Part I - Long morning, Yokohama: We had a simple plan for the day, meet Jasmine, an old friend from North Carolina in Yokohama at 9:15 at a designated 7-11, explore Chinatown for a bit and then head to the Ramen Museum. The rest of the day was sort of just free time, we knew we wanted to finally go to Akihabara for awhile though.
We knew Yokohama was close to the bay and much closer to the Ocean then Tokyo itself and also were prepared for the 45 minute train ride south to get there. What we were not prepared for was the 50mph or higher wind we encountered once we finally arrived. Luckily, we left early (around 7:45am) because this is the only time the train ran late or was delayed the entire time we were in Japan. Due to the high winds, we got stuck on the track for an additional half hour or so, it was not fun. Finally out and at the 7-11, we were stuck waiting for Jasmine for an addition half hour since she was also delayed. The morning was long and already not looking too good.
Part II - China Town: In attempt to still do something with the morning, we begin the walk to Chinatown while chatting and just generally catching up with a friend we hadn't seen in years. The entire group decided we should look for a Starbucks or like place so we could catch a drink and some breakfast. Oh yeah, did I mention it was still only around 45F and light rain with this high wind? The weather was not pleasant at all for the morning.
Our Chinatown visit ended up being nothing more then walking through a street of it to get to a Starbucks (Chinatowns always seem to have a nice two story Starbucks, why is that?) and another street on the way back out to the train station. Nearly ever shop was still closed because it was still very early morning to them (something I never got used to), there wasn't even a lot of people out and about due to the wind. The wind was so strong we were actually dodging full potted plants (that probably weighed 30lbs or more) that had knocked over in front of stores and onto the sidewalks and downed signs. It was not very fun, but at least we had food in our stomachs from the Starbucks.
Part III - Ramen Museum: After some confusion on what train to take and what station we even made it inside to we finally figure out that Yokohama has a local only and a longer JR line system. Unfortunately, the station we were at was local only, so the switch at Shin-Yokohama to the JR line took longer then we had hoped. After the debating and finally walking on to the correct line, we were on our way to the Ramen Museum.
After getting off here, I recall the wind was a little less terrifying. Probably around 20-25mph now. The map we had to get to the Ramen Museum was rather straight-forward, so after about five or six blocks of walking we located it without too many issues. At one point I thought we had taken a wrong turn, but it turned out Matt knew where we were going somehow.
Once inside it was about 11am and starting to become lunch time. I was rather disappointed by the "museum" ascpect of the place as there really wasn't much to see and none of it was in English. Matt, myself and Jasmine continued on to the bottom floor (two stories underneath) in order to search for some real ramen instead. The entire basment was set up like Edo era Japan, it was a pretty awesome site. Ramen stalled lined the outside walls of the entire first floor, with the second floor having a replica bath and a few more restuarants. We realized the place was starting to fill up with people rather quickly, so we move on to a Ramen ticket machine and quickly head inside to get the goods. It was a good decision as by the time we were finished eating (the Miso Ramen was some of the best I ever had too), the lines to get a bowl in any of the 15 or so shops was at least 30 people long each. It was lunch time for sure.
With the guys in a line that would take at least an hour to get through, we grab Donnie (as she was unable to determine if any of the Ramen was vegetarian) and head back out to explore this side of Yokohama for awhile as by this time we had enough of the crowds that were inside. We end up just walking around a few blocks adjacent to the museum for awhile, with Donnie stopping at a Kombini for food and ended back up at the museum to get the guys so we could head to Akihabara. We had to wait awhile longer for them to come out, but I was enjoying watching the waterfall that was directly across the street from the Ramen Museum entrance (I believe it was for the restaurant there), it was very calming.
We finally left around 2pm, it was time to finally see what Akihabara had in store for us.
Part IV - Akihabara: The train headed to Akihabara was pretty packed, so we actually got split up between cars trying to find a place to sit. Jasmine and myself ended up sitting next to each other, while the other four walked between cars to find seats for themselves. The ride was going to be long, about an hour if we didn't hit any delays, so while Jasmine was reading on her mobile device (I don't recall what it was), I decided to blend in with the rest of the Japanese people that ride the train and fell asleep.
I was surprised at the fact that I actually did get some rest while sleeping like that, before I knew it we were at Akihabara. Once off the train and in one large group again, we formulate the plan to meet back up at the train station around 6pm (I think). Matt, myself and Jasmine decided to walk together, while the rest of the group went off on their separate ways.
I had a "tour map" printed out prior to coming here, with all of the shops I wanted to hit marked out. Among the list were places like Yellow Submarine (used figured), Softmap #7 (specifically more used figured), Animate, Gamerz, Radio Kaiken, Super Potato and more. By this time we had decided that there was not enough room/weight left in our bags to purchase any books, so I walked through any book floors or stores quickly so as to not purchase anything. We did however stop in a few used game stores as well.
Yellow Submarine was awesome for some of the model kits they had in stock and for some of the life-sized anime figures on display (sadly, no pictures allowed). One of the most memorable was a set of Ah, Megami-sama! figured that must have been 7 foot tall each, I was later able to find normal figure sized versions of the three statues for 1,200 yen, so I just had to buy them.
Animate was also memorable for how they displayed merchandise, it was organized by series so it was much easier to find what you were looking for. Posters were displayed across the top of the aisles to locate the series, underneath the they would have merchandise that varied from stationary and plushies all the way to model cars (you attach specific decals to them) and more. It was rather interesting.
Softmap #7 had probably the greatest selection of figures out of all the stores we hit in Akihabara, for fair prices too. They reminded me of the shops in Nakano, where we were there to actually purchase stuff instead of just browsing.
There was also a Gashopan store I don't recall the name of that was pretty awesome. I picked up a ToraDora grab bag here (that turned out to just have Ami stuff in it -.-) and there was cosplay stores on the 3rd and 6th levels. I never ended up buying any cosplay items, but they were actually really well made for a fair price (most where under $200 for complete outfits).
Most of Akihabara turned out to be just browsing in whole, the sites were there to see, but it was actually a lot smaller then I had imaged, only spanning two or three blocks total. I never found four or five of the stores I was looking for, the place was set up rather confusingly. The only place we could find to sit down for awhile to rest too was a McDonalds on the corner about half-way through the walk, and of course, it was busy! My goodness, it was busy in there. Overall we had a good time and got to see a lot of interesting stuff here. It was decided that most of the next day, our time reserved for Akihabara, would be spent in the large number of arcade that we were purposely avoiding this day. Oh, how badly I wanted to go in, but I reserved myself for the last day.
Part V - Night walk and Family Restuarant: We meet back up with the group with suprisingly little hasle and part ways with Jasmine in order to return to the apartment. They wanted to stop by a few places before heading back, so we get off on different stops with just Matt and myself going back to drop off our bags and rest for awhile. We still had not eaten anything for dinner, so our plan was to go back out around 8pm or so in order to get some food and then possibly hit up one of the many pachinko/slot places that surrounded where we were staying.
Prices:
¥2,300 - Cold medicine.
¥1,300 - Starbucks food (for two). ¥4,600 - Pokemon merchandise.
¥2,300 - Lunch at Chinese restaurant (for two).
¥1,500 - UFO catcher tries to get ToraDora figure.
¥3,300 - Approx. how much was spent on anime merchandise in Nakano.
¥1,500 - Various food items for dinner, enough to feed two (like Yakitori).
Lesson's learned:
Asakusa attracts a lot of Asian foreigners.
Tokyo Sky Tree is going to be HUGE.
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