Tokyo – Ueno and Akihabara.

Ueno held our attention because it had the very cool Yamashi Roya, which is a toy shop several stories tall. There were more Gundam style toys than I could conveniently describe to you. And there was pretty much a whole floor of model tanks and planes and things, and about a zillion kinds of brush and types of paint used on these models. I was thinking of peterfitz while wandering around it – the kind of obsessive qualities had by people who generally do that kind of modeling, coupled with the Japanese Otaku personality, must pretty much combine to form a giant robot of nerdiness. Go Go Autistic Rangers!

Talking about nerdiness segues neatly into Ahikabara. A zillion shops full of electronic and electric stuff. One guy had a stall with just different types of connectors (“I’d like an F-connector, please?” “What colour?”) and the guy next to him was selling a vast array of shrink-wrapped oscilloscopes. I tried to look in one place, and had to give up, it was just too small to accommodate me. I could have worn the whole store as a hat.

Needless to say, I was happy as a pig in mud.

Another store had a wide selection of airsoft weapons, all replicas of actual weapons. Here’s a picture:

I did actually think about getting one of these, basically just in case I ever want to do any Stargate cosplay, but I didn’t buy anything because:

(a) Everyone knows a guy who has replica guns and swords and shit. That guy is only one step removed from wearing camo clothing when he’s not actually in the military. I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want anyone to be that guy. Oh, and

(b) My chances of getting a full-scale replica P90 through NZ customs are not good. “You see officer, I need that in case the Wraith attack.”

We got dinner from a convenience store. No idea what mine was, I picked something that looked visually interesting. It was very very tasty. Annette has postulated that when it comes to food in Japan, the cheaper and more generic the source, the more delicious it is. Experimental evidence so far does not refute her hypothesis.

I also ate cheese flavoured chocolate. It tasted exactly like you imagine it would.