Day 44

Today was the yearly held Cave Matsuri in Akihabara. Matsuri means festival, and summer is the season for alot of different festivals - cultural ones like obon, omikoshi, hanabi and tanabata, as well as popular cultural ones like Comiket and the Cave Matsuri. I decided to sleep it out and not line up for anything this time. I got to the Cave festival around 12:30, and was handed a ticket to the shop for 16:30. Let's take a look at some of the stuff they got for sale this time.

The new bath house door covers, called "noren" in Japanese. The one to the left says "women's bath", and the other one men's.  

And Evac emblem you put on your belt.

5 chip pillows, which felt nice, but a little bit too expensive for just one. If it was 2200 yen for all five of them, then I would get them without thinking twice.

I thought I was gonna be able to just walk through and get my stuff, like two years ago when they had the Rakuen Baby festival at the same place. When I got there, there was an event going on at the stage - Wasshoi 5.5. The players in the newly released Mushihime-sama Futari Black Label & Death Smiles Mega Black Label Super Replay DVD was there to show the people some live playing.

I went there with a friend to show him some of Akihabara, so we went around to a few weird shops. In Akihabara you can find just about anything. If you can't make out what this is, don't bother.

Also checked the regular AKB stuff that I always do when in Akihabara. At the official shop I got the B3rd DVD, Ucchi's t-shirt and a CinDy clear file. In the hallway of the theater floor there is a big MVP frame with nicknames of people who have been lucky enough to get to see their stages a hundred times. And you can see the member's pictures being mirrored in the glass.

The Liberty near the big crossing is starting to sell more pictures. Prices are slightly more expensive than Trio 2, but you can find some cheaper ones here. I will stick to Trio 2 though as you can browse freely there.

Before going back to the Cave festival we paid a quick visit to Yodobashi Camera, to rest in their massage chairs, look at electronical dictionaries and iPod protection, and to meet up with a guy who wanted to sell one of his bearbricks. When we got back to the Cave festival I could buy the stuff that I wanted, and soon after there was another event going on - Midnight Live 360, which was being broadcasted on the Internet live. It was a continuation of last year, so not sure what it was all about, but I think IKD was there to talk about how it is working as a producer. And they were gonna take their time to listen to their fanbase to see what kind of shooting games they want.

Near the wall they had a bunch of framed artwork and sketches. People who wanted to, could write or draw something in the visitor's sketchbook. They also had the Ketsui helicopter 3D-pixelated inside a glass box.

Before heading home I met a friend there who I met at the same festival two years ago. I got to try the Daifukkatsu on his iPhone, which was great for being handheld and with touch pad. If I had an iPhone/iPod Touch, I would definitely get their games. I don't have enough interest in games anymore to hang around for longer, so decided to call it a day after this. Before jumping on the train home we had dinner at the nearby sushi-go-round.

This is the stuff I got today. First the Cave stuff, which is the men's noren, that I will put outside the shower or something, the new History Book with lots of data from all of their titles and events, Guwange chopsticks (called "ohashi" in Japanese), and a B2 sized poster of their latest title Akai Katana. I actually managed to not spend too much money on shit this time. Then it's the AKB stuff that I was talking about earlier in the picture below.

And this is what the bearbricks looks like unboxed. I will get a third one before I go back home, just because I'm thinking three of them will look good together on the shelf. I might get Ishida's, but not sure. I need to go to Nakano Broadway again.