Suwakougei and Playstation Goodness

"Under the gaze of the angels
A spectacle like he's never seen
Spinning lights and faces
Demon music and gypsy queens"

We awoke after a very good night's sleep(the longest since we arrived) and got ready to head out to Saitama. It was then that I was reminded how spoiled we were with enormous rooms and facilities during our trip. Our room was fine, clean and nice, but the bathtub is so narrow I have to shower sideways or my shoulders don't fit. There is a wireless remote for the toilet out of necessity, as there's no room to attach one to the actual toilet. None of this is bad, just a reminder of life in Tokyo.

Our first stop was good old Ueno Station for breakfast at Andersen's Bakery

Construction meant we couldn't eat in the store, but the bread and
pastries were delicious, as usual!

then we boarded the JR Takasaki line for an hour long ride out to suburban Saitama

The "mean streets" of Saitama

where we were looking for Suwakougei, a taiko manufacturing company that sells taiko instruments and accessories at a lower price than you usually see, but the quality is still quite good (at least for us untrained amateurs!). Both Apple and Google maps gave us the wrong place, but we wandered in the general area until Sumi saw their storefront.

The poor salesman who was assigned to us did a good job in showing us what we were looking for and helping get everything taken care of, including shipping to the airport. We are now the proud owners of a shimedaiko and a shinobue! As they were preparing the paperwork and such, we were led to a nice reception area and served tea (how very Japanese!) Afterwards, as we were making our way back to the station (about a 2km walk), the salesman caught up to us in a company van and gave us a ride back to the station. Talk about great service! While we certainly didn't need a ride, it was very appreciated!

Getting back to Ueno, we were hungry and ready for lunch. I had read about a Thai restaurant that we had never seen in Ameyoko (Ueno's "American Alley"), despite having been there many times. We walked past it a few times before finally, with a little GPS help from our phone, spotted the tiny restaurant located on the second floor of one of the buildings under the train tracks.

Very gaudy entrance that looks more like some seedy bar than a restaurant

Upstairs, the ceiling was barely 7' at it's higher points, but the atmosphere was nice and cozy

The sign says "Watch your head", where the AC unit hangs down almost to my chest level

The lunch menu was small, but had a Basil Chicken Lunch Set

Soup, salad, rice, fried egg, chicken and veggie stir-fry and some tapioca-like
ambrosia.

It was quite good, though different from the Thai food we have in Milwaukee, which I actually think is more authentic. I got the feeling they changed the taste a little for their local audience, especially the soup, which had a good dose of bonito flakes, because that's what you ALWAYS use to ruin Japanese soup.

After filling up, it was shopping time! After prying Sumi away from Ameyoko's ultra cheap, counterfeit bags, sunglasses and what have you, we hopped the train to Akihabara. It had been under construction for several years, building a new Yodobashi Camera Co. attached to the station, so we got a bit lost, but managed to find the shops we were looking for, including Book-Off, Hobby-Off, Traderz and Lamutarra, where we made quite a killing!

The entranceway to Hobby-Off, Display cases filled with thousands of figurines and other
collectibles. They change this display regularly!

The back streets of Akiba, where the deals are.
Also where the maids are out advertising their cafes are

I had to get a shot of this classic otaku. Late teens and ten bags FILLED with anime, manga
and video game stuff. He must have spent over a thousand dollars today, and from the
way he and his friends were talking, this wasn't an unusual occurrence.

The REAL back streets of Akiba, where Denki Town got its name, before the otaku culture took over.
This alley goes for almost a quarter mile and is filled with tiny specialty stalls with electronic
supplies of all types. I love this part of Akiba.

After a long day of shopping and walking, we headed back to our hotel as the rain that had been threatening for the last few days finally came in, but not before retracing our steps after going to the wrong hotel yesterday, because as we were searching for our hotel, we had come across a cafe with some good looking parfaits. Luckily, it wasn't hard to find

A display like this is hard to miss

and the real desserts looked just as good as the plastic ones out front!

Getting back to the hotel we surveyed our loot

Some Japanese PS3 games, a PS Vita game, an actual pink PS Vita, all used,
a bag of Rilakkuma charms, a handmade black and red lacquered shinobue (bamboo flute) and
cloth case, some ultra light pine bachi (taiko sticks) and a complementary JTA towel

Missing from the shot is the shimedaiko and stand (and travel cases), a nice Vita case and some cheap sunglasses that actually fit an asian woman's face. Quite a haul today, and most of it second-hand! I still want to visit a few more used book/game stores before we leave, and we will need to make our annual pilgrimage to Tokyu Hands so Sumi can worship the stationary gods, but I think we're pretty much done buying stuff for ourselves this trip.

Tomorrow is looking like more rain, so a perfect day to wander Sunshine City and Ikebukuro, plus MY annual pilgrimage to the Indian curry gods at Rasoi!