Tokyo Day 5 - Akihabara

Today we are going to explore the electronics and anime section of Tokyo called Akihabara, but first we will go to another conveyor belt sushi restaurant that we saw on YouTube called Kura Sushi.  Unlike the last conveyor belt sushi place we went that was hard to find because it was inside an electronics store, this one has a nice large sign making it obvious.

Kura Sushi is actually a chain that is located all over Japan and actually has 46 locations in the United States with 16 more coming soon.  Do you have one close to you?  CLICK HERE to see.

This location is really nice inside, but we did do damage....I mean we ate a lot.

Kura has a genius way of making you ordering more and more plates of sushi.  For every 5 plates of sushi you consume, you have a chance to win a prize.  You insert the plates one at a time in the slot at your table and when you have inserted 5, the menu screen turns into an anime video that by chance plays a winning, or in our case, a losing screen.  We saw a losing screen 4 times...Yes...we had 20 plates of sushi and we enjoyed every plate of it.  😬

When we went to pay I learned that we actually won 2 hand fans since we ate so many plates.  See....we are winners...very full winners, but winners.

After leaving sushi, I noticed a Don Quioxte store nearby.  The last time we were in one I bought a new watch band for my iWatch.  I love it so much, that I want to find it in other colors.  So, everytime there is a Don Quixote in the area I have to go in and look. 

Tim on the other hand would rather stand outside the store and watch the goings on outside the store.  This is what he saw while waiting for me.

After striking out at Don Quixote we took the train to Akihabara to see the high-tech and anime side of Tokyo.

This is pretty cool.  The stairs that lead up from the subway station to the streets has how many calories you are burning for each step that you climb...that is pretty motivating.  

This is what we found just a couple of blocks from the station.  A lot of neon, electronic signs, anime art, and people.

Tim loves taking photos of the plastic food on display.  This one is particularly great since it is for a German restaurant and even has plastic beer.

Anime isn't just for kids.  These are plastic figurines...I guess for men to collect?  I have no idea.

I don't know if you remember, but a few days ago I had a picture of a store that had capsule toy machines...kind of like those machines in the front of stores in the US that have candy or gum or little rubber balls that you put change in, turn a dial, and it falls to a small door.  Well...we went into a crazy multilevel store that had most of one floor dedicated to all those toys that are inside the capsules.  Instead of taking your chance on what toy will drop, you get to pick them out individually.  There was aisles and aisles that looked like this.

This is a display on one of the many anime floors.  They seem to be buttons you wear on a jacket or something. The funny thing is that there were many people shopping and picking out buttons, but I never saw anyone wearing them in the streets.  I don't know what they do with them.

Next stop is to check out what an arcade is like here.  The first 3 to 4 floors was all crane games where you pay to drop a crane and hope to win a prize.  Then there were a couple of floors with video games that people played using collector cards.  You can see the cards lines up on the table in front of the screen...interesting.

Finally, on the very top floor there was a few racing games that Tim and I tried.  The seat had stereo sound and provided motion feedback as did the steering wheel.

Back downstairs we watch a few people win the crane game, but what caught our eye was this game that had prizes going around in a circle and you push a button when you want an arm to sweep the circle and hopefully drop a prize.  We watched a man win twice in a row, so Tim was ready to try.  He failed, but I won!!  This 30 cent Mitty Bunny cost us $1.40.

The next stop in the neighborhood is another YouTube video that we watched.  This is the "Corner of Strange Vending Machines."  At first look they seem normal until you look closer.

This machine is selling giant bugs and batteries along with soda water, a can of soybean meat sauce on spaghetti, and a container full of bells.

It just so happened that there was a brewery (Hitachino Brewing) across the street from the crazy vending machines....OK...I knew it was there when I planned the day.  We had a flight and couple of pints.  We actually needed a break since we have been walking around Akihabara for 2 hours.

We have 2 more stops in Akihabara before heading back to our neighborhood.  On the way Tim noticed a capsule toy machine with Betty Boop keyrings and just needed one.  The machine showed that you could get one of  seven designs and Tim got one of the tow that he preferred....I will call that a win.  Oh...this cost ¥300 => $2.13 USD.

First of the two stops left is Don Quixote.  This is their penguin mascot that always welcomes you to the store.

Again Tim stayed outside as I shopped and took this interesting photo of anime dressed up girls.

They are actually advertising "Maid Cafés" where you are treated like a master as these girls serve you food and drink.  Interesting.

Our last stop was a supersized electronics store.  Yodobashi-Akiba is 6 huge floors of mobile electronics, computers, cameras, audio & TV, game consoles & toys, and what we came to see, household electronics. 

Check out the long row of tables for consultations to deck out your house in the latest and greatest electronics:

Ah...here is what we came to see.  I want to pick out one of these high tech toilets to bring back home.  I have to tell you....I am digging the heated seats, built-in bidet, water sounds to drown out "other sounds", and auto flush features.  The prices really aren't too bad, with the most expensive one on display costing around $300 USD.

After picking our our toilet seat...I wish...we headed to the train station and arrived to our area just before 7 PM.  We thought we would check to see if we could get into the itzakaya we went to a couple of days ago, but as expected, we couldn't since it was a Friday night and the place was full.  We noticed another place across the street, so we went there to check it out.  They actually had a menu in English, so we stayed.  

We ordered a couple of drinks (Tim: Highball; Me: Shochu Sour)...

...and some food (Tim: Pizza and French Fries; Me: Curry Omelet).

It was all delicious and the bartender was super nice.  We really enjoyed it.

Our rental apartment was only a 7 minute walk, so we headed that way around 8:30 PM.  Of course we had to use the bathroom soon after leaving the izakaya.  Luckily we are in Japan and there seems to be public toilets everywhere.  So far, every public toilet we have been is has been clean and super nice.  There may be exceptions out there, but we haven't found one yet.

We got home soon after and pretty much went to sleep.  Tomorrow is our last day in Tokyo and we do not know what we are going to do yet.  We will decide in the morning.  Until then...