We started the first full day in Tokyo with a trip out to Shibuya to see Akihabara, the closest thing to an electronics district.
Hell yeah. I’ll post the photos later, but to sum things up: if it runs on batteries or AC, you’ll find it here. I blew no small amount of yen in the Akiba Yodobashi Camera. Think of a large Fry’s or Circuit City, and then add 6 floors, and you’ll get a good idea of the scope of this place.
Beyond that, we had the myriad second-hand eletronics shops along the back alleys, where you can find hard drives, cabling, RAM, you name it, in labelled bins along the side of the road. On the main drag, you’ve also got video game and hobby shops the size of my closet, selling 20 year old NES games, and anime figurines to collectors of all sorts.
It got a little dicey in there, but I got away without any daft purchases, despite some of the great video game curiosities we stumbled across.
Lunch was beef curry, one of the few things I can routinely find here that’s edible as far your fish-hating narrator is concerned. Snacks were found on the second level of Mr. Donut, and I’m happy to report that the Japanese have found a way to take even this simply pastry, and charge a premium. Still, some time off your feet when you’re trucking around town all day is appreciated.
What strikes me, though, is that we were on the second floor of a donut shop the size of my living room, and the place was packed. It’s a recurring theme in Tokyo, where space is at a premium: build up, not out. 7 storey arcades are not unexpected, and some of the best restaurants we’ve found haven’t just been off the beaten path, but off the ground level entirely.
Also, people here carve out what little private space they can, where they can. Coffee shops and Mr. Donut are little crash pads during a long day of shopping in Shibuya, and the streets bear witness to strikingly intimate moments between family, lovers, friends in passing.
Anyways, with our shopping, out of the way, we came back to Shinjuku for dinner in a small izukaya that Reynolds’ friend had suggested. An izukaya is a restaurant that fits pretty well into the mold of a UK pub: it’s a small, informal place to grab a beer, eat some small, appetizer-ish plates. It’s not a restaurant, and it’s not a bar, but it’s something in between, and more importantly, it’s something cheap.
This one, the Lockup, was on the 2nd basement level of some high-rise, and decked out like the London Dungeon. The waiters wore prison garb, the hostess was a “Warden”, and we even had an attempted break-out at the 45 minute mark, complete with sirens, emergency lighting, and the abduction of Quinn.
All in all, awesome.
This was before the 3,000¥ “Table charge”. That’s right, in Japan, it’s not cool to tip, but you can expect a comparable “Table Charge” at some clubs/restaurants.
After that, we wandered further, found some quieter places where we could enjoy cherry blossoms, and generally just exploited Japan’s lack of an open container law. Not bad for our first full day!