Loot from Japan.... so far

This has buy me now written all over it.

After all the kyabakuras, snakus, yakitoris and arcades, going to Japan is all about loot. Sure you can get a lot of stuff of ebay but there`s nothing like the happiness when you find something awesome.

Shining Wind/Tears artbook. Hate the games and anime but love the figures.

Hatsune Miku! This is going to look so awesome in my room.

Happi coat.

Yui figure. Was tempted to get the good one with the guitar but I didn`t like the fact that she stood on one leg so it`ll fall down after a while.

Hellcar`s Nagato Yuki which changes colour according to temperature. We haven`t tested it out yet.

One happy man and his loot. I see a potential figure collecter here.

Sugaya Risako plus Mano Erina = must buy!

The cheapest shirt I`ve bought at 1000 yen. Most shirts were around 3000 yen.

GitS shirt. There was a tachikoma shirt but they were just too expensive. Kinda dissappointed that there weren`t any Street Fighter shirts.

Yui shirt. Rei bought a Mio shirt so we`re can hang out in Melbourne Chinatown with matching shirts.

K-on pillow cover cause I haven`t changed my pillow covers in years.

Other side of the cover.

Mano Erina poster which I got ...

.... from this manga.

Manaka shirt which I will wear for basketball and my defender will be too busy staring at the her.

Bought this in Fukuoka while waiting for the Shinkansen.

SSF4 technical guide book which I finally found at Shosen book tower Akiba after looking for it for two weeks all over.

PSP with Idolmaster and Project Idol.

RANDOM PICTURES

Crowd for show in front of AKB theater. I need to find out how to get me into one of their shows.

Price listing from Aroma Relaxation Centre in Akiba.

RANDOM NOTES

Did a test packing tonight. The heavy stuff is mostly the art/photobooks. No more space for figures. :( Might buy a few more photobooks tomorrow. Had to give up on the 220 00 yen Saber Lily and 300 00 Guts and Zodd figure. Been spending money like crazy this past few days. There`s just too much to buy in Akiba.

The second EVA movie came out 3 days ago and every freaking store in Akiba keeps playing the theme song over and over and over again. Will need to download when I get back so I can pretend I`m in Akiba.

In Tokyo, people stand on the left when going up escalators and the right is for people walking up. In Osaka its the reverse just to be different and its on the left in Fukuoka.

Back to Tokyo: Days 11 and 12

Some seiyuu signing or something in Akiba. Anyone know who she is?

Where pedobear does his shopping in Harajuku.

View of streets about Shibuya station.

Picture of Hachiko outside the station. There was a cute chick who was sitting on the right of the picture but she quickly got up as I was about to press the button. Note to self, learn to suppress perving aura or stop looking like a sukebe.

Crowds in Shibuya. In front is Tsutaya where I found the Hatsune Miku game!

Another Shibuya shot.

AKB theater is actually on the 8th floor on top of Don Quixote which I only realised yesterday. Ryuga gotoku had lead me to believe that Don Quixotes play the song all the time. Or maybe its just the one in kabukicho.

Abe Hiroshi ad which I`m assuming is for a credit card.

Ramen that I had at the food court above Yodobashi Akiba.

No, I did not win the pillow from a UFO catcher. It cost only 1280 yen which is less than what I had spent trying to get it. I have to look up her name after I finish this post. I`m sure no one in Melbourne will answer my phone call after they`ve seen this.

Hellcar ashamed to even know me.

Hellcar playing with magnectic balls. He can mold them into any shape he wants and all he can think of are circles?????

Ramen place just outside the Electric town entrance at Akiba.

Hellcar`s ramen from the above place.

Random pic.

Alcohol price at Don Quixote.

Rei thrilled that he gets to squash his own `lemon` for his drink.

Tako-wasabi, absolutely delicious.

Street fighter inspired food. Yuck.

Random shot of Akiba.

Queues awaiting trains that arrive seemingly every 2 minutes.

Days 9 and 10: Fukuoka

Trying to make an informed decision in Nakasu, the red light district of Fukuoka.

You can never go wrong with yakiniku. I believe the place was called 88 meat.

Better than magic mushrooms?

Rubbish in Japan has to be sorted. Finding a general rubbish bin is hard.

In case you can read the shirt, it says `shit happens hysteric`.

We actually got to play the baseball thing for an hour. Its much harder in real life than in Ryuga gotoku.

I`m already getting hungry looking at this.

