Akihabara Electric Town! Time to play :)

5/14/2011 01:00:00 PM |

In the twilight of our room I peered at my cell phone ( a glorified watch/alarm clock, having no international access without costing an arm and leg) for time. I twas only 5 am. I nestled in my covers feeling quite peaceful in the predawn twilight. I tend to always wake up early when I first come to Japan. I don’t know if it’s the excitement of being there or simply a weird time lag pneomenom. I pondered if I should sleep more. I peeked at J and she was quite curled up and asleep. I could hear the depth of her breathing and just the abandon in which she had cocooned herself in her covers. I let myself doze then. I woke again after 6:30am and was greeted with movement outside in the hallway veranda. I decided that using the facilities were in need at that moment and extricated myself from my bedding. A couple were up and Den mother was cooking them breakfast. Wearing my oversized Mickey mouse sleep shirt and loose cotton pj bottoms ( which were mismatched to my top) I murmured a Ohiyo and we all looked at each other curiously. I disappeared into the restroom to be greeted very kindly by a toasty warm toilet seat. I could nearly sit there all morning it was so comforting! A few more half bows later, I disappeared back to our room. J appeared to have woken at that point and went to use the facilities as well. We began to get ready for our day, starting with some morning ( usa and Canada evening) chats with our loved ones. J was fairly surprised she had woken up so early since she had told me that she would definitely not be waking up early during vacation! She also ended up Skyping with her mom, showing the room and chatting. I simply left a note on facebook and one in T’s textbox through my email.

Yodobashi at Tony Section

J asked “ What are we going to do today?” I pondered this because she was admanant about not planning the trip at all. I had done a bit of research regardless, being as OCD as I am. So I thought Ueno zoo since it was only a few minutes away, but as J mentioned how excited she was to go to some doll stores, my mind changed to Akihabara, that housed Volks and Azone. I was particularly excited about Azone because it has clothes for 27cm dolls, mostly Obitsu which are cheaper customizeable dolls. The Obitsus’ are usually plastic instead of resin. But regardless of all this, their clothes would possibly fit Cosette! We brought our dolls in case we met any other doll lovers along the way. Getting dress, a short walk, and train ride later we showed up in Akihabara! We actually took the metro for about 160yen ( around $1.75 usd or so).

Egg Bacon bun and Melon bun

Akihabara Electric town was hard to find this time around. Last time it found me, but this time we wandered a bit. The signs for it seem to point us in a weird circle. We gave into hunger as we stood in front of a Bakery( quite possibly a Vie de France Bakery, which is a popular chain). The delicious smells wafted out each time someone walked in, which was quite frequently! We saw a good deal on the board and decided for a small repast. 2 buns and a coffee. Then took a picture in a cut out board for Yodobashi Camera store and then entered in the huge Department store. It's got a lot of floors that actually range beyond merely cameras or electronics! We looked at most of the floors, spending a good amount of time in the toy section. I really wanted to buy whipple, but it was too pricey for my limited budget. I stared at it longingly. J had a small growing pile of randomized toy statues... I regret not being able to stare at the book section there. J was not interested so I had to try to keep up and missed out on the books. I love Japanese artbooks because they are detailed and so wonderful!

Volks Dolls in their boxes

After that we headed toward Electric town again! This time we finally succeeded. I recognized the exit and the building we sought was right out in front! This building was filled to the brim with hobby stores! J got her realistic squishy mushroom cell phone charm from a vending machine. I got two chubby squishy cats. One for myself and the other for T's good friend who loves cats very much.

We visited Volks, in which I already took some pictures before noticing a photo prohibition sign! Heh. We also went to Azone and I got one alfit for Cosette. It was a kimono lolita dress with cat ears and cat tail, as well as a made apron. The Azone gals who were store clerks were nice enough to try the alfit on Cosette to see if we wanted to buy it. They oohed and ahhed over Cosette and said a lot of "KAWAIIIIIIII.' In which I also mentioned her alfit was made by J and they commented on how great it was and looked pleasantly surprised! All in all, such a great experience with the gals. Really wonderful! We also wandered about the area and went to the Sega building, and went to an arcade to enjoy Purikura! It's these photobooths you pay around $4 to get awesome photos done. Then you go around to the side with your friend to decorate your photos. And then two prints come out so you can share. Each print has multiple tiny pictures of different ones you did. J commented she looked great in every photo. The photobooths are equipped with good lighting that washes out flaws and can increase eyelash darkness or eye size! Incredibly fun. We did Purikura through out our whole trip. Even doing one at the amusement park we went to later in our trip. It was Neon Genesis one and quite fun. So basically that was our day! Just incredible!

One side note is that in town we wandered about and found a random shrine on the corner of some towering buildings. I couldn't tell you the exact location, only that it was through wandering, so WANDER!! Also cute little bidded foxes to the left of the shrine on rocks :)

Next Entry :Harajuku!