Aug. 9, 2018
The final countdown for Japan. My last real day, and I made it a nerdy one!
I got up early enough that I would arrive at Gundam Station Tokyo as it was opening. So amazing to see all the Gundam models. Some are absolutely stunning, and it all brought back wonderful memories of watching Gundam anime as a youth.
They have an actual, life size Gundam! It’s in front of the mall, and it’s huge. I think it’s 166 feet tall. Oh, and it transforms! How awesome.
From there I wandered around Odaiba, a man made island on the waterfront. An island that has a Statue of Liberty. You read that right. It’s a thing.
It’s apparently a high tech entertainment district, but it also has a bunch of shopping. Oh, and Rainbow Bridge is a main access… does that make it… Rainbow Road? See what I did there? Maybe?
I found Toys R Us. They’re not all gone everywhere.
Someone suggested I check out Mega Web Toyota City, but I burned too much time being aimless. I wanted to see another area before the baseball game. Will be adding it to my next time list.
There is this really cool building that has a massive sphere nestled inside. I found out it is an observation deck, and of course I wanted in. Sadly there was some… festival I guess happening and they wanted too much money. Dumb.
I jumped on the monorail off the island, caught a different train, and landed myself in Akihabara.
Yeah, this was where I wanted to go. So many awesome shops of anime figures, video games, and anything else you might fancy. Nerd heaven. Highly recommend Super Potato, but be warned… you’ll lose hours of your life.
Akihabara is so fun to just walk around. I really liked it, and wish I could have spent more time, but I really wanted to drop my backpack before the baseball game.
Made it back to my hotel with enough time to leave my backpack, and head right back to the train station.
The Meiji Jingu Stadium, home of the Yakult Swallows was a quick subway ride away. It was easy to find, too. Just had to follow the people obviously heading to a baseball game.
The game was so much fun. The fans on both sides are so into it. They even have bands. Every player has their own cheer. Madness. One of the most fun baseball games I’ve ever been to.
Final score 11-3 Swallows. They’re currently in 3rd place in the Central League. There were at least 4 HRs, and some really offensive baseball. Good stuff.
So many people were heading for the train, and I was starving so I ducked into a ramen place. Vending machine style, which is sometimes hard, but it was really good.
After that the crowds had died down so I hopped on the subway back to Shibuya, where I was able to get a time lapse of the crazy crossing. Still neat.
This bar by my hotel has been closed every time I’ve passed at every hour. It was finally open. I went in because it promised craft beer, and it delivered. Two Japanese craft beers, both really good.
After that I ended up back at my hotel to start packing. Tomorrow is basically just heading to the airport, which I didn’t realize is a 2 hour commute. That’s neat.
Japan has been really cool, and I wish I could explore more, but… I’m ready to be home.
Additional comments from the present (Sep. 11, 2019): The next day it was time to come home. I didn’t do much, other than head to the airport. I’m glad I did, too. I had the wrong ticket, a train was cancelled, it was frustrating. I ended up having to take the slow train across Tokyo, which was fine, but… slow. Glad I left early enough. The flight home was great, and it was certainly weird arriving six hours before leaving. To celebrate I went directly to Del Taco. I really hope I get to go back to Japan some day. It is a seriously amazing place, and the people are fantastically friendly.
Ryan Cavalier 