Tokyo randomness

Over the weekend, I went up to Tokyo to hang out with Ben and Carrie, and also with Tomo when he wasn’t working. It was sort of a random weekend with no real initial plans. Ben and Carrie wanted to check out Asakusa and Kappabashidori. Asakusa is famous for the sensoji temple, and Kappabashidori is famous for excellent cooking supplies including famous knife shops. It had been a while since I had been to Asakusa, but it never fails to interest me. It is the most “touristy” place in Tokyo that I know. The approach to the temple is lined with souvenir shops with some rather interesting things available. The temple was under renovation – is this THE year for temple renovation? I have never seen so many temples under renovation. Kappabashidori was interesting as well – lots of cookware shops, knives, and plastic food shops. I find the plastic food fascinating. We had a delicious lunch at Freshness Burger, and then went to Akihabara.

I’ve never really understood Akihabara – perhaps I just don’t go to the correct place. We checked out a manga shop featuring dojin comics. Carrie felt a little out of place as we looked at book covers with a wide assortment of big-breasted semi naked cat-eared girls. There were only 7 floors of books, but the building was skinny. We also hit a few electronics shops as well, which can be almost as visually shocking as the manga shop.

For dinner, we met Jin and had a good visit.

Souvenir shops in Asakusa

 

Yes we can! Obama-mania has not sold out yet in Japan.

The area around senjo temple

 

Ben and Carrie look like they are having fun.

 

We noticed some funny things around Akasuka and Kappabashidori. I am extremely curious what the heart farting character represents. Oh, such pretty farts. It is noce that I can maintain my juvenile humor after all these years.

 

Also, I think this gas cassette is definitely not a good idea to try to carry on to a plane.

 

And where exactly does cowgel come from?

 

The symbol for kappabashidori is a frogman. I thought it was strange.

 

I was fascinated by the plastic food. There were several cases of plastic beer. Don’t the ice covered cans look great?

 

 

There was case after case of sample food.

 

Sunday we had no real plan either. We waked from Shidome to Tokyo Station to meet Kevin for lunch. We hit Ginza and the Sony showroom. The Sony showroom is not the technological showplace it once was. I think Sony has not found the next new thing and is suffering. After lunch, I remembered the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) showroom was nearby, so what better place to take two space geeks? Carrie bought an H2A rocket pen and some spacefood!

Can’t you see them as astronauts?

 

 

We also visited a display celebrating Japan’s World Baseball Classic championship win. I had to photograph Ichiro and Matsuzaka’s actual jerseys.