Nakano & Akihabara

Continuing the Japan trip after the day trip in Akihabara. Had a late morning start, and got to Nakano Broadway by myself.

Upon arrival on Nakano JR Station, you have to go through Nakano Sun Mall to get to Nakano Broadway


Going through Nakano Sun Mall


Nakano Broadway in sight at the end of Nakano Sun Mall


野崎コイン - a shop that sells old coins, stamps, and other vintage items.


Lots of old game cartridges available, including the classic Famicom :o


Mandarake Galaxy - the shop that sells the game catridges shown above. Nakano Broadway is dominated by Mandarake - one of the largest vendors on anime and manga related merchandise


Cosplay outfits available for sale


Lunch - Yakisoba meal in Nakano Broadway, pretty good too


Doraemon movies VCR tapes! I remember I used to have some of these in Cantonese dub. How nostalgic~


Mandarake Special - a store that focuses on hard-to-get or limited/exclusive stuff.


Mandarake comics store - this one is huge o_o


Vocaloid cosplay costumes of Kaito and the Kagamine. Dunno about the one on the right though.


Actually, a lot of shops were closed on that day - it looks like that most of them are closed on Wednesday (as I was told on an forum), which makes my trip to Nakano Broadway rather fruitless -_-;; Oh well that will be a lesson learnt for me then.

Afterwards I head straight back to Akihabara. Going from Nakano to Akihabara is straightforward as you just have to take the Chūō-Sōbu Line (中央・総武線) which will take you to Akihabaras with no interchanges needed.


Back to Akihabara... Kotobukiya show room in Radio Kaikan. It's fairly new as it's opened in March, as mentioned by Ngee Khiong.


There are quite a lot of Itasha models. Anyone interested buying one? ^^


Saw some policemen handling the traffic on a crossroad. Not sure what's going on though but I saw an ambulance as well (left on the picture)


An itachari, basically a bicycle version of Itasha. There's a small ema (絵馬, wooden plaque) below the seat of it wishing for the return of Hokousha Tengoku to Akihabara.

Hokousha Tengoku (歩行者天国), literally "Pesdestrains' Heaven", is a place where roads are closed off for traffics on Sundays so that pedestrains to walk freely on them. According to Danny Choo, the only 3 that have this are Ginza, selected roads in Shinjuku, and finally Akihabara.

However, ever since the notorious mass murder that happened last year, Akihabara no longer has the Hokousha Tengoku status. I personally find this little wooden plaque rather touching as I saw it parked on one side of the pedestrian.


Nighttime at Akihabara.


More advertisments of Angel Beats.



More nighttime of Akihabara.


A lot of maid cafe banners at one of the smaller lanes. There's a loudspeaker saying things to draw the customers, but all I've heard was "Moe, moe, kyun! Moe, moe, kyun!" lol



Lunch in Shinjuku. Can't remember what I have to grind the sesame seeds for but I think it's for a sauce.


This is the real business: Special Tonkatsu in multi-layers of pork, hence you can see the unusual shape of the meat inside the fried crusts. A very soft texture to bite into~

This one has melted cheese in the middle, which is lush~

Will have to confirm later on the name and location of this restaurant, but I know that the meals are rather pricey; restaurants on top floors of department stores tend to be like so anyway.


Got moved to a single room that night. Got to watch some TV by myself and found Wolf & Spice.


I somehow think that it looks like a first season re-run, but I'm not sure since I haven't watched the series at all. Is it actually really good?


A rather short day, but I did manage to visit the rest of Akihabara despite the fruitless trip to Nakano Broadway (orz). Most of the loots I've bought were from both days in Akihabara.

Have been a little busy with various stuff recently. Will catch up with the blogs as much as possible!