As we walked into the main street we peeked into a tall and interesting looking building. We soon realised that we had walked into our first slot machine house. It was like being at a disco- we literally could not hear each other speak, and I still don't know if this was due to the noise from the ventilation system or if the ongoing sound came from the machines running at top speed; it kind of sounded like what it would be like inside a tumble dryer I think.
Not a single seat, i.e. slot machine, was vacant and there were rows upon rows full of Japanese men playing games while watching anime on the top screen of each machine. We're guessing this is how the average Japanese business man who works within metro-distance to Akihabara spends his lunch break.... The trays were full of 100 Yen ($1) coins and they were all in some sort of trance with mechanical hand movements tapping on the buttons and scooping up handfuls of coins to be fed back into the machines with their eyes stuck on whatever anime show was being screened.
I'm still trying to understand how these men can handle being surrounded by ULTRA SUPER CUTE music, people, animals and toys all the time while staying serious and focused. I just go: look it's all so cuuuuute. wiiii look! look! look! la-la-la-la-CUUUTE *.* *bangs head into wall* (whenever I see a Japanese kid, Hello Kitty or Pikachu wearing baggy pants.... I also point or stare uncontrollably at everything I see. Awkwaaaard.....)
We walked further up on the escalators in said building and the slot machines were almost strangling us; by the time we came to the third floor we couldn't take the noise anymore and went down. Interestingly they don't let you take photos at most of these places- sometimes even inside the shops in Akihabara. We were being sneaky nevertheless and I've got at least one shot of the row of Asians playing on the video game machines further down.
So, the rest of the district was quite repetitive in my opinion (although Michael and Trond may disagree). It's basically all about shopping. Action figures is a big deal. I think Trond got a few of his favourite anime characters in *nice* outfits for a few thousand Yen ;)
We also tried to find anime DVDs with English subtitles which was easier said than done. They have no idea what you're talking about, and IF they do, all you get is: Engrishuuu subtitruuu? Nooo nooo *crossing arms together indicating "no" with a complementary sad face* ...which I guess is fair enough :p
While walking around for hours and browsing through 7 story buildings with dolls, wigs, anime, manga, hentai, DVDs, Blue Rays, arcade games, another bunch of slot machines etc without really finding anything except the odd Hello Kitty doll appealing to me I finally found a video game shop to drool in and actually bought a GAME BOY COLOR!!! AAAAaaaahhhhHHhh! And I found TMNT and Super Mario games to go with which altogether was a bargain. Moahahahaha! I was the happiest kid in Akihabara for a split second until some other lucky bastard probably got what he wished for from his super cool Japanese daddy-o down the street.
We had some delicious sushi, miso soup and sashimi salad that night, then dessert somewhere else before Michael went home. Trond and I (mostly Trond) stayed out a while longer playing arcade games and spending a bunch of 100 Yen coins on amusement lasting less than 10 seconds. We actually went to these 5 storey buildings full of monetary drains and tried picking up items behind a glass wall, with hopes of winning all sorts of crap (action figures, Hello Kitty keychains, handfuls of Kit Kat, you name it) with no luck at all! It was fun though, until we realised that our money was more worthy of the vending machines in the alley nearby which actually granted us with amusing drinks. I found one of my all time favourites called "Happiness!" which is a peach-pomegranate drink and sipped it slowly on our way back home ^_^
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