*1 day later*
I am officially
awake again! I had a rather hectic day, but most of it happened all at once. It
feels like it happened a week ago honestly.
So for starters, I
stayed up all night of day 4 to write and upload some of this stuff (that's how
much I love you guys). So to start everyone in my group was going to Kyoto. For
a number of reasons, I wanted to visit an area more like Akihabara, none the
least of which was I felt like we somewhat rushed through Den Den Town. I also
wanted to see if I could buy some cool games, anime or manga merchandise, and
electronic parts. If I had time, I was going to go to the arcade, but I
definitely didn't have time. But more on that later.
For starters, I had
started the trip along with everyone else. I had decided in advance that I was
going to Den Den Town instead of Kyoto. I have been to Kyoto before and, while
it is very interesting and culturally rich, I spent a good portion of a trip I
took in high school studying culture alongside visiting many shrines, temples,
etc.
Now, I'm rather fond
of computers and, since my high school tour kind of hurried me through
Akihabara when we went, I figured this time I would spend more time in Den Den
Town. Well, on the bus, a Japanese student who was going to Kyoto said it would
take only 3 hours to get Akihabara, leaving me with a good 5 hours of time
before I had to return to go to a farewell party they were throwing for us. So,
I figured that 5 hours would be more than enough time, and I'd probably just
come back early. So with that in mind I set off to Akihabara.
|
Akihabara! |
|
The most recognizable building for me |
If any of you are
familiar with literary foreshadowing, you know that this story isn't going to
end with me spending 5 hours in Tokyo and getting back in time for the party.
Nope.
So the train ride
actually takes 4 hours, which shaved off an hour each way. So now I had about 3
hours to do stuff if I wanted to get back in time for the party. It didn't
sound like enough time, but I ended up doing most of the things I wanted to do.
I visited several shops, including several electronic components and became
even more familiar with the area. Unfortunately, there weren't really any sets
of components to pick up, so it seemed like you had to know pretty well what
you wanted before hand, whereas I was hoping for a box o' capacitors (Japanese
capacitors are the best). I also looked at several measurement devices that are
good and fairly uncommon, but they were all very expensive on my budget, so I figured I'd just pass for
now.
|
Electronics alleyways |
I visited several
anime, manga, and game paraphernalia shops, and bought a TON of merchandise. It
was all less than $100 (give or take), but in the states it definitely would be $200+ before
shipping. I got some good N64 games (Mario
Party 2, F zero, and Kirby 64), a ps3 game (can't remember the name , but
involves a lot of mechs from a lot of different anime), and a DS game (Gyakuten
Kenji 2). I'm pretty happy about everything!
I had to pass up
going to the arcades, but they didn't seem well populated when I went anyway.
While I was walking around, trying to find a Book Off! (used bookstore + more),
a woman tried to give me a flyer. When I took it, she seemed surprised and said, in English, "Um… Art… Mueseum." I responded in Japanese, which surprised her, and
she asked me where I was from. When I said North Carolina in America, she lit
up and said she "knows that one!"
|
Some kind of promotion going on |
I then basically
took the train back. It doesn't sound very exciting I suppose, but I was very
happy with what happened, and I navigated and spoke only Japanese, so it was a
lot of fun. The problem was, the train leaving at 2 had gotten cancelled for
some reason, so I had to take the 3 o'clock.
|
This is a bad picture, but I wanted ask what it meant. I seems like kita--------------! Is some kind of meme in Japan. That was on a billboard with Asuka. I was wondering what it meant, other than the obvious literal translation. |
So basically, I got home about 7.
I asked a local if the bus to the university was still running. 30 minutes
later, I realize it's not, and I simply take a cab home. I BARELY had enough
cash for the ride. I looked around a little for the restaurant we were
meeting at for the farewell party, but
in vain. Slightly defeated, but happy at my successful adventure, I went back
to my room to write this. After which I promptly fell asleep. And the next day
too. Sorry guys o.o
My train ride:
|
Some mountains... |
|
Some houses.... |
|
Some tracks (playing around with the camera settings here) |
|
A Cool looking building |
|
My amazing picture of Mt. Fuji! |
|
So good that the stations all framed it |
|
This is a half second after a different bullet train passed. The fuzzy part is the dust shockwave |
|
When we entered a tunnel and all light outside turned off. I was pretty bored! |
|
Stuff mountain! |
"When I said North Carolina in America, she lit up and said she "knows that one!""
ReplyDeleteThis is cute, but yea actually NC is decently known in Japan. I can't say why though.
Good stuff on getting Ace R and all the merchandise, sorry to hear about the transportation problems but that's apart of the problems of trying to do stuff in Japan on a schedule like that. At least you managed to make it back without problems and safely of course. Can't wait to see more uploaded pictures.
-Alice
By the way that anime picture with all the men on it is from Uta no Prince, it just got a season 2 in Japan. It's based off a PSP Otome game.
ReplyDeleteI WANT IT IT LOOKS FUN GIMME!!!!!
ReplyDelete~Gab