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A Busy Day

3 min read23 comments

I am so tired… I want to just drop dead and die, but here are some pictures. I think I walked about 6km in total today.

Tokyo Day 3

A fire engine just drove by. I wonder where it’s heading to. But anyway, read on for photos from Kaminarimon, Nakano Broadway, Shinjuku and nighttime Akihabara.

Asakusa

We went to Sensouji near Asakusa Station in the morning. I tried the omikuji. It took forever for a stick to fall out, but my fortune is apparently good.

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Tourist traps
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Spot the odd one out
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Tsuruya-san’s family business
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Ruined symmetry
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Small boat town
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Kanji
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Paying for protection
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Shake, pull and match
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Roses are red, violets are blue. All my base are belong to you
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They need to add a foliage-penetration mode on cameras
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I want one

Nakano

Next stop, Nakano Broadway. I already covered this place in a previous entry so I shall save the explanations. More pictures!

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Still in the mood for X’mas
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Fraulein Revoltech Rei for 1485 yen
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The only other picture I took inside Nakano Broadway
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In the back alleys
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Japanglish
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Reminds me of FLCL

Shinjuku

I spent the afternoon alone wandering around Shinjuku. I walked around 4km. I bought a light novel called Bungaku Shoujo to Shinitagari no Piero (“文学少女”と死にたがりの道化). I have no idea what it is about, but I bought it anyway because I liked the little prose in the page before the prologue, and because it’s in some kind of “Top 10” list so it has to be somewhat decent.

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Pink flowers added just in case you miss the message
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Outside the Shinjuku Station’s New South Exit
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New South Exit

Shinjuku Station is about the size of a small city with exits that are hundreds of metres apart. It’s a hell load of walking.

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I don’t know where this place is but whatever
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Shinjuku Station serves a few dozen lines
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Takashimaya used to be a cloth shop
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One line
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Two lines
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Three lines

Shinjuku Station is the busiest train station in the world with over 3.3 million passengers a day.

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Compensation
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Random building
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Kinokuniya South Shinjuku Branch
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My membership card doesn’t work here…
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Walkway connecting Kinokuniya to Takashimaya
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Kinokuniya is actually a grocery store in Japan!
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Walking towards the Metropolitan Government Office (800m away)
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Hey, is that…?
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Yeah it is.
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Bureaucratic zone
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One of Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s buildings
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Taxpayer yen at work
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Fuji News Network news truck
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Push the button for audio signals
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Akihabara

Finally, I met with Don777 in Akihabara. He’s a pretty nice guy, especially since he likes Maaya too. He brought me to @home cafe and Cafe with Cat (Toranoana’s new cafe). Cafe with Cat seems to be a pretty standard maid cafe deal except with cat-inspired uniforms instead of maid costumes, whereas @home is definitely on the manic side of things. The waitress who brought us our drinks actually did this heart-sign action to inject a “moé” flavour.

But I shall not go into that because I am falling asleep anytime now… A few more pictures and we are done.

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Fortune Arterial is the latest game by August, the makers of Yoake Mae yori Ruri-iro na. Basically it’s the exact same game except the hair colours get shuffled around a bit and the Feena-lookalike is a loli. It’s also the most anticipated upcoming game according to Comptiq magazine, so expect it to sell a gazillion copies and be turned into a cabbage an anime.

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Eva coffee
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The second Kara no Kyoukai movie will be out on Saturday

Well, that’s it for today. I need sleep.

By the way, in case you didn’t know yet, all the photos (and more) can be found in my photo gallery.

23 responses

  1. 0rion Avatar
    0rion

    Oh man, good memories…you rolled through some of my old stomping grounds!

    Also, good point about the signs for the women only cars – there were several mornings where I stumbled into the station bleary-eyed and half-asleep and got into one of those lines by accident. One more than one occasion those pink flowers were key in helping jostle me out of my stupor long enough to realize that I should move if I didn’t want some major embarrassment. ;P

    Great photos, too; I especially like these ones:
    http://gallery.darkmirage.com/2007tokyo/day3/IMG_5845.jpg.php
    http://gallery.darkmirage.com/2007tokyo/day3/IMG_5844.jpg.php

    ああ、行きたい～

  2. Qubicfactor Avatar
    Qubicfactor

    Get me a can or two of eva coffee will you? I’ll drink a plain UCC one while waiting for your Comiket updates…

  3. Hirito Avatar
    Hirito

    I was at Sensoji yesterday morning too!! And I think I did see you guys? Was any of you wearing a Nirvana jacket with hood (I think it was Nirvana) with a blue/white muffler?? I’m just guessing here so not sure who is who, but I get the vibes of fellow SGers when walking past them (grp of 4, 3 in black or blue jackets one in a khaki jacket.

