Japan Day 2 (ni)

TUESDAY

Debbie and I set out today on our own to successfully infiltrate Akiba. It was sunnier today, but that just made it seem hotter. The temps probably haven't been over the mid 80's, but with the humidity, you break out in a sweat in just a few steps.

Parked in front of the Russian Embassy there is always a police bus. It looks like the police buses they had in
Buenos Aires to clear up protests that got out of hand. They've got wire mesh across all the windows. In fact, at most major intersections in this area there are police cars and buses with the wire mesh windows. Do people get that pissed off in traffic? Anyway, the police seem to have a very friendly mascot. I grabbed a pic of the side of the Russian Embassy bus:


Here's a view just a little further along Gaien-Higashi Dori, the main street near our apartment. You can see the nice DB-7 Astin Martin parked in front of the dealership.


There's no end to interesting police shenanigans at intersections. This is on the way to the Kamiyacho metro station. Can't imagine working a whole shift in that little metal box. Maybe he pops into the 7-11 right behind him for snacks.


Here's a neat view of Tokyo Tower on the way to our Metro station.


We made it to the Akihabara metro station, got our bearings, and headed out towards the big Japan Rail station. Before we made it to Chuo Dori, the main drag of Akihabara, we happened upon the greatest store in the history of the universe. Yodobashi.


I took this photo of the entrance seconds before a security guard rushed up and informed me in several different languages that pictures weren't allowed. Maybe he thought I was casing the joint. Of course I'd need a nine story high truck to cart away all the goodies I'd want to take. And getting that on the airplane home probably would cause some problems...


The best thing I can compare Yodobashi to is Fry's. Except you'd have to expand each of Fry's different sections into an entire separate floor, and multiply the selection of different gadgets in each section by 10. And add a giant toy section with all the cool japanese toys I drooled over as a kid. And add a floor for different restaurants. And a floor for golf, with a golf school. You get the picture.


I was suprised to see a big selection of airsoft guns in the toy section. For those of you that don't now, airsoft guns shoot little plastic BB's, and typically look very realistic. If your tot pointed one of these things at a cop, they wouldn't be around very long to talk about it. Anyway, they had lots of great guns, all my favorites from Rainbow Six: a P90, a SPAS-12, various MP5's, an AUG, and even a PSG-1 sniper rifle!
There was even a giant (about a meter long) model of the Space Battleship Yamato. This was the first anime movie I ever saw on the family film festival, back when there was a family film festival. I still remember the theme song from the TV show Star Blazers, that the movie was cobbled together from. It has a light-up WaveMotion gun. I must buy.


We walked under the train tracks and got our first glimpses of Akiba.



We wound up not getting a wireless router in Akiba after we realized that all the setup pages would be in Japanese. We didn't want to gamble that we'd just be able to plug it in and have it work with the default settings, so we went back home, empty handed, to discuss our options with Bren and Jerri.

And what better way to end the day than with some take out Indian food!