We spent all of today in Akihabara, otherwise known as electric town, and it was just as eclectic as we remembered. Toy stores that are ten floors high, electronic markets filled with components and hardware, girls in costumes from maid cafes, and of course, the obligatory surprise manga that makes one feel distinctly uncomfortable. Since we were properly needing it up for the day, we began with breakfast at the Gundam cafe. It was underwhelming both in the scale of the cafe and the breakfast, which looked cool, but was tiny and not particularly satisfying.
Then we went to yodobashi, a giant retailer in the heart of Akihabara over nine floors, with golf and baseball on the roof, and toys, computers, homewards, clothing, food, cameras, sound equipment, records, AV tech, everything you find in the good guys and more. We were there for a few hours looking at everything, and we bought some camera equipment that was on sale.
For lunch we went across to the UDX restaurant row and decided on chicken don, which was delicious. The chicken is first grilled over hot coals, then deep fried with panko crumbs, served on rice and cabbage with teriyaki sauce. Feeling very full, we began to explore further into the district, and after visiting a number of toy stores, we found four Eva's on sale, so we bought all of them! It's fascinating seeing the amazing detail and variety of toys here, though the hyper sexualisation of many figures, and the simply astonishing array of hentai and yaoi boggle the mind.
The stores were beginning to close so we made one last stop at the owl cafe! I wasn't sure about this one, and I'm still not convinced that this is the life these birds should have, but it was clean and quiet, the birds seemed happy to sleep and preen on their perches, and the staff were affectionate with all of them and appeared to love their job. I was able to pet all of the owls, and a number of them were also able to be held. It was pretty awesome, and I was surprised by the variety of breeds and sizes they had, from a tawny frog mouth to a few great owls, they were just beautiful. I was expecting them to be nippy and flighty, but the ones you're allowed to hold are clearly used to the attention and very placid.
There's no time limit on the owl cafe, so it was late by the time we left. Rather than go out for dinner, since we have an apartment this time, we went to the local Lawsons and stocked up on microwaveable meals from the extensive fresh range that all supermarkets have here. Andrew had chicken katsu on rice and I had gyoza. It was surprisingly good, and ridiculously cheap, less than three dollars fifty each. If only we could get stuff that good and fresh from supermarkets at home. Now it's time for some cheap drinks and pudding for dessert.
- Jess
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