So during New Year’s Eve we attended a party hosted by the hostel. Pretty cool, got to meet a bunch of different people from Japan and elsewhere.
Hostel New Year's Party
Right after it turned to 2010, we went to visit 3 local shrines. The third of them, the Torigoe Shrine was the biggest and furthest away. Surprising amount of people lined up to pray.
Torigoe Shrine
When it comes to praying at the shrine, it seems that the protocol changes per shrine, but it basically boils down to throwing some coins into the donation box, ringing the bell, clapping a few times, bowing a few times, praying, and then bowing again.
Even got some free sake and sweet sake after praying at Torigoe. Sweet sake is pretty good, more sweet than sake. Not much alcohol content there, but it’s all nice, sweet, and warm.
At the first shrine, I did the omikuji (fortune-drawing) and got Big Luck!
Omikuji
In the morning (1/1/10), we went to the biggest and most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo, the Senso-ji temple.
Entrance to Senso-ji Temple
Unfortunately, the temple itself seemed to be undergoing renovations at the time, so I didn’t get any good pictures of the temple itself.
Leading up to and exiting the temple, the whole area had this festival-like atmosphere with lots of booths selling things and food stalls.
Stalls Outside Temple
Short version: Pretty standard stuff, but they had this huge clam you could eat!
Afterwards, we walked to Ueno to see the Ameyayokocho, a really popular street with lots of small stores to shop at.
Ameyayokocho Sign feat. Lu
You can see our new traveling friend Lu in the picture. She’s from Canada and staying in the same hostel as us.
Taito Game Station
Saw this game center in the middle of Ameyayokocho. Went inside to take a look.
First few floors had lots of UFO catchers that are really, really hard to win. Even actually physically grabbing the item with the claw rarely gets you a win. Since the good stuff’s usually in boxes, you have to aim for slots in the box. Also had lots of those print club photo booths.
Upper floors had things more relevant to my interests: Lots of Borderbreak machines, quite a few mahjong arcade games (some even with Saki! promos going on), and some fighting games like SF4, BB:CS, and Gundam vs Gundam NEXT.
Arcade Machines
I played an embarrassingly bad game of GvG: Next. You can see the Borderbreak machines in the background of the picture above. Looks fun, I might go try it.
We kept walking down Ameyayokocho, didn’t really buy anything interesting. Eventually, we made our way to a department store called ABAB and ate at this cake buffet called Sweets Paradise. It’s as awesome as it sounds.
Sweets Paradise
Short version: They actually have normal food! But who cares? Delicious cake!
After looking around the department store for a while, we visited Ueno Park at night.
Statue of Saigo Takamori
The picture is of a famous statue in Ueno Park of Saigo Takamori walking his dog. Behind, you can see this tree that is very brightly lit up with changing lights. It even had these cool shooting-star-ish lights that randomly lit up.
Ueno Park also has quite a few homeless guys sleeping in makeshift cardboard shelters. Reminds me of Austin.
We also visited a few shrines in Ueno Park. One of the ones we visited (whose name escapes me) had an impressive set of Torii gates.
Torii Gates
Prayed at the shrine, too. Also tried the omikuji again and got a Dai Kichi again!
Shrine in Ueno Park
Afterwards we stopped by Akihabara on our way home.
Akihabara!!!
The place of my hopes and dreams did not disappoint.
Akihabara
Electronics stores everywhere. Cutesy Japanese pop blaring from store fronts. Arcades on every corner. Hell yeah.
We first went to this giant electronics store called Sofmap.
Sofmap
Awesome place, reminds me of a Fry’s Electronics with cooler stuff. Like these USB drives:
Awesome USB Drives
One’s an Eva-themed drive that’s an entry plug. The other is a Gurren Lagann USB drive that’s shaped like the Core Drill.
Had a bunch of computer parts, too. Surprisingly reasonable prices. Instead of showing pictures, here’s a poster I found of Nanami Madobe (Windows 7-tan).
Nanami Madobe poster
Btw, Nanami’s totally the reason I switched to Windows 7.
Top floor had a bunch of video games and anime-related goods. Unfortunately, in my excitement, I forgot to take pictures.
Hungry, we went in search of dinner and found this Ramen place near the station.
Short version: Great ramen! I love how the place lets you choose stuff like how fatty the soup is, how firm the noodles are, and things like that.
Afterwards, I went to the Toranoana, an anime goods shop that mostly specializes in doujinshi. Unfortunately, in my rush, I forgot to take pictures.
Saw some awesome Touhou figures, based off various artists like Dioxin and Flipflops. I really wanted the Cirno one, but the Patchy one they had was adorable. Thinking about getting it, even though I’m not especially a Patchouli fan.
As I ascended the stairs, I realized all the doujinshi and manga there were for women. After a while, I realized I was in the B Building, which had different stuff than the A Building. Luckily, the A Building was next door.
Went for some Touhou doujinshi that Fujieda Miyabi did. Also looked for some Ashita wa Docchi da! doujinshi, but couldn’t find any.
Overall, a looong day with lots of people and sights to see. But who cares about any of that? Akihabara!
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