Tokyo - Akihabara (The Electric & Anime City of Tokyo)

I was going to check out Tokyo Skytree but there was a massive line meaning I'd miss sunset.  So instead I made my way to Akihabara which is known as the Electric and Anime/Manga city of Tokyo.






















Akihabara.  Not as much neon as you might think - that is found in other city areas.  This is more about the manga, anime and electrical goods.



Small tinker shops with EVERY electrical thing.  You know how most homes have a box or something with all the spare cords, wires, adapters, extension leads, plugs etc? This is that, but a shop and times by a million.
You can get something as crazy as a USB to headphone to casette to airplane plugs.



Other shops all sell Manga & anime collectables.  From cards to figurines, to anything else they're selling.  This industry is massive in Japan.



The SEGA shop had toilets which tracked your urine stream and produced a game.  This reporter talked and as you peed it got windier and made her dress ride up haha.  It then told you how embarrassed she was and how much urine you deposited. LOL!



Floors and floors of anime and games and comics



Games everywhere!  Lots of retro stuff too which is coming back.



More figurines! Bordering into the realms of the Hentai series which is animated Japanese pornography.



Entire shops of vending games!



Anime display building showed some famous artists.



More at the display building



As far as the eye can see.  Every level.  Of Every shop.  Some random figurines, of some random series.

So from what I found out.  Basically this cartoon culture has been in Japan ever since they started wooden block printing.  Now you have bajillions of different series which release new editions every week.  Either magazines as a classic comic book, or as full blown comic novels.  Some are tv series, and some are all of the above.  The Japanese people really don't have that much spare time.  Comics are actually a great way to experience a very indepth story line at a fast pace and with numerous cliffhangers and endless possibilities for storylines.  Harry Potter series was rated comparatively low in Japan because it was "too slow".  Interesting!

Tokyo Downtown with a Couchsurfer!

I've always been hesitant about couch surfing. I always felt it was kind of tacky or risky or a little awkward or something along those lines. But after having such a blast with strangers at Fuji and hearing good things from people I know, I decided to give it a whirl at least for a day-time catch up instead.

Asi used to live in Tokyo but now lives in America and he was coming back to see how things have changed just for a quick visit. He is in Marketing and was a pretty cool guy. Basically we went on a semi-sentimental visit/tour to places he used to go and enjoy.

Went up a few of the government & hotel buildings which have good views for free and for a walk around the fashion districts and a good food place for lunch.




Awesome weather again.  Can see Fuji!


Asi! cool bloke, had some good intellectual discussions.























Asi was a good guide,  Showed us some cool areas and explained some historical tidbits.  Went to the old Edo road which all the piligrims used to walk,



 For lunch we went to his favourite place as a kid which was a massive former bathhouse now nice restaurant in ritzy part of Shibuya.  Set lunch was Tonkatsu or fried pork cutlet served with all your various sides as per typical Japanese fare





went to a shopping centre which was completely demolished and rebuilt inside out  with a walkway always sloping up so you never needed stairs.











Walk through Shibuya the famous crosswalk.  Lots of people but a Tuesday so really quiet.  The 109 building is Tokkyu owned which also owns subway systems or something.

Mt. Fuji

In Kyoto hostel I facebook friended some guy from Switzerland that I met and mentioned we should catch up again when he came to Tokyo. Turns out he had a better idea. To go to Mt.Fuji and to the adrenaline theme park!





We got a package deal for the themepark with a free coach ride.  This was the view as we got off the coach.  Similar to the Taj Majal.  No photos really do this mountain justice.  It is simply awe inspiring and so magnificent you can really see how the Japanese idolize it so.



I had my lucky travel streak again.  The weather on Fuji is notoriously volatile but during our overnight trip we had MAGNIFICENT days.



Our hostel upgraded us to a twin Japanese style room for free! Gotta love this lucky streak.



Little hike up to a view point where we had a beer to celebrate good people, good times and had some good conversations about where we are both headed in life


Cheers! Kampaii! Salut!



Even shared some with Fuji-san :P  Let's hope he's not prone to burping



Went for a walk around Lake Kawaguchiko near sunset.  Simply stunning and such a surreal atmosphere being shadowed by such a beautiful sight.  Photographer's haven with colours, shadows, tranquility and beautiful weather.



Jaw droppingly good



Ice on the lake



Fuji with ice in the foreground



Me & David from Switzerland.



