So it’s Tuesday evening and we’ve been having a wonderful time in Tokyo. Monday we started the day wandering around Akihabara. We spent a ton of time in Radio Departo, which is a 4 story building full of tiny stalls where old guys sell every kind of new and vintage electronics you can think of, and in Radio Center which is a one story version of same with a little more focus on consumer stuff. I really wish I had access to this place back home. It wouldn’t replace Digikey, but it would be really handy when I needed a certain fan, or enclosure, or weird ass wire wound resistor from 1950. We also went to Yodobashi Camera which is the largest electronics store in the world. It’s something like 9 stories with each one being as large as a good sized Best Buy. It was a lot of fun to look around and Courtney picked up a few small gifts and such. And we also spent some time in the small robots and hobby stores. Fun!
After Akihabara we came back to the hotel to rest a bit and then we headed out to wander around Shinjuku. We ended up in an English pub called Hub that was pretty good. Good beer, good fish and chips and really bad company. There were a trio of Americans sitting a few tables away being complete assholes. One guy spent a solid hour telling the others about how many models his friends fucked at the top of his lungs. I noticed he never mentioned how many models HE fucked. Not surprising. They were loud, brash and rude. Exactly what people expect of us in foreign countries. I was sad to see it. It’s the first time I’ve seen that kind of behavior from Americans in another country.
After Hub we went over to Tokyo Tower to enjoy the nighttime view from 330 meters and eventually made our way back to the hotel where we passed out hard.
Today we got a bit later of a start but we made up for it in seeing stuff. We spent a few hours roaming around Shibuya and saw Hachiko’s statue and the famous Shibuya crossing which looks like all those scenes from Braveheart every time the light changes and we went to Asakusa which is the “old town” in Tokyo. Most of Tokyo is neon and craziness, where Asakusa is a little more like old Japan. It also boasts a very, very large lantern.
In Shibuya we were looking for a place to eat lunch and we came across a pizza place. We decided to check it out and it turned out to be a pizza buffet with a totally reasonable price and it was great. Some of the pizza was a little weird, and some of it was very weird but there was plenty that was really good. Check out Shakey’s if you are in Shibuya!
Now we are once again back in the hotel resting up for the evening. I think we’re going to have a pint or two at Hub again and then maybe hit some bars in Roppongi. Woo!