This last post will be on the swag that I bought while in Japan. I believe I spent more on food and drink than on otaku stuff. Some of my money also went towards the arcades while I was there. So if you plan on going to Japan and want to buy otaku stuff, bring lots of cash or have a credit card, preferably Visa.
Archive for the 'Vacation' Category Page 2 of 3
Today’s post is a bunch of miscellaneous stuff that I didn’t mention in my other posts for they are mainly general.If you are visiting Japan, I would highly recommend taking the rail system. There are multiple rail system but the real difference is the JR Line and Local rail line, difference being JR goes all over Japan while Local is for the local area only. After you step out into the main building of the airport, head over to the tourist area where you can get information on where to visit in Japan and most importantly, train tickets. As a foreigner, based on my experience, you get a three day pass for 5,000 yen and a one day for 2000 yen. Here’s the trick, visit all the popular tourist spots, can usually be found in the book they give you that describes the place and how to get there, that charge you an entrance fee. For in the book they give you with your ticket are coupons you can use to fully pay for the entrance fee or at least give you some percent off, for example I visited Osaka castle and the entrance fee is 600 yen for an adult which I used the coupon to pay for, thats practically 1/3 of the one day pass 0o0.
For my last day in Japan, I stayed in the town around my hotel which would probably be boring but luckily a festival was going on that day at the local shopping street. People were yelling, cute girls giving away stuff like fans and tissues, crazy dancing, street food galore, games, etc of a festival. So it was really cool plus I spent the day going from arcade to arcade playing different games and trying to win prizes from UFO catchers, wish we had these back in the states. Local arcades are done with coins still unlike the corrupt American recharge card, with arcade games costing usually 50 or 100 yen. UFO’s were usually 100 yen for the smaller prizes and 200 yen for big ones.
Sorry about the lack of posts, I was busy, even today. This post is my favorite for it embodies the spirit of otaku. For I have visited the second Akihabara (Akiba) called Den Den Town or Nipponbashi. To get there while in Osaka by train, you go on the Sakaisuji line and get off at the Ebisucho station and I believe go out by exit 1. Once you come out you will breathe electronics, anime, games, gundams, naughty stuff, and that o such wonderful smell of otaku lol. I got to see otaku’s in their natural habitat and let me tell you something, where all the otaku go are for +18 people lol. Honestly I went to these “naughty places” and normal places and that +18 is where all otaku were. I got to see people of all ages though, but mostly +18. Den Den Town isn’t exactly Akiba and is actually I believe smaller but still filled with enough otakuness to satisfy. If you ever go there to search for otaku stuff, I would suggest walking around first and window shop or in my case floor shop lol. I bought an Ignis figure (will show in later post) made by Alter for I believe 3880 yen which on the two floors above in the same building was around 6000 yen. So shop around and you might find a big score like mine, for I went to many stores and found they all differed in price even though they sold the same item. You can find some cheap eats while you are there, but I recommend you save money for otaku stuff. I saw a few maid cafes as well but didn’t have time to eat strawberry shortcake with a cute maid (I should have though lol).
Note: Sorry for the big pics, will have to resize them later on photobucket. Some images NSFW
I went to visit Osaka Castle, aka Ozakajo, the next day, the construction was ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It was interesting to see something that was constructed during the time samurai and damiyo existed, btw it was reconstructed after being bombed in WWII, in the middle of the business district. But the inside of the castle was made up to look like a museum and nothing looked like a castle at all inside. Something that I thought was really cool though was projected images of actors acting out the time during Hideyoshi’s life as I have never seen that before. The view from the top is great and the park around it is real nice as well, though it would have been nicer when the cherry blossoms bloomed. If you really want to understand and see a small part of Japanese history, I would advise you to visit.
On the second day I went to Osaka Aquarium KAIYUKAN and Deer Park in Nara. Osaka Aquarium is a nice way to spend around half a day in. There were a bunch of animals I’ve never seen before including a whale shark, Japanese crab, some gigantic fish, and other animals. There was a big shopping center next to the aquarium that included an arcade where I won my first UFO crane game prize in Japan. There were a lot of things to buy in the shopping center and worth checking out. After the aquarium I took the train to Deer Park which is actually full of deer, both male and female. The deer just roam around in the park and eat grass if some person, like me, doesn’t feed them. It was really cool feeding the deer, although they can be a bit aggressive so I suggest people who feed them be at least 5′6″; for I am 5′9″ and those deer horns went up to my lower chest where they prodded me lol. It was interesting being harassed by deer, for I just pulled out my wallet to get 150 yen for some deer food when they swarmed me and started poking me lol, not an experience I will soon forget. They are really tame and won’t tackle you based on my experience and once I showed them I had no food left they left me lol, talk about eat and run. There are a few pagodas and temples around the area so its nice to walk around before you head back home/hotel.
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