Ginza Fail, Akihabara Win (sort of)

The first two days here in Tokyo hot and humid. I came to realize how much of a weakling I became living with beautiful, mild weather in Oakland. It was 90 degrees, but the humidity was stifling. Anyway, on the third day it rained. We decided that we weren't going to let some precipitation interfere with our plans of going to Ginza and Akihabara. Once again, we threw ourselves into the madness that is the Shinjuku Station and hoped for the best.

Ginza is pretty much an asian fifth avenue. Building after building of high end merchandise. There were also plenty of cute little cafes and dessert place with either French or Italian names. Compared to Shibuya and Harujuku, Ginza was less vibrant and colorful. There wasn't much going on or much to see - maybe because of the fact it was raining or because it was a Wednesday morning.

After having udon, we decided to head over to the Imperial Palace. One problem: it was storming. We walked but two blocks and we were soaked from head to toe. Again we weren't going to let precipitation ruin our plans. We found out that the Imperial Palace is referred to as Kyoko - this after a series of gestures and word play to explain to the cab driver to take us there. It was still stormy when we arrived at the Imperial Palace. There were no other tourists/people there; only us in the pouring rain. The security guides looked on with a mixture of curiosity and concern. We shivered our way through the compound and tried to get as many photos and video as we could manage. It was a very beautiful place. There were rows of gigantic, 300 year old bonsai trees and the palace itself was gorgeous. I can only imagine what it was like in its hey day.

Akihabara was our next stop. Akihabara is a mecca for aficianados of gaming, anime, manga, and all other things electronic. There's this one place called "Club Sega" which is seven floors of intense arcade gaming. Groups upon groups of boys so intensely focused on the screen. Those that weren't playing were cheering on their friends or simply looking on in awe. I swear it was like a casino in there. We walked into this hentai place. You can only imagine what was in there. I won't go into detail as to what I saw, but I will say that they were also selling the soundtracks to these movies. I guess hentai must have some awesome music. There were girls in french maid costumes who will feed you by hand, if you paid the right price. Come to think of it, there were lots of girls in costumes on the street; Lord knows what they would do if you paid them enough. In conclusion, Akihabara is geek heaven - hot girls in costumes, fast food, and games. Enough said.

We got back to our hotel smelly and damp, but it was well worth it. Being here is worth it. Next stop Tsukji and Odaiba.