The adventures of Gai-Merica & Shounen Beanie-kun!

Japan! Nipon! 日本!

My friend(Nooby2, as some of you guys may have known him) and I are on a vacation to japan. 11 days of raw, unsaturated enjoyment! Imagine it! ...no, you can't? Of course you can't! It's is my(our) job to enlighten you of it!

Day 1



Time of flight - 6am
Destination - Narita Airport

...

As everyone would've felt, Flying to japan is a bitch, 7 hours of flying can be really depressing... nonetheless, with enough boredom, the hours were chipped down with a sudoku maraton. (Nooby managed to sleep half the time, dam him.) By roughly 1pm in japan time (it's an hour difference between our countries) did we finally touch down.

Pics of Narita airport



Japan then was of a range of 5-12 degrees at average. Me, a person who has never experienced winter was kinda suffering from the assault of nature, but as humans are, i eventually got used to it.

Rail trains are the life of an japanese. Taxi kills, Having your own car makes you a poor man and buses could only ferry you so fast...

Rail train. Really, Don't argue.

It took us quite a while to find out how it works. ( I being a first time here while the last time nooby ever came here was years back.)

Just look at the darn railway map!



...

When we got to start travelling to our hotel apartment, the ride was long but enjoyable. We stationed ourselves in Asakusa.

some pics during ride


So basically Day 1 really ended pretty normally despite the overwhelming need to get something done. By the time that we even got to our hotel apartment, it was nearing 5pm. D:

Us being stupid.



Overall, quite a spacious room that's decently cheap to boot. The drawbacks being that asides for your towels, everything's gotta be taken care off yourself. For people not used to the garbage throwing system, better read up on it if you're intending to get a hotel appartment like us in the future~

We grabed some food for dinner, at some local beef house (had curry beef rice while Nooby had chillied beef rice?...) and took a night walk around the surroundings. If only i'd brought my camera with me.......

That's it for day one~ A lil unaccomplished but we'll do big things for the coming days, look forward to it.

Gj for You!

Hope to see more!!

Ah yes keeps us posted whenever you can! I'd like to see more of how it goes! Asakusa is the more traditional looking towns in Japan right? They have the big gates with the lanterns, statues and whatnot?

Nah, it's a normal town. But it does have it's little touches here and there. We have stationed ourselves some distance away from the busy parts, takes about 20-30 minutes to reach by walking.

side note : I'm a day late making the topic, but i'll add on a update per day as always. Next update - 秋葉原 , aka Akihabara. = 3=

Hi Guys, as requested by Shounen Beanie-kun, I'm here to do the second day of our trip in Japan, where we'll be covering Akihabara. Although Akihabara isn't very large, the sheer amount of shops and content per block is insane, so we're splitting up the exploration into phases :D

Day 2

So, we woke up a bit later than we planned to at about 830, had breakfast from the nearby Poplar (Convenience Store), where we had something cheap, namely Onigiri and a Swiss-roll esque German Cake Roll Thingy and Beanie-kun had a couple of Katsu Sandwiches.


(Katsu Sandwich ftw!) <-- Beanie

The train trip was pretty similar to last time, trying to dredge up those memories to remember the route from our hotel to Akiba. The trip itself was quite fun, looking out for advertisements on the train itself as well as those outside.

Pics during travel

Spoiler:

(URUTORA DOG!)

And after about 45 minutes for the entire trips, we reached Akiba. First thing we did was to take photos of the immediate vincinty, namely the Akiba UDX Building and some of the other random shops!

MOAR PICS

Spoiler:

After that it was a slow walk around the area, taking in the sights of Akiba and just enjoying the feel. We arrived pretty early and most of the shops were still setting up so some thing needed to be killed and we wandered around in some of the side streets.

Popped back into Medialand (Oh God I love this Place), which I last visited 4 yours ago for my games and browsed around for some titles. Radio Kaikan was next, but since the building was under renovation, the shops relocated into 3 smaller buildings.

