Tokyo Vacation May 2018 Day 10

John | June 5, 2018 | Culture | No Comments

With exhaustion setting upon all three of us, we woke rather late. Although we didn’t have a distinct plan for the day, we knew that the day was our final full day in Tokyo. So it was our final opportunity to pick up collectables that we’d been debating or delaying purchase of previously. Via text messaging, we confirmed that my friend Jon would be free in the afternoon, so we made loose plans.

Justin packed a third box of purchases to ship home. Since all three of us were anxious about what the shipping cost would total, Scott donated a 1,000 yen bill to Justin. Despite being a Sunday, the second floor service office of the Shinjuku main branch post office is open 24/7. So Justin & I took the shuttle bus to the Shinjuku station central west exit then walked across the street to the post office while Scott showered and prepared for the day in the room. Justin’s third and final shipment home, again via SAL, cost an intimidating 5,000 yen. Fortunately, Justin actually had 4,000 yen in bills plus the 1,000 yen from Scott, so he just managed to cover the postage cost himself. From the second floor, we took the escalator down and exited the post office’s front entrance. There, we each purchased a drink from a vending machine, and Justin called Scott to arrange our plans. Collectively, we agreed to meet in Nakano Broadway because several days before Justin had spied a Kingdom Hearts Formation Arts volume 3 Urusula figure, loose and priced at 2,500 yen, that he wanted to purchase for a friend back home. The week before he’d begun the purchase process, but when he realized that the store didn’t have a box for the figure, Justin had delayed the purchase. Today we returned to Nakano Broadway with a square transparent plastic clasp storage box that we’d purchased at Can Do for 100 yen specifically to house the figure. So Justin & I first walked up the street to the station then made our way to the J-Market shop where Justin exchanged some additional US currency into Japanese yen before we boarded the Chuo Rapid line train.

Justin & I arrived at Nakano Broadway at 1pm. Justin couldn’t recall whether he’d spotted the figure in a rental case or a conventional store display case. He was only certain that it had been just inside a shop entrance, facing into the store. We started wandering the halls on the fourth floor, eventually working our way down to the second floor with no luck. Since the figure was relatively old and not especially hot and current, it had unlikely sold. But Justin couldn’t recollect where he’d seen it. He did, however, find a lovely pair of palm-sized Moomin PVC figures that he purchased for less than 400 yen each. While we were searching, we received a message from Scott announcing that he was searching the third floor. So we joined him and made a fruitless lap. But on our second lap of the third floor, by fortunate chance we did stumble into the correct shop, and Justin excitedly purchased the small statue. While we were there in Nakano Broadway, Scott also had a clerk from Mandarake Special 1 open the display case across the hall in order to purchase another Transformers Masterpiece figure. Furthermore, a poster illustrated by Takato Yamamoto in the window of the Taco Che bookstore caught Scott’s eye, so he purchased a copy for himself.

From Nakano, Scott asserted that Jon’s apartment in Yotsuya was cramped and hot, so he’d take his purchases back to the hotel while Justin & I dropped by Jon’s crib to pick up some additional goods Jon had to donate to me.

Justin & I exited the gates at Yotsuya station and recharged our Suica cards before leaving the station. I put only 500 yen on mine, knowing that today was the final day I’d likely use the train lines. Then we walked up the road toward Jon’s place. Along the way, we could hear drums and rhythmic chanting in the distance. A few paces on, we noticed that we were approaching a temporary shrine tent set up on the sidewalk. I initially thought that perhaps the music we heard had been a recording played by the waypoint. But another two blocks down the road, we spied another such waypoint for the festival parade on the opposite side of the road.

At Jon’s building, we took the elevator up to the eighth floor and knocked on his door. Jon answered and invited us in. Justin stepped in briefly then stepped out to make a phone call. Jon had two large paper shopping bags filled with goods for me. Several months ago Jon had bought out the remaining inventory at a nearby Lawson’s convenience store’s Ichiban Kuji lottery of exclusive X Japan merchandise. I’d wanted to collect the goods Jon didn’t want along with an original retail VHS copy of the X Japan “Rusty Nail” anime music video I’d asked him to purchase for me. The X Japan goods included some two-packs of clear files, several handkerchiefs, a wall clock, and a plaque of a life-sized three-dimensional replica of Yoshiki’s hand print and signature. Jon surprised me because the other bag contained two boxed Fujiko Mine UFO catcher prize figures, an Ichiban Kuji Rozen Maiden drinking glass, a large Panda-Z plush doll, and a bundle of expired Love Live lottery goods that he’d purchased as a 1,700 yen clearance pack, including a bath towel, an SD figure, and several can badges. Regrettably, I had to refuse the Fujiko figures, Rozen Maiden glass, and Panda-Z plush because Jon wasn’t eager to deal with shipping them to me, and I simply had no space left in my luggage to fit the extra items. While Jon had tentatively planned to spend his afternoon cleaning his apartment, he inquired about joining us on our final excursion to Akiba. Justin & I gregariously approved the idea. So Jon slipped on shoes and walked us down the back street – in order to stay in the shade – back to the train station. He explained that the day prior Yotsuya had begun its annual festival celebration of the local shrine. Today the mikoshi would be hoisted and carried through the city. So that explained the music & noise.

