Day 8 After a long sleep I set off for Akihabara once more. My objective was to get lunch at one of those famed maid cafes and buy some figures fanta[Rn] had requested. For lunch I chose the @home cafe because Lonely Planet said it was famous. I stopped by one of the Sega Arcades and asked for directions there, and the worker gave me a neat map with the locations of all maid cafes and Sega arcades in Akihabara. The map was also plastered with highly suggestive anime pictures. @home cafe shared a floor with an 'AKB48 Shop' (AKB48 being some famous idol group) which I wandered into while trying to find the cafe. I must say that I have never seen so many guys in a store that sold mainly dresses. When I told my host about this, he theorized that they were probably used dresses. Should've seen that coming.
Back to Akihabara! Picture of some store where (I think) you preorder figures.
At the @home cafe I had a stupidly overpriced and mediocre tasting omurice. My waitress drew me a cat on the omurice by request, as well as little cat paws on the tiny hash browns that came with the dish. A professional omurice artist. She then horrified me by making me do this ridiculous 'moe moe kyun' chant together with her, to put 'tasty magic into food.' I seriously considered turning down doing the chant with the waitress when she wanted to do it for my drink as well, but I had a feeling that it would feel even more awkward if only she did it, so I gave in and performed 'moe moe kyun' for the second time in my life. Hopefully never again.
No photos inside @home cafe, so here's a polaroid of my waitress and I. I already forgot her name and I can't read nipponese.
It was another warm day out, so I sat at the AC'ed confines of the cafe for much of the hour I was allotted, watching the Akihabara nerds interact with the maids. Afterwards, I paid (and got blindsided by the ridiculous cover fee... seriously, why does a cafe charge a cover fee??), and headed off into the depths of the Akihabara stores to find fanta's loot.
Guy knows what he wants.
Every store I went to told me that they were sold out of the items in question, and recommended me another store to check. With each store and their recommendation I found myself heading further and further away from the Akihabara station, which sucked because I knew that eventually I was going to have to walk back in the stifling heat. At the last store I checked before I was about to declare the figures unattainable in stores, the store clerk recommended that I check out the Volks Akihabara Showroom store near the station. I remembered being there on my previous visit to Akihabara, but I wasn't shopping then, and it was near the station, so I decided to check it out. If I couldn't find the figures there, I decided that I'd call it a day.
Comic Toranoana has two floors dedicated to just Touhou stuff. I ended up picking up a few of these up myself.
When I asked a store clerk at Volks Akihabara, he said 'No more.... but maybe check showcase section?' When I asked what the hell the 'showcase section' was, he directed me towards a huge part of the first floor which was filled with small transparent lockers. Inside these lockers were random assortments of items, ranging from figures to busts to towels to trading cards. Items sold in this section weren't part of the store's stock because each locker was rented and maintained by a private, outside party. The store was basically the middleman.
I looked through dozens of these little lockers before finding the figures.
I actually managed to find the figures inside one of these lockers, and I quickly bought them up. They were a bit more expensive than expected, but I had a feeling that fanta wouldn't mind paying a bit extra given their rarity. I was out for only a few hours, but the shopping and heat had already taken its toll on me, so I headed home for a quick dinner and rest. At night I went out for a few drinks at a local bar with my host, Masashi, who's proven himself to be a very busy guy. An entrepreneur, he had just recently launched his new startup and was hard at work until midnight almost every day, meaning that I actually almost never saw him. He took us to some small neighborhood bar where they bring you little sides that you don't order but you end up paying for. Definitely n interesting system. At least the drinks were cheap and the sides tasted alright. A refreshing end to the hot day.
as i am not following since part 1...your on holiday in japan right? sounds pretty cool. would like to visit the country too but heared that japan is a quit expensive country.
It was exactly like that just without all the floating hearts.
And apologies for the slow updates... got back into Korea and I've been working (slaving) since. ;;
On September 22 2011 22:24 LayZRR wrote: as i am not following since part 1...your on holiday in japan right? sounds pretty cool. would like to visit the country too but heared that japan is a quit expensive country.
