True Otaku Experience
27th February 2008, Wednesday
The first afterthought of the trip was that it seems longer than it was supposed to be...
The trip itself was fueled by an itinerary which offers much flexibility and no mad rush from point to point...
We stayed the entire day exploring Akihabara on the first day while Sunday was just Wonder Festival and Odaiba-bound, so without much exploring Tokyo by JR trains or subways, the days seemed slightly longer....
When you have a crew like ourselves on board, it was no surprise that the trip was to be otaku-orientated....
Without the missus, I was given the liberty to explore Akihabara in depth and with the fact that we are living at Washington Hotel Akihabara, a stone throw away from the train station, it makes the exploring much easier...
However for a figure maniac like myself and Chan, there were only that few usual suspects we hounded for some of the few figures we could not get in our shores...
We had the time to actually compare prices between shops for the best deal and went back the same evening to grab it...Didn't indulged too much in Akiba though for the figurines...
Meanwhile WCCF was on the top of all priorities for Vincent and perhaps to some extent his partner in crime, Reedy. With Yuu-kun who join us since the first day since arriving from his hometown Kagoshima back to Tokyo where he is in the midst of acquiring his lawyer bar, the trio had a merry time visiting the Gigo Sega Game Center just a good 100 steps from the hotel to build their cyber soccer team, pitting their wits and skills against their Japanese counterparts over the course of the 4 days when we were there.
They also had a side quest on hand...card hunting.
As the probability of getting an excellent golden legend card from the card dispenser after every game seems rather bleak, money is always able to buy you the best player like in the real world.
Akihabara was littered with shops willing to buy back quality WCCF cards from gamers and sell to the open market for a hike price with the likes of a MVP Zinedine Zidane going at as much as 30,000 yen or so.
They started out scouring for good deal at Liberty, the store specialized in 2nd hand hobby goods where I always had fun hauling for figuriines of a good deal which progressed to a well-secluded shop in the middle of nowhere where they were willing to dish out good 2000 yen each for a lucky dip for rare cards...
Vincent was ecstatic when he got his hands on the Legendary pair of Shearer & Bergkamp.. They even went the extent to pay close to 10K for a Ronaldinho MVP card which the experienced online seller Reedy said that they could resell it for 2 to 3 times that price on ebay...what astute selling strategy which seldom sees him wrong over the years.
The rest of us too had our hands on some of the games as well as UFO catcher in Gigo where Chan poured 100 yen coins time and again for a couple of Yamashita Shunya style Kasumi from the fighting game "Dead or Alive" but eventually got them after multiple attempts.
We also signed up as the Federation army or Zeon guerrillas and slugged it out in "MS Gundam Senjou no Kizuna" as we were excited about hitting the battle pod and trying to see whether we are good MS pilots with the caliber of Amuro or Char.
I was with V & Reedy as the Zeon Zafts and we won our 2 games and Yuu, Chan & Ferris also tasted victory as Federation GMs.
However the motion sickness in the pod was a bit too much to take and we decided one trial was enough for the day and the trip itself....
Wining & dining was also on the agenda as we wanted to let Mrs Ferris, Lisa to sample as much authentic Japanese cuisine as possible...
From the Mr Donut selection at the very beginning till the fish cake sticks we had on the Skyliner train to Narita airport, I wonder how much we had spent to just appeasing our digestive systems which are over worked by the way...
We had yakiniku the first evening at Yodobashi Camera followed by 2 nights of izakaya, I think we clocked a good 14,000 yen on so for dinners over the 3 days (the last evening our hospitable host, Tsurudome-san treated us unagi-don to commemorate a great Wonder Festival)
The lack of fiber was also evident while Chan just couldn't stop drinking his favorite yogurt drink on daily basis...
Speaking of my room mate, Chan had the habit of falling asleep when you least suspected it.. Perhaps the daily routine took a toll on his body but I was envious how easily he was engaged into the sleeping mode...
Our stay at APA hotel in Kiba wasn't as luxurious as Harumi the year before but was at least bigger than the Washingtons...
They served breakfast in the morning which saved us abit of money for dining but the food could be a wee bit better as Chan proclaimed...
The location wasn't too good as well as we had to take cab to and fro from the final station along the Yurikamome line which will deliver us to Tokyo Big Sight where the Wonder Festival was held.
The Wonder Festival sees another surge in volume of visitors but it was fun just scurrying to buy the exclusives before those suckers who were braving the cold outside for hours could get their hands on it first...
Speaking of cold, it was indeed much more chilly as compared to the year before...
However the chill started to bite our bones when we got to the bay area in Odaiba over the weekend but it happens that strong gales were affecting parts of Japan, hindering flights and railways, so which was why we were nearly blown away at Kiba by the chilly winter wind....
It was still really cold when we hit Suidobashi station where we wanted to visit the JUMP shop across Tokyo Dome.
This was the only place I had never been to for the trip and sure was quite an interesting place with a leisure park, featuring a roller coaster ride which spans the facade of the shopping center, Laqua which looks like a ship.
All in all it was a great time for all of us with extravagant spending and feasting and let's hope poor Lisa was able to salvage whatever intermission found in the otaku-themed trip perhaps the Disneysea adventure with her spouse...Even then the Fab 4 still managed to find time to spend tens of thousands at the Disney Resort store just outside....
The first afterthought of the trip was that it seems longer than it was supposed to be...
The trip itself was fueled by an itinerary which offers much flexibility and no mad rush from point to point...