Jon, Justin & I went to Akihabara station then headed directly for the Jungle 1st store on 3 Chome because Justin wanted to pick up a bagged M-1 vinyl figure of Shin Hayata, the Ultraman SSP member, for 6,500 yen. After Justin’s purchase, we waited in the building’s shade while Scott caught up to us. When Scott arrived, we decided to stop for food. So Jon led us back toward the station, finally stopping at the Menya Musashi restaurant. At first, the restaurant with two counters with stools facing the kitchen appeared to be nearly full to capacity. So after sticking our heads in, we tentatively urged Jon to select a different restaurant with more space. But one of the restaurant’s cooks appeared on the sidewalk from out of a side door and encouraged us to stay, assuring us that seats would open up quickly. Scott then noticed a large poster in the window offering Japanese noodles slathered in melted cheese with pulled beef. That temptation was enough to change our minds. So we crowded in and purchased meal vouchers from the menu machine. Jon, Justin, and Scott ordered the cheese tsuke-bab noodles. I ordered the house specialty tsukemen noodles with pork. Initially Jon & I were seated against the wall while Justin & Scott were seated at the tip of the triangle formed by the two counter tops. The division was the same seating arrangement we’d had days earlier at McDonalds. So in order to give Jon a fresh conversation partner, Justin & I initially switched seats before more patrons finished and left, and all four of us shifted to sit adjacent to each other. Even after the meal we still weren’t certain whether the cheese noodles were meant to be dipped in the accompanying soup. But since I dumped the final strands of my noodles into the rich, thick accompanying soup I realized that I was supposed to have been dipping the noodles in the soup all along. That would explain why I thought the taste of the noodles alone was a bit bland and the taste of the soup alone excessively strong.

When we exited the restaurant, we went down to the basement floor of the Laox department store to browse its toy section, since we were right next-door.

And after our late lunch, Justin wanted to purchase some gachapon figures for a friend back home. So I suggested that we venture up the street again to Liberty no. 8. Since the day was Sunday, Chuo Dori was barricaded off for pedestrian traffic. I did notice periodic signs standing in the middle of the road that reminded patrons that live demonstrations (“flash mobs”) were prohibited. Jon pointed out that not only were pedestrians walking the street or posing for photos in the middle of the street as usual, but quite a number of people were also sitting, resting, or even eating in the middle of the closed-off street.

At Liberty’s store number 8 Justin purchased a Godzilla gachapon figure and a cute Digimon monster figure for friends back home. Likewise, for a friend back home I purchased a dis-assembled gachapon figure of a mean-looking handgun. On our walk back toward the station Scott stopped by Mr. Donut. He was hoping to find a selection of unique and gourmet pastries comparable to Krispy Kreme, but he was disappointed to find the Mr. Donuts’ selection tasty but very conservative. Out on the sidewalk, eating strawberry icing donuts, Jon mused over the curious mystery of how the Mr. Donut franchise had originated in America but failed yet managed to secure a permanent foothold in the Japanese market partially because it was one of the few restaurant chains that offered free coffee refills.