We visited many places, and for starters, Sofmap, the Kotobukiya Craftsman store, Akiba Culture Zone and GAMERS. I'll just give a small low down of each of these.

Shops~

Spoiler:

Sofmap had many things to offer but most were a tad more expensive than the other "lesser known" shops around the area. We were served by this really cool Jap dude who could speak good english and didn't shy away from our queries. A lot of questions were asked but he just took them in his stride. Great service to Sofmap.

The Kotobukiya Craftsman store is another good mention, we popped in at Beanie kuns request and took a look around. As expected, they really do have good stuff for sale but since it's a brand store, it's limited. All their figures were on display and I was more interested in the upper floor, where they had the Zoids HMM as well as Virtual-On Kits.



The Akiba culture zone was surprsing, I didn't expect to even visit the place but we kinda stumbled into it as we walked by the Kotobukiya store so why not give it a shot? The first floor is dedicated to this place called K-Books, which has a smorgasboard of anime related books, from the mundane to the 18+. Managed to find some artbooks for the both of us but by this time, our legs were about to give way and conveniently, the Good Smile Cafe was located upstairs.

The Good Smile Cafe was pretty funky for me, as it was split into "Zones". There were 3 at that time, the Hatsune Miku Zone (Le Horror), the Madoka Zone (Le Horror) and Milky Holmes (Beanie's Horror). We had to pick one anyway so we kind of just settled for the Madoka one. We THOUGHT it would be themed up and everything but in the end, the only thing that WAS related to theme was the decor on the table. >_> <_< <-- Our expressions.

Pics of Good Smile Cafe

Spoiler:

The food... Uh, we didn't really expect much from the cafe but let's just say that even with that, we were let down a ton. Price wise, it wasn't too bad but the portion size. Wow, that is some dismal shit.
Beanie kun ordered a hot dog and I ordered TUNA Cream Pasta. TUNA. Well, as for the Hot Dog could be summed up as "Thinner than my index finger" and the TUNA pasta was actually became MUSHROOM pasta. I HATE MUSHROOMS FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. The tuna amount was minimal RAWR! *Rageface.jpeg*

Then there's Gamers. Last time I was here, it was a pretty awesome shop. Now it seems pretty empty, just cashing in on mainstream trends and what not. The prices in that place were also a bit inflated. What a downer.

Anyway, the main objective of the trip was to scope out potential shops to buy from and search for one of our friends desired items. Boy, searching for Sengoku Taisen cards is a pain in the butt. For those not familiar with Sengoku Taisen, it's an arcade game played with Characters from the Sengoku Period, where you shift the cards on the machine and the characters move around accordingly. It all happens in real time so it can be a bit hectic. LOOKING FOR THOSE CARDS IS HELL. I SWEAR ON MY ACHING KNEES. Beanie-kun followed me the entire time, building up his RAGE meter to unleash on our unsuspecting friend back on messenger. We spent most of the day actually looking for his stuff but we did chance upon a store with some 2nd hand games and I found Mass Effect in Japanese as well as another game I'd been looking for 6 years, Zoids Infinity Ex Neo.

Got a couple of Eroge myself and Beanie kun got his long awaited Tayutama, even going so far as to purchase the fandisk TWICE at my prompting ([color=red]Fuehuehuehue). Some of them games were super duper cheap second hand, like Daiteikoku was going for 2100 yen! I'll be picking that up another day.

The trip to the Radio Kaikan was the most enjoyable for me, as I had pulled something I had been for YEARS to do. Beanie-kun will explain it in further detail (Huehuehuehuehue). On a side note, I saw the news of the new Selvaria Bles figure. I'm so getting that. Dinner was an uneventful one, we just bought some bentous after taking the taxi back from Akiba. Beanie-kun will explain that too.

That ends our FIRST day at Akiba. Sorry for the chunk of text, I felt writing something like this would do the place justice and be a bit more informative for you guys. Back to Beanie-Kun!

