tokyo 2012 part 1
Aug. 8th, 2012 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davemerrillSo yes! We went back to Japan. And yes, it was hot. Two showers a day hot. But July is our wedding anniversary month and it was our 10th and you can't just move dates around on the calendar to suit yourself, these things have to be done right. So off to Tokyo we went!
We packed up the night of Friday the 20th and by 11am Saturday we were out front waiting for the taxi to the airport. The flight was uneventful; I like an aisle seat for the longer trips so I don't have to climb past strangers to visit the facilities. 12 hours later there we were at Narita. We took the advice of our hotel and hopped on the Keisei Skyliner train from the airport to Tokyo; it put us out at Nippori, and then we took the JR to Ikebukuro, which is where our hotel was.
This is the Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro. Two buildings across a small side street, a sidewalk cafe that was always bustling with backpackers and tourists and locals, small but comfortable rooms at a reasonable price, I recommend it. It's a five minute walk from the station, but we took a cab because I don't mind getting lost walking around a strange city but not while carrying a lot of luggage
If you've ever been to Ikebukuro and you know where the Seibu is and the Sunshine 60 building and the Animate /Otome Rd area, that's the east side, we were on the west side, the Tobu side, the side with the topiary owls.
(that's Jim Reddy taking a picture on Monday).
Anyway we arrived on Sunday around 5pm and it was damp and cool in Tokyo, cooler than it had been in Toronto. We checked in and immediately checked to see what was on TV. When we first arrived in Japan in 2009, Speed Racer was on. What would this trip's television portend?
Ultraman! A fine divination. Actually the first thing on the first channel we checked was "Sazae-San", but that's cool too. Then it was time to explore the neighborhood a bit. Promptly got lost, but found our way back to the Sakura (local landmarks pachinko parlor, Mexican restaurant, karaoke bar) after some dinner (ramen). Then it was time to go to sleep 'cause we were tired.
Monday we arose, had some toast and coffee downstairs (all you can drink or toast for Y360) and then it was off to explore Ikebukuro. We made our way back to the station, around the station, through the pedestrian walkway under the tracks, and there we were on the east side where the action was. Also pretzels. Ikebukuro has a great pedestrian-only shopping district full of movie theaters, arcades, Tokyu Hands, you name it. Our first stop was Book-Off, the chain of used bookstores that has great stuff at great prices and locations all over Tokyo. Then we made our way down to Animate, thence to K-Books, and then across the street to the Sunshine City mall to get lunch and visit a friend.
Sunshine 60 is where they have an Ultraman festival every year. As near as I can determine this means they show an Ultraman movie for the kids. Anyway after lunch we met Jim Reddy at the Mandarake in Ikebukuro - this Mandarake is strictly for the ladies, okay - and from there we hopped a train to Kanda for more shopping.
I was curious to see if the infamous Tokyo Ordinance 156 would have made a dent in the doujin world. You know 156 - it's the bill that would commit the heinous crime of limiting the sales of adults-only material to adults - and if internet manga pundits were to be believed, its passage would destroy manga, anime, and life as we know it. Well, reports of the death of doujinshi have been greatly exaggerated. The only difference between now and what I saw in 2009 is that the adult stuff now has giant stickers on the covers, and that Animate no longer carries doujin. There's still a whole floor full of horrifying stuff at Toranoana, rest assured. But more on Toranoana later.
We took the train to Kanda because of two things - a craft beer/pizza joint Jim knew about, and the Kanda Kosho Center, a skinny building with a record shop, a book store, and a store called Nakano Shoten, an anime/manga/memorabilia shop with amazing sights for old showa-era fans such as ourselves.
Yup, that's original Gordian production art welcoming you to the store. On the way we stopped at Takadanobaba Station, the train station where they play the "Astro Boy" theme at stops because it's close by where Tezuka lived in the famous "Tokiwa" boarding house with Fujio-Fujiko and Ishinomori and other famous manga legends. There's also two giant murals of Tezuka characters on the wall outside the station.
Yup, that's Big X directing traffic. Also Tezuka character banners festoon the light poles:
Where was I - Nakano Shoten in Kanda/Jimboucho. We finished our drooling and shopping there and then moved on to meet Patrik W. at the Devil Craft, which was absolutely jam packed, so we went with our backup, cheap beer and yakitori and sushi at Susumu's, around the corner and up the dark alley. I hadn't seen Patrik in what, 20 years? He showed us pix of his new baby and we talked about old Atlanta landmarks and we had some double-wasabi-infused sushi that allowed us to touch the colors of time. Seriously, the stuff you get here is a mere shadow of the wasabi in the Home Islands. And that was our first day in Japan! More to come.
