The Old School Otaku Lounge

It's 4:37am now. Ugh. I'm jittery from waking up so early, but I can always sleep on the bus. I'm leaving now to ride my bike to the train station and catch my bus. I hope Dave has my phone number with him, since I'm not sure if he has access to the forum.

What a day! My cell phone's built-in manpoke (pedometer) counted nearly 27,000 footsteps today.

First, I went to Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku for a while, and looked at their model kits. Then I met up with my friend Yasu and he showed me around Shimokitazawa. I've been there a few times before, at night, but mainly just to eat. We went to Village Vanguard, ate lunch at the VV diner, went to one great record store (forgot the name) and went to an interesting toystore called ３丁目something. Peter, holy crap... I bought a Buck Rogers starfighter there for only 4,000 yen!!! That kit goes for well over $100 on eBay. This is a Tsukuda release of the Monogram kit. It's gone down in price lately it seems.

Anyhow, I went to the Kiddie Land in Harajuku, checked into my hotel, then hit Akihabara for a few hours. I'm just going to take it easy tonight, watch some X-Men cartoons, and go to Wonfes tomorrow. I bought the catalog/ticket tonight at Toranoana.

I slept at the inn and recovered my HP. Now I'll be heading to Makuhari Messe for Wonfes wearing my Macross: DYRL t-shirt. IF I find a guy matching Dave's description, I will ask. But I imagine it will be too crowded, like the Shizuoka Hobby Show (if not worse).

We totally ditched Wonderfest and I don't regret it a bit, as our luggage is mostly full of nerd stuff already. I suggest we meet tomorrow at noon at Nakano Broadway in front of the big Mandarake display window on the first floor, just at the entrance to the mall proper.

Right. I wasn't aware of any Mandarake shops on the first floor, but I haven't been there in over a year. Dave, Peter and I will meet at 11am in front. Just find the Mandarake place you are thinking about at noon and we'll look for you.

I went through the whole Wonderfest today and while it was fun, I didn't buy anything. I almost bought a Bubblegum Crisis plastic model for only 2,000 yen, but all I bought were some Blade Runner stickers.

I was at Nakano Broadway last week. Right at the entrance of the building proper (not the covered walkway area, but the actual building), on the right as you enter, there is a storefront full of display showcases full of Mandarake items and a big Mandarake logo. It's not a shop, just displays. I thought it would be a fine place to meet, it's hard to miss. We'll be there at noon.

Glad to hear that the meetup went well.

Yeah, it was great. Maybe Dave can post the pic of him and myself later. Afterwards, I went to Akihabara to buy some more video games and take a look at the Mandarake there. I didn't bother trying to get an earlier bus. I got home late last night and woke up early this morning. I'm heading to bed tonight. I can write more later. I'm just tired after a long weekend.

We had fun, it was great to meet you guys! We went one stop down the train afterwards and hit Gojira-ya. Lots of great old stuff, some surprises, and they cut us a deal, which is good as their prices are a bit up there.

We made it out before any heavy weather hit Tokyo; the flight was uneventful. the Calgary airport is quaintly 1980s. Still kinda getting through the jet lag.

Here's a photo of Greg and me in front of a building full of hostess bars and maid cafes in the back alleys around Nakano Broadway: