Tokyo Revisited Day 5

Following a calm and slow morning, I invited Jon to visit Akihabara with me. Our first stop was the Starbucks in the Yotsuya station’s Atre shopping center to try out my confirmed free Starbucks wifi account. For reasons unknown, the Starbucks mobile site repeated rejected every variation of my log-in as incorrect. So still no mobile wifi. I’m never ever going to purchase an Apple product for myself.

We took the Chuo Rapid line one stop to Ochanomizu where we exited the train, stepped a few feet across the platform then waited for the Chuo-Sobu local line to take us one stop to Akihabara. We arrived around noon. Following the yellow station exit signs that pointed to the “Electric Town” exit, we reached the ground floor lobby and turned left to exit the station beside the Gamers store, opposite the still-under renovation Radio Kaikan building. I explained to Jon that my intention for the day was to get lunch as well as avoid the Animate and Gamers stores. Given the variety of goods I’m most interested in, Animate and Gamers would certainly fascinate me but would offer very little that I’d likely purchase. So I suggested first strolling several blocks down the right side of Chuo Dori to the Liberty No. 8 store that practically demarcated the end of the otaku district.

As I walked down the sidewalk, I passed a number of maids handing out flyers for their respective cafés, a wide selection of Japanese natives including the elderly, businessmen, and even fujoshi that resemble OreImo’s Saori Makishima to an almost eerie degree. I also passed by the most foreigners I’ve seen in Japan since Narita airport.

In the Liberty No. 8 store, after getting a photo of myself standing next to the store’s Mazinger-Z statue, immediately inside, in the first glass case, I was highly tempted by a loose, used figure of a Lolita witch with removable clothes and a pair of square cats. The figure was priced at only 1,300 yen. On the 6th floor I again found Ika Musume gachapon, but still not the one I most wanted. I did find a Loli in apron gachapon figure for 400 yen that I couldn’t resist purchasing.

Back on the street, shops started to become a blur to me. The number of giant anime advertising billboards seems even greater now than the last time I came, several years ago. The number of shops specializing in J-pop idol photographs and merchandise has significantly increased as well since the last time I was in Akiba. I was amazed to pass by a game store that had basket set out on the sidewalk filled with used console games ranging from 10 to 300 yen. A copy of the Sega Saturn Vampire Hunter (“Darkstalkers”) game was only 105 yen.

I was quite amused when I walked into the male-oriented Tora no Ana store (the separate next-door Tora no Ana store stocks entirely merchandise for female consumers) and found, on the ground floor, a cardboard bishoujo standee with beanbag breasts and a placard that read, “Please touch it!!” So I did.

In the elevator I pointed out a laminated sign announcing that the store would buy used copies of the Playstation Serial Experiments Lain game for 16,000 yen. “I own a copy of that,” I mentioned to Jon. The store’s top two floors are erotic doujinshi. As soon as the elevator opened, Jon & I were faced by a new release doujinshi with the prominent English language title, “Heavy Tattooed Girl Likes Hard F*cking.” I told Jon, “Now I have to buy a copy of this book just to remember the occasion.”

A few doors down the street we spotted a sign for a brand new Tora no Ana outlet, so we climbed the narrow stairway up to the shop. The store opened up into an expansive selection of all-ages doujinshi and doujin goods, most of them devoted to Love Live.

However, the back of the large retail space was devoted exclusively to new H-doujinshi and manga. At the back left corner of the room I came across one of the best worst scenarios I’ve faced so far during this trip. Roughly a dozen double-width milk crates were filled with ero-doujinshi discounted to 100 yen each for six for 500 yen. The books were organized in sections for anime parody, game parody, and Toho Project, which has so many fan comics that it earns its own categorization. Knowing that I somehow had to transport all of my purchases back to the United States, and print books are heavy, I restrained myself to only six comics.

Since I didn’t see an elevator, we climbed up four flights of stairs to the ero-doujinshi floor of Messe Sanoh. Outside of the shop’s retail room, on the stairway platform was a large selection of heavily discounted adult doujinshi and my second grand temptation. Hefty six-inch thick grab bags of H-doujinshi were 500 yen each. I thumbed through the racks and didn’t see any books that I absolutely had to have, so I guessed that the contents of the mystery bags would be comparable. Although I really wanted to indulge, if for no other reason than just the momentary fun of later opening the bag to see what I got, I restrained myself.

