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Originally uploaded by silverlantern

Afterwards we took the subway to Akihabara to check out the electronics and anime of Japan. Again there were no distinct signs pointing to places of interest. We wanted to get to a building that looked like it would be a key place to be but couldn’t for the life of us figure out where we were we came out of from the train station. It would’ve been a great help if we had just known which way north was. We walked a ways, stopped to look at our map and then consulted the maps posted on the sidewalk, but alas they were all in Japanese, and our map entirely in English. Unfortunately I don’t remember any of the Japanese alphabets I learned only a year ago so I couldn’t even sound them out if I wanted to. Eventually we went to a coffee shop for some coffee and to ask directions.

When we finally started down the right street, Binh and Di suddenly had a craving for frenchfries. Spotting a nearby McDonalds, they went in to buy fries. Only to come out dissappointed because it was still breakfast time and they had to wait 10 more minutes. Since we had our walkies, the rest of our group went ahead while Binh and Diem stayed to wait for the fries.

Akihabara wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. We’re anime fans, but really only to a few select shows. I didn’t recognize most of the anime and manga they were selling. Jae wanted a lion stuffed animal toy named Kon from the anime Bleach. We looked high and low for it. In our quest for the toy we found the not so friendly side of Akihabara. Many of the stores were multi-level, having 5-6 floors in a store is quite common. As we went up the stairs we started to see disturbing posters. Posters of girly looking guys with other girly looking guys. Ladies section was what the floor was called. Other floors had non PG mangas and toys. Pose-able figurines in positions I wouldn’t want any kid under 18 playing with. Often times, after taking a few steps into a store, Jae would stop short, turn around and push the rest of us out…wrong store….

The girls and I busied ourselves looking at the vending machines filled with little cell phone figurines. The girls and I busied ourselves looking at the toy vending machines (gasha pon) filled with little plastic toys. By the time we were done we had bought half a dozen those little things. One vending machine totally tricked us. The toys were little brightly colored round cases kinda like a hockey puck with the words, Moving Rubber on it. Each of the colors had a name, Air Rise, Cool Wet, Grunge Mat, Wild Shake…. We couldn’t figure out what it was and Diem and I figured it to be possibly a condom case. This must be one of those ’special’ vending machines. I wanted one as a souvenir and popped in a 100 yen coin. Out comes this itsy bitsy saucer thing. We started gigging, wow, it’s a really, really tiny condom case. Then we tried to open it, but as it turns out, it’s just that a piece of plastic… Joke’s on us I suppose.

Sadly, Jae never found a Kon that day.

Sidebar: I later found out that Moving Rubber is a type of popular hair gel. I suppose popular enough for someone to want to hang a replica on their cell phone.