Day 47

Headed out for Nakano with a friend from the house for some final AKB shopping. I couldn't resist more bearbricks and ended up buying three more, plus some expensive photos to complete a collection. This is the guy who had all the bearbricks on sale that I talked about earlier. You rent these glass boxes and put in stuff you want to sell, then you just go to the clerk who works there and say what you want to buy. The sellers can come back any time to collect their cash and put new stuff in. You can also see what each glass box currently have on their website. The one on the picture below is number C-199. I'm not sure how often they update the photos, but I think once a week or so. As you can see, this guy has a few new items like the Yuko daruma and 5400secs micro SDs, but still plenty of bearbricks.

Then we meet with another friend of mine who I met in Japan three years ago. As with many other people I know, we don't really stay in touch, but still make sure to meet whenever possible. Had dinner at an Italian resturant which means pasta and escargots.

And these are the bearbricks and pictures I got this time. Some of them were expensive, but I want to have 6 of each set so they take up a full spread in the binder. Still want more of the election posters.

Day 46

With a vacation/trip for this long, it's inevitable that you won't be doing anything on some days. Today was such a day. So instead, let me tell about guest houses in Tokyo. For the times I've stayed in Japan, I've been at three different guest houses. The two first being Sakura House, and the third one the one I'm staying at now. A guest house is like a shared house - you get your own room but share things like kitchen, dining and living room, toilet and shower. It's convenient when you first come to Japan for a longer period as you don't need to pay large amounts of fees which you would most likely have to do if you want an apartment. You can then take your time to look for a place which will suit you the most. I would not recommend staying any longer than three months in a guest house. You can get a much better and larger place for a similiar or cheaper rent. If you're only here on a longer vacation, like me, it's a good and cheap place to stay at. And basically the only other place you could stay at would be hotels and hostels. For starters, today I had shrimps sallad with fresh vegetables and mayonnaise, with a cinnamon roll and a chocolate drink.

Kitchen area. People in guest houses tend to not clean up after themselves, and noone wants to clean up after someone else. Luckily the landlord do some thorough cleaning at least once a week. Leave food in the open and you can be sure to spot some cockroach during nights.

Dining area. Another good thing with staying at guest houses on trips is that there will almost always be someone to talk to.

How it looks from outside. There's a 10-15 minutes walk to the Yamanote line, so some people buy bicycles. Just be sure to leave it somewhere it won't by taken away by the authorities. They come with trucks on without notice and pick up all the bikes that are parked within non-parking areas. Everybody still continue to park their bicycles in such areas.

Day 43

In the afternoon I went to Yokohama to visit the park that appears in Kanpeki Gu~no Ne, some other locations, and to shoot some film after dark. Was short on daylight time, so I did Kanpeki quick, and then headed for the Ashita wa Ashita no Kima ga Umareru location. I need to buy these singles before I go home.

Watarirouka Hashiritai - Kanpeki Gu~no Ne

Watarirouka Hashiritai - Kanpeki Gu~no Ne

Watarirouka Hashiritai - Kanpeki Gu~no Ne

Watarirouka Hashiritai - Kanpeki Gu~no Ne

Watarirouka Hashiritai - Kanpeki Gu~no Ne

Watarirouka Hashiritai - Kanpeki Gu~no Ne

Chocolove - Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru

This shot was weird. I think they filmed at the other end of the building (seen in the picture below), and then mirrored it. Or I missed to check around the corner. Still look the same!

Chocolove - Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru

Instead of the Mendol locations, of which I wasn't sure I would be able to get to anyway, I did the three resturants that appear in Osawagase Food Show (100515).

Osawagase Food Show (100515)

Osawagase Food Show (100515)

Osawagase Food Show (100515)

Their food was a little bit too expensive for me, so I had tantan-men instead, a spicy ramen. Nothing compared to the bakuhatsu ramen though.

I wanted to get some film footage so headed for Osanbashi first. I will upload the finished movie once it's done. Enjoy a some random photos meanwhile. First, a stray cat. In Japan there are many stray cats, most of them are very thin since it's hard to find food in a city made of mostly concrete. I've seen many cats stick together, and play - or fight. I'm not really sure which. Have you ever seen large pet bottles filled with water tied to a street light or put near houses? It is said that the moonlight reflecting in the water inside the bottles will scare cats away from getting near ones house at night to look for food.

Day 42

Another slacking/shopping day. Of couse it's Nakano Broadway again for more pictures. When you go by train, there's a train change guidance sign on the platform you can look at, to understand where on the train you need to be in order to step off near the exits, stairs, escalators, elevators, and train change. So smart. Also, right next to it is the big yellow sign with a level map of the station. Popular spots are also pointed out so you know which exit to take.

