Walk in Akihabara -1-

I got off at Akihabara station to see how this district looked. I came here last summer, but as the anime industry keeps releasing new series, what the shops are selling changes so often. I wanted to get in each otaku shop to take pics, but that didn't seem to be allowed. So I just wandered around the streets.

When I got off The Keihin-Tohoku Line, what caught my eyes in the first place was this big anime board. Foreign people would soon recognize this station is the gateway to the anime heaven. I'm not much of a hardcore otaku, but as a Japanese, I am used to seeing this kind of ad.

 

 

 Unfortunately Akihabara station was under construction. The red words on the left indicate where electronic parts are sold.

 

This is an ad of "at home cafe" where many maid-related events are held. I think what maids are wearing changes as time goes by. I know what a real maid looks like, as I saw some in a foreign country, but I think the whole definition of "maid" is really different in Akihabara.

 

This is the front gate of "GAMERS" , which appeared in the anime "Lucky Star". A Seiyuu called "Nana Mizuki" topped the Oricon chart (which is the most popular Japanese music chart) recently, and she performed at the most prestigious music event called "Kouhaku Utagassen" on New Year's Eve. And this shop was playing endlessly the part in the event where she was singing "Shin-ai".She is the first Seiyuu to have won the top slot of the Oricon chart. 

 

The ad on the right is by "Hobby Station", where they sell and buy trading cards. The left part is an ad by COSPA, which sells cosplay clothes, figurines and so on.

 

Do you know a pinball game called "Pachinko"? You can win some money by getting a lot of silver balls that a Pachinko machine spits out. And in response to the tastes of young Pachinko players, the industry started to feature anime characters such as Evangelion.

This is an ad by Popopure, which has both a maid cafe and an animation studio. You can act like a Seiyuu in this shop. And also, you can take part in producing a short anime.

 

One of the streets where maids are giving out the brochures of their cafes. I saw some guys being taken to a maid cafe, and I thought if you like to visit such a cafe, it would be better if you go with your friends. 

 

The biggest electric appliance store in Akihabara called "Yodobashi Akiba". You can find any electric devices at this store. And you can have sushi, rice and curry, and coffee at the restaurants in this building.

 

A maid was giving out the entire map of Akihabara district. On the map there were some ads of maid cafes and salons where you can have your feet massaged by the maids. This is the back of the map and the names of the shops are written in English.

I'd like to write more about Akihabara later on =)

Jyoushou-ken (Ramen shop)

I introduced "Nisshin Chicken Ramen" in this posting, and like I said, we are really particular about the taste of a Ramen shop. A friend of mine told me the other day that this Ramen shop called "Jyoushou ken" had opened in his neighborhood and we decide to try its Ramen. "Jyoushou ken" means an "ever-victorious shop".

Some of us have Ramen for lunch, but if we order a standard Ramen and dumplings called Gyouza as well for dinner we would be satisfied. Normally, a Ramen shop doesn't serve beverages except for a glass of water, so we often see a vending machine in the premises of a shop.

 

 Any Ramen can be had without seasonings, but we can often see pepper, vinegar, and spice called "Shichimi", which consists of seven ingredients. But the red tiny bottle you're seeing is "Ichimi", and it slightly differs from the former. If you can tell the difference between the two, you must be 200% Japanese.

 

 We ordered two plates of Gyouza. There are often 5 to 6 pieces of Gyouza on a dish. We dip them in soy sauce. And some of us like to add in the soy sauce a bit of vinegar and very hot spice called "Raayu". It is so hot that you would need only 2 to 3 drops of it

 

 Usually Gyouza contains minced vegetables such as onion, garlic, carrot, and ground chicken. It sometimes have some juice inside that is very hot, so if you have Gyouzas that have just been delivered please take care so that your tongue won't burn.

 

 I ordered "Chaashuu men". As you can see, the bowl is topped with slices of pork called "Chaashuu". Before they are put atop Ramen, the chef would burn the surface of them with a gas burner. The brown stuff that is floating on the left side of the bowl is called "Menma", which is made from bamboo shoots.

 

We were given coupons, with which we can have a bowl of Ramen next time for 500 yen or about 5.5 us dollars. The Japanese restaurants offer such coupons so that they can have the same customers again.

The broth of the Ramen this shop served was made from some fish. I usually have Ramen with broth called Tonkotsu, which is made from pork bones, but nonetheless this fish broth tasted great. I was going to watch a DVD at my friend's place, but my stomach was so full that I had to lie on the bed for the rest of the night.  (＠_＠;)

Tokyo Auto Salon 2010 -2-

This is a sequel to the last posting "Tokyo Auto Salon 2010 -1-". I stayed at this complex for more than 2 hours, but I was too busy taking pics of many cars and girls. I wanted to show all the pics I took, but not all of them were good enough. And as my knowledge about cars is limited, I doubt I could explain all of the good pics I took. Anyway, please take a look at the pictures below.

