Akihabara

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The Hotel Bellegrande

I woke up early in the morning (well, early for me anyways) and made another call to my parents while browsing some of my favorite pages on the internet. I can scarcely imagine trying to do a trip like this without the internet. Thanks to messaging services like Skype and AIM, I can still keep in touch with people back home when I get homesick and update them on what’s been going on with me as well. It’s a wonderfully convenient connection.

I spent the morning in my room, watching CNN (in English) and working to unsnarl the issues my bank was having with my charges in Tokyo. The Hotel Bellgrande came at the suggest of the head of the international center at Seigakuin, and it has served my purposes wonderfully. It’s a fourteen-story, distinguished (and slightly out of place) looking hotel across the street from Ryogoku Station. Nearby are another hotel (the Ryogoku River Hotel), an Italian restaurant, and McDonalds, and a coke machine, among other things. It boasts three restaurants (none of which I can afford to eat at).

The rooms at the hotel are small, but fulfill all my needs: a bed, a TV with an English channel, and a desk with internet. There’s also a western-style bathroom with a shower. Across the hall from my room is a pair of vending machines, one which sells Asahi Beer for 400 yen (roughly 4 dollars), and another which sells a variety of drinks including Pokka Kire-to Lemon Water (lemonade, or a close cousin, and a favorite of mine). The drinks run from about 150 to 200 yen.

One of the more interesting things, to me, was the face that this hotel still used keys, not the keycards you see in most American hotels. Upon checking in, you’re handed a key and a white, folded piece of paper bearing your name and room number. When you leave the hotel, you key stays at the front desk, and upon your return, the ID paper gets you your key back. Easy enough, and it keeps me from having to keep that key in my pocket all day.

The staff speaks some English, enough to get you checked in and out, but when I inquired about the cost of the internet in the rooms, I found myself hitting another wall. The girl at the desk called over someone to help, and eventually, the man asked me if I understood Japanese. I said “sukoshi” (a little bit) and asked my question again in Japanese. Well, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to ask, but it got the point across and I managed to discover that the internet in the rooms was complimentary. Awesome.


Akihabara

Around 1, I ventured out of the hotel, my need for food overcoming any misgivings I had about being here all alone. My plan was to take the train to Akihabara, find some food, buy a Famitsu (gaming magazine), and shop at Super Potato (retro-gaming store). Not a very lengthy list, but I was going to Akihabara, I had to be able to find SOMETHING to do there.

As I said before, a lot of gamers tend to dream dreams of a magical place filled with unexplored gaming treasures when they think of Japan, a sort of Gaming Oz, and if Japan is Oz, Akihabara is the Emerald city. Akihabara is the “electric town” of Tokyo, a place for anything and everything electronic. Stores full of video games, movies, electronic components, and CDs line the main drag for blocks, with several arcades and other stores mixed in. Massive billboards announce new games and animes, and girls in costumes hand out flyers for stores and restaurants. It’s the holy grail of game shopping. It’s also a lot to take in.

Perhaps my favorite thing about my hotel is its location. Within minutes, I was on a train headed to Akihabara, only two stations (4 minutes) down the Sobu Line. Since Akihabara was one of the first things I wanted to do when I got into Japan, the easy access was a great, unforeseen benefit.

Although my experiences at the Narita train station had made me wary, Ryogoku station was fairly simple to navigate, I merely tapped my suica card on the entry gate and walked up to the train line that proclaimed “To Akihabara” Almost all of the signage was bilingual, and the announcements in the train came in both English and Japanese. Akihabara station was a little more confusing, but the signs that read “exit to Akihabara Electric Town” made things easier.

Stepping out of the station, I walked past a few small electronics shops and came out on the main drag, across the street from a massive arcade called Club Sega. That became my landmark for the day.


Stupid Gaijin II

Now, I hadn’t eaten in about 24 hours. So, by now my stomach was growling pretty loudly. I wanded the streets, smiling as I recognized some of the stores and looking for somewhere that served food with a vending machine out front (in hopes of keeping my necessary Japanese to a minimum). Finally, I found a place whose name consisted of kanji that I couldn’t understand and katakana that I could. The one word that I could read was: “ラーメン” (ramen). Ramen was one of the things on the “To eat when I get to Japan” list that I carried in my head (other entries include sushi and takoyaki). Even better, a vending machine was sitting out front. Score!