    The omikuji owned me though, in which I drew a bad fortune lol. But thankfully nothing when wrong! Took a while for my stick to come out too, my ears were hurting from the clashing of sticks inside the metal container.

    By the way, what Lucky Star CDs are those in the first picture?? I’m interested lol. Don’t remember seeing those covers.

  4. Deranged Avatar
    Deranged

    Nice… although just 6km!? I walk more than that to school and back =P

  5. animeking Avatar
    animeking

    I curse people who can afford going to Japan. :(

  6. Soulshift Avatar
    Soulshift

    Why did you buy a another copy of Maaya Sakamoto’s ‘Dive?’

  7. omo Avatar
    omo

    I like Maaya too, am I a good guy now?

    I guess @home cafe is a must visit then!

  8. prataman Avatar
    prataman

    Dude, your pics doesn’t show…

  9. Lss Avatar
    Lss

    yup thumbnails dont seem to work for day 3 in your gallery.

  10. Choo Avatar
    Choo

    nice stufffs you got there.

  11. double Avatar
    double

    Congrats on getting your Haruhi DVD Volume 0

  12. Chica Avatar
    Chica

    Amazing pictures :)

  13. Everlasting Avatar
    Everlasting

    Walked 6k? Come on, I have an 8k race every weekend. Wish we had anime advertisements.

  14. Labbes Avatar
    Labbes

    I heard the EVA Coffee really sucks – I guess you cant expect too much for that price :D
    Great photos, hang on with your self-sacrificing uploads instead of sleep!

  15. leefe Avatar
    leefe

    Hmm the thumbnails doesn’t show properly..
    Feels like it’s such a nice place, especially the weather.

  16. DarkMirage Avatar
    DarkMirage

    Thumbnails were not working because HostGator banned my image manipulation script for using too many CPU cycles. It’s okay now, I hope.

    Soulshift: My old copy is Taiwanese.

  17. Crofesima Avatar
    Crofesima

    Now I want to go to Japan even more and buy myself a can of Eva coffee.

  18. andreas Avatar
    andreas

    Fräulein Rei….that kinda hurts. Sure hope there is no german dub from NGE out there^^
    Compared to other Japan-Trip-Photo Albums, your pictures seem….quite random^^

  19. don777 Avatar
    don777

    You went to so many places in one day…
    It seems to be very busy in this short daytime season.

    BTW, Could you enjoy Akiba maid cafes (^^) ?

  20. exalt dragon Avatar
    exalt dragon

    Interesting bits of trivia…

    What do you think of the Jam Project rendition of “Motteike! Sailor Fuku!” ? Some people think it’s disgusting, some are amazed, etc

    Nice pictures and chronicling of your trip though. Why is it when one looks at one’s own trip, it is not as exciting as others…..

    Though I am surprised that you, the uber-otaku, doesn’t have a Japanese sword when even I have one.

  21. lowies chew Avatar
    lowies chew

    so nice that you can visti JPN, as well as other place!!
    In CF, got a ppl post thread talking about 2 event…
    1 you already been..comiket

    now target on JPN Animation event, which gonna happen around in March. Hope can go there with friend!!

    If you gonna organize another Anime trip in future, pls inform me coz i would like to join!! XD my finacial is allow we to do so…

    oh yeah, if you able visit friend or relative in M’sia..i can show you my 2004 Taipei comic world, and 2007 HK Ani-con event photo.
    Share together!! XD

  22. Lucky Star in Saitama | happy anime life

    […] was almost as tiring as yesterday because I had to lug my 2.5kg laptop around. An EEE PC would really come in handy when I’m […]

  23. Danette Hallahan Avatar
    Danette Hallahan

    You are a very smart person! :)

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