On the way down, I paused momentarily outside the third floor that stocked live-action pornography. Incredulously I realized that the capsule vending machine I was looking at actually sold used panties with a tiny purikura photo of the former owner for 1,000 yen. I do like uniquely Japanese culture mementos, but I concentrate on 2D, and while I love ero-doujinshi, actual used panties feels sleazy even to me.

In a small figure shop facing Chuo Dori, I found an adorable three-inch SD Norie Okazaki from Tamayura figure for 300 yen. Furthermore, in a glass case were a variety of loose but complete Nendoroid figures. I asked the cashier to retrieve the 800 yen Strike Witches Lucchini figure for me.

As we crossed the street, Jon & I went down into the basement Melon Books store, which seemed much smaller and cramped than I remember it being. We also took a detour a block off of Chuo Dori where we decided to take lunch at Café Bengal, an Indian curry restaurant that seats only roughly 8 guests. Jon & I both ordered the 1,100 yen beef curry lunch special that was served as a heaping portion of white rice with curry sauce, a chunk of potato, and two large chunks of tender beef roast. After we finished eating, we sat for several minutes until I finally asked Jon to signal to the proprietress, via Jon making an “X” sign with his index fingers, that we’d like to receive our bill.

By pure coincidence, back there a block behind Chuo Dori, the “main street” of Akihabara’s otaku district, I spotted a dull grey looking building with a front loading dock that looked every bit like a dull business office. However, signs posted up piqued my curiosity, so I dragged Jon after me and entered the building to find what turned out to be the “White Canvas Akihabara” store, a highlight of my trip so far. The small, cramped shop turned out to specialize in merchandise for Japanese internet memes. I really wanted to purchase a pair of “shimpan” or stripped panties featuring a super-deformed Toho Project character iron-on from the “one coin” capsule machine, but I didn’t have any 500 yen coins on hand. The amount of Kuso Miso Technique merchandise on offer, including t-shirts, coffee mugs, keychains, stickers, and buttons stunned me, but I was floored to see a life-sized replica of Takakazu Abe’s grey jumpsuit. To emphasize the connection, the front includes a “Kuso Miso Technique” name badge, and the back prominently features the iconic “yaranai ka?” image. I’m not typically a fan of yaoi manga and especially not bara manga, but when I saw that the replica jumpsuit was only 2,000 yen, I decided that it was far too crazy and unique of a manga memorabilia item for me to refuse. When Jon & I pointed out to the shop clerk that I wanted to purchase it, he explained that it was previously a display item, but since it had been on display for a long time, it had been heavily discounted for sale. I also noticed a sizable stack of two varieties of bishoujo doujinshi clear posters discounted to 94 yen each. I’ve long thought that clear posters were intended to hang before windows, so that sunlight will shine through them. The shopkeep volunteered the explanation that they’re actually designed to be hung in the shower. Since the printed plastic posters were so cheap, I bought two of each.

By this time, my purchases were starting to feel heavy, and my feet were beginning to feel sore. So I decided that I wanted to visit two more locations for the day. Although I’ve been to Akihabara numerous times, I’ve never managed to find the legendary Super Potato retro game store. This time, with the help of a map, I spied the sign and realized that the store is actually on the 3rd through 5th floors of a high-rise.

Jon & I went up to the fifth floor first, which turned out to be a tremendously neat, cosy retro video game arcade with a candy & soda snack counter and even a bookshelf of manga that patrons can read while taking a break from gaming. The tiny arcade was watched over by a life-sized Solid Snake statue holding a pistol with its barrel sadly broken off, undoubtedly during some past covert mission.

The store’s first two floors are jam-packed with retro games and consoles. Against a rear wall, I asked Jon, more adept than I at reading Japanese, to search for the ultra-rare first of two strategy guide books for the Famicom Disc System Dirty Pair game. To my surprise, I actually found the Dirty Pair strategy guides first. But both copies were the later, second book that I already own a copy of.

We left the shop and walked a few yards to the 8-story Akihabara Mandarake store. I suggested starting at the top and working our way down. The 8th floor is collectable toys. Upon exiting the elevator I was greeted by a boxed two-foot tall Futari wa Precure Cure Black statue priced at 15,000 yen. I was tremendously tempted, but the thought that I’d probably have to pay up to $50 to mail it home, plus I’d have to consider the time and expense I’d need to devote to finding the matching Cure White encouraged me to relent. Jon & I both were surprised to see a 45,000 yen boxed Panzer World Galient mecha toy.

