Tokyo trip 2
Sat 02.November - Sun.17.November.2019
DAY 2 Monday, 04. November
Since we went to bed early the previous evening, naturally we also woke up early. We got up around 06.00 am. As I was eating my breakfast, I turned on the TV, and funny enough, found the exact same program running I remember well from last year, the show about the train station cat. What a nice way to start off the day.
We decided for the first couple of days to stick to what we know, i.e. visiting places we already knew. We wanted to go to one of our favorite places from our previous visit, Okachimachi. We headed out after breakfast and familirized ourselves with the surrounding area of the hotel. Then we discovered the road that would take us directly to Akihabara. While we were walking , I had to stop multiple times to photograph some "street art" stickers, just because I thought they were funny or really nicely drawn. I guess not everybody likes them, but I think they are neat.
Since we were out so early, most of the streets were empty and no stores were open yet. One store was open, though,the Don Quijote, and I believe it's open 24/7. We went inside to look around. There was a long queue outside the store, my best guess is that they were waiting for some event in the AKB48 Theater or for the pachinko parlor to open.
Inside Don Quijote, downstairs in the "lobby" area they had a lot of Gachapons. One machine that caught my interest was a custom Hanko making machine. To my understanding, a Hanko is a name stamp/seal the Japanese people use instead of handwritten signatures. At the moment it looked kind of a neat thing to have, so I bought one. The machine had an English language option so it was simple to use. You'd type in your name and then the machine would translate it into Japanese. A Hanko should always be with one's last name, but since my last name is very long and has the Swedish Å in it, I chose to use my first name, to keep it simple. There was a limited selection of fonts you could choose from. Lastly, you got to pick the material for the stamp. Depending on which material you chose determines the cost of the Hanko. I chose a nice pearlescent white. It took about 15 minutes for the machine to carve out the stamp. My Hanko stamp cost me 1000 yen, mainly because I didn't choose the cheapest material, but something from the mid-price range.
When we finally got inside the actual store, we didn't buy much because the day was still early, and I didn't want to get stuck carrying too much stuff for the rest of the day. We mainly just browsed and I took mental notes of things I might want to buy later. So all I bought this time was a box of our favorite kind of strawberry Mochi.
From Don Quijote, we walked along the main street until we got to Okachimachi. This was one of my favorite places because there are so many great stores close to each other. We spent the day almost exactly like our first time here. We went to Daiso, the 100 Yen shop, to our delight the store had expanded! The candy store from last year was gone, so now Daiso shared the whole top floor with the Cafe. My main great find from Daiso was a Gudetama themed case for my newly acquired Hanko stamp! Following Daiso, we went briefly into a Sega Game Station building, these places had usually a good selection of Gachapon machines. I got four capsules from here, Dragonball, Pokemon and some random cute animal figures.
Next up was Hobby Off, the store where they sell used toys and figures. I didn't buy as much as I did last year, but I did make some great finds. I bought a small lot of Moomin figures and of course I got a few Pokemon ones as well. From Hobby Off, we went to the Yamashiroya toy store, still as loud as ever. I mostly bought me some Pokemon and Moomin items. By the time I got out of the store it had already turned dark outside. Me and my mom had gone our separate ways, so when the time came to start heading back to the hotel, we couldn't find each other. I was waiting for her outside the shop while she was looking for me inside the store. I did try to call her a few times, but because the store is so loud she didn't hear the phone ring. Eventually, we almost crashed into each other at the store's entrance.
We went by the Life supermarket before settling in for the evening at the hotel. On our first trip to Tokyo, I remember I was so disappointed that there was only one channel that would broadcast anime, and only on Tuesday evenings. I don't know, maybe this hotel had a different set of channels, because now, every evening I could always find a channel with anime or something else more interesting to watch than those weird talk shows/news.
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DAY 3 Tuesday, 05. November
Today was the day we were going to the Pokemon Cafe! Our reservation was at 01 pm, so we weren't in no rush. From our hotel we walked to our closest train station and went to Akihabara, where we switched to the Yamanote line which then took us to Tokyo central station. Couldn't help but notice the ads on the walls for the new games Pokemon Sword & Shield. Somehow, we managed to take the wrong exit again and emerged from the station at an unfamiliar place. We had taken the exit at the complete opposite side of where we wanted to be. We didn't want to go back into the station and possibly get lost again so instead we decided to just walk around the building. That took some time, because the station is huge, but we finally found a familiar place once we got around it.
On the square outside the station they had this..... thingy counting down the days the Tokyo Olympic games 2020. Well, looking back at it now, that unfortunately didn't happen. Thanks to Covid-19.
We spent our time in a nearby Tokyu Hands store, until it was time to start walking to the Pokemon Cafe. There were far less people in line compared to our last visit. This time, we got seated close to a corner table. Once I flipped my paper placemat I was disappointed that I got Electrode, the one my mom got last year! By now the cafe had added the Gen 2 Pokemon to their selection, which means there are 256 Pokemon to choose from. What are the chances that we get the same Pokemon twice in a row?
Since we both ordered drinks, we got to "play the game" and win free coasters. We had better luck with the coasters than the placemats. Mom got Scizor and I got Umbreon, both are very cool Pokemon, I couldn't have wished for anything better!
As for the drinks, mom got an Ice coffee that came with a Pikachu's tail shaped cookie and I got the Mew Marshmallow Drink. On their website the Mew drink is described like so; "cranberry yogurt drink with strawberry flavored marshmallows". Well, they got the yogurt part right. I wrote down in my journal " tastes like really watered down yogurt with plain marshmallows". So nope, I didn't live up to my expectations. Yes, the drink was cute to look at, but I wouldn't order it again just for the sake of it.
We both ordered the Pikachu plate as our main meal, and it was pretty good! I can't even think of anything bad to say really! As for the desserts, I got the Slowpoke bowl of mess and mom got the Jigglypuff cheesecake. Again, the website describes the Slowpoke also as a cheesecake, but I'm having a really hard time stretching my imagination that far. If I were trying to describe it would be something more like "a soaked sponge cake resting on top of a puddle of slime". Okay, that sounds pretty bad. I guess the "slime" was some sort of jello. I don't know, the texture of this dessert was just unappealing to me, but it tasted good I guess.
After a while, there was the short show with one of the mascots coming out to do their short routine of greeting people and posing for people to take pictures.
Before leaving the cafe, I took a look around the small shop and the new slightly changed decor, which now heavily included the new Pokemons from the games Sword & Shield that were coming out the following week.
From the Pokemon store we walked back to Tokyo Station, where I spent my time roaming the character street, visiting the Jump and Moomin shop. I also paid a visit to the station's Pokemon store and was happy to find they had some plushies in stock the DX store didn't.
I lost the track of time for how long we were at the station, but from there we headed via Akihabara straight to the hotel. Only briefly detouring to buy some Gachapons at the Akihabara station.
to be continued....
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