I went to Akihabara the other day. I had heard the pedestrian paradise was going to be reinstated, which I was looking forward to, but cars were running in every wide street of Akihabara. I like to come here especially in the summer because people are lively, and that if I'm lucky I could see some special events.
I arrived at Akihabara just before 10am, so the shops were closed. My friend and I decided to have coffees at a Veloce that was close to Yodobashi Akiba. The coffee I had was 10 yen cheaper than the Veloce in my city.
Do you know an anime called Angel Beats? As far as I know it has been very popular and its story is on a boy who got lost in another world where people are living lives after death. This sofmap always puts up an anime ad, and when I come here I can't help but pay attention to it.
You'd see lots of Ramen shops in Akihabara, but there are also several curry shops here. This "Karekichi" has 3 outlets in Tokyo. The word "Kichi" means "-maniac", so the meaning of "Karekichi" might be "Curry-maniac".
Do you know a seasoning called "Raayu" or hot sesame oil? It is basically liquid, but recently solid-type "Raayu" have been released one after another by various food companies. And this "Karekichi" was selling solid moe "Raayu" that this character was advertising. This girl says "You'd get so addicted to this yummy and spicy Raayu that you'll want more." Here's a link to pics of a bottle of solid-Raayu. Click it and scroll down.
This Naruto flag says "The Akihabara electronic shops' festival is going to be held until August 1st". If you buy things at the designated shops, you'd get a 10,000 yen coupon or Naruto character goods.
Let me introduce three anime things that I saw in Akihabara. These are One Piece chargers. It seems you can use it for the three Japanese mobile carriers, DoCoMo, AU, and Sofbank plus i-phone, i-pod and Nintendo DSi.
Manjyuu called "The Moe Rabbit from Akihabara". I often see this kind of moe snacks whose character you can see only on its package. I think the manufacturers should come up with something unique to such snacks besides moe characters, like special tastes.
K-ON Manjyuu. I showed another K-ON Manjyuu before, but this was a new version. And, as I explained before, Manjyuu is a bun that has some azuki paste in it. Here is a pic of Manjyuu. This K-ON Manjyuu seemed to have some tea leaves in the buns. This was more appealing than the Rabbit one 'cause the 5 members of K-ON actually often have snacks with tea in their club room.
And when I was on my way to Akihabara station, I dropped by the information center near Gamers, and I got this guide book on anime in English. Of course you can take it for free.
This was published by Japan Travel Agency on March 25, 2010, and that made me realize the importance of our animes that play a role in drawing foreign tourists. And this page had a Lucky Star article. Please read the description to see the details. Lucky Star is now so popular enough to be recognized by the Agency.
And this article was on Ghibli Museum in Mitaka city, Tokyo. You can visit the URL written at the bottom of the page by clicking this.
I'm now thinking of visiting Akihabara again in August. =)