Yep. 10 day trip to Tokyo and Kyoto. Very expensive.
I was there a month or so ago with two friends (and got a pic like yours, kekeke), was some of the most awkward stuff ever. Not being waited by decently attractive girls in odd outfits - that stuff I can get behind. The awkward part was their entire act and the forced interaction with 'em. Though, I guess that's why some people go there. Not my cup of tea, though.
Had a lot of fun at an arcade in the same area, though. Good ol' SNES beat 'em up machines ftw.
At the @home cafe I had a stupidly overpriced and mediocre tasting omurice. My waitress drew me a cat on the omurice by request, as well as little cat paws on the tiny hash browns that came with the dish. A professional omurice artist. She then horrified me by making me do this ridiculous 'moe moe kyun' chant together with her, to put 'tasty magic into food.' I seriously considered turning down doing the chant with the waitress when she wanted to do it for my drink as well, but I had a feeling that it would feel even more awkward if only she did it, so I gave in and performed 'moe moe kyun' for the second time in my life. Hopefully never again.
Oh, the pain. The pain.
Edit: Though, I might be overusing the word though, though.
when i went to akihabara two years ago, my friend wanted me to get touhou stuff for him. i had to go to like the back alley to some shady store that sold a bunch of weird stuff like used computer hardware and dual-language pornographic novels with very specific techniques (an english/japanese novel on anal, for example).
the cover fee is expected; you're paying for the maids, not really for the food. and yes, that weirdness is exactly why people like it. it's certainly not for many people, definitely not for me.
also, that store (don quijote) doesn't mainly sell dresses. when i went, they sold halloween costumes on that floor because that was the season for it. different floors have different stuff, but that store is supposed to be like the target/wal-mart of japan.
The maid cafe was definitely awkward for me as well, but there were plenty of other patrons there enjoying themselves doing 'moe moe kyun' with the maids. I don't regret going though, since it's not something I'd experience outside of Japan. Maybe not even outside of Akihabara. When I was talking to my host about this while drinking he told me that ear-cleaning-maid-cafe's were all the rage nowadays in Akihabara. Customers get to put their head on the lap of some cute girl dressed up as a maid or whatever and they clean your ears for 30 minutes. Bizarre.
Awesome blogs, just read them all and I really like all the details. I'd be mortified by the maid cafe thing, but would laugh at friends I brought in, who would most likely have no idea what to expect. I've been contemplating a trip myself, but I'm rather young, and I'd most likely get lost. (I have a horrible sense of direction, and I get lost even in my home city of San Francisco even though I've lived here all my life.) Also, how did you find about these hosts/how expensive is it?
Getting lost should be no problem! Just ask the friendly locals to help you. But be prepared to get even more lost though at times because the locals' english directions will confuse you even more. I found my hosts via Airbnb. It's a pretty neat service. Depending on who you book with it the cost and location will vary, but plus side is that most of the time you will have a host that can help you out during your stay, which you won't get at a hotel.
On September 23 2011 10:07 mrmin123 wrote: When I was talking to my host about this while drinking he told me that ear-cleaning-maid-cafe's were all the rage nowadays in Akihabara. Customers get to put their head on the lap of some cute girl dressed up as a maid or whatever and they clean your ears for 30 minutes. Bizarre.
Oh my, that sounds like the most awkward thing ever if you didn't know exactly what was up ahead of time.
Like the surprise tasty chant, only 100x worse.
Actually, I can't get the grin off my face thinking about that now. Too funny.
This looks like a shit tone of fun... I had a Japanese exchange student live at my house for 3weeks so I learned a little about their culture. I really want to visit Japan someday.
Is a middle-aged man seriously taking a picture of something Yuruyuri-related in public
huh
fascinating.
And Touhou figurines...God, the people who get into this stuff are liked sucked into a never-ending cornucopia of really random stuff related to Touhou. People are always like OMFG TOUHOU REMIXES GUYZ when it's literally the same variation on Voyage 1969 + an extra run + accordions (accordions?!)
EPT
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