At the Surugaya in the alley adjacent to Radio Kaikan, Scott noticed that the 6,900 yen KanKore “Yamato Kai heavy armament version” figma that had been on the “junk” shelf the previous day was no longer there. Presumably, since it was half priced, someone else had also noticed the bargain and jumped on it. Scott decided that he wanted to try his luck at the Sanrio-themed cat hat gachapon machines. Justin, I think – perhaps it was Jon – gave him an extra 100 yen coin which slipped from Scott’s hand and sank into the abyss of a seemingly bottomless crack in the concrete street beneath us. I expressed my intention to go upstairs to purchase more random packs of doujinshi. Scott handed me some coins. I then accidentally allowed another 100 yen coin to fall into the seam in the street. Scott tried the 400-yen gachapon machine and got a “Kirimi-chan” fabric cat hat. None of us was certain what the character was, although I was vaguely conscious of having seen an anthropomorphic slice of salmon mascot character before. So Jon researched the character on his phone for us. Scott tried again and successfully got the Hello Kitty cat hat. I dashed upstairs and grabbed four large bundles of 30-for-300-yen doujinshi. The shop clerks had to put two bundles in each bag because the shop bags wouldn’t contain more than two bundles. I came back down to the ground floor while Scott ventured into the 8-story card shop next door. Justin & Jon patronized the 7-11 on the opposite side of the alley, inside the Radio Kaikan building. I noticed that a service door along the wall had a series of three ascending steps, so I sat down on one step and transferred one of the bundles of doujinshi into my daypack. I’d asked Jon to purchase a bottle of Mets Zero Cola for me, but the 7-11 didn’t carry it. So Jon instead purchased a bottle of J-Flavor Pepsi for me to try. I’ve long been preferential to Coke over Pepsi, and my palate isn’t especially delicate or discriminating, but the J-Flavor Pepsi did seem just a bit less syrupy sweet to me than normal Pepsi. Jon also purchased a bottle of “Mets Samurai Blue” blue cola for me to try later. Scott mentioned to Jon that I must have been exhausted because, as Scott said, “That’s the first time I’ve seen him sit down during an excursion all week.”

At this point in the early evening I suggested that we all head back west and part ways at Yotsuya station. So we said goodbye to Jon on the train at Yotsuya station and returned to Shinjuku station. In the station, we descended into the basement of the Keio department store. Justin purchased a gift box of assorted flavored manju for his in-laws, and both Justin & Scott purchased a beautiful omiage square of small fruits suspended in clear jelly. Then we returned to the hotel for a 30-minute break.

After recovering some stamina, we ventured out again around 8pm to the Can Do store diagonally behind the hotel. Scott was looking for a poster tube because he & I had seen plastic poster tubes offered at a 100-yen store. But evidently not at our local store. I purchased another five B5-sized folders of sheet protectors because the books are exactly the correct dimensions to display shitajiki. I also found a screw-on bottle cap with a long snout designed to be used as an analog squeeze-bottle bidet. The invention was too uniquely Japanese for me to resist for a dollar.

Next door at the 7-11 Scott purchased the shop’s final two fried chicken balls from the hot foods case. Justin had a longing for comfort food, so we crossed the street to the McDonalds counter that faced the sidewalk. The restaurant’s dine-in tables were located on the floor above. By this time, because I’d carefully planned my spending, I had 262 yen left of the $1,000 dollars I’d exchanged so far. In other words, I didn’t even have enough Japanese currency left to afford a meal at McDonalds. So Justin used his credit card to purchase a “double egg burger set” for himself, consisting of a two-beef patty burger with “special sauce” and a thick fried egg. Justin discovered back in the hotel room that the “special sauce” was a Japanese original – not the Big Mac sauce Americans are familiar with. I ordered a teriyaki chicken burger set which I thought was quite tasty because the chicken was very tender and juicy. While we ordered, Scott announced that he was going to walk to the other nearby 7-11 in hopes of finding more remaining “balls” of flash fried chicken. Justin & I marveled that the McDonalds had a cardboard drink holder specifically designed to hold two cups and a bag of burgers and fries side-by-side within a clear carrying bag. The thoughtfulness of Japanese design pragmatism extends to literally every facet of Japanese existence.

Back in the hotel, Scott was crestfallen that the second 7-11 had been sold out of chicken balls. I watched the week’s episodes of Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory, Amanchu Advance, and Uma Musume on TV.

Scott went out Pokemon hunting while going to a nearby 24-hour laundromat. He encountered a pair of late-night Tokyo cats roaming Shinjuku City Park. While he was out, I opened one of the four bundles of random doujinshi. To my dismay, only one of the 30 books was hentai. But the pack did include some nice books including a 2005 Koge Donbo calendar, Tex-Mex’s “Natsu Nanode Burakura Mizugi Hon Toka” Black Lagoon doujinshi, and the lovely Copoyomogi Vocaloid original illustration book “Re: Poemy Poemy.” When Scott returned, he opened and skimmed through his three stacks of books. His stacks had a far more favorable percentage of “H” material, but many of the books dated from the late 90s and early 2000s, and none of them appealed to Scott’s tastes. So I ended up selecting as many of them to keep as I thought I could carry.