Today we're finishing up Akihabara: checking a book store with a large yuri section...
... Shopping at the BEEP, retro computer shop (it was closed last time)
It is the only shop we've been to that has any
PC-98, PC-88 and MSX games (and tapes). They've sold "Pia Carrot" I
wanted to buy from them just before me, so I had to settle for
"Kakyuusei", an indirect sequel to "Dokyuusei". It requires just 640K of
RAM even when it comes on 19 floppy disks!
Then we got cute parfaits in a maid café...
Maid cafes are just a cosplay cafés with maids.
The maids would call you "master" or "princess", and will sell you
overpriced foods and a photo with a maid. They can perform a dance
routine if you ask them! It's a bit bizarre but it's a part of the
Akihabara culture.
Akihabara closes the roads for cars when it gets busy. And it is very busy on weekends.
You might be wondering why most of the photos
are about Japanese pop culture. First, because it's so prevalent there
is almost certainly an anime or a manga about a town or a place. Second,
because real life in Japan is a bit depressing, overwhelming with the
capitalistic squeeze and human exploitation. Third, because central
shrines, historical places and art museums in Tokyo are more or less
tourist-oriented now. It's kind of like going to London to take a photo
next to the Big Ben: a thing most tourists would do, and a thing most
locals don't care about all that much.
...and, most importantly, fourth: we're massive massive massive nerds.
Today's haul
I hope the floppies are still good...
A thing that most Japanese people do, but westerners don't (even tourists)... Karaoke
Free drink refills. There are non-free drinks, too.
There are karaoke rooms big and small. All of
the karaoke machines are connected to the modern TVs using laggy HDMI,
so it takes a bit of practice to get used to the lag between the music
and the display (maybe 100ms or so)
Karaoke controls are easy to navigate, and
there's even a section for entering the song as its old-school karaoke
number (from the era when songs were listen in paper catalogues).
There's a decent selection of songs in English; other languages are
available too
Songs in English usually show generic footage:
London urban landscape or, for example, relaxed nature shots. Way to get
a cognitive dissonance!
Songs in Japanese often have guiding vocals and visual hints
Anisongs would often have footage from the
shows. "Cruel angel thesis", "Connect", "God knows", and "Renai
circulation" are still in the top list of recommended songs.
For Nina it was unexpectedly easy to follow karaoke in Japanese. Huh.
For Nina it was unexpectedly easy to follow karaoke in Japanese. Huh.
This karaoke room allows checking in and out
without any interaction with the staff, but only if you have a Japanese
phone number. As foreigners, we were asked to fill a little form and
swear that we're over 20 years old. I think it's not that important if
you don't plan to order alcohol, so the staff didn't ask us for a proof
of age.
Sing along with us
https://youtu.be/EWQmuptaHs0
Sing along with us
https://youtu.be/EWQmuptaHs0
Yet another thing that tourists don't really
do: family restaurants. Denny's, related to the US chain of diners only
in name, is especially popular, with over 500 restaurants all over
Japan.
The menu is paper, but you order everything through a tablet...
The tablet is kind of cute. It has English language support, but the interface is not really well translated.
You order food and you get a receipt for each order; then, after food, you pay at the register - like in most other Japanese places.
You order food and you get a receipt for each order; then, after food, you pay at the register - like in most other Japanese places.
Vegan burger comes with salad. The salad has cheese. No idea if the cheese is vegetarian, hopefully it is.
The desserts are ridiculously tasty. This is melon short cake, by the way.
Real story that has happened today (photo from the internet)!!!
Smoked cheese....
Smoked cheese!!!! 🤤
No no, だーめ
The cheese is somehow mixed with cod paste?!