If I remember correctly, the 7th floor was devoted to sentai & tokusatsu collectables. Prices seemed to range dramatically. A vintage shampoo dispenser shaped like Gamera or Barugon’s head, still in original packaging, was a mere 1,500 yen while a vintage Marusan (or Bull Mark – I couldn’t tell) Mothra was a little over $750.

The 6th floor, I believe, was the adult doujinshi floor. Japanese doujinshi stores sort their book by a bizarre, cryptic system of arranging major circles vaguely by Japanese alphabetical order then sticking one-shot books in sections according to theme or parody. The result is that finding fan comics by specific creators is a time-consuming exercise in luck and frustration. As I entered the floor, I spied a copy of Saigado’s “M-Bation” doujinshi on the new-release rack. I couldn’t recall if I still needed a copy for my collection. That’s when I discovered that my darn iPhone had arbitrarily deleted the JPG list of Saigado doujinshi that I still needed to purchase. I didn’t buy the book. I later learned that I do still need that issue for my collection.

To my dismay, I found the sizeable selection of used Studio Katsudon doujinshi but didn’t see artist Johji Manabe’s Imasara Dirty Pair 2013 comic. I asked Jon to again search for a Nawanoren section. Again this particular Mandarake store seemed to not have a section for the circle. Jon found the Saigado section for me, and I purchased three books that I distinctly remember that I need for my collection. I asked Jon to locate the section for Wing Bird’s Jingai Makyo Club, which has produced two doujinshi with Dirty Pair covers & content. To our mutual surprise, I found the section before Jon did, but the section didn’t include either of the books I wanted.

We took the external steel stairs past the store’s fifth floor that was entirely filled with shoujo merchandise. The fourth floor was entirely shounen manga. I think it was the 3rd floor that housed used DVD and Blu-ray. Jon spotted an excellent condition five-disc DVD boxed set of the original, unaltered broadcast version of Musashi Gundoh for a mere 2,200 yen. We debated over which of us would buy it, just for the novelty of owning the legendary worst anime ever. The DVD set ended up in my possession. I was surprised to find a plastic crate of 100 yen laser discs, but the selection consisted of the Tenchi Muyo Music File, High Speed Jecy volume 1, and assorted volumes of Heidi of the Alps and Anne of Green Gables.

By then, Jon & I were too tired to continue. With still much of Akihabara unexplored, we returned to the train station. Standing on the platform, I thought about my own fanaticism. Although my hand was starting to ache from carrying numerous bags, and my feet felt sore, and even knowing that I could return as early as the next day if I wanted to, I still found myself feeling regretful that I was leaving. Before coming out to Tokyo for nearly two-and-a-half-weeks, I wondered if I’d actually have enough otaku-oriented activities to do to fill my time. I realize now that I’m obsessive enough that I could easily spend an entire week just exploring every anime shop in Akihabara alone. Oh, for the benefit of those who have never visited Japan, I ended up carrying so many bags because each store carefully places a strip of tape across the center top of shopping bags as a polite but firm means of discouraging shoplifting. The unintended effect is an inability to condense purchases into a single bag. Many consumers visit Tokyo’s otaku stores with a backpack, but yesterday I just didn’t feel like being burdened with a backpack since I knew that I probably wouldn’t purchase an exceptional amount of items.

As Jon & I returned to Yotsuya, on the way back to his apartment we stopped in a drug store to search for the Shick razors with Shingeki no Kyojin figures. We didn’t see them. Jon guided me to the basement Sanuki Udon Hanamaru restaurant. The place, reminiscent of an American cafeteria restaurant, allowed patrons to take a tray and first select from sides including fried prawn, fried chicken breasts, and potato croquettes, before requesting a bowl of noodles. I opted for a medium sized serving of cold udon with bits of lightly peppered steak. While eating, I mentioned to Jon that I particularly liked the restaurant because it had a much more relaxed and informal atmosphere than most of the Japanese restaurants I’ve patronized so far, and while the chef was just as formal and polite as every Japanese consumer service employee, he seemed much more cheerful than any other Japanese restaurant employee I’ve encountered so far during this trip.