akihabara

Did some work in the AM and then went over to the Park Hyatt about noon. The sky was heavy with clouds but the rain was tapering off, so I had faith that the Japanese weather reports would be correct and we'd have blue skies for the PM.
Met Larry, Nancy, and The Jake and we walked through Central Park to get to the subway station. Nancy remarked on the amazing homeless houses built out of tarp, tents, and cardboard. Some of them even had doors and windows. Regardless of what the hotel told her, though, I reassured her that no one in Japan ever pan-handles, and walking through Central Park in Shinjuku at 2 am was no more dangerous than walking through the hotel lobby. It's a tough concept to get, but the worst thing Japanese homeless people will do is read and sleep alot. Which if you think about it is what most people would do it they didn't have to work every day.
So we got on the Oedo Line and Nancy jumped off at Aoyama-Icchome to transfer to the Hanzomon Line and go to Omotesando. She walked around checking out all the cool shops and boutiques and met Hiroko and Rolands for lunch.
Meanwhile me and Larry and The Jake went Hakuhinkan in Ginza. But first The Jake had to remind me how much I Suck, because I missed Shimbashi Station and we had to get off the train and get back on to go back, wasting 7 precious minutes. But it was all part of my plan, because those extra 7 minutes gave us just enough time for the weather to clear and the blue ski to come burning through.
We got off at Shinbashi and walked over to Hakuhinkan. Larry bought armloads of Yugioh for Sanitsky The Smallest and The Jake checked out some of the other coolness. Then we got on the JR line and headed to The Mecca: Akihabara.
Straight out of the station we went up to Yellow Submarine and wandered around looking at all the cool figures and toys. The Jake got a bunch of sweet Naruto figures and Final Fantasy monster figures and I grabbed a set of Shinsengumi samurai. We hit all the floors looking for more Yugioh and checking out the crazy custom models and figures (nice Rhino!)

Then we went across the street to Gamers to check out the Anime stuff. Larry was hypnotized by small electronics so we left him to his own devices and me and The Jake started on the ground floor and worked our way 7 stories. The whole building was infused with a Peach smell. Kinda pleasant in a wierd way. Found some Naruto and One Piece DVDs, but they were new and not too cheap. Also looked for some soundtracks for Final Fantasy but nothing too exciting. Ended up grabbing a bunch of Naruto manga and more Yugioh stuff for Satinsky The Smallest.
Then we wandered through the small sketchy stores and Larry was again hypnotized by small electronic devices of questionable utility.
We cruised up the main street and hit one of the duty-free stores. Larry was checking out a tiny portable DVD player that was region free, but we wanted to compare prices so we continued on in search of food. The Doner Kebab truck wasn't there, so we went for the traditional hotdogs at Doutor's cafe (?) then crossed the street to check out the video game displays at Asobit City. We cruised up to the top floor of Animate to check DVD prices but still new DVDs were kinda pricey.
Finally worked our way back to the station and hit Laox to verify the price of region-free DVD players. Larry settled on a sweet little unit that's PAL/NTSC and region free. Larry busted the salesman's butt in expected NY fashion because the sign said Region 6 but the dude said it's region free and had to prove it by putting in a US, a European, and a Chinese DVD to show that they all worked.
With nothing left to buy in Akihabara we got back on the Yamanote, rode to Shinbashi, and got the bus back to my house so that The Jake could get some more munchies and check out my swords. After whining about Hint of Lime Tostitos, he relented and devoured my remaining half-bag and the last of Hiroko's Magical Salsa. We checked out my swords and then Nancy called, saying she was on her way back to the hotel. I had to get ready for practice so Larrry and The Jake, loaded down with shopping bags, got on the bus up to the Oedo Line station to subway back to Shinjuku.
In all, a primely successful day, with minimal sketchiness.