Thursday and Friday in Tokyo

[davemerrill]

Where was I? Oizumi Gakuen, having a mental debate with myself over whether or not to just wander into the administrative offices and either (a) ask for any character goods they had lying around they didn't want, particularly any older stuff, or (b) ask for a job. In the end I turned my ID badge in at the guard station and we walked back to the train station. We did stop off at MOS Burger for our MOS Burger fix.

From there it was back to Ikebukuro for cold showers and a change of clothes. And then it was off to Akihabara for our fix of modern "cool Japan" electro-maid idol technofetishism. Akiba is huge and we didn't get to see even a quarter of what's there - we did visit Golden Age, your stop for vintage toys in Akiba; we went to the Tokyo Anime Center which is closed for renovations (thanks for NOT telling us, Tokyo Anime Center website), we bought some junk in the TAC's gift shop. Then on to Mandarake, floors and floors of great stuff, where we bought shojo manga and more old anime mags.

Being tired and thirsty we stopped at The Idolm@ster Cafe - a theme cafe atop Akiba Zone, which is a building full of Akiba-type stores, cube stores, clothes, cosplay, models, toys, etc. Anyway you could either order from the Cardfight Vanguard menu or the Idolm@ster menu. Cardfight Vanguard is the latest "kids collect cards and throw them at each other" game, and Idolm@ster is a idol singer managing simulation video game. That's right, you take time off from your difficult job managing idol singers to play a game where you manage the career of one of five idol singers. Apparently this is entertaining. The cafe was full of regular Japanese teens and young adults all having fun ordering fruity drinks based on card-fighters or idol singers, wandering around looking at the production art and figures, or checking their smart phones.

On the other hand we could have stopped at the Gundam Cafe:



Sorry for the blur, that's caused by Minofsky particle interference, of course.

This is right next to the AKB48 Theater, which only confirms my suspicion that Akihabara is turning into Branson Missouri.

Anyway after refreshing ourselves we went out and did some more shopping, particularly at Comic Zin, a doujinshi shop on the main drag with a great selection of offbeat manga and doujin - not just the adult stuff that makes the headlines, but alternative doujin, including some aggressively independent self-published stuff that was refreshing to see.



Soon enough it was 9pm and everything was closing, so we went on home.

Friday was the 27th and that's our 10th wedding anniversary! And I can't think of a better thing to celebrate than doing laundry. Seriously though it was definitely laundry time. The Sakura has a laundry room behind the main building. The dryers, I might add, need at least an hour to get the job done, particularly when things are as humid as they were in Tokyo and the laundry facilities are just out back, under a roof but not in an air-conditioned room whatsoever. So I put loads in and we sat out on the patio reading and fanning ourselves, and every so often I'd go over and put another 100 yen in the machine.

That night we went over to Shibuya, home of the Hachiko statue, one of the busier train stations in the area, lots of crowds, hills, twisty little alleys, and me getting lost.



Eventually we found our destination, Mandarake, which is in the basement of the BEAM building. Apparently there's a TV studio in BEAM which explains why both times we've been there, the building has been surrounded by girls waiting for some sort of star to emerge from a taping of something. However, what I'm interested in at Mandarake is under glass:





That last one is some kind of Prince Planet bank, shaped like a 12 sided die. It was priced a little higher than I was ready to shell out for, so it's still there under glass in Shibuya if you're interested. So we did some prowling around in the basement and then it was time for dinner.

Since it was our anniversary I can't think of a more romantic place than Shakey's. Shakey's, the American all-you-can-eat pizza phenomenon that now has more restaurants in Asia than in the United States. I can reassure our readers that Shakey's hasn't changed a bit; the pizza is remarkably similar to what we remember eating as children. Of course in Japan the toppings sometimes get a little unusual. In other American chain restaurant news, the Outback in Shibuya has a TWO HOUR WAIT. No way, man.

After dinner we visited the Shibuya Book-Off for another round of used-manga searching - and boy, was that place crowded - and then it was back down to the train station and home. Tomorrow: Setagaya and Ultraman Street!

Comments

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

"Shakey's, the American all-you-can-eat pizza phenomenon that now has more restaurants in Asia than in the United States."