With Sandy and Rei at this cool ramen place where all the seats are separated and you can`t see the servers. Apparently its because it used to be a yakuza eating place.

I want to work for a magazine/website reviewing kyabakuras when I grow up.

Fukuoka at night.

Hellcar actually won something from a UFO catcher. Too bad it wasn`t a love plus pillow.

Self explanatory photo.

Free information magazine and booklet in Nakasu.

Random notes:

- Fukuoka is full of lovely girls.

- one OL was cycling towards me and I was trying so hard not to be obvious.

- we unfortunately did not patronise any snakus/kyabakuras in Fukuoka as Sandy wasn`t really familiar with the nightlife there.

- hopefully going to maid cafe on Saturday with Iino. Can`t promise pictures since you have to pay for them. Not sure about taking pictures with maids handing out pamphlets though.

- Never arrive back in Tokyo by shinkansen with two bags during rush hour unless you want to know what being in a human grinder feels like.

- Always ask for an English menu.

- Fukuoka CBD is more than twice the size of Melbourne`s yet half as packed. As Sandy said, it seems like an awesome city to live in.

- Thanks to Sandy for showing us around Fukuoka.

- I still can`t find the SSF4 technical guide and now that I`ve decided to get a PSP for Hatsune Miku, I can`t even find the freaking game!!!!!!! PSPs in Japan are fucking cheap though.

- If you are an old school momusu fan like me, book-off in Akiba is heaven. Lots of old photobooks for only 500 yen each!

Day 8; Last Day in Osaka

Three idiots ready face the dangers of Osaka night life.

With Hellcar going back to Kyoto for more temple sightseeing and a scheduled date with biyoshi, Rei and I decided to do some walking around Osaka in the afternoon. Billy at this time had sadly, quietly slipped back on the shinkansen back to Tokyo and Australia. We went to the Sega Joypolis and the most shocking thing there was that there was no VF5R or even SF4 machines! WTF??? A Sega arcade without fighting games, not to mention one of the longest lasting and best remaining Sega franchises. I know the Sega Joypolis is aimed more at families but surely they could have spared one or two arcade cabinets for fighting games. The Namco Land/World nearby had VF5R but no SF4. I felt like I was in bizarro world.

I can assure you she looks better in real life.

Met bframe5 for the first time after a few years of blogging comments and msn chats. It was a relief to have a guide in Osaka though this was only his third time there. We initially wanted yakiniku cause it would be better if someone actually knew what we were ordering but we ended up going to a kushikatsu. Its one of those fried food on a stick with lots of dipping sauce places. Probably due to the fact that it was at like the 6th floor of a shopping centre. it was pretty expensive.

Nice shot by bframe5!

Next was a shochu bar. Nice looking girls but I was the only one who missed out on seeing the 3rd floor girl. We had our own nice tatami room and just drank sochu and some light food. Bframe5 said that kyabakuras should at least be the third place you visit because it cannot be enjoyed when sober.

I think all Japanese girls are experts at posing for the camera.

We were ready to go to Vivi, an OL themed kyabakura. Rei and I had actually passed it in the afternoon and its rather magnificent billboard caught our eye so we knew where to go. Unfortunately, the guy working the entrance of the 3rd floor kyabakura seemed overly concerned at the fact that we were not Japanese, our language skills and whether we had enough money. Bframe5 said that it was the first time ever that he had been treated that way and of course we decided to walk away, though the hostesses did look sumptuous in their tight OL outfits.

Get your hand out of my wallet!

We found ourselves at another kyabakura. A bit small but at least they didn`t ask for our credit cards upfront. Unfortunately, the first batch of hostesses that we got were bad. Bframe5`s was pretty ugly and Rei got the best of the 3. After the initial OMFG, I feel like I`m in Ryuugagotoku/midnight dorama` it become WTF this bitch is trying to get me to buy her a drink every 5 minutes. And they were very fucking aggressive. I think we each bought our hostesses 3 drinks and they weren`t that attractive, except for Rei`s.

Nana looks really good in this.

Time was up and bframe quickly said that we were happy to change. We had decent looking girls now. Bframe had the best looking girl though. She was IMHO, the one hostess in the kyabakura worth buying 2 drinks an hour for. She had this bubbly personality and seemed smarter than the rest. Mine was better looking but she couldn't fake any decent amount of enthusiasm in the conversation. WTF are the Jyoou Virgin`s in Osaka??????!!!!!! I think we all asked the hostesses who they listened to and they all said Ayu, Namie and Lady Gaga. That tells you a lot. The bill at the end was fucking crazy. I could have almost bought a Saber Lily Golden Caliburn figure for it! Gaaaaaaaah.

