I visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building this morning. It has a free observatory on the 45th floor, and you know I like observatories!
The view wa clear enough (in some directions) when I was up there, but this wouldn’t last. By the time I descended and walked to the shopping district near the station (a few blocks from the tower) the skies had opened and the rain fell in sheets. I took shelter in the House of Grimace:
Incidentally the marks on my nose and left cheek are from a mask. I estimate about 50% of Japanese still wear masks outdoors, and even more do indoors or on trains. I’ve joined them (mostly out of respect) but I’ll be honest and say the humidity isn’t pleasant when you’re masked!
It was still raining after I finished lunch, so I went into Yodobashi Camera (the Shinjuku branch included about ten shops spread over several blocks) and took refuge – alone! – in an upper floor arcade where I played a card-based Ultraman game for about half an hour. This was blissful since I didn’t get much sleep last night (due to waking early for laundry) and the AC in the arcade was sweet relief from the humidity outside.
The rest of the day was shopping, with a focus on gacha machines and UFO catchers. As I’ve discussed before on this blog gacha’s are everywhere in Tokyo, and stumbling upon a sight like the above is hardly unusual. The variety beggars belief as well, and there’s something for everyone. Here’s some examples I saw today:
How about a weird ‘floor plan’ (?) gacha? Or a ‘calling bell’ that they suggest can be used to summon a pet? Or a mini cart and groceries? Or – and this one is incredible – recipes handwritten by a handsome young man? (Yes this is correct; KLS and I purchased something similar in January which was a small piece of paper with a message about hard work handwritten on it!)
Or you could get a mini appliance, a device that (claims to) protect you from EM radiation, a mini-zip line or even a sangria mascot. This is just 8 of hundreds of different machines I’ve seen this trip, and not even the most unusual. I’m not putting the truly crazy stuff here so as not to spoil souvenirs for KLS 🙂
I’ve been unlucky with crane games this trip, and not for lack of trying. The prizes range from trash (mini food items that cost less to buy than you pay trying to win them) to exceptional (large and very detailed anime figurines) but the machines remain frustratingly difficult and that’s not even accounting for sunk-cost fallacy which all-too-often rears its head.
I’ve become good at spotting the ‘avalanche’ machines ready to pay out, and so far I’m on a 100% win streak! The above prize I’ll give to a student (who’s name is Kirby), but some of the other wins will be pride of place on shelves at home for many years.
The rain didn’t last long this morning but it dumped enough water to make the afternoon shockingly humid. Today was probably the most strenuous day of this trip so far, and I even saw Japanese struggling with the humidity. But I managed – due to imbibing vast quantities of water – and ultimately had an enjoyable day of looking and shopping and eating. Tomorrow will be more of the same 🙂