Tokyo Vacation May 2018 Day 5

Since we qualified for only two free breakfast recipients, this morning Scott & Justin went for the morning meal while I remained in the room researching the relevance of visiting Asagaya Anime Street (seemingly rather little these days since the Shirobaco café has transformed into an idol singer-themed restaurant).

When we left the room, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Shinjuku station’s central west exit. I exchanged $300 USD at the J-Market store at a 112 yen exchange rate. Then the three of us took the Chuo Rapid train line to Ochanomizu. When the train stopped, we dashed across the platform onto the Chuo-Sobu local, arriving in Akihabara around 10:30am. Our goal for the day was to browse the stores off Chuo Dori. So underneath the rail overpass we crossed the street and headed straight, first visiting Mulan Akiba. The store carried video games, home video, and figure toys – new and second hand. Although the store did carry some items we hadn’t seen elsewhere, the store’s prices seemed a bit higher than average. Just outside of the store, on the side of the street, Scott stopped to purchase the last gachapon “I-shibari” in a 200 yen vending machine. The “prize” was literally a length of white twined rope tied into traditional Japanese shibari intended to enwrap a cell phone.

Returning to 3 Chome, we turned up the alley to the Autum Leaf store. I asked the shopkeeper for the Saigado “Toshimaku Sodachi no Toshima-san” manga. After searching his store’s inventory via PC, he went upstairs then returned with a new copy of the book. So I purchased the book plus a copy of Oda Non’s “Non Virgin” tankouban that was spotlighted on the store’s shelf. Half a block down the road, we came to the Akiba Cultures Zone building which we’d begun to explore two days before. So we went up to the third floor and finished exploring the Robot Robot store. Scott found a tiny Boba Fett figure. I picked up Kodansha’s “Hitagi” mook for 500 yen and the volume 0 DVD of the obscure “Omochi Alien” anime series, complete with a bonus figure, for 500 yen.

Then we took the elevator up to the fifth floor’s Good Smile & Animate Café that was hosting a limited time Cowboy Bebop 20th anniversary café. The airy L-shaped café had wooden tables covered with Cowboy Bebop spaceship themed banners. The walls were adorned with Cowboy Bebop illustrations. The rear of the eating space had large cardboard standees of the characters in their 20th anniversary formal clothing. The menu consisted of foods and drinks inspired by and named after the show. Each of us ordered a “Spike” (a strawberry ginger ale). I also ordered a 1,000 yen plate of spaghetti & meatballs since I hadn’t had breakfast. Our order was brought to us along with three of twelve exclusive laminated cardboard Cowboy Bebop drink coasters. I received a second randomly selected coaster when my plate of spaghetti arrived. The drink was tasty. The spaghetti was rather zesty, but a rather small portion considering its price. As I finished eating, Scott & Justin both ordered a “Spike Spigel,” an “Old Fashioned” whisky cocktail served with a handful of peanuts and a small chocolate in the shape of a pistol. Justin initially considered ordering a “Faye Valentine,” a martini. But the waiter confirmed that the martini was made with gin rather than vodka. Before paying for our meal, I picked up two three-packs of thin vinyl cases for the coasters, and an acrylic Cowboy Bebop café “Faye” standee. The “Swordfish” tie-tac was sold out. Scott picked up one of the limited framed three-dimensional illustrations of the Bebop crew lounging in its 20th anniversary formal wear.

To finish off the Akiba Cultures Zone building, we browsed the second and first floors. Particularly worth noting, in a first floor display case we noticed a beautiful 5,000 yen matching set of Susumu Kodai and Yuki Mori design ball point pens.

Across the street, we entered the Akihabara Mandarake complex and took the elevator up to the eighth floor. Justin inquired about a vintage Robocop Auto 9 airsoft pistol priced at 5,000 yen. Unexpectedly considerately, the Mandarake staff called the airport to inquire about the viability of simply packing the toy gun within checked luggage. Since the response was unfavorable, Justin didn’t buy the replica gun. On the seventh floor Justin found a vintage Marusan vinyl Godzilla figure available for 12,000 yen that especially piqued his interest. I thumbed through the selection of vintage shitajiki and found one Dirty Pair release that I didn’t own. I purchased it at 1,500 yen. We skipped the sixth and fifth floors. The fourth floor is men’s doujinshi. I spent a few minutes in vain searching for the “Saigado” section before I gave up and asked an employee. He directed me to an entirely different bookshelf than the one’s I’d looked at. I pulled three used comics that brought my collection of Saigado doujinshi to up-to-date completion. I then asked the employee to point out the “Mental Specialist” section. He did. I looked but didn’t see any of artist Yoshimasa Watanabe’s early Dirty Pair doujinshi that I didn’t already own.