Mika and Nana.

Undeterred though, bframe5 lead us to a snaku. The price was decent, the girls overall were better and they didn`t make money from us ordering drinks for the girls. The girls, Mika and Nana were as pretty nice. Yes, when you get good service you remember the girl`s name though when I think it was Nana said she like the evil trinity of Ayu, Namie and Gaga, bframe and I were rolling our eyes at each other. The service at the snaku was good and the price decent. Bframe5 said that the kyabakuras at Nagoya were definitely better so I guess its also a case of knowing where to go.

3 of the coolest dudes in Osaka.

At the end my wallet was much lighter but at least I can say that I`ve been to a kyabakura, snaku and biyoshi in Japan. Thanks to brame5 for coming all the way down to Osaka and wasting your money to show me and Rei a good time. Not to mention doing the whole `my Australian friends would like to take a picture with you` routine. You`re a legend.

Day 7: Den Den Town and day 2 with biyoshi

Awesome tsukemen. Just dip the ramen into the sauce. 

Woke up to sounds from primary school next door eightish. 11.30 we have tsukemen at the place that the hairdresser recommended. The sauce which was separate was freaking awesome. Think of it as similar to zaru soba but instead of soba, you have udon and the sauce has couple pieces of delicious stewed pork. Excellent brunch though not very filling. Good thing we went there as it opened because a long queue was starting to form.

Nice view from top of J-Hoppers.

Had a bit of trouble trying to find Den Den Town/Nippombashi but we managed to stumble our way there. Its basically rows of shops along this long road with electronics, manga and lots of ero shops. There was even one with 5 levels of JAV. I bought a hatsune mike figure because I was afraid that I might not be able to find it in Akiba when I go back. Will post picture of it probably tomorrow.

Rei focusing intently on some educational material.

Den den town just doesn`t have the same vibe as Akiba. Its just a long road of specialty shops instead of a huge area that is completely different from norm. That said, the shops were really good. There was a shop with lots of figures, some old. Was deciding whether to buy this Kano Uncho chained up figure for 10000 yen but it was pretty big and I was sort of hesitent. Bringing figures back is going to be a problem because the boxes take up so much space but you need them in the boxes in order to protect them.

Chocolate flavoured soda. Its actually tastes suprisingly decent.

Found a shop with lots of old photobooks like Natsumi Abe ones. For an old school momusu fan like me, it was heaven. Didn`t have much time to browse since we had a hair appointment at 7. Tempted to go back tomorrow but hopefully will be able to find good photobookshop in Akiba. I just don`t feel like carrying too much luggage to Fukuoka and back to Osaka.

We had omurice, risotto? and nikudango for dinner.

Went to haircut with Hellcar and unfortunately my hair was cut a bit too short. Should have said trim instead of a 5cm cut. It was a pretty long cut at around 45 minutes. Usually I just lop of the end of my ponytail and shave my sideburns which takes around 15 minutes. I can still tie my hair but gell would be essential for the front. The sad thing was, she remembered Hellcar`s name but had to ask my name again. It was as if I had been hit by a super and ultra combo at once. I am powerless again gaijin power. I was the very definition of chopped liver.

Drink that Rei bought with Lightning from FFXIII on the can.

Not to mention that Hellcar was asked if he could model his haircut for the shop blog. Yes, I now have an amateur model for a friend. I won`t post the blog link to not reveal hairdresser`s identity here but the pictures should be up if not tomorrow, by monday. We asked her out for dinner and once again I was basically playing the interpreter friend. We started running out of simple topics to talk about and I could feel the limitations of my Japanese. A lot of times, I`m just doing a direct translation from English but it doesn`t really make sense in Japanese.

Why I deserve a job in Japan.

Hairdresser had to go back to study at 12ish. Hellcar and I split the bill and thanked her for a good time. Walked to the bar where we met her yesterday and Billy and Rei were there. Drank until 1ish, went back to hostel and now I`m typing the blog. With me and Rei going to kyabakura with bframe5 tomorrow night, I`m 99.9999999% certain that Hellcar will call biyoshi out tomorrow. Gaijin can easily get attention of Japanese girls but asian dudes like me have to resort to kyabakuras/snacks.