?) we got ready to leave. The plan was to meet A San outside the Tsukuba Express station in Akihabara. We arrived early so we took the opportunity to do a little shopping. The main reason for this was that Ryan was interested in buying a Sheriff Woody figure, aka "Hentai Woody". Clearly I've not been a good influence on Ryan

Some of the things Ryan will be able to use his "Hentai Woody" for

Things in Akihabara had changed a little since I was last there (the promotions on the sides of buildings, the themes of arcades and other thjngs change to reflect the latest media) but the place can still be recognised as Akihabara.

Some of the latest promotions

One thing that did confuse (and slightly worry) me was the new promotional image from Sega, featuring a woman hugging sonic. I don't think there are words.

So I guess Sonic is popular with furries?

With shopping complete, we returned to the station to meet A San. This was my second time meeting A San (we met during my last trip) but for Ryan this was a first time introduction.

With introductions complete it was time for lunch. As we were in Akihabara, where else would we go other than a maid cafe? In my defence, the maid cafe wasn't my idea! (I suppose you could say they maid me go).

As expected, cute adornments to beverages etc

It was all pretty standard maid cafe fare (from what I've been told, don't get the wrong idea - it's not like I'm an expert in maid cafes or anything) with cute pictures being drawn on food/drink and playing a random game with the waitress.

I've come to the conclusion that the waitress took a particular dislike to me for two reasons: Firstly, we ran out of time so I didn't get to play a game (not the end of the world and not worth noting on its own). Secondly, when I provided my name for the loyalty card (before you ask, something they provide to everyone - I didn't specifically ask for it) they wrote profanities instead.

Judging from the name they wrote... I don't think they like me very much

Next stop on the tour was Tokyo Station. This wasn't because there was anything in the centre of Tokyo that we wanted to see, we just went to see the station. Don't worry reader, this wasn't a train spotting trip, we were just interested in the architecture. Tokyo station (currently celebrating it's 100th anniversary) is designed in a European style of architecture which actually reminds me of Leeds.

It's just like being in Leeds

Tokyo station was only a flying visit so it was soon time to move on to our next destination: Asakusa (and Sensou-Ji temple). Asakusa is easily one of my favourite locations in Tokyo,

As always, the shopping district next to the temple was incredibly busy. The hustle and bustle add a certain charm to the area but I suggest caution if travelling in groups as it's very easy to become separated (this almost happened to us a few times).

Marketplace in Asakusa

A new year speciality available at the time was amazake, a sweet, spiced sake. As this is only available around new year, I strongly advise trying it if you have the chance.

Enjoying some amazake

By the time we finished in Asakusa it was almost time for dinner. Kyle had made reservations "The Lock Up", a horror themed restaurant I went to 2 years ago. One of the quirks of the restaurant is that one member of the group gets nominated to be handcuffed by a waitress, dressed as a police woman, when the group are taken to their booth (designed to look like a cell). We nominated Kyle for this and judging by the look on his face he appeared to be enjoying it.

Food and drink options have a horrific/monstrous/mad scientist theme to them. This and the setting all contributes to create a fun atmosphere.

Unusual selection of cocktails

There's a reason this guy was banned from the science lab when we were at school

There are "Russian Roulette" dishes available. These consist of 4 dumplings, sushi rolls or a few other assorted dishes. 3 of the 4 are normal. 1 of them contains lots of wasabi or chilli. Be sure to have a 2litre jug of beer on standby for the loser of the game! We tried a few rounds and I soon started to feel guilty as A San lost 3 out of the 4 rounds we played (I lost round 4 and can confirm that these are not for the faint of heart!), As Kyle had tricked A San in to thinking that he had lost and the other 3 were safe, Kyle grudgingly accepted to try a round of Russian Roulette nibbles by himself as a forfeit. He soon learned the true meaning of pain when he found that the batch he tried were a little more powerful the the previous ones (maybe the chef was wondering why we had ordered 5 of them?).

As added entertainment, every so often the staff will stage a monster escape. A member of staff in a ghoulish costume will enter random booths and "shoot" the occupants (with a pop gun, the kind you get at western events as a kid) until the "monster" is shot by one of the waitresses. It may sound a little strange but it all made for a really fun evening.

