Tokyo Vacation May 2018 Day 9

The morning started late when Justin was still asleep at 10:30. When he woke and prepared for the day, the three of us took two medium-sized, fairly lightweight boxes to the Shinjuku main branch post office to mail home. Justin was nursing a hangover from drinking too much Japanese whisky in the hotel room the night before, so he realized on the shuttle bus ride over that he’d left his coin purse with his money in the hotel room. Moreover, because he was partially drunk, Justin’s handwriting on the postal customs forms was sloppy to the point of near illegibility. I re-wrote new customs forms for him, but in doing so, we missed the call for our number in line. So as quickly as we could, we approached the teller counter. The three of us had debated mailing purchases home, but I was particularly hesitant to do so due to the cost. At the post office, Justin chose to send his packages home by SAL, a slower option than either air mail or EMS. We were both stunned when the SAL postage cost of both boxes came in at 3,850 yen each. Moreover, the post office refused to accept a credit card. I paid in cash with the remaining bills in my wallet. Justin later paid me back. Since we were at the post office, on the ground floor Scott purchased a commemorative sheet of Japanese postage stamps.

Justin needed to return to the hotel room to collect his money and Suica card. So I suggested that Scott get a late breakfast in the station while I accompanied Justin back to the hotel while taking Scott’s stamps back to the room for him. On the way back to the hotel, I noticed from the bus window that a Mottainai flea market was in swing in the Shinjuku City Park just a block away from our hotel. Before departing for Tokyo, I’d researched the event dates and locations for the Mottainai flea markets and learned that they were all on hiatus during May. When I saw the “Mottainai Flea Market” banners from the bus window I realized, “Oh, it’s no longer May. It’s June now.”

In our hotel room Justin collected his money then chugged another glass of Kirin Fuji-Sanroku whisky before we headed out to investigate the flea market before rejoining Scott. As soon as we reached the flea market vendors, most of whom just laid their wares on a sheet or tarp spread on the ground, Justin spotted an ugly necktie that he purchased for 100 yen. Throughout the week we’d been keeping an eye open for Japanese Stitch merchandise for a friend & collector back home. We noticed a tote bag from the Japanese-exclusive Stitch TV series. Justin offered to buy it. The elderly Japanese lady owner quoted a price and made a numerical gesture on her hand, but we didn’t comprehend what she was saying. So between Justin & I, we kept pulling out 100 yen coins until finally I held out my hand full of change and the lady, somewhat indignantly, took my 500 yen coin, saying to me in Japanese the equivalent of, “If you had one of these, why didn’t you just hand it over in the first place.” Then she took an additional three 100 yen coins from us. Eight hundred yen seemed a rather steep price for a used tote bag at a flea market, but Justin was in a drunken amicable mood and didn’t question the price. The lady with a spread adjacent had a stack of brand new women’s sun hats. Justin decided to purchase one for a female friend back home. The lady asked for only 200 yen. At another sheet spread on the ground, we spied a large but rather poor condition alarm clock consisting of an SD Ultraman & Baltan Seijin; a tagged 1991 Kanegon monster figure, and a large, roughly 18 inch tall vinyl Ultraman figure. We asked for prices. The lady quoted 2,500 yen for the Ultraman, 2,000 yen for the clock, and 1,000 yen for the monster figure. Justin immediately said he’d take all of it. So the lady asked for 5,000 yen. I immediately thought that the alarm clock was priced at double its value, but the large Ultraman figure at 2,500 yen seemed like a bargain. If we’d paid about 500 yen too much for the Stitch bag, we got a 500 yen discount on the toys. While one of the toys was over-priced, another was under-priced. We began browsing the other vendors who offered clothing, household knick-knacks including plates and cups. Some young people appeared to be selling bootleg recordings of old Japanese punk rock concerts. Then Scott called to ask where we were and what was keeping us. So I assured Scott that we’d meet him at the bus stop ASAP.

