Japan 2023 Day 18: Goodbye Japan

Last day in Tokyo before I fly out and the big new is kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke's parents found dead and he was unconscious at home. I don't think I have seen any news about what actually happened.

Quick stop in Akihabara, found Slam Dunk volume 8 and this SDF Macross Polo shirt! I can wear this at work and no one will know this is anime merch.

 

The night before was my last night at Grand Bleu and mama said that she would treat me to lunch before I left and said I could have anything I wanted.  She asked if I wanted yakiniku and I felt guilty because I can eat a lot and I said sushi. Just killing time before I met her at Grand Bleu I went to the furuiichiba or old market in Shin Koiwa. I am sad that the old game shop at the main shopping strip is gone but at least this is still here.

Complete One Piece set for 22460 yen. Good luck fitting that in luggage or posting it back!

I did not know there was a Gantz 0 manga! Loved the Netflix anime.

Cat sitting down next to Grand Bleu. I went in and Mama was cleaning up and she said they had been drinking until 4am.

Cat frowning as we were leaving it started drizzling so we brought umbrellas.

She brought me to this place called Natori sushi.

I got the omakase lunch sent 9 pieces. The first thing the sushi guy said to mama was its rare to see you in the afternoon.

Its one of those places where they make the sushi in front of you and put them on your plate one by one. Mama saw how much I love the maguro that she ordered a few more for me. They had two people doing the sushi and one lady doing everything else. Since it was omakase ie leave it to the sushi chef, I got to try a lot of different sushi I would not normally get.

I was drinking with this taxi driver Taka-chan last night and he gave mama a pack of cigarettes to pass to me. Thanks Taka-chan!

I told mama that I was looking for Slam Dunk new edition no 20. She brought me to the bookshop south of Shin Koiwa station and found the final volume! I thanked mama for the great lunch. It was not cheap. We promised next time would be tebasaki gyoza which I don't think I have had before.

Goodbye Shin Koiwa. Can't wait to see what the station looks like when it is finished.

At the anime goods section of Narita airport.

Going home is always very sad. On the other hand my wallet is extremely light. I exceeded my budget and had to withdraw some cash. Not being able to share hotel rooms anymore increased the cost.

Security robot at Narita.

Saw this hakata ramen shop at terminal 3. Foolishly decided to give it a shot.

It was so bad. Lesson learned. Do not eat ramen at airport because chances are it is crap. It is like the lottery, you will never win because chances are astronomical. I think there is supposed to be a very good one in terminal one though. I think there a Matsuya at terminal 3 and I should have gone for good old trusty gyudon or yakinuki. Nooooooo.

Goodbye Japan. Hopefully interest rates and inflation will go down so I can come back. Before the trip I was worried about connecting flight delays, covid and not being able to catch up with anyone because of golden week. Glad I was able to catch up with 3 friends and everything went ok except my connecting flight back was delayed by 1 hour. Somehow avoided covid and did not infect anyone, to my knowledge.

One thing I learned is if you are thinking about buying something, just do it. There's this Gameboy Advance Perfect Catalogue book that just came out when I was in Japan in 2019 and I thought I didn't really need it. 

Throughout this trip I was on the lookout I never saw the Gameboy Advance Perfect Catalogue in bookshops. After the trip I started looking online and realised it is selling for over 10000 yen! A 2400 yen book that just came out 4 years ago quadrupled in price because demand was high and it was rare!

With the Mugen no Juunin new print edition, I had to order the whole series online because it is impossible to get 8-15 individually. I tried looking surugaya, book off, yahoo auctions and in the end getting the books individually was too difficult. I would have been missing 2 volumes and spending too much time hunting for them online. Unfortunately I had to pay zenmarket to dispose of volumes 1-7 so that was a waste.

Finally I have complete Slam Dunk manga collection!  

Really like Mazakatsu Katsura's art on the covers.

Movie pamphlets from cinemas. Did not end up watching Oshibudo movie. I could be wrong but I don't think all cinemas were showing it. Thanks for reading. It has been fun looking back at the trip now that I am back to the real life grind.