We knew our hotel was near Akihabara (or Akiba to the locals), but we did not realise just how close. Post breakfast we set off. 5 minutes kater we’re in the heart of Akiba looking at electrical components, laptops, collectable figures, manga, the whole otaku 9 yards. Being a fan of both Genshiken while at the same time becoming more like Fred Galagher’s character, Piro in Megatokyo (though I deny it) it meant I had to carry on my education of Pak in the ways of manga/anime. Needless to say I did follow the old rule of When in Rome resulting in me buying a Lucky Star box set of unknown contents. Only on arriving back at the hotel did I find it was a pencil case with contents (bakah). I also picked up a copy of the last issue of Genshiken, almost as a tribue to the satire it so accurately portayed (I’m not sure if the Wiki article mentions it, but a lot of the stories were based on the author’s own experiences while going through university).

For lunch we had that Japanese comfort foo of renoun – curry. The restaurant we chose was one where you buy a voucher from a machine and hand it in. Not all the buttons has pictures, but we did ok.

One thing we did reflect upon over lunch was the cost of electronics. Back when I as lasy here there were ~250 yen to £1 and the various gadgets were only slightly cheaper than in the UK. Now we’re down to just ~200 yen to £1 and as a result we found a lot of items to be more expensive.

On the way back to the hotel we popped in to a video arcade and I again let my otaku aspect take over. I had a couple of goes at a grab machine to get a Lucky Star figure. I acually managed to snag a box, but in true fashion, when I opened it, it was the one character I did not want (you can’t tell until you open the box). Oh well time to find a shop that specialises in selling the figures (they cost more but then you do get the one you want).

We’ve not got back to the hotel and will probably hit Shibuya tonight.

Ja mata