Spring Break Part 6: Akihabara
Sunday, April 20, 2014
On Wednesday the 26th we returned to Tokyo. We had stayed up late the night before so we didn't leave my apartment until almost noon.
We took the red train line from my apartment to Hamamatsu Station. It was rainy and gross out, but Lauren took a few pictures of the view from the train.
At Hamamatsu we switched to the Tokaido line to get to Tokyo. I really love the location of my new apartment, but it was easier to get to Tokyo from my apartment in Iwata. It's not a huge difference. It took four to four and a half hours from Iwata, and it takes four and a half to five hours from Hamakita. Well, if I took the shinkansen it would only take half the time.
We arrived in Tokyo a little after five. Lauren spotted a vending machine with food in it, which is surprisingly rare in Japan considering how drink machines are everywhere. While she was getting a brownie from the vending machine I took a few pictures on the platform.
After leaving our luggage in some coin lockers, we took the Yamanote line to Akihabara. The train we got on was filled with Disneyland Easter ads.
We were hungry and wanted to eat dinner first. Soon after leaving the station we saw an AKB48 cafe and randomly decided to go there.
It wasn't as decorated inside as I think it should have been, but it was still fun and they had TVs playing AKB48 videos.
When our drinks were brought to the table, we each took a random coaster from a container. The coasters have pictures of different AKB48 members. Lauren's drink also had an awesome straw that had a longer bendy section than usual so that it could be made into many shapes.
The pizza was heart shaped! :) It also had hot dogs on it which I've been wanting to try on pizza here. Yummy!
Then we went to the Don Quixote store which is also where the AKB48 theater is. There weren't any shows going on right then though.
The store is super random and pretty junky, but that's part of what makes it fun. The costume section is especially entertaining.
Creepy!
Lol! They have wigs to make you look like a male Korean pop star!
The Barbie fake school uniforms were really random but actually cute.
There's also a maid cafe in Don Quixote. We didn't go, but the sign was cute.
When we left it was only about eight o'clock but already a lot of stores were closed, including the doll store that I like. But we found a couple of stores that were open and went to an arcade or two.
A small drug store had some anime themed products, including Dragon Ball Z hair wax (Very appropriate considering the character's hair!) and Sailor Moon eyeliner.
Before heading to our hotel, which was near Tokyo Dome, we stopped at McDonald's for Lauren. I didn't get anything, but Lauren did give me the Doraemon toy that came in her Happy Meal. I don't like Doraemon very much so I haven't even bothered to take a picture for this blog.
It was kind of sad that our hotel was so close to Tokyo Dome because we had wanted to see a concert while she was in Japan but no one we liked was playing anywhere. It's really too bad that Big Bang wasn't here in March! That would have been so awesome!