I went up to the machine, and looked it over for a minute, translating the menu in my head. Ipicked out the cheapest, most basic ramen I saw and pressed the button. Nothing happened on the little display. Clearly, I was doing something wrong.

An employee happened to be standing next to the machine. So, I asked him how to use the machine. The man seemed to have trouble understand me. So, I tried to think of how to ask in Japanese, but my vocabulary failed me. Finally, he called over another employee (this seems to be a common occurrence with me), and she kindly explained that I need to put the money in first. Whoops.

I followed her instructions and ordered my ramen and coke, receiving two small slips of paper for my 900 yen. The employee led me to a stool at the bar in the Ramen shop and placed to pieces of paper in front of me, one asking me to indicate how I wanted my ramen, and the other translating the first into English. I ordered it as suggested.

The man behind the counter placed a coke in front of me and later returned with a massive bowl of noodles in broth. I know most of you are probably appalled that I’m eating ramen, something readily available to even the poorest American college student, but American Ramen is incomparable to Japanese ramen. Japanese ramen is salty and spicy and served with a slice of roast pork, and infinitely better tasting than the poor college student’s staple food.

A girl next to me was already half through her bowl of ramen. Hoping to save myself from becoming the “stupid gaijin” again, I fell back on my stand-by plan of “watch the people here and do what they do.” So, I used the chopsticks to scoop the noodles into my mouth, slurping as I sucked up the hot noodles to keep from burning my mouth, and the spoon to drink up the broth. Still, that left the issue of the slice of pork. It seemed determined to resist all of attempts to pull it into bite-sized pieces with my chopsticks, and I had no intention of trying to put the whole thing into my mouth. I ended up using the spoon to hold it as I pulled it apart with my chopsticks. Probably not the most graceful way to do it, but it worked.

About halfway through the bowl, I was beginning to get full. Howerver, I always have some weird thing about eating all of what you’re served in foreign countries. So, I pressed on and finished the entire bowl. Copying what the customer next to me had done, I thanked the chef with a “Gochisousama deshita” and headed for the door.

Unfortunately, the “stupid gaijin” wasn’t done yet. I looked for a door handle, and seeing none, I gave the door a push. It didn’t seem to want to give. So, I looked for somewhere to pull. An employee saw my door issues, and reached over, sliding it open. Whoops. Thoroughly embarrassed, I walked back into the streets of Akihabara.


Don’t Panic

Across the street from the ramen shop (called Kouryu) was a store called Gamers, one of the few I recognized from things I had heard about Akihabara. I figured I could find a Famitsu in a store with such a fantastic name, so I walked inside and browsed the magazines, conveniently located on the bottom floor.

Famitsu is, to quote the magazine cover, the “No. 1 Weekly Game Magazine” in Japan. It is to most American gamers, the kind of magazine that we wish we got in America. When news on a new Japanese game breaks, 4 out of 5 times, it came from Famitsu. There’s actually several Famitsu magazines, the PS3 edition bore a large picture of Cloud on the cover. I grabbed a copy of Weekly Famitsu, the more all-purpose magazine, the cute girl on the cover something akin to the “Don’t Panic” on the outside of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Upstairs lay the promise of more games, but the line for the elevator deterred me a little from travelling upstairs. That, and the security detector at the stairs combined with the unpaid magazine in my hand. So, I went up to the counter and continued my “watch someone and do what they do” method with the people in front of me.

Surprisingly enough, the two guys in front of me silently handed their money to the chatty cashier, grabbed their purchases, and left. Not too hard to emulate.


Some Things Never Change

After leaving Gamers, I wandered the streets a little until I found a store called Aso Bit City, another one I recognized. I wandered through the first floor of the store, and found the escalator leading up to the second floor: the games floor. I nearly cried.

I said before that, to gamers, Japan is like Oz, a magical world where everyone loves video games and get access to all the coolest stuff before anyone else. It’s the dream vacation spot for any gamer with people who will be able to help you along, even if you don’t speak their language. Not exactly true. Navigating on your own is much more difficult than you expect, and the small facet of the culture that you’re consumed with is not something that consumes all of Japanese culture. It’s not a magical gaming country. Big surprise, right?

That said, Akihabara IS the Emerald City. Everything I had heard about it, was well, true. I was standing in a store surround by games I probably couldn’t understand, but was dying to try. Cute girls in cosplay advertised different stores along the streets. There were stores with entire floors devoted to game soundtracks. It was everything I had been told.