The same could be said for Mister Donut too (and that one has none back here)

Matt Murray

[(Anonymous)]

So Prince Planet was also born as a dodecahedron?

And now I need never reference that again.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying the travelogue!

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

Akiba is kind of overwhelming. I was pretty fried by the time I got to that part of the trip. My friend ended up going back a second day just to keep shopping.

I got a slightly better shot of Gundam Cafe (http://red-bird.org/japangalleries/?album=2&gallery=23&nggpage=3) for those that are curious. We didn't go in, but I kind of wish I did simply because other folks in the states REALLY wanted to know what it was like.

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

I think they're all gone now, but I remember we used to have them in Chicago in some popular areas. Their donuts were far better than DUnkin Donuts. My parents used to take us there every Sunday morning before church :)

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kinda wish we'd gone in as well, just to get a drink or something. You know everything's gonna be overpriced, but hey, how often are you in Akihabara? There's one in Odaiba too, right by the big 1/1 Gundam protecting the DiverCity mall from Zeon aggression.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

There was one in my town I recall from their familiar signage! Don't recall ever been in one though. Nice to think though the Shakey's legacy hasn't died off completely globally (much like Lawson's, but nobody outside Ohio knows that).

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel better, I had never heard of Shakey's. When I was wandering around OMetosando with our tour guide (kimono tour), she paused to show us Shakey's and asked if we had been there since it's a well known American pizza place. I kind of told her "no, never heard of it" and it blew up her mind!

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do wish I had gone back another time to Akiba. It was that or try Character Street in Tokyo STation which was fairly tame and boring.

I didn't get to Odaiba - but another internet friend did. He arrived a few days before I left. Lucky guy. His snapshots are here: http://perpetualideamachine.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/odaiba/

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

When we went past Character Street everything was closed. There's a "Rascal The Raccoon" store that I ALMOST went back to check out. Such an obscure property to have so much merchandising....

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

They had Miffy, Snoopy, and some really cute stuff for women. My sister adores those properties, so I had to go check it out at least once. But the JUMP store was kind of lame (way too much One Piece), although I did find the NHK store interesting.

I don't remember the Rascal the Raccoon shop but I'm not sure I caught everything!

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

I'm sure many Japanese Shakey's fans don't know that! I may have only heard of the place in passing a few times (I recall one film where it pops up in, "License To Drive"), later on I found newspaper ads in my local paper that showed there was one around the time I was born that was open.

But yes, I'm OK about it. Those people in Japan should be lucky they still got 'em at all, if only because of successful licensing deals.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

I was amused to see how the show led to an interest in adopting the critters as pets after it aired. I hope they got over that!

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

Ah ha. There are a few of them south of Atlanta. What do you know. hahaha.


I think they might have been more widespread 25-30 years ago. I seem to want to say that we had them in Chicago when I lived there, but that was probably during a time pizza was pretty popular. (Remember LIttle Caesar's? I thought they were completely dead and gone but saw one in a small town somewhere.)

One of the things I enjoy about finding American franchises in Korea and Japan is how much better they usually are. Dunkin Donuts in Korea is fabulous... their localized donuts are really diverse in look and flavor. Mister Donut is pretty good too although I still prefer Korean Dunkin Donuts.


And then there were the neat things at McDonald's in Japan. Burger King, however, puzzled me immensely. The one I saw in Akiba was pretty much the American menu.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

We did get some Krispy Kremes at the Krispy Kreme in Odaiba, and for whatever reason it was notably inferior to the American version. Of course I have been staying away from donuts for a while so perhaps my palate has shifted.

I did see via Wiki that there's a Shakey's in Warner Robins GA. Probably not worth the drive from Atlanta. The pizza places I miss from my youth are the organ-grinder type places that would have the giant organ playing happy music as everybody ate what I remember being pretty good pizza. There was one on Franklin Rd in Marietta that became a country bar later in the 80s, but circa 1981 they had great pizza and lots of video games for the kids.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

"Ah ha. There are a few of them south of Atlanta. What do you know. hahaha."

You learn new things each day!

"I think they might have been more widespread 25-30 years ago. I seem to want to say that we had them in Chicago when I lived there, but that was probably during a time pizza was pretty popular."

