Tokyo Spring 2010 Day 9 (MJ ver)

Otaku Shopping~!
Highlights today, Otaku shopping! Akihabara was on the list this morning. Everyone got their toys today!

Wilson super fast. He went into one of the stores and immediately disappeared, even though we were a few seconds behind. He managed to find his black rock shooter figurine at 15000¥ (S$238 yo). Chad got the largest Tokyo tower model available, with lights and all, at S$200. Both their boxes were huge! I don’t know how they’re going to squeeze them into their luggage. Quote from them, “Buy first, worry later” lol.

Managed to find a pair of nice One Piece figurines for my sis. The place I got it from was max shady. They had AV and all sorts of random stuff in tight corridors. Other purchases of the day included a nice pair of CK gloves, jacket and windbreaker (4990¥ + 5000¥ + 3000¥!) to prepare for tomorrow’s trip to Hakone. It’s going to be so cold up in the mountains. The sweater I got at Shibuya 109-2 doesn’t work against the cold wind and icy rain.

Lunch 51 storeys high
For lunch, we lined up Japan’s best Kobe beef, 50 floors up at Shinjuku’s Sumitomo building. Unfortunately, when got there, their lunch time was over, and the only time we could have it next was during dinner. S$300 per person dinner, nope. Settled for some not OK seafood at another restaurant on the same floor. I’ve never had lunch so high up on the air before, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

Roppongi, land of the atas
Made our way to Roppongi after lunch. The place made Paragon look like Toys’R'Us. The shops there are so high end, even LV looks cheap. There was this United Arrows shop, 1 long sleeve shirt was going for 233,000¥. That’s $3,698!! WTF?! ouch.

We skipped the night life area because it was still early, and it was raining ice water. After just walking a few rounds we decided that Roppongi wasn’t the place for us budget travelers, so we split up to do more shopping at Ginza. I know Ginza is expensive, but at least it’s still within our buying range.

Ginza, again
My 3rd time at Ginza, so I pretty much knew where to get what. I got stuck at the Burberry store again for the 3rd time. Their bags and over shirts looked so incredibly nice. I bought a similar looking one at Uniqlo, but after seeing the Burberry one again, the cut, material and design were worlds apart. The price too. 28,000¥ for the bag, 29,000¥ for the over shirt. That’s like $800 right there. Decided to take the next few days to think over. Decisions decisions!

Spanish Dinner GETS!
Got some other necessities from Uniqlo before heading off to Akihabara to meet Chad for some very cool Spanish food. Because the chef was taking his own sweet time to prepare each individual dish, we had a lot of time to chat about nonsense stuff. Like what impulse purchases we regretted. Or what we regretted not buying.

At this point my only regret was not going for more MM concerts. The things I bought so far were all within reasonable prices, so no regrets in the purchase department. We were counting how much we spent so far, and not including the H!P stuff ($700 for those) I got for the forum people, I’m at $5129 now, including air tickets and hotel. OMG! This trip is the most expensive one yet.

Anyways the Spanish food was delicious. The wait was long, servings were small, but the food and price were good! Satisfied.

Akihabara’s Mega porn store
Went to check out the massive AV store after that. Yes I’m still amazed at the variety of toys they have. They had these $5000 pose-able, customizable life like dolls that looked very, very creepy. You can switch out limbs and hairstyles, buy clothes for them, even the type of ‘insert’ they have below. xD The people inside seem to be very serious about their purchases, staring at vibrators for the longest time, checking out specs and testing… things.

On the way back we were wondering weather or not it’s ok to take photos with these girls dressed in maid costumes advertising their maid cafes. I found it slightly disturbing that they could stand the in the cold, so late at night at some shady street (it was beside the largest AV store I’ve ever seen) and not be worried?

Anyways, one of the longest days ever. Budget wise I’m feeling the pinch now. Have to think twice before making any more purchases. After all the walking, I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. Didn’t even unpack. Woos. Another long day tomorrow!