Tokyo Diary: Five Days and Counting

TOKYO - One more day in Tokyo. While I've had a great time here and want to stay, going back to the states is going to be good too. Today was a rather cloudy and rainy day in Tokyo, and while the rain hardly stopped the masses of people shopping in Shinjuku and Akihabara, it was just enough to give you the overall feeling of sickness. Maybe it's just the recovery from the show.

Today was a free day, so I spent the day wandering around with John and Yutaka, going to anime and game stores in the area, including an all-gaming bookstore that had only books and magazines dedicated to video and card games. Plus, I came away with a super-cool PaRappa key-chain and stuffed Pikachu to lull me into an epileptic seizure at the sound of his squeaking (see, when you squeeze his belly, he squeaks…Doughboy Pikachu).

Went back to Akihabara, this time spending a lot less money, but still having just as much fun. Wandered off the beaten path to a few anime and manga stores that were curiously up a steep flights of stairs. The way down was equally bad, and I had to retain my balance to keep from falling a good 10-15 feet to the concrete floor. Like John Ricciardi said on one flight of stairs, it's like going down a slide. It does save a fair amount of space, something that comes at a huge premium in Tokyo.

Akihabara changed on the weekend, the streets lined with little tables set up advertising and selling gadgets like cell phones and illegal 100-in-1 games (those are expensive) and people handing out fliers for products left and right.

On another note, I had a different kind of drink today, and while I can't remember the name of it, it tasted really good. The good part about it was that not only was it a fruit drink, but it contained pieces of fruit in the drink. Strange, but very tasty.

In Japan, used PlayStation games are hard to find, since Sony has started cracking down on stores that carry used titles. So it's not often that you can find an inexpensive PlayStation game - which is bad if you really like the PS and don't have a lot of money to spend. But it's good for Sony, who's probably making a lot of money off of that deal. Even so, there are some places that still sell used PS games (only… those places usually don't sell new games). Much more often, you'll find super-cheap Saturn games. For example, I found Lunar Magic School used for 1480 yen (about 10 bucks) in nothing but perfect condition.

That's actually another thing about Japan: the used games are in absolute mint condition. Today, after purchasing a copy of Super Mario Bros. for the Famicom and opening it, it was easy to see that this was in perfect condition. The box unbent and clean, the game and manual in just about new form. Kind of makes you wonder why the used game market in the US has basically completely worn out games (hey, want a cleaner for that NES game that doesn't have a manual or box?).

My last full day in Tokyo is tomorrow. It's arrived very quickly...too quickly.

Later!