PS: I love Medialand. Loads.

.... >_>, Oh you. But i forgive you. = 3=

In the spirit of sharing, it's only fair that the day's loot be shared with everyone.

Beanie <-- me



Nooby



AND

This is dedicated to a certain person who played a dick move on me in a certain waifu game.



... Fuck you limegreen.

Day 3 - Sensō-ji

More commonly known as "Kaminarimon" (thunder gate), which refers to the main entrance to Sensō-ji (The temple itself), but since we're here for the temple andn ot the gate..... meh. = 3=



The day started decently enough. No doubt, after the punishing distances that we travelled around Akiba, it was mutually agreed that we should take the day easy and do something light. It was 8.30am then when i woke up.

Since nooby still wanted to sleep, i decided to take a walk and travel a distance to a german bread store that we discovered on day 1. It's about a quater a journey to Akasaka's mid town. The surroundings was pretty chilly too, making a mockery of the sunshine.

Pics during travel.



...

Not surprising, the owners were a elderly couple. I did manage to struggle a small conversation with them when buying some bread (Dam, errors with the photos....) that costed around 600 yen. A simple breakfast.


Sensō-ji is located at Asakusa, what a confusing name. ( We lived at Akasaka.) So travelling there really took a while from where we are. The travel method - Rail trains.

Pics of the journey.



In a summary, If you aren't here for the temple, You'll be here for the food/souvenirs. Asakusa provides them well enough. Not 10 minutes however were we greeted by this old man who provided a rickshaw service around places of interest at the area with it ending at the temple itself. (which means, we effectively skipped the kaminari gates.) The rates could be a little a on the expensive side of 2 people being 3k yen for a 10 minutes course and 6k for a 20min.

Well, we eventually took the 20 minutes ride (good bye 6k yen D: ) , but oh man... we weren't prepared to know what a awesome trip it was gonna be...

The old man was called Ishihara, aka STONE FIELD, WHAT A BADASS NAME. Whom proceed to tour us at the hot spots while stopping time to time providing us with background histories and personal experiences, I'd be confident in understanding him in japanese, but hell, he talks in english, GOOD ENGLISH. Hats off to your good sir.

The trip.



Our journey stopped at a shirne beside the temple.(Mind you, Temples are Temples, Shrines are Shrines) Pity that i never got to hear the name of it, Aside from the history of it surviving completely intact during the world war 2 where the area was subjected to bombing runs frequently.



With that, Good man Ishihara bidded us farewell. We took a picture of him.



...what an awesome man.

And so finally, We've reached the Sensō-ji.

Sensō-ji.



Of course, being in a temple. We took our fortunes.

Me - Regular luck

Nooby - Fortune but finally (in a nut shell, Good things comes to those who wait)



My L33t tying skillz

More Pics.




Food...Good food~




And thus, the day concluded. Loots~ (mostly souvenir)

Me



nooby




Meow~ (stay tune for day 4)

McDonalds.
They're everywhere.
Stone Field was a boss.

Very good read :D
Looking forward to the next ones.

The one thing I took from the Akihabara pics was how freaking RED the SEGA building was. Like damn, never going to miss that building. lol and I also saw the Taito arcade building, I wish to go there some day and have a round of sets on SSF4 with Daigo or Tokido XD. The place does seem to cater well to otakus and tech nerds alike! Why U no Maid Cafe!?!?

Also about Asakusa, thats where I thought you guys were staying the first time. The names were pretty similar lol. That Ishihara dude has an air of badassery around him in that pic of his, bitches must love him. Also, the pics you took during the rickshaw ride, the first one and second have the new radio tower in them right? Supposedly thats replacing the old one they had. The temple looks beautiful and so nice as well. Its winter time there in Japan right now right? And good job on that fortune tying skills!

Gahhhh... Japan, you ain't suppose to have internet problemsssssss!!!!