We stayed the entire day exploring Akihabara on the first day while Sunday was just Wonder Festival and Odaiba-bound, so without much exploring Tokyo by JR trains or subways, the days seemed slightly longer....
When you have a crew like ourselves on board, it was no surprise that the trip was to be otaku-orientated....
Without the missus, I was given the liberty to explore Akihabara in depth and with the fact that we are living at Washington Hotel Akihabara, a stone throw away from the train station, it makes the exploring much easier...
However for a figure maniac like myself and Chan, there were only that few usual suspects we hounded for some of the few figures we could not get in our shores...
We had the time to actually compare prices between shops for the best deal and went back the same evening to grab it...Didn't indulged too much in Akiba though for the figurines...
An updated view of Akihabara which was the haunt of the trip
Meanwhile WCCF was on the top of all priorities for Vincent and perhaps to some extent his partner in crime, Reedy. With Yuu-kun who join us since the first day since arriving from his hometown Kagoshima back to Tokyo where he is in the midst of acquiring his lawyer bar, the trio had a merry time visiting the Gigo Sega Game Center just a good 100 steps from the hotel to build their cyber soccer team, pitting their wits and skills against their Japanese counterparts over the course of the 4 days when we were there.
They also had a side quest on hand...card hunting.
As the probability of getting an excellent golden legend card from the card dispenser after every game seems rather bleak, money is always able to buy you the best player like in the real world.
Akihabara was littered with shops willing to buy back quality WCCF cards from gamers and sell to the open market for a hike price with the likes of a MVP Zinedine Zidane going at as much as 30,000 yen or so.
They started out scouring for good deal at Liberty, the store specialized in 2nd hand hobby goods where I always had fun hauling for figuriines of a good deal which progressed to a well-secluded shop in the middle of nowhere where they were willing to dish out good 2000 yen each for a lucky dip for rare cards...
Vincent was ecstatic when he got his hands on the Legendary pair of Shearer & Bergkamp.. They even went the extent to pay close to 10K for a Ronaldinho MVP card which the experienced online seller Reedy said that they could resell it for 2 to 3 times that price on ebay...what astute selling strategy which seldom sees him wrong over the years.
The rest of us too had our hands on some of the games as well as UFO catcher in Gigo where Chan poured 100 yen coins time and again for a couple of Yamashita Shunya style Kasumi from the fighting game "Dead or Alive" but eventually got them after multiple attempts.
We also signed up as the Federation army or Zeon guerrillas and slugged it out in "MS Gundam Senjou no Kizuna" as we were excited about hitting the battle pod and trying to see whether we are good MS pilots with the caliber of Amuro or Char.
I was with V & Reedy as the Zeon Zafts and we won our 2 games and Yuu, Chan & Ferris also tasted victory as Federation GMs.
However the motion sickness in the pod was a bit too much to take and we decided one trial was enough for the day and the trip itself....
Wining & dining was also on the agenda as we wanted to let Mrs Ferris, Lisa to sample as much authentic Japanese cuisine as possible...
From the Mr Donut selection at the very beginning till the fish cake sticks we had on the Skyliner train to Narita airport, I wonder how much we had spent to just appeasing our digestive systems which are over worked by the way...
We had yakiniku the first evening at Yodobashi Camera followed by 2 nights of izakaya, I think we clocked a good 14,000 yen on so for dinners over the 3 days (the last evening our hospitable host, Tsurudome-san treated us unagi-don to commemorate a great Wonder Festival)
The lack of fiber was also evident while Chan just couldn't stop drinking his favorite yogurt drink on daily basis...
MISTER ~~~ DONUT!!!
Speaking of my room mate, Chan had the habit of falling asleep when you least suspected it.. Perhaps the daily routine took a toll on his body but I was envious how easily he was engaged into the sleeping mode...
Our stay at APA hotel in Kiba wasn't as luxurious as Harumi the year before but was at least bigger than the Washingtons...
They served breakfast in the morning which saved us abit of money for dining but the food could be a wee bit better as Chan proclaimed...
The location wasn't too good as well as we had to take cab to and fro from the final station along the Yurikamome line which will deliver us to Tokyo Big Sight where the Wonder Festival was held.
The Wonder Festival sees another surge in volume of visitors but it was fun just scurrying to buy the exclusives before those suckers who were braving the cold outside for hours could get their hands on it first...
The gang preparing a long day at the Wonder Festival
Speaking of cold, it was indeed much more chilly as compared to the year before...
However the chill started to bite our bones when we got to the bay area in Odaiba over the weekend but it happens that strong gales were affecting parts of Japan, hindering flights and railways, so which was why we were nearly blown away at Kiba by the chilly winter wind....
It was still really cold when we hit Suidobashi station where we wanted to visit the JUMP shop across Tokyo Dome.
This was the only place I had never been to for the trip and sure was quite an interesting place with a leisure park, featuring a roller coaster ride which spans the facade of the shopping center, Laqua which looks like a ship.
Tokyo Dome Hotel, Jump Shop and Laqua
All in all it was a great time for all of us with extravagant spending and feasting and let's hope poor Lisa was able to salvage whatever intermission found in the otaku-themed trip perhaps the Disneysea adventure with her spouse...Even then the Fab 4 still managed to find time to spend tens of thousands at the Disney Resort store just outside....
Will bring the missus and perhaps our offspring to stay here in the future
Japanese word of the day: 満足(Satisfaction) Hope onto the Otake Japan railway...Satisfaction guaranteed!
posted by Kei at
3:05 PM
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