Mount. Fuji.  You beautiful fucker.  After seeing the sunset, our hostel gave us tickets to an outdoor onsen for cheap! A walk around the lake in winter air, nothing feels better than following it up with a soak in an onsen under the winter stars.  Magic.



We got lucky (again).  It just so happened to be a winter festival period and they let off fireworks at about 8:00 over the lake.  A good 20 minutes of fireworks representing the different types of flowers throughout all seasons in Japan. Such a lucky thing to be here for.



Next day we went to Fuji-Q Highland.  An adventure theme park famous for it's rediculously crazy rides.  One of David's Japanese friend's he knew from a host family exchange came to meet us & we had a blast being shot around various metal tracks.



They also had the tallest, which was beaten, the fastest, which was beaten, the most turns, which was beaten.  Each time they build a new attraction they try and get a claim of some sort haha







They had a horror house part too.  But instead of just having machines that pop out & scare you...they had actual actors paid to be things like zombies & rattle chains & breathe and sneak around etc.  I don't normally scare that easy but when you're in an abandoned hospital with blood dripping around you and then a couple of zombies crawl out of hidden cupboards and start running at you you just can't help but run haha.  So fun.




Mt Fuji.  What an awesome get away from the city.  It really makes you value the people you meet along the way.  Treat everyone with respect, treat everyone with kindness, and some day your paths may cross again and it will only be more awesome the next time you meet.

Tokyo - Asakusa & Technology Haven

Lonely Planet has been letting me down with Tokyo. There's so much to cover that they sell another book just for the city. And well, my whole-country-inclusive version just doesn't give much in the way of suggestions. So I resorted to online guides and one of the best websites is Japan-guide. Its soo good for everything. Gives you transportation details, its accurate, it gives good opinions and suggestions.

For Tokyo it also gives some suggestions on what itineraries to take. I took one of the day tours which takes me from my hostel's area in the North East, down on a river boat cruise to an island near the southern CBD area.


Asakusa in NE Tokyo has another big temple. I went at night to allow a sleepin the next day



Area near my hostel has the new Skytree (highest building/tower now in tokyo), and the Asahi beer flame building.



Street near the temple again selling everything.  I had a really yummy deepfried custard cream puff thingy.


Boat tour took one of these along the river.


Some skyline of offices & residential



Tokyo is big, so it is home to the big things.  Here was the entrance to Legoland.  Was designed for kids only so I couldnt go check it out.


I did go to the SEGA building.  Lots of cool rides & technology fun things.



Lots of interactive displays.  When standing still I was made out of marbles & particles, which shattered and bounced back when I moved.



SONIC!



Another interactive display on a wall as you were walking they followed you.



Interactive display hahahahaha.



Also on the island the great Gundam robot standing guard to a shopping centre.  Why? No idea.  Cool? Hell yes!



Such a bad ass.



Went to Miraikan which is the new/emerging sciences museum for Tokyo.  It basically houses any of the current day technology in interactive ways & explains things really logically.  My favourite museum I love this kind of stuff.  This was a giant globe 3D screen displaying the earth with various weather patterns



Robots which had a conversation which you could take part in, and they were programmed to nod and 'hmm' their agreement/disagreement correctly.  Kinda creepy but new research haha.





This demonstration got you to press a button to watch how much a file can be compressed (eg. a .zip file)  It explains quite complicated things in a very cool understandable way.



I got to see the famous Asimo robot! (Honda robot).  So lucky this thing is amazing piece of technology!



Cute little guy! He can run, he can walk, climb stairs, kick a soccerball, dance,  He's very fluid with his movements.  Basically they're researching trying to get a humanoid robot functioning close as possible to human movement.  The slide show interestingly had lots of promotion for robots-in-the-home.  In 50 years I could see it happening in Japan.






Tele building.



There was some HUUUUGE Anime convention on at the Island.  Professionals dressed up and made up to look like famous anime/cartoon/comic characters right down to buttons on the costumes.  Professoinal photographers were there so I only got a couple of sneaky pics but it was cool to see! Soo so so Japanese.



View from the Odaiba Island.  It's literally a themepark island with lots of resort-stuff to do and see.  Madamme tusauds was there too but it was closed in winter so missed out.
This pic has the statue of liberty, the golden gate bridge, the eifel tower all in one pic lol.



I attempted a panorama.  Still new to it haha it didnt work very well.

Such a sick day.  Odabia is full of technology and advancement.  Japan is still the leader in my opinion.  Very cool to see it all at the source.  Haha not a very patriotic way to spend Australia Day but hope you all had a snag or two! :D