shinjuku

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we took the subway to shinjuku first to wander around the city. it was a pretty short ride. we got there and found some large brick monuments covered in ivy - no idea what they are. it was pretty crowded. lots of shops. there were no elephants allowed in shinjuku. we ducked down an shady cyberpunk-looking alley and thought we found a japanese video game / video shop. The had clothes stuffed and holding signs with halloween masks. it was pretty creepy. even creepier since it turned out to be a porn shop about 5 stories high. we got a few stares when we came out. i guess it was pretty clear to everyone else on the street. we found club sega - a 4 story arcade with all sega games. we played time crisis 3 but stopped during the first level, since it was pretty expensive. They didn't want us to take pictures there. there were two guitar shops across the street from one another. one had a floor of acoustic guitars. they had a room of bourgeois and collings and huss and dalton - kind of funny that they had the same top 3 brands as steve does in squirrel hill. they had a really nice bear claw maple/ brazilian rosewood bourgeois. there was a kohno there too, but it was behind glass so i didn't try to play it. we stopped in an english pub for a drink and a video game store. they had dreamcast games for sale at under 1000 yen. i found some boots in a shoe shop and the canon 18-36mm L lens, but they're both overpriced (and expensive to begin with).

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