With all our gadgets (except my laptop) juiced up again and equipped with basically super-fast Internet everywhere we were ready to take on the city.

Breakfast

But first things first; breakfast. I still don't know what Japanese usually eat for breakfast but we went to a regular looking place and got some sandwiches with coffee same as in Seoul (remember Paris Baguette).

Emperor's Park

After breakfast we went to Chidorigafuchi (the post picture is of the park entrance) which is on the north side of the emperors palace and has a beautiful view of the cherry trees in and out of the park. Unfortunately we arrived with literally hundreds of students and accompanying parents due to the beginning of university.

Within an hour or so it calmed down considerably and we could shoot some more pictures. In Ginza the day before we already had gotten a first taste of the organizational skills of employed manpower in order to steer people in the right directions. He is was even more clear as they used not only rope, megaphones and panels to direct people like water in a pipe. I literally felt like a drop of water in a pipe flowing not where I wanted to go but rather going with the flow.

Akihabara

After all the green natural experience it was time to dive into the Japanese urban media experience that is Akihabara (or Akiba for short). It is the the place to go for Japanese cartoon (Anime) and comic (manga) culture as well as electronics. We spent the whole remaining day inside of this neighborhood. Having seen and experienced the maid-cafes and shops selling every kind of paraphernalia of Anime Tv-shows or Manga it is quite flashy and shallow smiles. The prices are also not all that interesting. It remains an experience to see and feel this once yourself especially when you are simply browsing with your eyes rather than purse. Also there is an innumerable amount of adult-products more or less hidden catering to every need and taste.

I went to Mandarake browsing through Manga trying to find some for a younger family member, Super Potato to revel in old-school video games. They even have a whole floor just with Arcades to play with. The entrance however is lso super hard to find. If you need any electronics part or circuit or consumer electronics then this is heaven. There is probably nothing that you cannot find.

After a whole day of our feet, they felt like they just might fall off and still today they feel no better. But were still in for the worst..

Shibuya

Shibuya is said to be center of young people with just enough money to burn of nightlife and fashion. It is also home to the biggest and most crazy crossing in the world, known from many movies. It is crazy to be in the midst of it but still expectation were a bit high I guess.

After we had done the mandatory crossing we went looking for a place to have dinner and saw a line in front of a Ramen shop called Ichiran. We thought that the line was not that hard and recommendations were high so we waited...

.. and waited..
.. and waited for almost an hour before we could order on the machine and then another 20 min before we could enter. The place only has two rows of about 10 seats each along a counter with blinds where you can order food. It was quite an experience but standing still and waiting that long was not kind on our feet.

Afterwards we just walked a bit around Dogenzaka and Bunkamura and went home to let our feet heal.

PS: I am experimenting with headers now to see if it makes reading easier. So let me know by mail