Our second day of this trip to Japan in 2024 saw us stopping throughout the day ad Akihabarahome of otaku and those who love to squander their savings in just a few hours.
Once we reached the station I noticed how much it had changed compared to the last time, but before throwing myself into the fray of shops I wanted to make a first stop at the Tamashii Nations has taken the place of what once was the Gundam Café main street in Tokyo. Luckily for me, the entire exhibition area was dedicated to Gundam SEED and the new film, but the splendid shop has also found space for products from many other series such as Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Kamen Rider, Sailor Moon and even Western series like Star Wars and Marvel.
Immediately afterwards we rushed into the new games room NAMCO at the entrance to the station, discovering with a hint of sadness that nothing at all had been organized for the launch of TEKKEN 8, which in arcades will probably happen later. In addition to the ten thousand UFO catchers that made all my travel companions addicted to gambling, there was a floor entirely dedicated to Gundam games, but on my way out I noticed that the same building housed a mysterious “Gundam Shop” from the somewhat shady and unofficial area. I rushed into it without restraint and discovered a little paradise full of rare and fairly cheap products where I left my heart, and tens of thousands of yen. The next stop was the inevitable Radio Kaikana building dedicated mainly to the purchase of figures which occupied most of the morning with its infinite floors full of shops.
When it was time for lunch we wisely decided to take advantage of a locker for only 300 yen to stuff all our purchases in and look for a place to eat and a smoking area for smokers. We discovered, to the unhappiness of Kurama and Luca, that Japan is also getting rid of smoking areas within cities, as well as banning smoking on premises. Areas where it is possible to gather together with other smokers for a short break have become increasingly rare to find and often saw us forced to walk hundreds of meters before finding one. On the main street of Denki Gaifor example, there is a tobacco shop where it is possible to smoke, but the density of smoke is so excessive that it is annoying even for normal smokers.
A slightly different story for places to eat: the easiest ones to reach had interminable queues, but fortunately we found a Sukiya where we ate excellent food curry rice, gyudon and soft-boiled egg spending a truly ridiculous amount, around 500 yen each.
Together with the good Sciascillo I made a very quick visit to the cramped Retrogame Campwhere ours six years ago BaSS he managed to find a Dreamcast and some games at a fairly fair price. Unfortunately, like the Super Potato before him, also the Retrogame Camp has become an untouchable jewelry store, with prices that are quite crazy even for “junk” and “loose” material and is still crying over not being able to buy one PSP GO at a decent price. As always, to console ourselves, we scoured all the arcades in the area, experimenting as much as the new ones GiGO they are more fraudulent than the good old SEGA Clubs in terms of crane game: winning figures, soft toys and so on seems much more complicated than in previous years, but with a bit of practice we still managed to bring with us some prizes and an acute gambling addiction. We managed to visit the usual used video game stores like BOOK OFF And TRADER, unfortunately without finding what we were looking for, other than the Blu-ray of a limited edition film that I'm looking forward to finding out doesn't work on my PS5. Final stops of the day were the shop COSPAwhere it is possible to find very expensive merchandise and clothing on which I spent way too much for a few bullshit purchases, as well as the immense Yodobashifor a quick tour of the gaming and toy department.
In the evening our friend joined us Unbowed, who has lived in Japan for many years and started a family. We had dinner with him at an excellent Chinese restaurant and I gorged myself on it Gyozawe had some chat that you will probably see in future videos and we agreed to meet the following week for another dinner in his company.
Unfortunately my health wasn't the best and I didn't enjoy the city as much as possible, also due to the fact that in the evening I had to lug around kilos and kilos of purchased stuff to Ikebukuro, where we found a home. At the moment the fever has passed, I have a very annoying sore throat and I'm breathing slightly better, but at least I'm recovering from some tiredness and managing to squeeze in a few hours of sleep after writing these articles.
Generally speaking, I must say that I found the prices of Akihabara increased on everything, even in some arcades, almost certainly due to the pandemic period, but I hope to be able to take another tour this week, before leaving again. See you again with the next episode, the one relating to my ritual pilgrimage to Odaiba and the themed experience Persona 3 Reload made to Tokyo Tower in Roppongi. Good night, at least to me!
#cash #vacuum #cleaner #called #Akihabara
