Tokyo Revisited Day 6

I decided to make Thursday a relatively light activity, or rather light shopping day. Per the schedule I’ve adopted so far, I woke early and spent the morning typing up a record of the previous day’s activity to post online. Then Jon & I decided that we’d attempt to locate Campus Musashino and possibly the Evangelion Store and Square Enix Store.

First, at the Yotsuya station’s Starbucks I finally got my iPhone to successfully connect to wifi. Since it’s a borrowed phone, I don’t have a cellular connection for it. But since I’ve also now been in Tokyo for five days, I’ve also managed to work around the lack of an internet connection on the go. Numerous websites advise that tourists should register for access to Starbucks’ free wifi because Starbucks has stores throughout the city. But in my experience so far, I actually haven’t encountered very many Starbucks stores.

The Chuo Rapid line took us through Shinjuku, Nakano and on to Mitaka. Since the ride was roughly 25 minutes, I grabbed a seat on the train for the first time since I’ve been here. We exited the station from the opposite end as the familiar exit that leads to the Ghibli Museum, taking both Jon & I into unfamiliar territory. Using the rather vague map on the Production I.G website as a guide, we strolled through the Mitaka neighborhood, which is busy yet feels slightly less dense and urgent than the heart of Tokyo like Shibuya, Yotsuya, Shinjuku, and Akihabara. When we walked a few blocks past the large, multi-story Musashino Police Station, Google Maps informed us that we’d overshot our goal. Jon switched to his iPhone’s mapping system which lead us to backtrack until I spotted the “Production I.G” sign jutting out over the street down a small alley that we’d unconsciously walked right past without thought.

Entering I.G’s small restaurant requires first entering one of the two lobbies of the Production I.G studio. The lobby held a rack of advertising flyers for Production I.G anime, and across from the restaurant was a small information booth/gift shop that stocked mostly non-anime related goods representing the Mitaka neighborhood. The rear of the lobby, next to the restrooms, was a hallway lined with recent and upcoming I.G production posters.

The restaurant is unusual by Japanese standards in the regard that its lunch offerings are only small pizzas, spaghetti, or chicken curry, and patrons pay in advance. We were informed as we stepped to the counter that pizzas were already sold out for the day. I ordered the curry, and Jon selected the spaghetti. The interior of the restaurant is tastefully sparse with thick wood tables and bare white walls adorned with black ink sketches by countless professional animators. The center of the restaurant is a square stall that holds a small salad bar with lettuce, sliced tomatoes, celery, baby potatoes, and cold fries made from an unfamiliar purple-skinned potato. A counter against the wall offered a selection of fruit juices and tea, cutlery, and ice water. The space also contained a separate wall-off “private” dining area with more illustrations on its walls. But since the room was in use by patrons, I chose not to intrude. Jon & I sat in a corner next to a large sketch mural of Rinne no Lagrange illustrations.

This week the temperature has been in the comfortable low 70s, but humidity has ranged from dense to literal raining. Rain was light when we departed and while we were in Mitaka, but as we returned to the heart of Tokyo, the rain grew slightly heavier. We transferred from the Chou Rapid line to the Yamanote to reach Harajuku. Even with a moderate rain and at early afternoon on a Thursday, the station was jam packed with young, attractive Tokyo residents aiming for the young adult fashion district. Like most of the visitors, we headed for Takeshita Dori, the primary pedestrian-only street lined with fashionable clothing shops, punk fashion stores, record shops, and countless ice cream and crepe shops. One of my goals for this vacation trip is to indulge in a conical crepe, but I didn’t want to stand in the rain eating one.

Once again, the online map to the Evangelion store is rather vague, so Jon and I spent several minutes wandering the neighborhood in search of the place. Eventually we realized that we couldn’t find it because the Harajuku Evangelion store was mere an abandoned building. The sign above the door had been peeled off, and a laminated sign on the entrance doors explained that the shop was shut down until October.

After an hour of train rides so far, soaking shoes, and roughly 15 minutes of wandering in order to find a non-extant store, both of us were feeling a bit tired and a bit dejected, so Jon lead the way back to the station and onto the train that would take us home. I looked at my watch. Realizing that, despite the soggy weather, Harajuku was only one stop away from Shibuya and the time was only a quarter past four, I informed Jon that at the Yoyogi Station, I’d exit the train and hop aboard the line going in the opposite direction.