Further up 3 Chome, we found the second Jungle store. [Technically it’s referred to as Jungle store 1, and the Radio Kaikan store is “store 2”]. Justin opted to initially browse the basement “monster” floor. He ended up purchasing only a Sonico beverage bottle holder for 540 yen. Digging through the clearance box, I found a copy of Hiroki Yagami’s “G-Taste volume 5” illustration book discounted to an unbelievable 54 yen. At check-out, we were behind a pair of young men studying abroad. The pair proffered their passports and requested sales tax exemption. One of them buying sentai goods requested that the toys be removed from their packaging in order to conserve space in his luggage. The same young man also spent additional time with the cashier staff to get his bill correctly sorted out and his change correct. After Justin cashed out, a Chinese tourist stepped up. He also spent a while ensuring that his purchase was tax-free. So I spent a great deal of time waiting in line for a fifty cent purchase.

After exploring the basement and the above-ground first level of Jungle’s first Akihabara store, we backtracked by a few feet, turned the aisle, and found the entrance to the Monsters Labo specialty store. So Justin & Scott descended and browsed while I shot a brief video commemorating the unusual entrance approach to the store.

Before leaving, Scott pointed out an un-priced Ichiban Kuji Godzilla prize drinking cup in box, After Justin re-introduced himself to the shop-owner he’d first met briefly in 2016, the shop owner insisted that Justin pay only 100 yen for the glass cup. The shop owner then dug out a small pile of kaiju-themed hand towels and a similar stack of Godzilla-themed clear files. A sense of politeness seemingly encouraged Justin & Scott to both purchase a few items from the selected offerings.

Initially Justin forgetfully left behind his printed need lists of Godzilla toys in the Monsters Labo store. So while he returned to the store to fetch it, Scott browsed the neighboring electronics store. Justin rejoined us, and the three of us then returned to Chuo Dori and walked down to the Mos burger store. Requested by the sign in the door, Scott first went upstairs and secured a table for us. I ordered the “Tobikiri burger with Japanese sauce.” Justin ordered a cheeseburger and a hot dog. Then Scott went downstairs and ordered two beef & rice patty sandwiches. The food was delivered up to our seats.

By mutual agreement over lunch, we departed the Mos Burger and returned to Akihabara Station. There we took the Chuo line to Ochanomizu, switched trains to the Chuo Rapid to Shinjuku, then at Shinjuku switched trains to the Yamanote line to Shibuya. Being forced to pack into the trains during the rush hour commute effectively prepared us for the crushing throng of people at the Ningen Scramble crossing outside of the station’s Hachiko exit. By a near miracle, I successfully navigated a passage from the Shibuya station to the Shibuya Mandarake store without having to backtrack, get lost, or ask anyone for assistance.

Unexpectedly, this time around the Shibuya Mandarake store seemed unsatisfying and picked over. In previous years we’d found an abundance of stellar deals at the store. But this time around we all found very little of interest. I was surprised and pleased to see that the men’s doujinshi section now had a placard for “Dirty Pair,” I purchased one Dirty Pair Flash doujinshi that I didn’t previously have.

We left the Mandarake store by its ground floor side-street entrance and crossed the street into the Daiso 100 yen store. Upon recognizing the length of the line of customers at the check-out registers, we decided to forgo the shop. So we stepped outside into an adjacent small parking lot lined with soda vending machines. I noticed one machine offered an aluminum bottle of Coca-Cola with a Tokyo silhouette emblazoned on around the bottle. So I dropped a pair of hundred yen coins into the machine and pressed the dispense button, but nothing happened. So I depressed the coin return lever. Nothing happened. The machine simply stole my 200 yen. Luckily, Scott spotted the same style of Coke bottle in another machine and purchased one for me. Then we followed Scott on a long straight-line walk back to the station that cut out the shorter diagonal navigation back to the Hachiko entrance of the Shibuya station. From our home station, we returned to the hotel. After an hour’s rest, we took the shuttle bus back to the station, and from there walked to the Toho Shinjuku Theater, a multiplex attached to the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku, famous for its life-sized Godzilla peeking over the rooftop. We arrived a half-hour early for the day’s final screening of Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle. To avoid spoilers, I’ll simply call the second film comparable in quality to the first.