We packed up the night of Friday the 20th and by 11am Saturday we were out front waiting for the taxi to the airport. The flight was uneventful; I like an aisle seat for the longer trips so I don't have to climb past strangers to visit the facilities. 12 hours later there we were at Narita. We took the advice of our hotel and hopped on the Keisei Skyliner train from the airport to Tokyo; it put us out at Nippori, and then we took the JR to Ikebukuro, which is where our hotel was.
This is the Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro. Two buildings across a small side street, a sidewalk cafe that was always bustling with backpackers and tourists and locals, small but comfortable rooms at a reasonable price, I recommend it. It's a five minute walk from the station, but we took a cab because I don't mind getting lost walking around a strange city but not while carrying a lot of luggage
If you've ever been to Ikebukuro and you know where the Seibu is and the Sunshine 60 building and the Animate /Otome Rd area, that's the east side, we were on the west side, the Tobu side, the side with the topiary owls.
(that's Jim Reddy taking a picture on Monday).
Anyway we arrived on Sunday around 5pm and it was damp and cool in Tokyo, cooler than it had been in Toronto. We checked in and immediately checked to see what was on TV. When we first arrived in Japan in 2009, Speed Racer was on. What would this trip's television portend?
Ultraman! A fine divination. Actually the first thing on the first channel we checked was "Sazae-San", but that's cool too. Then it was time to explore the neighborhood a bit. Promptly got lost, but found our way back to the Sakura (local landmarks pachinko parlor, Mexican restaurant, karaoke bar) after some dinner (ramen). Then it was time to go to sleep 'cause we were tired.
Monday we arose, had some toast and coffee downstairs (all you can drink or toast for Y360) and then it was off to explore Ikebukuro. We made our way back to the station, around the station, through the pedestrian walkway under the tracks, and there we were on the east side where the action was. Also pretzels. Ikebukuro has a great pedestrian-only shopping district full of movie theaters, arcades, Tokyu Hands, you name it. Our first stop was Book-Off, the chain of used bookstores that has great stuff at great prices and locations all over Tokyo. Then we made our way down to Animate, thence to K-Books, and then across the street to the Sunshine City mall to get lunch and visit a friend.
Sunshine 60 is where they have an Ultraman festival every year. As near as I can determine this means they show an Ultraman movie for the kids. Anyway after lunch we met Jim Reddy at the Mandarake in Ikebukuro - this Mandarake is strictly for the ladies, okay - and from there we hopped a train to Kanda for more shopping.
I was curious to see if the infamous Tokyo Ordinance 156 would have made a dent in the doujin world. You know 156 - it's the bill that would commit the heinous crime of limiting the sales of adults-only material to adults - and if internet manga pundits were to be believed, its passage would destroy manga, anime, and life as we know it. Well, reports of the death of doujinshi have been greatly exaggerated. The only difference between now and what I saw in 2009 is that the adult stuff now has giant stickers on the covers, and that Animate no longer carries doujin. There's still a whole floor full of horrifying stuff at Toranoana, rest assured. But more on Toranoana later.
We took the train to Kanda because of two things - a craft beer/pizza joint Jim knew about, and the Kanda Kosho Center, a skinny building with a record shop, a book store, and a store called Nakano Shoten, an anime/manga/memorabilia shop with amazing sights for old showa-era fans such as ourselves.
Yup, that's original Gordian production art welcoming you to the store. On the way we stopped at Takadanobaba Station, the train station where they play the "Astro Boy" theme at stops because it's close by where Tezuka lived in the famous "Tokiwa" boarding house with Fujio-Fujiko and Ishinomori and other famous manga legends. There's also two giant murals of Tezuka characters on the wall outside the station.
Yup, that's Big X directing traffic. Also Tezuka character banners festoon the light poles:
Where was I - Nakano Shoten in Kanda/Jimboucho. We finished our drooling and shopping there and then moved on to meet Patrik W. at the Devil Craft, which was absolutely jam packed, so we went with our backup, cheap beer and yakitori and sushi at Susumu's, around the corner and up the dark alley. I hadn't seen Patrik in what, 20 years? He showed us pix of his new baby and we talked about old Atlanta landmarks and we had some double-wasabi-infused sushi that allowed us to touch the colors of time. Seriously, the stuff you get here is a mere shadow of the wasabi in the Home Islands. And that was our first day in Japan! More to come.
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-09 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-09 02:46 pm (UTC)This is how out of it most American "anime fans" are, they have no idea what Sazae-San is, and would not consider it worthy of attention, even if it was pointed out to them as being the longest running animated television cartoon in the history of the world.
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Date: 2012-08-11 02:10 pm (UTC)