The original plan was to spend a day in Asakusa earlier, and then spend a day in Akihabara by itself. But they were relatively close and we didn’t have too many planned activities so we just combined it into one day.
We also planned to do Asakusa first, and then Akihabara last, since it seemed more lit in Akihabara, the electric or otaku town. But we switched it since it seemed to make sense that way. We got to Akihabara, and ate oden, at family mart. it was so amazing.
We started to walk around the main area. Then we stopped at MOS burger and got a rice patty burger. We finally hit Akihabara orange area. We started to see tons of maids left and right, advertising their maid cafe in the street with signs that said x for x yen. We passed the most biggest Yodabashi camera location! We walked around inside it, and then decided to walk around some more to some of the more special things to do in Akihabara.
We walked through a small alleyway that sold small electrical components. Everything you could think of, from LED strips to capacitors, to heat shrink tubing, to many many more things like light or electrical sockets. We also went to the radio kaikan tower, and every floor sold cheap anime themed souvenirs, or super expensive, limited edition and rare figurines, trading cards, and toys. We actually had to evacuate and the PA system had the stupidest fire evacuation announcement. ‘attention. there is a fire. a fire has started. please exit blah blah blah”. So we exited. It was so crowded that I actually had no room to step off the escalator, so I just fell face forward into the dude in front of me but Masa grabbed the back of my shirt to keep me upright while I tried to squeeze off the escalator.
We walked around and ate a cream puff, too. And a melon bun in one of their generic malls. Then we tried to go into the adult shop (popular destination in the area) but we couldn’t since we were eating food. That is why we went to Yodabashi camera. And we bought Masa’s a camera there: the Instax 8 polaroid camera. But then we realized that for just $10 more, we could get a better camera! So we returned the first camera and got the other camera, the Instax 25. My passport became so thick with the receipts of 2 transactions taped inside.
Then we went back to M’s, the biggest adult shop in the area. It was actually not that big, it just had many floors and each floor had so many people that it was quite awkward to SQUEEZE past them, while they were looking at anime themed personal items.
Then we went to a maid cafe. We were welcomed by the maids and it was so weird. They were soooo cute (a little bit in a cringey way, lol) and NYAN NYANed around so much. The menu was about $20 for a drink, a souvenir, and a photo. We asked if that included 2 drinks, and they misunderstood and said yea. But that was actually for one person. They had us put on these headbands and taught us “their magical language” which included “flower garden” instead of “bathroom” and “nyan nyan” instead of “excuse me waiter”. They were dressed in maid costumes except a few of them had animal ears lol. Most people were there with friends or family, but this one guy was there in the corner, nursing one soda the entire time we were there, including before our arrival. Another guy who was Asian, seemed to know the ritual, and the menu. He must have been a regular since the maid asked him if he wanted to do something “the usual way” or not. Finally we finished our drinks (they were very sweet!) and our maid came to us with a prize drawing box. It was $3 a draw, and we were guilted into doing it twice, once for each of us. When she asked if Masa wanted to do it and he said no thanks, she was like “No???” and we were like “…ok …” because how could you say no to someone being so imploring and then he won a anime character pin and I won a big polaroid with the maids. So then after that, we took some pictures with the maid and then paid for our check, which came out to like $60… lmfao. So then we left, and honestly, it was not worth it. Or it was once in a life time, because after the first time, I’m not that into doing it again.
So then I started watching Maid Sama the anime after that because I was curious about what a maid thinks about.
Then we went to Don Quixote to pick up some drinks to PREGAME. Then we went on the train and took the train to Sensoji temple. We ended up outside the Nishisanmode streets, it’s called “orange streets”.
We saw street vendors in their stalls selling local artisanal handicrafts, cheap kimonos, random souvenirs, jewelry of all price tiers, things mass-produced in China, kimono rentals, and most importantly, street food. There was a rice cracker that is usually packaged in the US, but we saw them making it fresh. The guy in the back would slap rice or mochi patties down on the grill, and once it got toasted and hard, the lady working the cash register would dip it in the sauce, grill the sauce until it dried, and then wrap it in seaweed. It was quite delicious and warm!
Then we made our way to Sensoji temple. We did fortune drawing, idk how to say it in Japanese, but we got a bad fortune… 🙁 it made me sad. Then we cleansed ourselves in the water, and looked at the temple for a bit.
I didn’t want to dilly dally too much or take too many pictures at the temple because people do go there to worship. I did see this one girl squat down and take hypebeast-like Instagram pictures on the temple steps though, lol.
Finally, we were hungry, so we went to an all you can eat shabu shabu place.
Then we walked back to the temple area, and by this time, it was dark enough that all the lights had come on.
We ended up buying more drinks in Don Quixote. We walked 20 min to the Tokyo Skytree too, so that we could buy a Pokemon toy for Santa. We didn’t see any while we were walking around Akihabara town area. We walked to Tokyo sky tree, passing the Asahi beer plant. It was a giant golden floating poo in the sky!!
Tokyo skytree town center was decorated beautifully, and we bought our little santa (my cat) a santa toy at the pokemon center in the tokyo skytree shopping center.
Then we went back to the temple area since Asakusa Rockza was there, but not before we went back to Don Quixote to buy more drinks. We paid 4000 each to get into the show, it was the last showing, and we sat down in some seats. Most of the seats were occupied by men who came there straight from work, even though it was 9pm. The way this show works is that there are around 6 women, and they are ranked in popularity in seniority from 1-6. They perform an opening act, and then the lineup starts, from 1-6, finally ending in a closing act. Without going into too much detail about it, it was simply delightful and I recommend that anyone over the age of 18 go and see it. It’s a great Japanese style show (compared to its Western counterpart), even if the theme of the dancing isn’t traditionally Japanese.
Then we walked to the subway station and took the train home. I think I lost my IC card on this day.
