Tamashii No Tokyo Part 3 - Akiba Overload

Day three, Wednesday.

I slept in a bit, took my time getting ready, and headed out mid morning. I got a pastry for breakfast from an AM/PM convenience store. Outside this store I see my first, real blooming Sakura. They smelled sweet.

I know that if I take the train to Akihabara, its only one stop, but according to my map I can walk there just as easily. So I take a left instead of going straight and begin to wander the side streets of Ochanomizu.

Not but a few minutes into my walk do i discover a shrine, sandwiched between large construction sites. It's the Kanda Shrine, site of one of the three biggest Matsuri in Japan. Unfortunately, there was no festival that day, but I got to take a lot of pictures and enjoy the calm oasis within the city.

The shrine, being close to Akiba, has lots of otaku wishes scribed on the Ema boards:

As you keep walking you eventually reach the far end of the main drag in Akihabara. I was there a little early that day, so I got a bite to eat at Mr. Donut.

It's an overwhelming feeling, being in Akihabara for the day with no specific plan. I had an appointment to go to the Tamashii Nations event that evening, but the day was free. I started out just walking around and most things were not open yet. Akiba doesn't really start opening until 11 or 12.

As I walked down towards the train station people were lining up outside buildings. These were the true Otaku. Fans lining up waiting for the stores to open to be the first in line to get the latest cd/dvd/game.

To kill some time, I went into Yodobashi Camera and walked through the toy section. So many toys, so few I wanted to buy. In the past I had a tendency to pick up things just because they were on sale and I was "There" but I really had no interest in buying new things, especially because I had gotten 90% of the new stuff I had wanted while at HLJ the day prior. I walked out of Yodobashi empty handed.

Although, I did get a picture of this awesome light up toilet seat:

From there, I walked the back alleys. Food vendors, maid cafes, electronics hawkers. It was beginning to rain a little.

Out of my eye I spy a doorway leading downstairs with a hand written sign that said "2ch" on it.

2channel, or 2chan, is an Japanese bulletin board that is insanely popular, not just with otaku, but with many Japanese. It has inspired books, manga and even movies. I had to go into the 2ch store.

It was awesome. There was all kinds of merchandise representing the various meme's on 2ch, like safetybear, the ascii cats and more. I bought a few things, just to say I did, but now what am I going to do with Safety Bear stickers? Those of you who browse 4chan know that Safety Bear has a whole 'nother persona there.

Now that things were opening, I started hitting stores. I hit all the liberty stores and got some things there, but I got the most stuff at the Hobby Figure shop on the ground floor of the Radio Kaikan building. All the Liberty shops were having sales on select items and I scored some great deals.

The really great place was the new multi-floor Mandarake Akibahara.

The top two floors are what interest me the most, new and used goods. Here again I get lots of goodies, my bags are now becoming unwieldy. Unfortunately, no photos in Mandarake, but that's par for the course. Its a really fantastic shop, and a must-see if you are in Akihabara.

As the afternoon progresses I decide I better get over to the UDX Akihabara to meet with Matt Alt and Patrick Macias, who are covering the event for Otaku USA. Being the only Gaijin at the event, we find each other quickly.

We're hustled into the event and we all sit together in folding chairs. Apparently we're all going to see a presentation. First up is the President of Bandai, and of course, he's speaking Japanese, so I understand nothing. I get the key words.. chogokin.. mazinger... and then they wheel out the insane Urban Material Chogokin. After that there is a presentation of the new Mazinger series, with Go Nagai, voice actors and the mechanical designer. We were supposed to meet Go Nagai for an interview, but alas, he left as soon as he was done.

From there we wandered around the showroom, snapping pictures and taking video, lugging my bags with me along the way. I met some cool people from all over the world, and most of the staff at Bandai collectors division.

On a random note, I got interviewed for a magazine by some guy. Its for the JAL (Japan Airlines) Magazine. So who knows, I may be in that. He sent some pictures though.

The group of us gathered around the UMC Mazinger for a nice shot.

From left to right: Daisuke (Toynami), George (Toynami), Jordi (SD Distribuciones), Adam (Bandai), Matt (Otaku USA), Josh (CollectionDX), Patrick (Otaku USA)

From there, we went out to dinner to discuss plans for the future with CDX, Toynami and Bandai. Stay tuned for developments in that area.

Dinner was great, we had Yakitori in a restaurant inside the UDX building. It was a great time, and I could have stayed all night, but people were getting tired.

Akiba at night is deserted.

So, from there I walked home, up to the hotel, and went to bed. Tomorrow brings another grand adventure.