Akihabara and Shinjuku Golden Gai

I decided to go to Shinjuku today, but to kill time before the train I stopped in into an Akihabara bookstore to check it out.
first time seeing anything Star War related in Japan. the Shop had quite a bit, I guess because of the new movie.

Not out of the ordinary to have general audience manga 5 steps way from a massive pornography section.

Video game books: something that isn’t much of a thing in the States anymore.

 

Animal crossing books

 

Every floor seemed to be its own section, with one whole floor dedicated to books on trains. Then of course the 9th floor… nudie mags.

 

I walked around Akihabara looking for a vintage game shop Super Potato. Akihabara has a lot of Maid Cafes. They are overpriced cafes where the waitress is dressed in a French Maid outfit and does some stupidly cute things while serving coffee and cakes. For marketing they usually send one of the maids on the street to hand out fliers.

 

Very tempted to hit up this arcade, but didn’t have time.

 

This shop was under a railway bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone getting the maid cafe sales pitch

 

Super Potato

Super Potato is a used and vintage game store in Akihabara. It’s a great place to experience decades of video game culture in one stop.

 

 

 

The aisles are packed full of games and doodads

 

 

 

 

The top floor has a snack bar and vintage arcade

 

 

Had lunch at my usual place. Udon and pork kastu.

 

Shinjuku

West of Akihabara, Shinjuku is the business capitol of Tokyo, with massive skyscrapers, a gigantic train station and districts as large as some cities.

 

I’ve hears stories about people getting lost in Shinjuku Station,  the world’s busiest transport hub. I didn’t find it all that bad. Maybe it was just my timing, but it wasn’t terribly busy and everything was well labeled.

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know what this is, exactly, but I was disappointed it was closed.

 

 

I was hungry but couldn’t find a decent place to grab a bite.

 

I think I wandered into the red light district

 

 

People on the streets were pretty calm despite the Godzilla attack.

 

 

I stopped into this grimy arcade

 

Star Horse is a horse race betting “arcade” game. With gambling illegal in Japan, players place bets with tokens.

 

 

Definitely in the red light district. There was a bunch of young men, styled up and with long hair walking to work. These are club hosts.  After work or school, people go to clubs where the hosts hang out and flirt. In the clubs for girls the men are usually dressed like pop stars. Some even sing.

 

 

 

Not what I expected when i saw the name on the map.

 

A lot of restaurants in Japan have this very realistic resin food on display. It usually looks very good.

 

Top row: gigantic waffles

 

Unfortunately the Bikini girl monkey ice cream cafe was not open.

 

Golden Gai

Golden Gai is a small neighborhood of tiny bars in the Kabukicho district of Shinjuku. Dating back to Tokyo’s post war economic boom, when the area was packed with small 2-story buildings among narrow alleys. In the 1950s the place was known for prostitution, but since becoming illegal, it is now filled with over 200 bars, some often only fitting a handful of patrons, each with it’s own style and menu.

I’m here during the day, so its a ghost town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the bars have decorated doors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner

After Shinjuku, I went to meet my pen pal Hiro at Kitasenju Station

 

 

We walked around looking for a place to eat

 

We found an Okinawan place and had this ham, rice, and eggs dish

 

…and these fried chicken strips

 

We then hit up a bar for some cold sake

 

 

Today’s haul