So for the first time since I arrived, I headed off on my own, aiming for the Mandarake store in Shibuya. I exited the station at the Hachiko exit and quickly oriented myself by locating the famous Shibuya 109 shopping center tower. I recollected that the Mandarake store was on the right side of the police box past Shibuya 109, but I couldn’t remember whether the kobun was located on the left or right side of 109. So I walked to the left several blocks until I noticed that nothing looked familiar. So I turned 90 degrees and walked dead ahead until I spotted the kobun, two blocks to the right of the 109 building. Then I turned to my left and took the street up the hill on the direct right side of the police box. I stepped past the red Mandarake sign and the stairwell leading down underground, choosing to enter the shopping plaza the next door down. Inside the building, I took the elevator to the basement. When the doors opened, I found myself in the Shibuya Mandarake store.

Perhaps my tastes have evolved, or my anticipation was too great because I actually found the store slightly less spectacular than I’d expected. Certainly, for first time visitors, the dark, cellar-like store filled with anime goods is overwhelming and amazing. Although everything is second-hand, in most cases consumers would be hard-pressed to tell, as everything appears to be in near perfect condition. The store contains everything from baseball memorabilia to vintage manga that sell for hundreds per volume, to adult comics, vintage toys, collectable trading cards, original art, dolls, and far more.

I found the selection of magazine back issues but was disappointed to find the selection heavily picked over. The entire section for 1980’s Animedia Magazines consisted on one single issue from 1986. I couldn’t even find any Anime V Magazine back issues. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to locate any of 1985-1987 anime magazines with Dirty Pair covers that I was looking for.

Since a friend from home has asked me to hunt down affordable vintage Godzilla monster toys – particularly the more obscure monsters – I took a look but was disappointed. While I did see a unique Marmit flying Hedorah priced at 4,000 yen, I didn’t see toys of any of the more obscure Godzilla monsters like Kumonga, Manda, Kamakuras, or Titanosaurus.

In the film comics section, I found copies of four hardcover Cream Lemon film comics – books that I already have – but I was disappointed to not see many other vintage film comics. I found a bin of vintage shitajiki. Many of them were Urusei Yatsura, priced at 840 yen each, and Evangelion. I decided to purchase a Supergal OVA shitajiki and a hefty random pack of 90s era shitajiki. (Later in the evening I learned that the 900 yen pack contained 32 pencil boards.)

I may be mistaken, but the selection of yaoi doujinshi appears to have expanded since the last time I was at the store while the selection of H doujinshi for men appears to have shrunk and gotten relegated to a narrow back corner. I was disappointed to find that the Saigado doujinshi offerings included none of the comics I still needed. Likewise, the selection of Studio Katsudon books included two copies of the Imasara Dirty Pair 2010 doujinshi, but no copies of the 2013 issue. Luckily I spied the corner of a Studio Katsudon Dirty Pair collection book sticking out from atop the row of books overhead. The selection of Mental Specialist doujinshi had none of the circle’s Dirty Pair books. The selection of ANA doujinshi lacked the circle’s Dirty Pair book. The Studio Jipang selection lacked the Dirty Pair book. The section of Jingai Makyo Club doujinshi was entirely empty.

A few figures tempted me. The S.H. Figuarts Cure Black with a slightly damaged box was 1,600 yen while a pristine used Cure White was 2,000 yen. I was particularly tempted by a Furyu Vocaloid Lily Hello Kitty to Issho figure priced at only 1,000 yen, about 25% of the cost I’d pay to get one if I was at home in Florida. But I’m still trying to be very prudent about how much of my limited funds I spend while I’m here in Tokyo, and I remain concerned about ensuring, if possible, that all of my purchases fit in the two suitcases that I brought with me.

So I departed the Shibuya Mandarake store having purchased much less than I anticipated. I distinctly think that Nakano Broadway and Akihabara offer more that I’ll eventually purchase than the Shibuya store offers me. As if to compound my frustration, the day’s rain finally came down heaviest while I was walking up Shinjuku Dori to reach Jon’s apartment.

When the rain stopped, I suggested getting ramen for dinner. Unfortunately for us, the hostess at the nearby Tomato Ramen restaurant apologized and told us that the establishment was filled to capacity. Rather than stand on the sidewalk and wait, we walked across the street to the Yayoiken restaurant where we both used the touch-screen machine to select a 980 yen chicken karaage with ebi fry dinner “set” of lightly sweet-breaded fried chicken covered with tartar sauce, two large fried shrimp, lettuce in soy sauce, a side of tofu, a bowl of miso soup, and white rice with unlimited serve-yourself refills. The idea of tartar sauce on deep fried chicken is entirely foreign to me, but with the distinct lightly sweet batter used to bread the moist, juicy chicken, the tartar sauce actually makes a delicious compliment.