Return from Jland

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Well, not so greatly as I still have not unpacked, despite coming back two weeks ago.

I actually find it very hard to write about the trip to Japan simply because there was nothing there that I thinks deserves special attention. Tokyo was nothing surprising, Akihabara felt more like an average shopping district somewhat relevant to my interests, rather than the glorified anime Mecca. I’m either getting old, or I’ve been otaku for far too long; both are not out of the question either. Actually no, I’m lying, Yokohama’s Chinatown was kind of weird: touristy^2. Though I can’t pinpoint exactly what weirded me out the most. I did buy a giant plush meat bun though, now I need to remind myself that it’s a meat bun and not a poring ^___^.

Since I actually don’t have any impressions about the subject matter, here is my small guide to Aki:

1) Gamers has English maps. Take one or two - they help! Not to mention that it’s usually a moe Lolita girl that is giving them out.

2) If you are looking for anime DVDs, OST, drama CDs etc. Go hunt Liberty stores. They sell pre-owned anime/movies/games and so on. There are 7 of them around Aki, and you can get some very sweet deals if you look hard enough. Mandarake also carries second hand anime merchandise. If you’re lucky the will have that first press/limited edition boxset of whatever anime you where looking for. As for new DVDs.. pretty much any shop that has “DVD” sing on it will have them.

3) Shopping for figurines:  they are pretty much everywhere.  The one thing that deserves mentioning is the second hand “boxes” that are on the first and last floors of Kotobukiya/Volks building.  The trick is: everything on the first floor is about double the price then the one on the last floor. So.. if there is something you want cheap, or something you missed at wonderfest - you bet it will be there. In case of wonderfest figurines: woala! The next day at about double the price. Well they deserve the extra cash for standing in line, don’t they? Hehe.

4) Casual anime related merchandise - just go to Animite. Just must warn you: stairs there are steep and narrow, and it can be crowded sometimes. And if you go down too fast you will get dizzy. Of course unless you one of these people who take the elevator

My anime loot is actually not as big as one might think. Old pinky street figurines. Box set of Meine Liebe, 3/5 First press Mononoke DVDs (missing first and last), and a stack of dojinshi.  Now.. what’s the proper way to wrap that yakata….