At Nakano I met up with a friend to buy and trade more pictures and look for bearbricks. Had udon with two deep-fried shrimps for dinner. Udon is thick noodles. At this place, you can add pretty much anything you want to your choice of udon. You also get to choose size, and often if you want it hot or cold. Cold udon and soba is very popular in the summer. Knowing Japanese really helps when you want to eat "real" Japanese food, the kind that every office worker eat at their lunch break, as everything in this kind of resturants is in Japanese.

And I finally got myself a bearbrick. There are small glass boxes that private person can rent, and that's where I found one I wanted. The same person also had the full complete 7 Eleven bearbrick box for sale. Price? 200,000 yen.

Day 39

Started the day early by cleaning up the room a little. Went out to send out some parcels and get some food. Let me tell you about the typical residential area in Tokyo where the guesthouse is located. Within 5 minutes walk, there are about five convenience stores, all open 24/7. There are at least two post offices nearby.

On the shopping street there're two super markets right next to each other, one having some items cheaper than the other and vice versa. I usually go to this one, Tomie Store, to stock up on drinks. Here, they cost about 100 yen for a 500ml PET bottle, which will save you quite alot than if you bought them all at convenience stores or vending machines for 150 yen.

Right next to the supermarkets is a book store with the latest magazines on display. In Japan, it's OK to read in the stores. This is called "tachiyomi", and literally it means "standing reading". Though some stores like to wrap everything up in plastic.

This is a very typical shopping street in a residential area of Tokyo. And every shopping street got at least one pachinko, which makes alot of noise everytime anyone walk past and the automatic doors open. You cannot make money from pachinko itself. The system is that when you've got a certain amount of balls, you can trade it in for a little toy. Either you keep the toy, or head over to the store right next to the pachinko who will buy the toy from you. The store knows how many balls are needed for each toy, and will pay you thereafter. This is how people make money from pachinko. You'll hear about people losing more often than winning though, easily spending over 10,000 yen in 15 minutes.

At the corner there's an Origin Bento, where you can chose a lunch box and they will make it for you while you wait. Also open 24/7, which is great when you're hungry in the middle of the night.

This is roasted chicken bento, for a mere 390 yen.

Since Kurisu was on day duty at Tokyo Dome today I decided to head out there. First I stopped by at Ochinomizu to get the Oogoe Diamond shot I missed earlier.

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Upon arriving I changed my mind about getting the night pass. 3000 yen is kind of overkill for just a trading card, especially considering I recently was there and Thunder Dolphin was closed due to maintenance. So I just went around the park to get the Shukan AKB shots.

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Sometimes you need to eat healthy food. They're having a campaign now in which you get a free strap if you buy a LL set (large fries and large drink).

There's still a couple of shots I wanna get from Tokyo Dome, so I will return when there's another of my oshimen's day duty.

Day 37

Today I went to Akihabara first to check the regular stuff. No new items at Liberty, but at the theater floor of Don Quixote there were less people than last time, so I could take my picture with the fishheads.

Nobody was trading pics which was a little dissapointing since I got a couple of ones I want to get rid of. But at the official store they got new items - B5th and K6th studio recordings CD's. Just outside Club Sega nar the station I saw a girl handing out flyers for some game, and her outfit looked completely like the Iiwake Maybe outfit. So I asked her if it was AKB cosplay, and she said "no, it's from this game" and handed me the flyer. Yeah right, I thought. After looking at the flyer, the cosplay was actually from one the girls in the game. Still a complete rip-off of the AKB outfit.

Then I went to Trio 2 at Nakano Broadway again to buy more pics. I've decided to try to get 3 or 6 of each set, because they look good together in the binder. Nakano Broadway is shopping mall located by the end of a long shopping street just north of Nakano station.

Trio got a few stores there, the first one is for all the boy bands like Arashi, SMAP, Hey Say Jump, etc. At Trio 2 they focus on female idols and movie stars. They got plenty of posters, old magazines, trading cards and pictures, promo stuff, etc. They got a special corner for the AKB pictures, which they really need to expand. There are always a bunch of people there browsing the pics. At Trio 3, they got Hello Project stuff, but I've never found that store.

Back home the BBQ party had already started, so I just dig in on whatever I could find. It's really nice that the landlord is doing this kind of thing for everyone, and it's a real pity more people living here don't participate or enjoy it as much as he would want them to.

Around the corner there was a bunch of people carrying around a shrine and making alot of noise. Not sure what the festival or activity is called.

When it got dark we did some fireworks. They got alot of different fireworks in Japan, and these were all for holding in your hand. Some of them were really nice and flashy, but very short.

And this is the loot from today. A bunch of pics and the two new studio recordings.