Justin & I took his flea market purchases back to the hotel room, where Justin finished off the remainder of the bottle of whisky. When we reached the lobby, we coincidentally found the shuttle bus parked and waiting for us. We rejoined Scott at Shinjuku station then weaved our way through the Shinjuku station crowds to the Chuo Rapid line. When I saw the train at the station, I dashed aboard only to have the door close behind me. The rapid line stopped at Yotsuya then stopped at Ochanomizu. At the later stop I disembarked and waited for the next train to arrive carrying Justin & Scott. By this time Justin was literally stumbling drunk. We switched to the Chuo-Sobu local line and rode the train one stop to Akihabara. We exited the station and made our way to Chuo Dori where Justin bowed out on us, telling Scott & I to continue exploring while he went back to the hotel. Scott & I repeatedly asked Justin if he was absolutely certain that he wanted to face Tokyo alone. Justin adamantly insisted that he was capable of returning to the hotel, so we let him go. I took Scott to the third floor Toranoana outlet store. The entire floor consists of manga and manga erotica plus one incongruous rack of Warhammer rulebooks and supplements. Scott purchased a copy of the Hobby Japan magazine that featured a primary article on the Warcraft franchise. We decided to look for the Warhammer store in Akihabara but on the way look in on the Yellow Submarine store on the 8th floor of the building next-door to the Akiba Cultures Zone building. To our surprise, we hadn’t actually been in this building before. At the Yellow Submarine’s top floor, Scott found the Japanese exclusive Warhammer figures he’d been searching for. Two floors below was an Ami Ami second-hand store with the largest selection of adults-only anime figures we’d found anywhere in Akiba. I found an “Eroid Rino-chan” figure from manufacturer Daiki priced at only 700 yen and had to buy it. Scott purchased a Wonder Woman Nendoroid figure for his girlfriend. We browsed the first of two floors of Ami Ami as well as “Top Gun,” an odd store that had sections for PC parts, American pro wrestling goods, and American superheroes. Back on the ground, Scott tried to call Justin to check up on him, but the call wouldn’t go through. So we headed back toward the station, first stopping at the Surugaya next to Radio Kaikan. The “junk” figures included exceptional bargains including a Revoltech Vox Aura robot from Rinne no Lagrange for only 500 yen, and a Queen’s Blade Merona 1/4.5 scale figure from A Cross for only 2,500 yen. I purchased a cute and somewhat sexy “Moeru! Pro Wrestling no Susume – Hotaru Rikiishi VS Chihatan 2-go German Suplex version” 1/8 scale figure set for 2,000 yen. Then I went up to the third floor and purchased one random grab bag of 30 doujinshi. Obviously, this time I didn’t set off the store’s door alarm.

Scott & I returned to the hotel to discover that despite roughly two-and-a-half-hours having passed, Justin still hadn’t returned to the room. Sitting in the room, Scott tried to call him, but the phone eventually went to voice mail. Scott rationalized that Justin was a 40+ year old adult with money, a room key, and a cell phone. He ought to be able to take care of himself. I speculated out loud that Justin had probably boarded a train, fallen asleep, and was simply circling on the train route, unconscious. So we decided to go out for food. Coincidentally, just as we exited the hotel’s front door, the shuttle bus pulled in carrying Justin among its passengers. We were relieved that he was safe. Justin opted to return to the room to sleep. Scott and I initially walked the few blocks to the Meshiya restaurant only to find that Meshiya doesn’t serve katsu curry. We looked at the curry restaurant up the street that we’d passed by, but it was an Indian curry restaurant rather than a Japanese-style curry restaurant. So Scott used his phone to look up the nearby Go Go Curry a third of a mile up the road. Go Go Curry is the restaurant chain recognizable by its African gorilla mascot. So we walked there. Using the automated ordering kiosk, I ordered the second to largest chicken katsu curry for 780 yen. Scott ordered a katsu curry with egg. We sat at the table next to the kitchen, poured ourselves glasses of water, and waited until our meals were served in deep silver oval bowls with a serving of shredded cabbage. I was glad to find that the size of my portion was exactly ideal, as I had just enough appetite to finish all of it but nothing more. On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at the 7-11 we made a nightly routine of patronizing. Scott purchased several 100-yen onigiri to put in the hotel fridge as midnight snacks. He also purchased an egg salad sandwich for Justin. I bought two bottles of Mets Cola Zero for myself and Justin. Mets Zero tastes like a slightly sweeter cousin to Coke Zero, making it highly preferable to the rather atrociously awful tasting Pepsi Nex.

Back at the hotel, Scott & I woke Justin upon our entry into the room. Justin & Scott packed purchases, and Justin realized that he needed to package and mail home another box because his suitcases were just too small for all of the collectables he’d purchased. We turned on the TV to find a live broadcast of the Yomiuri Giants playing the Orix Buffaloes.

Justin & Scott went out to catch monsters in Pokemon Go and ended up wandering the Kabukichou area of east Shinjuku around 10pm. I opted to stay in the hotel room. I ran a hot bath and soaked for an hour. The Buffaloes beat the Giants 3 to 2.