Day 4

Day 4 was practically the foulest/most pleasant out of all the current days.

Why? Because it freaking rained, Which meant NO PHOTOS (Near nil as it turned out. A $800 still can't be friends with water). Heavy rain in japan could be compared to a mere drizzle in Singapore (no kidding). However, with the combination of the low temperatures as normal days already are, the degrees plunged further to the point that our breaths could be seen.

Anyway...Akihabara is a big place, our first raid there has apparently only gotten us 3/5(?) of the area conquered. Visual novel(Eroge) hunters that we are, there was no way that we wouldn't head there again to leave the unknowns unexplored.

We started off heading to sega arcade, The red building if you recall at day 2. Leaving such a building unexplored in sinful! SINFUL!

One unique feature in japan arcades is that aside from the family friendly sections, pretty much everywhere else is a "ok-to-smoke" area. Me having a vendetta with the cancer sticks pretty much went sour. Not a very good start in my side. D:

That aside. With Ufo machines to catch your favourite figurines, The latest fighter games (P4!), Battle mecha(Border break) and even card interactive RTSes not released to any countries, Hell, Arcades are boss here. If only there weren't smokers...Oh yea, there were sections where wifi is available, meaning an instant spot for Monster hunters players.

But no... The arcades aren't the best thing to happen to us. There's more.

...

..

.


One of such places will be Mandarake.

There can be so many VNs and only so much your wallet can handle. If one doesn't mind a used copy, you'll probably find one there in decent prices. But the golden rule in Akiba also applies here, Never buy it without comparing prices with other shops first.

8 levels of bowels trembling ambushes of things you'll never expect confronting you. Mandarake will literally destory any but the most steel minded people who think they can survive all 8 levels without buying a single product by the end of the day.

In which this case ,Nooby (TEE HEE)

Further details to be explained at the loot section, Mandarake basically destoryed our wallets (in a (un)plesant way). Consuming hours in this building while hiding from the "heavy rain" (pft.) that lasted for hours (ended at 4pm if i recalled correctly.) The place pretty much took up almost all the time that we initially planned for other places and left us in a state not too different from used batteries.

Thus, wondering about. We found the second best thing to happen. A kebab store.

We initially wanted to head to a maids cafe, more specially, one named "Little BSD". Due to the advertisement posters featuring ladies dressed in Monster hunter cosplays, pretty much an instant kill for any fan of the game like us. And also, Nooby just wanted to see me agonize, i simply can never get used/accept the idea of being addressed in those weird terms like "GOSHUJIN-SAMA!" ....*shiver*

But even though we did find it , the shop was not to be opened till late evening. Thus, we both dejected (not really. = 3= ) taken our attentions to the cries of a lady of "Delicious Kebabs, welcome!"

...

"Sensors on captain!"

"Awesome westerner woman, check."

"She's speaking japanese, Check."

"She's blonde, hell with the rest, we're going in! "

...

So apparently the store was run by a turkish man who has lived in the country for 19 years. The food being relatively cheap (500- 900 yen) and with a beautiful woman for eye candy. 2 words - Hell yea! (Once again, frak you rain. I needed pictures of her darn you!)

I ordered a Potato wrap kebab while Nooby ordered a Mix donburi (Rice bowel). But somehow, the uncle seem to have misheard my orders and gave me a potato meat salad. It looked good, and besides, it looked good.

Nooby's Mix donburi



...

Eating a hearty, meaty meal with a good friend in the middle of a cold rain was one of the best experiences i could ask for. Thus, we left Akiba in a better mood that we never expected to.

...

Loots from the day was extreme to say at least. For nooby, almost genocidal. Enough for him to be disowned, kicked out of the family, erased from records and to have every member brainwashed to never remember him. (Yea, it's that bad.)

Loots.


My humble little loot. Udon-ya's monhan erohon series has always gotten me crazy with the sheer details of his drawings. I owe him that much. Imperishable Night from the touhou series, because i've started off the path of no return from it.. And lasted Valkyrie Chronicles 3 E2, because it was one of the games that i can say that i truly enjoyed aside from MH.