However, perhaps the favorite thing I saw all day was in the games floor of Aso Bit City. While I was browsing through the DS games, I noticed a couple and their young boy shopping the aisle as well. The boy grabbed a copy of Pokemon Platinum of the shelf and showed it to his parents while he bounced up and down, hands clasped in front of his chest, pleading “Onegaishimasu, Onegaishimasu.” (Please. Please). I never saw if that kid got his game, but I hope he did. It helped remind me that even halfway across the world, some things are exactly the same.


Continued Wanderings

After Aso Bit, I just walked the streets, walking through the first floor of the Taito arcade, proudly advertising Space Invader’s 30th anniversary, and finally stepped into Sofmap. Up on the seventh floor of Sofmap, I found another wealth of games, including several that had been on my “to buy” list before I started trimming it down. Of course, that list has started to rack up again. It’s getting very difficult to resist just buying everything I think looks mildly interesting and leaving myself without any cash whatsoever. Still, that didn’t keep me from looking.

While browsing through Akihabara is fun, it’s very taxing to someone not used to being there. On the weekend, the place is swarming with people, and the stores are all built like San Francisco homes with really small footprints and several stories. As such, browsing the aisles is a crowded, close-quarters affair. If you suffer from any form of claustrophobia at all, it’ll start to wear on you. For me, it was only a few hours until I felt mentally exhausted. So, I decided to head back to my hotel for the day after my visit to Sofmap. I never did find Super Potato.


Cravings

When Americans leave their home county, they find themselves hit with a deep, dark craving: the need for a McDonald’s cheeseburger. Everyone, including myself, swears that it will never happen to them, but as I woke up on Sunday morning, I found myself with an undeniable desire for a Big Mac. So, I decided to give in and made plans to head there for lunch.

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing I was feeling a craving for. While is Sofmap the previous afternoon, I had spied a copy of Tales of Hearts for less than 2,000 yen ($20 US). It was one of the games on my “list of games to buy in Japan” that had not been tossed off. Yet, I had managed to hold off on buying it because “I needed to save my money.” Well, my self-control had given out during the night, and I had to have it.

I spent the following morning talking with friends and family back home, and finally ventured out again to go to Akihabara again. Over the night, I had found a wonderful site (www.akiba-ch.com) that had an interactive map describing all of the stores in Akihabara and their locations. Using this map, I had finally tracked down the location of the elusive Super Potato. I would make it there today, but first, Mikey D’s.


Stupid Gaijin III

I seem to have trouble with food. I waked into the McDonalds and got in line, watching the people ordering in front of me. Up at the register, I ordered a “Biggu Makku to chiisai Kooka Koora” (Big Mac and small Coke). I mainly got the small coke because I wasn’t sure how to order a medium. It was also why I didn’t get any French fries. The girl behind the counter gave me an odd look (probably because of my poor pronunciation), confirmed my order, and rang me up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my meal was less than I had been expecting. As I waited for my food to show up at the counter, I tried translating more of the menu and saw why I had been eating on the cheap. The price was for a “Biggu Makku Setto” (Big Mac Set/Combo). Oh well, always next time.

I got my meal and headed upstairs, finding my seat at the bar looking out the windows onto the station. I watched the people outside the window as I munched on my wonderful cheeseburger. After I finished my meal, I went to throw away my trash and stopped short just like at the Suica vending machine in Narita Airport. The trashcan had been split into two halves, and while I could discern where some things went (lids in one, cups in another), I wasn’t ready to try it yet. So, I sat back down quickly and munched on my ice, waiting for someone to throw their trash away so I could copy them.

After watching about three people use the garbage cans, I had picked up the ritual. First, take off the lid of your cup and throw it in the can marked with a picture of lids and straws. Second, pour the remaining contents of your cup into the little hole. Third, throw the rest of your trash in the other can, marked with things like a fry box. Crisis clumsily averted!


An Easy Mark

It’s easy to get flustered here, and once you miss your step, it’s hard to recover. Such was my state when I left McDonald’s and headed for Akihabara. The train was simple as always, and I pushed past the usual group of people standing outside the train station giving out flyers until I heard one say “Do you speak English?”

