Japan: Day 02: Shrines, upskirts and loot

The second day of my trip to Japan takes me to Meiji Shrine, Shibuya and Akihabara where we take a look at a part of old Japan compared to the newer modern Japan.

While we pretty much just looked around Shinjuku on the first day and didn’t really do much aside from getting our bearings of the area, the second day involved quite a lot of travelling around Tokyo going to various places.

It was also the first day where we really started using the Japan rail system so it took us a bit to figure out how it all worked in comparison to what we’re use to down in Melbourne. Also, I love how you never have to wait long for a train to arrive since they’re almost one after the other on the track. When compared to Melbourne, you end up having to wait 20-30 minutes for the next train to arrive and that’s only if it arrives on time.

Meiji Shrine

Our first place to visit for the day is the Meiji Shrine located in Shibuya. It’s basically a whole forested area located right in the middle of this huge city, a slice of old world Japan inside modern-day Japan.

Shibuya

Next we headed over to Shibuya to see the sights and such, though my parents really just wanted to see Shibuya crossing which wasn’t really that packed like you see in many of the pictures. That’s kind of why the pictures of Shibuya are pretty random, though I did spot my first sign of Macross since I came to Japan, so for me, it was worth it.

Tokyo Imperial Palace

After Shibuya, we went to the Imperial Palace, which was a waste of time since you never actually see the palace itself. However, my dad wanted to see it so that’s where we went… at least I got a couple of really nice pictures out of it.

Akihabara

Ah, now this is more what I’m looking for… the upskirt warning sign told me this would be good. Akihabara was fun and full of creepy anime bullshit everywhere you went as well as even creepier Japanese girls dressed in those French maid outfits handing out fliers to the Maid Cafés… which helped me come to a realisation. I HATE those creepy maid café girls once I finally encountered one in real life. I’ve never felt so repulsed in my life and I have no idea why, it was just the whole thing, the way they acted and then that really creepy voice they have. It just didn’t sit right with me for some reason and it surprised the hell out of me because nothing has ever really made me feel this way before. Maybe this is the way conservative asshats feel about… EVERYTHING.

Anyway, after looking around we went to the Tokyo Anime Center where I spotted Sheryl and Ranka yet again… and then some more Macross stuff… which made me realise I was looking at a store that sold Macross stuff. Naturally, I rushed in to look around and realised that I would end up buying quite a lot of stuff on only my third day in Japan.

After a few minutes, I walked out of the store with three Valkyries, a VF-171 Mass Production, a RVF-25 Luca custom and YF-25 Prophecy along with a big SMS (Strategic Military Service) branded box, two t-shirts, one of Basara from Macross 7 and another black one that says “DECULTURE!!!” as well as three ties, two that are SMS branded and one branded with Frontier Skull Squadron logos. Lastly, I bought two 3D posters of a number of Valkyries and one of Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier. Within a few minutes I had ended up spending almost two thirds of my total spending money for Japan.

Overall, a great haul, though there was still more to buy in the store and more money for me to spend. However, I managed to hold off on buying everything else in the store and promised myself that I would come back to the store on my last day in Japan once I’ve looked at other stuff to buy elsewhere.

What a day, from shrines to upskirts to buying a tonne of Macross loot… the second day was a damn good day in Japan. In the next entry, we continue the adventure in Tokyo and see some more interesting things.