I suppose (whatever new thing kids are into, I'm not buying)

"(Remember LIttle Caesar's? I thought they were completely dead and gone but saw one in a small town somewhere.)"

They're still almost a dozen locations in my city.

One place that hasn't been in town for a decade now is Domino's Pizza amusingly, I've hadn't had them in a long time, what my town bothered to do is franchise one of it's Ma & Pa chains nationwide these days, you may have heard of them, they're Marco's Pizza.

"One of the things I enjoy about finding American franchises in Korea and Japan is how much better they usually are. Dunkin Donuts in Korea is fabulous... their localized donuts are really diverse in look and flavor. Mister Donut is pretty good too although I still prefer Korean Dunkin Donuts.

And then there were the neat things at McDonald's in Japan. Burger King, however, puzzled me immensely. The one I saw in Akiba was pretty much the American menu."

Wonder if that's a preference of the franchisee themselves?

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling those shops change properties on a fairly regular basis.

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Maybe the BK is new to the country? Typically restaurants diversify as they realize what they have doesn't work well with the local market. McDonald's in Japan seemed to have both familiar things but local things like potato cakes . GOod stuff from what my roomie said when she ate them xD

Surprised about Little Caesar's as up in Chicago they're nonexistent. I think that was a franchisee property though so it's likely those guys sold the business/folded or moved on to something new.

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't eat much pizza down here so would probably not go all the way down jst to experience Shakey's ...

As for the Krispy Kreme stuff - I only like them off the rack and piping hot, so I can imagine they wouldn't be very good elsewhere. That said, were the Kremes made with rice flour vs wheat flour? A lot of the donut shops in Asia offer mostly rice flour variants and they tend to be more sticky and glutinous. Rice flour version of Krispy Kreme would be really bad too, IMHO...

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

Oh Krispy Kreme, there's one place I wish was back up here again (just to watch 'em make the donuts), that location though became the state's only Del Taco location, so it's not a total loss I suppose.

"The pizza places I miss from my youth are the organ-grinder type places that would have the giant organ playing happy music as everybody ate what I remember being pretty good pizza. There was one on Franklin Rd in Marietta that became a country bar later in the 80s, but circa 1981 they had great pizza and lots of video games for the kids."

Now I would've LOVED going there! I think we had something nearly that where I lived, but my feeble memory as a tot is hard to conjure up anything beyond The Ground Round (and there's a place I remember if only for peanuts and cartoons shown silently while you eat).

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

"To be honest, I don't eat much pizza down here so would probably not go all the way down jst to experience Shakey's ...

Me neither, I'm also a little sad the Pizza Hut location that's been near my house before I was born closed up a couple years ago, have some fond memories of that place, even my mom brought her video camera in there once 29 years ago!

"As for the Krispy Kreme stuff - I only like them off the rack and piping hot, so I can imagine they wouldn't be very good elsewhere."

I miss just having them that way, period, since now the best I see are the ones that come down from a store in Michigan that bothers stocking up several locations in Toledo.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

Well Toledo is closer to it's HQ, perhaps there's more clout to keep them open since they brought in that $5 pizza deal for the past few years. And yes, it was probably a franchising issue too, though a few stores in my town are owned by someone I know who named her company after her daughter.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

IIRC Burger King had problems in Japan and pulled completely out of the market for a time, and then they've been slowly working their way back.

I mean, I can see it, a triple Whopper is just WAY too much burger in Japan, right?

(hell, even I don't eat triple Whoppers anymore. Even plain, that's just a lot of meat. And yet I can devour a half-pounder at Fuddruckers without blinking an eye. Dave has witnessed this. :) )

I dunno. I can't help but think Japan would really 'take' to the super creepy Burger King guy. Dude needs a job since American BK Corporate has turned their backs on him.

[hillsy2k.livejournal.com]

Yep, BK was out just long enough that when they came back, they were the hot new thing. Actually, the Japanese seem to love massive "American" burgers, at the moment. MakuDo has had some monsters, in recent years, all named after places in the US.

[paulownia.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. That explains some of the options I saw at that BK. I was kind of thinking "well these are all variants on teh whopper" but after considering that they have their own versions of burgers (didn't get to try Mosburger) maybe the giant burger niche is the one they felt they could exploit.