And... As i said didn't i? Nooby's Loot should speak for himself.

Why isn't this thread getting more attention? Are you all retarded?

Beautiful photos and fucking amazing pick-ups! Especially the last few images in the post before this!

Ishihara... nice...

And FUCK YOU, HIRO! SHARE THAT VC3 WITH US NON-JAPANESE FOLKS! ヽ(ｏ`çš¿†²ï½)ﾉ

Gehhhh... Well, i'm considering if i should get that new psp modded, If so.... maybe i'll get it ripped?

Btw, the internet's being a tiny bitch in the hotel apartment. I can't seem to upload photos without it cutting out half the time. Patience.

Why isnt this getting more attention???? This is fantastic. Keep posting! MOAR PICS.

P.S - Internet is now my slave after i made it 2chan's bitch.

Anyway... Lets go for a megaupdate....

Day 5 - Shibuya



Shibuya can be considered one of tokyo's busiest area and also it's main shopping area, clothes, Shoes... you name it, they probably have it. It is mutually agreed upon by the both of us that this place is tuned to the female crowd than the men. So unless you plan to spend the day shopping for clothes, I suggust that you find a second venue (In this case, Shibuya didn't catch our attention for long.)

Back to the topic. Tokyo was forecasted to be cloudy at day 5, meaning, it was freezing more than usual. Slow engines that we are, it took us about 10am before we decided to head out.

*Trainsareawesometrainsaresmexlolololololol*

Our aim for Shibuya is mainly for the sights. That which Shibuya has 2 things to offer, both of them just meters away from each other. Find it however can be a hassle at best, since the station has so many exits and the sheer amount of human traffic coming in and out will drive all but the most pudgent person against the wave.

That being said, we exited the wrong way. T 3T ... By a pretty long distance as we were to find out later on.

SCREW IT (FOR NOW). We need our breakfast! >:(

Shibuya is good for another thing, Lunch. A reason why we skipped out breakfast in the first place.

Ignoring that fact that it's dinner's a tailor made wallet buster, expect lunchs to be below 1k yen half the time. In which this case, we went to a random mall's basement to enjoy some quality western/japanese food.

Pics.



Total bill? Around 1.7k, What a freaking steal.

...

After touring about the station, we did finally found a map which we would to discover just how much of a talent we have on navigation, we stumbled upon a lady in her mids asking for donation for the earthquake that hit japan the year back.

(Mind you, i have worked in donation agencies before. Scum bags, all of them.)

considering that i've never attempted to donate for the incident and that the lady did seem like a nice person, both nooby and i donated 500 yen each. Which somehow we was to continue talking for the next 10 minutes and to be even invited to a motivational concert on the coming week (That we never attended.)

Nice lady. Jap people are rather easy to socialize with, talent or culture?


ANYWAY, we finally reached our first stop. Hachiko.



It was about the time that it too started dizzling again. Screw that, i needed photos of that dog. The sculpture was something that i pointed out that i have to see in japan. Sorry, you ain't gonna see photos of us. = 3=

Earlier mention, the second objective was merely meters next to Hachiko.

The Shinjuku Crossing




This place is quite a popular spot for the films in japan , One of the more "famous" once in the anime crowd being death note. Darn those umbrellas.

With that, most of our trip was merely spent sightseeing aroudn the area.

Pics.



Well, We got home a tad earlier than usual. (Around 3-4) While nooby took a nap, I decidede to head to Akasaka midtown to take the photos that i couldn't at day 1.

Journey to Akasaka Midtown



...And the bloody batteries died when i reached a nice part... (Bloody utraman-lvl cam.)

I'll post again after i get a lil rest.... = 3=

Day 6 - Shinjuku/Nakano, stay tuned~

I'm double posting because i'm boss that way. = 3=

Starting off with a random ad that i seen on the tv~



Daburu tenchou~!