Probably everybody would think this car can run only on an official racecourse, but the white plate on your right says, "This can be driven on the public road". If you drive this car, I bet you would draw everybody's attention.

 

Two gorgeous girls were posing in different ways in front of people. I think they're beautiful, but what would you think of these girls? Personally I like the girl with black hair, and people in Japan are starting to appreciate the beauty of black hair.

 

This is a car called "RX-7" by Mazda. It was replaced by RX-8 several years ago, but there are still many fans of this car. Those who saw the anime "Initial D" would easily recognize this car. 

 

 This is another car that appeared in "Initial D". This is called "180SX" and the basic structure of this car is the same as that of the first model "Silvia". People who like to drive so fast in Japan prefer a rear-wheel-drive car, or a FR car, and this 180SX and the Silvia are driven by the rear-wheels.

 

And this is the most popular classic sport car called AE86. Toyota came up with this car in '83, but it has been popular. But you know, maintaining such a classic car costs you much money, and those who own this car should have enough money to do so.

 

Please don't think me to be weird. It was quite normal for people to take pics of the girls, and when they are so attractive as this, who could resist the urge to take pics? >.<

 

A car that has Japanese-styled wheels made by a company called "R-PRIDE". People have green-tea under a red parasol like that in Kyoto.

 

People should be already familiar with this eco-friendly car "Prius". But if it has the hybrid engine and is painted so cool as this, Prius would be owned by more young people.

 

 

They were selling fried chicken, beers and so on. I had a hot dog and a coffee for a snack.

 

 Adult people might bring back these minicars for their children. I didn't see many children and the ones who were enjoying this show were mainly people aged over 30.

 

 ...and let me show you some "Itasha" again. This car is a Skyline GT-R. I like to explain these girls but I really don't know who they are >.<

 

 I sometimes wonder why "Itasha" are mainly sport cars, but I think it is because people think good sports cars are made in Italy.

 

A close-up pic of the girl. It was reported that the printing technique has developed a great deal recently, which made this artwork possible. 

How do you like those pics? I wanted to show you mainly how "Japanese" cars were customized, as the purpose of this blog is introducing Japan. And I guess "Itasha" can be seen only in Japan for now.

Tokyo Auto Salon 2010 -1-

On Saturday I went to an event called "Tokyo Auto Salon 2010", which was held in a huge complex "Makuhari Messe" in Chiba prefecture. It has a dozen halls and is a place where big events are held many times through a year. This event was called "Tokyo -", but practically it was held in Chiba prefecture. We often call things or events in Chiba "Tokyo -", and for example Tokyo Disneyland is in Chiba prefecture.

This is a line called "The Keiyo Line". This line connects Chiba and Tokyo, and those who want to go to Tokyo Disneyland, or Makuhari Messe should take this train. It is crowded either on weekdays or weekends, with workers and those who want to have fun at those facilities.

 

 This is the "Makuhari Messe". I came here at around 10am. Though the event had started at 9am, people kept coming long after the start. You have to walk for more than 15 minutes or so to reach here from Makuhari station.

 

 This is the entrance of the complex. I bought a ticket on the Internet, so I showed the personnel a printed ticket, on which the bar-code was. You should pay about 18 us dollars a person.

 

As you can see, the entire hall was super-crowded, and I had to wade through people to take good pics. The purpose of this event was showing custom cars that had huge mufflers, aerodynamic spoliers, great paintings and so on.

 

Do you know a car called Skyline "GT-R" made by Nissan? It is considered one of the fastest cars available for the public in Japan, and this is probably the oldest "GT-R" , which was converted like this.

 

Not all the events at this complex were related to cars. And these girls were representing a fashion show project called "House Nation". Many of the spectators were busy taking videos or pics.

 

This is the car used in the movie "Transformers". 

 

You know, in the movie a car transforms into a robot, and you can see a tiny robot and car on the hood. 

 

This is another fast car called Fairlady Z also by Nissan. We often see it running on the street, but of course I hadn't seen one as cool as this. 

 

One or more very hot girls were standing by some of the cars. I guess she is under 20, and I think in order to be chosen, you should be very young and have a very good figure. I thought every girl had to go through a diet for a few months. 

 

This custom car is basically a car called Odyssey made by Honda. The surface of the car is sparkling due to very tiny jewels plastered all over the body.

 

Radio control cars that looked like those custom cars were sold. It is said young people in Japan don't like to own a sport car, but as the popularity of this event shows, custom sport cars should be still hot. So they might end up buying these instead of a real sport car. 

 

I thought I should show you the car called "Itasha". "Ita" means "pain" and "sha" is "car". We call a car from Italy also "Itasha", but people call this kind of car the same way because it would seem painful to ordinary people. 

 

But I really enjoyed looking at these "Itasha". The girl printed on must be Otoha from a manga that is ongoing in a magazine called "Dengeki G's magazine". Though I enjoyed looking at it, I thought I would need a great courage to own one like this. 

*To those who want to visit the URL on the car:click this link.

I took still more pics of this event, so let me show you them later =)