14th day - Akihabara (a short story)

Hey everyone!
My lessons are now in full swing and so I am finding it harder to keep up with posts as it seems as if I have tests every day!

On the 25th of September we had a rushed trip to Akihabara to have a look at the prices of electronic dictionaries. We were rushed as in the late afternoon we were going to an event at Waseda where we had the opportunity to try on Yukata and experience a traditional tea ceremony. 

When we got to Akihabara we were already hungry so we went on search for a restaurant. Brace yourselves! More food is coming!!

At first we found it hard to find the famous Akihabara that we had heard about after getting off at Akihabara station, however after the combined use of google maps and some guesswork we found it!

This was the restaurant we finally decided on, it was raining so we were glad to shuffle into the restaurant and out of the drizzle!

This restaurant seemed to mainly specialise in ramen.

This was Amy's choice -  her soup came in a separate bowl to the noodles and toppings

My dish - A pork ramen set that came with gyoza

Zoe chose a gyoza set that came with rice, soup and chicken karaage (fried chicken)

After eating we had a quick look around Akihabara. I had previously looked up some fun things to do in Akihabara.

M's was listed as one of the weird and wonderful shops that must be checked out when visiting Akihabara so we went in to see what all the fuss was about.

M's - It's HUGE!

Actually, M's is a many floored sex shop. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside so you are just going to have to rely on me for an idea of what it was like!

The building had 6th floors plus a basement.

As expected the shop was predominantly filled with men. It certainly wasn't small but given the numerous products and customers, it was quite cramped.

The first floor and basement were both cram packed with adult DVDs. There were even previews of select videos on little screens. They probably had pretty much any kind of porn anybody could possibly want. However the weird thing about Japan is that, although there is so much porn, sexual related imagery and products, genitalia in porn must legally always be pixelated. Maybe it is just me but I feel that there is something rather confused about that, but hey, what do I know?
 On the basement floor there were two of Japan's infamous used underwear machines! The machines were like the ones you use as a kid where you put a pound or other coin in, turn the crank and get sweets or a toy in a capsule. Except this time you get some lovely used panties!!! Oh the joy!!!! Underneath the machine there were empty capsules so they definitely sell! I had actually read before coming here that you couldn't really find these machines anymore but it certainly didn't take me long! Needless to say I decided to forego the chance to buy some random woman's used underwear as tempting as the opportunity was!

The middle floors had a variety of sex toys, sexual aids, condoms, lubricants (some even came in fizzy drink flavours!), and a plethora of other sexual related goods. There were even vibrators on display that you could turn on to feel the good vibrations! I feel our presence may have made the male shoppers rather uncomfortable!
One thing that was certainly worrying was that - although there were very few - there were (almost) full body sex dolls in with the size and shape of children. Yeah. I know. Disturbing as hell. I am surprised - and yet not surprised given Japanese law's perhaps rather weak stance on children and sex - that it is even legal to sell these things.

The upper floors mostly had costumes, lingerie and other sex-wear with the uppermost floor having the tamest of clothes - mostly anime character costumes. Up the walls where the stairs were, were photos of customers in the costumes they had bought. If they agreed to take a photo of themselves in the clothing they would get a discount on their purchase. I will say, they are braver than I!

After looking around M's we had a look at some other stores including an electrical shop to have a look at prices for electronic dictionaries.

A manga store! - books were piled high on tables!

Manga themed omiyage (gifts)

There were lots of arcades in Akihabara so we had a quick peek in one or two.

Look! More Halloween decorations! This shop even had a Christmas tree decorated with Halloween themed tinsel, lights and pumpkins!
The display was really well done, but I must say the odd use of a Christmas tree was rather amusing! I wonder do they decorate Christmas trees with hearts and doves on White day and Valentines day?
White day is also a romantic holiday which I will cover another time.

AKIBA! (affectionate shortening of Akihabara)

We then rushed back to Waseda for the free ICC event to try on Yukata!

This is one of Waseda's pretty gardens it was in front of the building were the event was held

At the event we found out we could choose to do the tea ceremony or try on Yukata and then if there were enough tickets left we could do the other activity in the next slot. (There were 2 or 3 slots for each activity).
There was only a limited amount of tickets which is why we needed to rush from Akihabara.

A group shot of those who tried on Yukata - can you spot me?

We really wanted to try on the yukata so we went for that first. We got tickets for the second slot as there weren't enough left for us to all go for the first session. While we were waiting there were snacks and refreshments and we could talk to Japanese students.

When it was our time, The ICC (another university club) students dressed us in the yukata and then took photos of us.

The yukata I tried on was really nice - a blue yukata with a red obi (belt). I really want to buy one while I am here but I think I will go for a black and pink or light pink yukata!

In the end there were not enough tickets to do the tea ceremony so we just watched. It was quite funny because one girl started snacking on her sweet before they had told her to do so. Big no-no!

I am glad we got to go to the event because Amy and I were invited to meet up with two of the Japanese students we met there. We are still in touch and meet up some times which is great!

That evening I ate the first proper meal I cooked in Japan! It was a corn stew with carrots, onions and broccoli! Yay! Vegetables!!

I'm sorry again for the late post, I will continue to do my best to post as much as possible!

See you later!