Robot Claw

Today I set out early for an approximate hour-long train ride to a part of Tokyo I’d never been before. The goal was Soshigaya-Okura station, at which I was hoping to find something special. Once again I was in the morning rush hour commute, and today the trains felt even more packed. It took me three to get to my destination and I wasn’t 100% sure what I’d find when I arrived.

So imagine my joy when almost the very first thing I saw at the station was this:

And these:

And these:

Seven giant panels showing off Ultramen (and one Ultrawoman) of the Showa and Heisei eras! I had arrived at what has become known as ‘Ultraman Shopping Street’ 🙂

Right outside the station is a (human sized) statue of Ultraman, and even though it was early (around 9 am) I still had to wait my turn to take a good photo! I found it interesting that the others were younger than me. It seems a 60-year-old hero can still appeal to the younger generation.

The local maps outside the station are decorated with Ultraman imagery:

The station is at the nexus of two shopping streets that about two decades ago became ‘official’ Ultraman shopping streets. In addition to the statue and signs, this also meant installing street lights modeled after Ultraman and Ultraseven:

And installing spectacular gates at the end of the street showing Ultraman and Zoffy flying in to save the Earth!

Many businesses have signs at the entrance showing they are affiliated:

And a few – which were not open since I was there so early – looked like they sold merchandise or had additional decorations inside. I also saw lots of posters in windows for the new upcoming series as well (Ultraman Arc):

Oh and this guy was sitting by himself at the town community center:

It’s Kanegon, an alien that debuted in the show that preceded Ultraman (Ultra Q) and is a friendly monster. He looked lonely so I sat with him for a while:

To be honest, I loved it all. It was hot and humid and there was no English anywhere (or toilets, so I had to duck into a deafening pachinko parlor) but I had a fun time noticing all the Ultraman stuff especially the flying Ultras at each end of the street. It was absolutely worth the trip.

My next destination was about a half-hours walk away, which was faster than if I took the trains since there was no direct line! I steeled myself for a tiring walk in the humidity, and hoped it would be worth it. As for where I was heading… that deserves a post of its own!

Getting the most out of Akiharaba (‘Akiba’) is hard work. I’ve been here dozens of times – indeed tonight will be the 21st night I’ve stayed in the center of Akiba – and even I can’t hope to visit all the shops I’m interested in on a single day.

So when the heat was as oppressive as it was today, I felt sorry for the tourists I saw so obviously overwhelmed and too hot or tired to be able to do much about it. They were wandering around like zombies, looking like they didn’t even know where to start when they were surrounded by the sorts of shops they probably had dreamt of visiting for years.

And yet, they were me once. I recall back to our first Japan trips: I’d spend a few hours in Akiba once and have the time of my life. I didn’t even know that many of the stores I always visit now even existed, but I still had a great time on those days Akibawas our destination. I’m older and wiser now and my goals and experience in Akiba shopping are very different, but I’d like to think I’m still as starry-eyed as I was 22 years ago.

Today I lazily toured the shops and game centers of Akiba. I couldn’t buy much since I’ve mostly ran out of space, but it’s always fun to look at insanely rare video games, beautifully sculpted and painted figurines or professionally built model kits. Akiba is full of all this and more.

Today I played many crane games (and even won a few things). I played lots of retro arcade games. I had my favourite Japanese meals for lunch and dinner and before I knew it the sun was setting. Did I visit every shop I wanted to? No chance, but I’ve got two full days left 🙂

Only here would you see a Colonel Sanders statue cosplayed as a wizard to celebrate a KFC x Final Fantasy XIV collaboration! And only here would you see two girls cosplaying as shrine maidens pose with said statue for some photos. And as I was watching my attention was caught by a guy in the distance wearing what looked like a grass skirt and wearing a ludicrously tall hat (taller than himself). Who was he and why was he dressed so outrageously? I’ll never know but I do know it’s just another day in Akiba.

I love it here 🙂

Yesterday I returned to Shinjuku and Shibuya to fill some shopping requests. I set out to arrive when the shops opened, which meant rush hour on Tokyo trains!

When we first came to Japan train pushers (men that pushed people onto trains) were still a thing, but these days the trains are more frequent so they’re not required. However at rush hour the trains still fill to near-bursting, and you can tell from the above pic why I waited for the next one.

When it came it filled up very quickly, and then the compression began. The strategy is to back onto a full train, pushing your way forcefully inwards compressing those behind you. For such a polite society people can be rather extreme in the way the push themselves onto trains, but I suppose Tokyo commuters get used to it. I was a human sardine for a few stations, until we reached Tokyo station and most got off.

There were heat warnings all over the news and even in the trains yesterday. The ambient temperature wasn’t too high (about 85F) but the humidity was incredible and walking outside for even short distances was draining. It was a day of shuffling from air conditioning to air conditioning 🙂

My shopping was a great success, although some of the things I purchased were heavy so my arm was tired when I got back over seven hours later!

Naturally I spent a few hours in Akihabara shops and arcades as well. In Hirose arcade I put ¥100 in the Ultraman shooter and it didn’t work so I asked an employee to check. One thing led to another, escalating up the chain with each employee getting older until this:

It turns out the coin got stuck somewhere in the machine and he had to almost get inside to free it! While he was doing this, I saw a bee fly out from behind the machine! I didn’t want to alarm him so I said nothing and hoped there wasn’t a nest in there somewhere. He fixed things, gave me my ¥100 back, and gave me 4 credits for my patience 🙂