psipsy

My standards of what to get while in Japan have evolved and become more logical. More and more places will ship to the US either directly or via something like Tenso/Buyee, and various manufacturers have made it a point to ensure their product is available globally, so the objective then becomes to conserve the luggage space for things that are much harder to get in the US, international shipping or not. Or if the price on something is so much lower that it can't be ignored. Nevertheless, I didn't waste a single cubic inch of luggage space.

There are more model train stores just in Akihabara than in some entire states in the US. I think I counted about 10 in an area that's walkable even by my standards. If I look at the whole of Tokyo, I don't think it's possible to count them.

One of the model train stores I wanted to visit was Hobby Center Kato, on account of them having some obscure items and some very large layouts on display. How obscure? Well, I could have found the Yamanote Line sets easily somewhere else, but the Tengu figures in HO-scale was a new one on me, and I couldn't pass those up. If I didn't get those I'd be kicking myself.

In the used stores, I found some N-scale engines. A DD51 with a steep price cut because one of the lights didn't work, and an 8620 steam locomotive in almost perfect condition. I got them home, put them on the track, and they ran fine.

Nakano Broadway and Radio Kaikan are the nerdiest malls in the world with anime, manga, doujinshi, toys, and so on throughout them. The original Radio Kaikan had to be torn down after it sustained some damage from the March 2011 earthquake. It didn't collapse, it was more like the building inspectors went through and determined the structure was compromised and wouldn't survive another hit. So it was torn down and another Radio Kaikan was built in its place, bigger than before. What sets Nakano Broadway apart is that much of it is taken up by Mandarake stores, and the vintage of the items being sold skews older, making it very much worth visiting in its own right.

The Animate store in Ikebukuro is the biggest standalone anime store in the world! But inside, things were spread out with wide aisles. They're probably going for being handicapped-accessible and being a place for the claustrophobics. Most of the more longer-established stores in Tokyo are packed so tight I had to walk sideways half of the time.

Another big appeal to Akihabara is the electronics parts. It was known for electronics parts long before the anime stuff and maid cafes. It's wild to be walking down the street, any street, and spot a closet of a store with odds and ends of obscure parts. And then I look at some of the parts and think "y'know, I could use these for a project". If it weren't for what I already got in this trip, I would have bought a lot more electronics parts. (In my 2017 trip, I got a helluva nice multimeter.)

Radio Center (different from Radio Kaikan), is a glorious dungeon full of that stuff. Same with Tokyo Radio Department Store. You want vacuum tubes? Someone there has vacuum tubes. Old/strange/obscure computer parts? That too. I went into the basement of Radio Department and found someone selling computer cases with custom anime artwork, buckets of CPU chips, computer expansion cards of unknown purpose, and so on. Yes, this is the Akihabara I know and love.

I had the opportunity to be in Shibuya on Halloween. I decided to skip that. If I were 20 years younger, I would have went. Alas, I am much older, and I am not fond of the idea of being in a packed crowd of 50000-70000 people. The local police were also not fond of that many people being in Shibuya at once, and closed off important areas to that effect. I made their job easier by not being there. The incident in Seoul last year likely weighed on everyone's minds as well.

Autobacs in Shinonome was... A letdown? Maybe that's being too harsh. It was like a very upscale and up-sized (and much cleaner) Pep Boys. Most of what they had that was of interest to me would either not fit in my luggage, not be allowed on the airplane, or I could find something similar in the US. Not that I left empty-handed, I found some some useful and specialized hand tools and accessories, and a book that was all about the 2nd-generation Integra. I was hoping for one about the 3rd-gen Integra but it was close enough. Not gonna lie, Summit Racing or Eastwood have a lot more going on in terms of car stuff. While walking out of the store, I went by the service bays and there was a GMC Express conversion van. That by itself is no big deal, except that this was in Tokyo, so it looked almost as large as a city bus.

On the last evening I was in Japan, as I walked around Akihabara in the early evening, I saw someone pull up in an Integra Type R. A young man stepped out. I complimented him on his ride. We used Translate on our phones to converse. His car wasn't fully stock, as the back seats and interior trim were removed for a roll cage. We both agreed the backseats in the Integra aren't really useful for passengers. Nevertheless, it was nice. Turns out he bought it two years ago, and he's the same age as the car (25). I envied him for having a Type R, he envied me for having a place for DIY car repairs.

The last few hours of being in Japan were a little melancholy. A plain Monday morning by local standards, with a bit of rain here and there. I was already checked out of my hotel room, and the hotel graciously stored my luggage for me for another few hours. I walked around Akihabara one last time, got in one last stroll through Radio Kaikan and Radio Center, one more serving of katsu curry and bottle of Pocari Sweat. I still had almost another hour before I had to leave for the airport, perhaps I could check out one more place? Nah. It would have just felt forced. It was time to go. I got my luggage, wrestled two loaded suitcases and a carry-on bag through the train stations, took the Skyliner to Narita, and got checked in for the flight home.