Hey everyone! It's time for us to post about our trip to Tokyo. Like we did with our Osaka/Kyoto/Nara trip, we'll be splitting it into different parts. The first: Akihabara!
Akihabara is the part of Tokyo that specializes in electronic goods. After World War II, it was a hub for black market radio parts. Since then, it's exploded into computers, video games, DVDs, household appliances, pornography, arcades, toys, anime, and manga. Put simply, Akihabara (or "Akiba") is Japan's nerd Valhalla. Naturally, we made it our first stop!
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| The mean streets of Akiba. Nerds, nerds everywhere! Also some normal folks I guess. |
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| The girl with the green hair flashing us a hand-heart is Mika, a Vocaloid (ask us later). It's not uncommon to see people in Akiba dressed up like their favorite anime, manga, and game characters. |
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| This pink demon maid was restocking a UFO Catcher at an arcade. |
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| Remember AKB48? The pervy 48-girl pop band we posted about awhile back? Well, the AKB in their name stands for AKihaBara. They came from here so they're super popular with the nerdy unwashed masses. Pictured here is the AKB48 shop at the building where they were formed. The massive crowd of people are buying and selling illicit photos of the AKB members. |
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| Meow meow nya nya Joanna is a cat |
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| We found Samurai Sanders! Of course you heart KFC dude, it's your secret herbs and spices or whatever. |
One thing you notice when you arrive in Akihabara are the massive numbers of girls dressed as maids running around. This is because they're advertising for Akiba's many "maid cafes," cafes where the waitresses dress and act like maids, going as far as calling you "master" and stuff. While I thought it would make me feel icky and uncomfortable to be doted on by some Japanese girl most likely working her way through college, Joanna thought it would be funny, so we went to one. It turned out to be a pretty darn cutesy time!
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| The menu from the one we chose, "Heart of Hearts Sparkling Stars Maid Academy." We rode the elevator up to the place with a maid and a customer, who informed us it was "Japanese culture." |
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| The inside of the joint. You can get an idea of the kind of customers these places get. |
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| We both ordered "omerice" which is just an omelette over rice. To make it more special, the maids offered to draw on them with ketchup. I asked for a lion since the kids at school always call me "Lyan-sensei." |
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| GAOOOO! That's what monsters say in Japan instead of "RARR!" Also, before eating, the maid had us do a magic spell to power up our food. It involved a lot of cutesy Japanese and heart gestures. |
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| Joanna had her maid draw a panda. |
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| Did you call me? Sorry panda, I never got your number! |
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| Included with our meal was a decorated picture with our maids. Here we are with Ramune! |
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| And here's Master Ryan and Lady Joanna with Celt. |
All in all, Akihabara was a really great and silly place for a couple of dorks like us. We ended up going back a few times during our trip because it was just so nutty. Definitely worth a visit!
As an aside, if you want to see more of Akihabara or you just wanna enjoy a really silly and hilarious Japanese show, we recommend Densha Otoko (or "Train Man"). It's about your average Akihabara nerd ("otaku") who ends up helping a girl way out of his league on the train and the funny relationship that results from it. It's based on a true story and was embraced by the Japanese to the point where they made a movie, an animated show, and a comic out of it. The TV drama is the best though! You can watch the first episode here. At the very least, watch the intro - it has a bunch of scenes of Akihabara set to "Mr. Roboto!"
Densha Otoko ep.1 by tmjr2006
That's all for Akihabara! More Tokyo coming soon!
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