Ah, we were finally able to sleep a little. After a week of being on Japan time and finally being in a real bed, we're able to sleep until 7 a.m. or so. The day seemed to bring more pleasant weather, with partly cloudy skies instead of rain. Temperatures were still hovering around 40F though, now with the added see breeze from being on the bay.
Part I - The morning: The plan was to meet at one of the two places inside hotel for breakfast around 8 a.m. before heading over to Anime Fair at 11 a.m. With some sleep in us, we head downstairs shortly before 8 and sit down in the cafe styled place for breakfast. The menu was in partial English with a few pictures, so we all ordered a little blindly. Once it came out, breakfast was once again a bit lacking (breakfast not being a common meal there as far as we can figure) with a few pieces of bread, biscuit and small amount of eggs. Fortunately there was unlimited drinks (mainly coffee and water, since the orange juice was more like Tang) and Miso soup. Miso soup actually makes for a really good breakfast.
We headed outside to take a look around for a little bit and to waste some time before 11 a.m. I was curious and wanted to take a look at the crowd waiting in line, so I walked over to check it out, snapping a few pictures of what I found. The rest of the group walked around the area closer to the hotel, getting some pictures outside before heading into the Panasonic Building that was next door, not knowing what was inside.
Part II - Panasonic building: This was unexpected. Located right next to our hotel, we passed by it the day before and wondered what it could be. Things like Nintendo advertisements and big screen TV's lined the outside walls, so of course we were curious. Everyone got inside before I did, since I was walking back from across the way from taking pictures, so I didn't get to see as much. It turned out to be a very interesting place, though pictures inside were not allowed, which was kind of unusual for places we visited so far. There were three levels open to the public. The first had Nintendo products on one half, many of which were up for demo, with a lot of little kids playing with the different DS and Wii devices and the other half mainly being filled with 3-D T.V. models and other hands-on displays. Much to my surprise just about everything in the building was demo products for things actually on sale in Japan, they are so far ahead of us! With limited time, we only made it to the second level, which was filled with "green" items for everyday living. There were a lot of interesting heating and cooling elements, all with hands-on displays and models. One of the coolest things I remember was a dishwasher, quarter the size of ones in the States, that could wash almost as many dishes AND it recycled the water/soap so it used about a tenth of the resources! A lot of things up there were very cool. Unfortunately with our time spent, we did not make it to the third floor, I'm not even sure what was up there. It was nearing 11 a.m. and time to meet Sirena in the hotel lobby in order to head over to the International Anime Fair.
Part III - International Anime Fair: Not sure what to expect (information online is scarce) we arrive inside the Tokyo Big Site shortly after 11 a.m. The crowd by this time was starting to thin, but there were still enough people that we were hearded like cattle into the convention area. The walk took about 20 minutes total, at a slow but steady pace, once inside we realize the entire event was being held in one large open room with concrete floors. It's sort of set up like a large Dealer's Room you would see at a U.S. convention with multiple "booths" from various companies to visit. They were sort of organized. Animation schools and studios, trying to recruit new blood, were in the beginning, TV studios airings all sorts of programs were in the back (from all different countries), big name animation studios were in the middle and your market was at the end. A lot of the booths had free information being given away, some in the form of merchandise, demo's and a few of the animation studio booths were also selling some merchandise. The 3-D T.V.'s on display here were even more impressive then the ones seen earlier in the day at the Panasonic building, you still had to wear the specially designed glasses, but they were very impressive and screening things like CG animation and even video games.
We basically walked the entire area criss-crossing our path so not to miss anything. The multiple screens airing anime in the back was the only place we avoided. There were a lot of premieres and choice things going on there (including autographs, which we couldn't figure out), so it was packed to the point you could barely move. Although near it was the "artist alley" of sorts, where we were able to pick up a couple of really cool things, all of which the artist would volunteer to sign. There were some "hot anime chicks" cosplaying for certain booths, most of which were too frail looking for my tasts (and breastless), but eh. There were some very cool anime statues and balloons, all of them life-size or larger scattered around, which were entertaining and good picture opportunities. After what must have been 3 or 4 hours of collecting flyers and information, we near the end of the room and hit the marketplace. The unfortunate part was that they had food places (which included drinks) only on the two far sides of the building, which had us dehydrated by the end of our walk. Tired and about ready to leave, we managed to pick up some water before heading into the small marketplace. I was surprised by the size of it, with there only being 5 or 6 full booths total and a few open and very small shops also lining a square of sorts. We did find a few cool things that would be about impossible to locate in the States, I was also surprised to see the amount of older series merchandise being sold. The prices were all very reasonable, so I left happy.
Yeah! The Bakuman anime is coming (in October), can't wait!
Part IV - Dinner and Ginza: We were finished come 3 p.m. or so, earlier then I had expected. After losing both Sirena and Brandon/Jason in the crowd we decided to head back to the hotel. Luckily we still had the walkie-talkies and were able to pick up Brandon and Jason, informing them to head back over to the mall we had been in the night before. This time we had our eye on, what appeared to be, a Japanese tempura restuarant that was located down one of the hallways. Once inside it turned out they served all types of breaded food, like Tonkatsu, but other then the plastic food bowls out front did not have any English or much to go by, so we ordered blind once again. I think I ended up with some sort of breaded fish or pork, along with an order of french fries (at least we knew what those were!), it was actually really tasty.
After dinner, we went to Ginza in order to get some shopping done that I had marked in my book and to look around. Though I marked a few places with "discount" clothing and the like, it was too difficult to locate all but one of them, which turned out to not have much in it at all. Our shopping trips were really not turning out well so far. We end up walking most of Ginza though, it was really nice to take in all the city, and it felt warmer because we didn't have Odaiba's sea breeze (what wind there was was being broken up by the buildings).
Part V - Shibuya: With our hopes of shopping dashed once again, we head to Shibuya. The night before I had remembered seeing a Starbucks and a few nice stores, since it was still early, I hoped we could make it to a few before closing time. The Starbucks was in the center of the crossing, right in front of the station, so it was easy to locate. Once loaded with caffeinated drinks, we head into the thick of the crowd to see what was around. Stopping by a few small clothing stores (and about killing the guys of boredom), we end up at the same "Book-Off" I was at the night before with Jason and Sirena. However, I notice this time around that this branch actually does have used clothing in the basement, which I didn't go in the night before. We pick up a few things here again, all of which were very reasonably priced, but other then that, not a lot of shopping was successfully done. A few more shops and arcades later, we're tired and decide to head back to the hotel early to do laundry and finally get some sleep.
Prices:
- ¥1,600 - Breakfast (for two).
- ¥800 - Anime Fair admission (advance price, each).
- ¥400 - Two waters (at Anime Fair).
- ¥3,000 - Misc. anime goods.
- ¥3,500 - Dinner (for two).
- ¥1,000 - Skirt from Ginza.
- ¥900 - Two Starbucks drinks.
- ¥3,500 - Books/clothing from Shibuya.
- ¥500 - Laundry (self-service), wash/dry in hotel.
- The Panasonic Building is actually really interesting.
- Though interesting, there's not much to do at anime fair unless you are a professional.
- If it looks like Tempura, that doesn't mean it's Tempura.
- Small dryers (like those in a hotel) take FOREVER to dry, like 3 hours.
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