Operation Kairu ga Kaeru (カイルが帰る) Day 5 – The Asakusa Man

This day started off with a lie in.  During this trip I’ve tried to avoid wasting too much time in this way but with a busy few days it’s become an occasional necessity.  My original plan was to spend a second morning in Akihabara then meet Kyle in Asakusa.  Since I was feeling particularly tired, I skipped the first part of the plan and head out to Asakusa after an extended sleep.

The Asakusa district is one of the places in Tokyo I love to visit.  Rehashing what I’ve written in the blog for previous trips, its streets are a winding maze leading to the Sensou-ji temple and a nice marketplace.

I had two objectives when visiting Asakusa this trip.  The first was to find a set of wedding dolls for my cousin who is getting married shortly after the UK.  The second was to replace the worlds unluckiest charm.  The first August I visited Kyle (back in 2012), he bought me a purple omamori from the temple.  Part of the reason for this is that it’s a Buddhist temple so the omamori has a Buddhist swastika on it (Kyle, as you already know, has a warped sense of humour). I carried it with me until the August of the following year(2013) when it fell out of my jacket pocket when I put my jacket in to the overhead storage locker on the plane (that must have confused the crew when it turned up!).  During that trip I visited Asakusa again so I decided to buy a replacement.  About a month after my return to the UK, I had that omamori in my bag at work.  The omamori was subsequently destroyed when a fire broke out at work.  At that point I did start to wonder if this was an “unlucky charm”, but I’m probably just being paranoid.  As for the second objective, my plan was to look for a few different styles of wedding doll.  I’d previously bought kokeshi dolls (wooden) for friends who were getting married so I thought I’d go for a different style if possible.

After the market, Kyle and I decided to explore a little more of Asakusa.  We eventually decided that this wasn’t such a good idea as the days weather forecast could easily be confused with that of Hell.  We clearly needed to get indoors.  With that, we decided to return to train station and head back.  That wasn’t the end of the day’s expedition.  On the way back we decided to explore Kita-Senju, another station on the Tsukuba Express line.  Kita-Senju is two stops away from Asakusa (in the direction of Tsukuba) and was therefore part of our journey back to Misato (well via Minami-Nagareyama) anyway.  It should also be noted that Kita-Senju is in Tokyo Prefecture but outside of the Tokyo Ward (the metropolitan area of Tokyo).

Arriving in Kita-Senju, we decided to check out the large shopping centre next to the station.  Before exploring many floors of shopping (the centre is 9 floors) we headed to the food court on the 9^th floor as neither of us had had lunch and our stomachs were starting to become a serious noise violation.  As is the theme of most trips to Japan, I was insistent on having Ramen (despite Kyle’s groans).  After a particularly good ramen, I’d have to say nicer than the ramen in Misato, Kyle grudgingly conceded that ramen was indeed a good idea.

Tasty Ramen!

With our stomachs full (and sufficiently fuelled) we set about exploring the assorted floors of shops.  One of the floors had a Tokyu Hands store, providing me with the perfect opportunity to stock up on stationary.  The stich line notebooks available in Japan (they have little spaces along each horizontal line, breaking up lines in to “cells”) are very useful for writing up notes in Japanese class as they provide the right amount of horizontal space when writing Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana.  In addition to this, B5 format notebooks are popular in Japan and I find these to be the right balance between A4 and A5.  They are more convenient than A4 but offer more space than A5.  I also took the opportunity to get a new 0.3mm mechanical pencil (I haven’t seen them at stationary shops in the UK for a while but I have a massive box of 0,3 lead) and some folder cases for A5 notebooks.

After we’d browsed enough, we decided to have a look at the rooftop garden.  I don’t exactly have a head for heights but the views were spectacular and it was nice to visit such a peaceful space.

The Rooftop Garden - With Mandatory View Of The Sky Tree

With our exploration of Kita-Senju complete, it was time to return to Misato where Yamashita San was coming round later in the evening. Yamashita San had kindly offered to drive us to some of the outlying areas we can’t normally visit so we needed to work out the details of the plan in the evening.  As Yamashita San was offering us to much help, it was only fair that I supply the beer for the evening.  Having a laptop with an HDMI port proved very useful as we were able to check the route and destinations (via google maps) on the big television.  Unfortunately, using it to show Yamashita San our hometown of Bradford made the poor man despair.

Tomorrow – road trip!