Day 7 - Shinjuku & Nakano



This is one of the days that we actually had time to cover 2 areas, mainly due to the motive of us heading to one of the areas. (You'll know later.)

A basic run down of the 2 places.

Shinjuku - Mainly known as a place of relaxation, it boosts a higher amount of pubs than most other places (No kidding, an entire section of the main street is filled with it). Buisnessmen are a common sight during night, mostly drunk.

and also, the place is most famous for Kabukicho

Basically, it's a drink and smex station. Just read your "know-how"s to prevent your wife/girlfriend from finding out.

and also...

Nakano - Basically, a small city with around.... 300k people? Why did we even come here, you'll see.

So.

Nooby and i reads. (I know, you guys are shocked.) This is a more personal destination location for us as it was where the main office of Kinokuniya is located. There's only 2 shops in singapore, and we visit there quite frequently during the weekends, for me being for the warhammer 40k novels and occassional mangas and Nooby with his werid books <-- he reads everything.

Thus, it's really no arguement that we had to visit it.

Onwards, To kino! (Shinjuku)



(As usual, unless you wana get kicked out of the bulding. Do not take pictures of the internal of any shops. It's bloody rude. Ask first.)

What do you expect really? The books to start crawling out of the shelfs to perform a dance for us? No. Kinokuniya main building, like most bookstores was full of literature.

Sorting itself to 3-5 levels of the different genres, the upper levels are more for events themselves (It happens quite oftenly, just that the day that we arrived didn't had any...zzzz). If a person would wish to find a book that's out of print, this place would probably be your best bet.

Quite a neutral place really. As all popular stores go, most of the old stuff are tugged away to hard to locate places and the newer ones up front, kinda sad in my opinion. The smell of books still makes me dizzy when i think about it... :3

anyway, we toured around the place till lunch where we headed to a pub for lunch. Pubs kinda co-act as a restraunt of sorts in japan, them actually serving REAL food than finger food at reasonable prices. Be noted though, All pubs are free to smoke, though it annoys me, the food did made up to it. REALLY WELL.

Touring and lunch~



Once again, under the 1k yen belt. What a steal~ Best yet, free flow of rice!

Nooby loves his veggies and i love my fish. It's a tough choice really for me. Beef or fish? The burst of meat juice for a freshly roasted beef or that simple bland contentness that only a well grilled fish and provide.... What do you think?

Best lunch yet. (There will yet be a reason for us to return to Shinjuku, till then stay tune for it.)

With us so utterly filled, we walked around a lil more before heading to Nakano. Oh sheesh, What a devil of a place Nakano is... "Back to you pics"

Journey to the Nakano.



...Nakano gave a very rural feeling to me. It runs old, despite being considered a developed town. Here and there you'd find rundown structures, or old fashioned buildings (I found a rat's nest. Whut the hell). But somehow, i found myself liking that place than loathing it, The places is somewhat a minor opposite of Akasaka with it being more of a new --> old as the opposite of where i am.

Nakano



And we finally reached our destination. Nakano Broadway.



Pics of Nakano Broadway



4 levels of "WTFISTHISIDON'TEVEN".

Nakano Boardway is a place of archeological value to every fan of the oldies. It's the place to find the rarest of the rare at the cheapest to the most wallet destorying prices. One can expect to spend hours, depening on just how detailed one searches (in this case, we spent 3.5 hours on 2 levels. what the-)

Devil place of a devil. We truly wasn't prepare TRULY. Poor men we are.

In the end. Let the loot do the talk.



Nooby doesn't want to show you guys his "SECRET" loot. Go deframe him. = 3=

...Seriously. Devil.

Anyway. Day 7 - Akiba chapter, Gundam cafe. (Stay tune.)

Love the blog, looks interesting!

Looking awesome so far! And fantastic meals to boot!

...... Keep it coming, please.