Hearing someone speaking perfect English gave me instant pause, and that was all the young man needed to launch into his sales pitch. According to him, he was a frequent volunteer worker looking for money to go on his next volunteer expedition. Still slightly confused from my McDonald’s experience and just happy to hear English, I obliged the young man and headed on my way.

As I worked towards Super Potato, it finally hit me that the guy could have just as well have hustled me. I was an easy mark, after all: a confused-looking gaijin who would probably be ecstatic just to find someone who spoke English. Well, he was right, but I didn’t feel too bad, even if I did get taken for a ride.

Finally, I located Super Potato on the third floor of a building about a block off the main drag. Heading up to what I had been told was “the best store in Akihabara,” I was still trying to stop my head from spinning and grapple myself back into control of things. It’s easier said than done.

Super Potato was smaller than I expected, but it really was a retro gaming heaven. Insider were games ranging from Famicom (the original Nintendo system) to Playstation 2. Between the two were games from every console I’d ever known. The Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation 1, Super Famicom, Atari Jagaur, and Wonderswan were all present and accounted for, as well as several bookshelves of strategy guides. I wish my head had been a little clearer so I could have enjoyed it more. I didn’t even venture up to the retro arcade on the sixth floor.


Band on the Run

Next, I made it to Sofmap and picked up my copy of Tales of Hearts. Although, at the time, I thought I was buying Tales of Innocence (another game on my to-buy list) and just grabbed the box and headed up to the counter. There are two versions of Tales of Hearts, and I had intended to buy the other version, a mix-up I didn’t discover until I got back to the hotel. It was for the best though. The sale on the other version wasn’t as great.

My head was still spinning a bit, and trying to exit Sofmap didn’t help, as my game kept setting off all of the security monitors. I considered going upstairs and seeing if I could get them to deactivate the security device, but I quickly realized I didn’t know how to say that. Since no one was chasing me down, eventually just headed out of the store, hoping no one would notice the freaked-out gaijin. Finally, I gave off a sigh of relief as I stepped back onto the main drag of Akihabara.

I returned to Gamers, and couldn’t manage to find the games section. So, I returned to Aso Bit to browse. Not really finding anything in particular, I headed back towards Gamers. This time, I managed to discover why I couldn’t find the gaming section. Gamers is split into two halves. One covers DVDs and Music, the other covers games and hobbies, and they share a single floor of comics. To get into the games section, one must walk into the games half of the store.

Armed with this new knowledge, I finally managed to get into the games section of Gamers. It was there that I discovered a copy of Supernova Karma by Bump of Chicken (yes that’s the real name. Don’t ask me why). Karma had been the theme song to one of my favorite games on Playstation 2, Tales of the Abyss. So, this CD had been on that magical “To buy when I get to Japan” list and I couldn’t pass it up.


GFaqs

I was still feeling off my game. So, I decided it was time to retire to the hotel for the evening and enjoy my take. I ripped the CD to my hard drive while running through the first few dungeons of Tales of Hearts. While I managed to get the hang of fighting and playing through the game (I’ve plaid others in the series before and this one followed the same formula), the story was mostly lost on me. Thankfully, I had GameFAQs.

GameFAQs is a massive online community of gamers. It’s most prominent feature begin the guides submitted by users that cover nearly every aspect of a given game. Now, you need to luck out to find a good FAQ, but thankfully, I found two. With my limited kanji and katakana, I can make out some skill and item names (many of which their US counterparts), and the guide helped laid out some of the finer points of the story that I was missing, as well as helping me along in the game when I get stuck. Since I usually play RPGs with a guide, it’s not too different from my usual gaming habits.

So ends the first leg of my adventure. Tomorrow, I’m headed up to Saitama and school. As for how I’m doing so far, well… I’m surviving. Although I’ve had several “stupid gaijin” incidents, I’ve managed to buy food and video games. So, I won’t die of hunger or boredom. Next week is the next leg of my adventure: surviving college.

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Photos

Daytime Hotel View
Same as before, but with sunshine this time.

My Room
As you can see, already slightly messy.

The Bathroom
Thankfully, western-style.

Famitsu
Top on my list of "things to buy in Japan"

Day 2 Take
Tales of Hearts and Supernova · Karma by Bump of Chicken

Comments

[Lily]

Love reading about your adventures- can't wait to hear what happens next...

[Ben]

Fun reading
Matt, I have enjoyed reading about your adventure in Japan so far! I look forward to reading more! Have fun!