I've Died And Went To Heaven

So, this afternoon after work, we took a cab to Akihabara, "Electric City". This is a part of Tokyo that caters to the Otaku, "fanboy" in Japanese, "geek" in English. It is block after block of stores that sell nothing but video games, comic books, dvds, computers, computer parts, toys, action figure (Giant Robots!), all sorts of electronics. Gee, I wonder who would like that? Needless to say, Chloe and Alex have a present coming from Akihabara. Poor girls.

Here's the pics and the stories:



This is on top of a 20 story building. Inside is nothing but those crane arcade games. Each one holds a different stuffed Space Invader (like below):




Good Grief! It's Super Potato! I could have spent four hours in this store. This is on the outside of the store. Mario and Pac Man are about 10 feet tall. The store is full of old video game systems from the 80s and 90s. If I was alone, I would have bought about 10 of them.



Relax! Enjoy a maid service! What's a maid service? I'll answer that in a bit (not, it's not what you think....)

It'sa me, Mario! Big Mario statue inside of Super Potato. I got my picture taken with him. Christmas card coming.

Outside a maid service.

In Otaku culture, the guys are geeks. They don't get girls. So, they have things called Maid Cafes. What it is, is you go to a cafe. When you walk in, one of the girls below runs up to you and says "Welcome home master!" She takes off your shoes, makes you tea, and WATCHES you play video games. She also talks to you. That's it.

And, no, I didn't go to one. They don't speak English and don't really cater to foreigners :(

This is a makeshift shrine to a terrble murder that happened Sunday. A man drove his car into the crowd and then starting stabing people. 7 died. Horrible crime that everyone in Japan is talking about.

The tent is covering a ton of flowers left by people. There are also people praying outside.


Typical building. They have billboard for video games and anime the same way we have them for Hollywood blockbusters.

Note the maids on the right side, handing out pamplets outside the train station.
I hope you have a Magical Halloween this year! Billboard outside a building for that annual classic about Playboy Bunny Vampires serving drinks.


Well, that's it. I have one more full day in the office, and then I'm going to dinner with the VP at night. Sushi. Sea Urchin. Enough said.

Talk to you soon.