Akihabara and Harajuku

On the heavenly place that is Akihabara
I honestly didn't expect to get to this part of Tokyo this time around since I am hopelessly outnumbered as an Otaku in my group of friends, who are all music and goth-centered. There's nothing wrong with that of course, but it just means they would be exceptionally bored at the central area for otaku-culture in Tokyo.
We did go there in the end though and it was everything I could have imagined. Incredibly easy to reach from our area compared to some of our other destinations and comparably easy to navigate once we got there as well.

It is first and foremost an area for electronic equipment and so, to find the buildings that are centered around manga and anime you have to do a bit of looking around.
Luckily we went there on a Sunday and on Sundays they close off the road so that people can walk everywhere they please, which was a blessing, because there was a lot of people there!
Most shops in shopping-areas here in Tokyo are all very narrow as well, I've noticed, so patience definitely becomes a virtue. Luckily everyone is very polite around here, so there is no passive aggression going aroundXD.
Well, we arrived safely at Akihabara and we quickly found a shop stuffed with figurines of all sizes and shapes, though I didn't find any big ones I wanted. I did find some miniature ones, one of Yuuko from xxxHolic and Zack, Reno and Rude from FFVII<3

The most amazing shop on the street though, was a tall building called Mandrake, containing all kinds of otaku-goods, from anime and manga to doujinshi and fake guns.
The doujinshi (fancomics) floor was by far the most fantastic for me though, since I had resigned myself to not getting any doujins at all, given that I had opted not to attempt to go to the famous convention Comiket in Odiba. Some of the guys from our hostel went there, but they reported that it was completely stuffed with people so I chose not to do it.

That is why it was such a blessing for me to get to Mandrake and discover an entire floor full of doujinshi of all the possible pairings and fandoms I could imagine!
On the same floor was an area with drama-cds as well and I got hold of all the loveless-cds as well as kizuna, two manga-series which happen to be my absolute favourites, both in terms of the art and the stories!<3

Kizuna-cast

Loveless-cast

It was amazing to find all of those things in one place and I'm definitely going back there the next time I have a chance to go to Japan and Tokyo!

On Harajuku, reminiscence on Camden Town and Modern Pirates
I have had the impression, for a long time, that the area of Tokyo known as harajuku was a japaneese version of Camden in London, what with shops of alternative goods and strange fashion and I must say my opinion wasn't changed once we actually went there.

It is a long street, full of colours and pretty people on which you can find whatever you might want with regards to clothes and accessories.
I'm not big on shopping, to be honest, so to me it doesn't have the appeal it might to my friends, but I love looking at people and at strange, Gothic jewelry, so that is what i was doing while the others looked over clothes and shoes like proper girly girlsXD.

At the end of the street we found a shop the others had been looking for, Modern Pirates, owned by a guy who knows various jrockers. That made them plenty happy, which was a fine conclusion to the day:)
~A~