RyokOhio: The Lewises In Japan Blog: Japan Trip 2016, Day 13: Tokyo

Eeeuuuuuhhhhhhhh, I don't want to leave! I don't want to go back home tomorrow! Just bring my friends, family, and pets over here! That'll totally be easier than leaving!

Ugh, I guess I have to make sure everything is packed. Oh gosh, all the souvenirs we have. SO. MANY.

Today was our last full day in Japan and the plan was to go to Ikebukuro. Shops didn't open until 10 am at the earliest, and one of them was Animate, the great big anime store in Ikebukuro. It also seems that not just Otome Road in Ikebukuro is dedicated to women, most of Ikebukuro's anime scene has what the girls want. And apparently, lately, the theme is Otome games and idols. I mean, that was already starting when we were here four years ago with Uta no Prince-sama, but good god, there are so many knock offs! I wish it was my scene, but otome games (where it's mostly a good-looking, all male cast with one girl that the female player can project her self onto), or idol anime (where it's just an animated all-boy band), are just so silly I can't get into them! I say this, but then my new favorite anime is currently about male, olympic figure skaters, which is apparently too new of an anime that there is absolutely no merchandise out for it yet, or it's all sold out! Boo. Any anime I do still enjoy is too old and its merchandise is long gone. Ah well, maybe next trip.

That still didn't stop me from buying stuff from animate, including some new comics to try, a Cardcaptor Sakura calendar, and souvenirs for others. I also finally located Otome Road and found the K Books dedicated to doujinshi (fan-made comics), but didn't find anything that interested me. Learning the shelving system for books in Japan is crazy. In Book Off, the used books were by genre, then by author. In regular shops, the comics are categorized by genre, then by publisher or magazine the issues come out in (Shounen Jump, for example), and then by author, and doujinshi is grouped by anime or game it's based off of and then title, or it's listed under "other" or "original" if it's not from a popular anime. My brain was soooooo burnt out after going into a few stores to see what they had. I also learned that if I ask for "Mayonaka no Tantei Nightwalker" they think I'm looking for a mystery novel or comic, and if I ask for just "Nightwalker" they search it and find the terrible hentai PC game the anime is based off of that was released in the early 90s. So, no luck finding that ever-elusive doujinshi.

Anyway, there was one last stop in Ikebukuro, and that was the Mega Pokemon Center in Sunshine City! Yaaaaaay!!!! But you know what? For it being the mega center, it really didn't have that much. At least nothing new that the other centers didn't have. I was able to find some more souvenir requests there, and Jeff and I bought plushies of the new Pokemon Game Sun and Moon starters (I get the owl Mokuroh and Jeff gets the cat Nyabi). For the first time in my life, I will be using plant as a starter. Wish me luck with that!

We had lunch in Sunshine city, and I got to try the kind of ramen where you dip the noodles in a more concentrated broth. The broth was definitely a fish-based one, so it didn't satisfy like a pork broth, but it was still decent. The noodles were VERY chewy and I got a heaping helping of them!

Since one Pokemon Center wasn't enough, we decided to go and visit the other one in Tokyo, the Tokyo Sky Tree Pokemon Center. I'm so glad we went. Jeff was able to find a Team Rocket jacket he'd been wanting, finally in his (our, bwahaha) size, and I was able to satisfy two souvenir wishes of mine with a New Year's Pokemon centerpiece! They also had a better selection of socks. That visit brought us up to a grand total of four Pokemon centers this trip! Skytree, Hiroshima, and Kyoto being the good ones, Mega Center being the disappointing one.

Now that we were at the Skytree, claiming to be the tallest structure in Japan, I wanted to go up to the (near) top and take some pictures and video. I knew Jeff wouldn't even dream of coming, so I left him there on the 5th floor, while I went up to 1,150 feet! While it was crowded, I'm sure on a clear day it would have been absolutely packed. As it was, it had been a cloudy day and the sun was going to set within the hour, so I had no trouble getting to spots by the window to take video and pictures. There was also a spot where the floor was glass and you could see straight down to the 5th floor. I wasn't scared since I knew the glass was thick, and the panes weren't so huge that I had the feeling of walking on nothing.

I didn't want to leave poor Jeff alone for too long so I headed back down and we went back to our hostel. Then we went back to the karaoke place for one last time. Now that we were armed with the DAM website for song codes, and had the remote control figured out, we were ready. And Monday evenings was the best time to go as we got two hours and all you can drink soda fountains for $12.50. That's double the time we had yesterday for half the price!!! I got to sing plenty of Susumu Hirasawa songs, and Jeff got to belt out his metal and punk songs. I'm sure if the Japanese people could hear us and cared, they would have been confused.

And now we're back in our room, trying to eat the remaining food we can't take home, and drinking the drinks we've accumulated, being sad about leaving. I'll write another blog entry while on the plane, to be published when I have internet connection, but until then, I'll miss you Japan!
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