Today I took the Tokyu Toyoko-Line out to Shibuya then transferred to the JR Yamanote Line to meet up with my friends in Shinjuku. Because it was a little after rush hour I was able to get to the front of the train to take some pictures and focus on the train operator while pulling into Shibuya station; the last stop. Because it was raining and dark outside, and with a simple camera setting, I was able to take some shots which blurred the train operator’s surroundings. Amongst my many amateur pics, I was kind of impressed with the shots and learned something new with my Canon 20D SLR.
Anyhow, because it was raining pretty hard in the morning I decided to take the group to check out the Edo-Tokyo Musuem, located in Ryogoku; accessible by the Sobu Local Line. However, like most museums in Japan, it’s closed on Monday’s, which I knew but just wasn’t thinking….oh well….it only took about 5 minutes out of our time so we ended going back a few stations towards Shinjuku and stopped at Akihabara or Electric Town. By this time we got lucky and the downpour finally stopped…..just like I planned…

When I use to visit Akihabara so many years ago, it was a place see and bargain to get the latest gadgets that nobody else in the world had except for Japan. Whatever you bought, you were almost guaranteed that nobody back home abroad had it or even seen it before. They would have to wait 5 years to get the latest and greatest from Japan. Sadly, this is no longer the case, for most gadgets. Bargaining is minimal, the prices are not the cheapest, and whatever you see in Akihabara, you have a pretty good chance it will be in your home country or online sometime soon and most likely cheaper (at least in the States). Totally sad….. I’m getting slightly emotional just thinking about it. What’s even sadder is that you go to these big electronic store chains, such as Big Camera, and you still don’t get good deals, unless you stand in line at 4 in the morning and snatch up a digital camera that’s ridiculously cheap but only have 5 available! I hate those ads….

Now Akihabara has somewhat reinvented itself as still an electric town, however there appears to be more stores for customers who love gadgets, and spend most evenings and the day fantasizing about cute girls in costumes, in a train cafe served by cute girls in a train theme uniform…… I’m exaggerating of course, however there are numerous sex gadget shops and a whole building/mall dedicated to girls uniforms, such as police officer, maid, etc. As for the cafe, it’s true….

Moving from Akihabara we proceeded to make a brief stop at Ueno Station again, where my Fukushima buddy had to buy a return shinkansen ticket back to country. After he put his stuff in a locker we headed to Ginza to check out where rich people buy expensive fruit. Actually, there’s a store in Ginza that sells “gift” fruits, meant to be given as gifts to usually people who are sick. A cantaloupe can be priced as high as $100 - the receiver of the gift fruit will know where you purchased it from, by the packaging and will appreciate knowing how much the giver cares….it’s symbolic gift………for anybody who cares, I would eat the entire canaloupe, seeds, skin, everything if I knew you spent a $100 on it.

We didn’t spend much time in Ginza because of how expensive everything it is (some consider Ginza the most expensive shopping area in the world) so we decided to head over to the man made island of Odaiba located in Tokyo bay and connected by the Rainbow Bridge. However, before we left we made a quick stop in a Nissan Skyline showroom which is Japan’s trademark car, like the Mustang is to the U.S. For the first time ever, they’re going to sell the Skyline, for about $70,000 in the States!

We took the Yamanote line to Shimbashi station where we transferred to the Yurikamome monorail that runs across the Rainbow bridge to Odaiba. Odaiba is a great dating spot and is really fun to hang out at. There’s a small Chinatown, Sega World, a mall with lots of gift shops, a boardwalk, beach, park, Fuji Television, a fancy Toyota dealership, Toys R’ Us and a Haunted House; which my first timers to Japan friends decided to go in while I stayed outside. Now, a haunted house and a scary flick in the States do not scare my whatsoever. I think they’re stupid - a guy in a Hockey Mask chain sawing people….come on? “In Japan,” as my Fukushima friend seems to always begin a sentence with, the Haunted Houses and Horror movies freak the living crap out of me! I’m not going to even go in details because if I do I won’t be able to sleep (wuss - yes I am! - not ashamed of it). Just watch the movie Ring and you’ll know what scares me.

After doing some shopping, buying a a little samurai armor figure, we had Tonkatsu for dinner overlooking Tokyo Bay, the Rainbow bridge and the tall buildings in Shimbashi. Afterwards, we ended the day in a traditional but modern Japanese bar and had some sake & shochu from around different parts of Japan overlooking the same view. The day ended on a very good note……

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