Tokyo’s wonderland for geeks (and their money).
Actually, I was pretty restrained in Akihabara this time. Last year I dropped a few hundred bucks on videogame stuff, but I controlled myself quite well this time around. Buying a new computer probably had something to do with it, I’m sure.
I only bought one game, though I was tempted to buy more. The one I got is great though:
In English, that’s: Domo-kun’s Mysterious Television. If you’re not familiar with Domo-kun, you may still recognize him from this classic internet pic:
The game is a collection of mini-games, each with a different TV theme. There’s a music channel, a nature channel, a sports channel and more. You can even watch Domo-kun give news updates about his progress as you move through the game. I think that’s what he’s doing, anyways. It’s all in Japanese, so I’m not really sure. I’ll post some videos of the game sometime and maybe somebody can tell me what the hell he’s saying.
A common sight in Japan in the “UFO Catcher” game, known as a “crane game” in other parts of the world. Put your money in, maneuver the crane over your target object and watch the impossibly weak claw try to grab your prize. I saw two strange ones in Akihabara.
This one was filled with NOVA Usagis.(NOVA is a big language school and Usagi is their mascot.)
This one had alarm clocks designed to look like a Nintendo Famicom.I snapped a picture of the second one and hurried on my way. I really want one of those clocks and I knew I’d spend all afternoon there plugging my money into the machine trying (and failing) to get one.Another interesting sight was the smokers’ restaurant:
I’m guessing it was a restaurant, but it may have just been a place to go buy cigs and smoke in peace. I’m not really sure, and I didn’t want to go in and find out. Smelling like smoke for the rest of the day was a price I wasn’t willing to pay to satisfy my curiosity.
Related to that place was this sign on a subway platform:
It asks one of those deep, philosophical questions: “Are you a good smoker?” I’ve no idea what being a “good smoker” entails, or even how to tell the difference between “good” and “bad” smokers. It might have to do with not leaving butts lying around, or not bothering others with your smoke…like I said, I’m not sure. I just thought it was an odd question to post on a sign. I do like the “Smokin’ Clean” tag though. And that was really it for Akihabara on this trip. Having acquired my Domo-kun game (which was the main reason for the stop in the neigborhood), I hopped on the subway and headed on to my next destination.