City Spotlight: Akihabara (part 2)

Figurine shops

This is my biggest interest as I was fond of anime in the past, and anime figurines are not something you can readily find (at least in the same volume) in most stores in Japan or Australia.

In Japan, they are called 'figures'.

 A good-quality figure ^_^

There are quite a few figurine shops in Akihabara. Some sell other products, others specialise in figurines. Figurines range from the 100-yen kind - for example, the kind you get from gachapon machines - in little plastic bags, to large, expensive boxed products worth tens of thousands.

A lot of figurine shops will have the best, most expensive (or mass-produced) figurines in boxes. Mid-range figurines will be in glass cases - you may need to ask an the attendant to get them. Cheaper figurines will be in small plastic bags, though even some of the cheaper figurines can look quite decent. They usually fall in the 100 - 1500 yen range, these cheap ones.

The characters are often grouped roughly according to category (eg, 'girl's anime', 'Gundams', etc). The stores usually have a haphazard feel to them, where you find yourself taking your time looking through lots of characters to find ones you want.

Some figurines are designed to stand up on their own; some are keychains or phone straps; some have moveable parts; many have to be 'built' by the buyer (as simple as sticking the legs into the torso).

My 'cheap' Cammy. With detachable arms and hair. ^_^

Another type of figurine store is one where individual people can get a case, and sell their own figurines, via the store, to the public. You'll recognise these stores by their randomness; each glass case can have quite an eclectic mix of characters, seemingly unrelated. Although you can find some unique items here, you may be able to find the same figures in other stores for cheaper prices.

My personal favourite store is Kotobukiya - right near Akihabara station - it sells a variety of video game and anime merchandise, Akihabara souvenirs, and the upstairs section has a decent variety of figurines. ^_^

Finding things

Be aware that while this is otaku (geek) heaven, it *is* Japan. There may be manga stores with several floors of different manga and doujinshi (fan-made manga), but it will, naturally, be in Japanese. There may be video game stores with masses of cheap titles, but they will all be in Japanese and localised for Japanese consoles. Personally, I have seen almost no English material in Akihabara.

Another thing is that although there is a lot of character merchandise around, obviously, the most popular or most recent shows and games have the most merchandise. Also, although at first glance there seems to be a dazzling variety, a lot of shops actually have the same items and same characters.

You will be in luck if you like Gundam, Evangelion, One Piece, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy 7, Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto... apart from the opportunity to make figurines of sexy or cute female characters, 'guy's anime' are definitely more popular.

I remember that when I was a kid, I liked 'Fushigi Yuugi' and 'Magic Knight Rayearth'. I thought they were pretty famous/popular in their time (more than 10 years ago), but I couldn't find one figurine or item for any of the characters in any shop. Not that I was particularly looking, but I always recognise characters I know. Now I wonder if it's partly because these were anime popular with girls, so there is less call for them with male customers of the shops.

Not family friendly

There's also a good deal of weird stuff around. I do not go to Akiba to seek out naked animated characters, but it's impossible to avoid them. There are a lot of female characters with grotesquely swollen breasts (every time I see them I think, 'ouch, that's gotta be causing some back problems'). There are also many cutesy, sometimes alarmingly young-looking girls with flushed, coy, 'oh, don't touch me there!' expressions. (If you have seen them, you'll know what I'm talking about. Anime mouse pads make a lot of use of this, as do figurines and posters. I will not provide links to examples. -_-)

Occasionally you'll accidentally wander into some place and feel ashamed to be in there. Since the more valuable merchandise in Akiba is in glass cases, to be bought on request, I wonder how anyone could deal with the shame of actually asking for one of these items. -_-

On other occasions you'll find yourself in a shop, and there's nothing openly graphic in there, but you feel a vague sense of uneasiness. I found myself in a shop containing nothing but merchandise with cute young girl characters - nothing unseemly, just generic cute characters I didn't know, but looking like any children's comic - yet the shop was full of adult men.

Anyway, I don't want to give the impression that all of Akiba is grotty, but I wouldn't recommend taking your children shopping in this area.

City Spotlight: Akihabara (part 1)

Akihabara ('Akiba' for short) is an area of Tokyo which is a nerd mecca. If you have any interest in electronics, video games, anime, manga or collectable figurines, I recommend checking it out. If you don't, then there isn't really that much for you here. If you want an area with some geeky stuff but a variety of other stores and entertainment, try Ikebukuro instead.

In line with geek interests, Akiba's shops lean very much toward cute or sexy female characters, and also giant robots like Gundam. Akiba also caters to fans of real people, especially cute young girl groups such as AKB48, but most of what you see are anime, manga or game characters. As you might expect, this is an area that attracts a lot more guys than girls.

For me personally, the things I especially like doing at Akiba are: getting kebabs from the kebab men outside the station, looking at figurines, looking at the wacky gifts and souvenirs, going in the retro video game stores, and having a coffee at Starbucks or Excelsior.

You can also buy anime or game music, specialised electronic parts, computers and computer equipment - there are a couple of big-name generic electronics 'department stores' as well as lots of smaller shops.

Location

Akihabara is in Tokyo; it's north of Tokyo station, not far from Ueno. It's on the JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku and Sobu lines, as well as Tokyo Metro's Hibiya line and the Tsukuba Express.

Akiba's main street

If you take the Electric Town exit, you'll come to a main street lined with gingko trees. This has some of the major electronics stores as well as other geeky shops. There's also a cluster of shops immediately around the station. If you cross the main road you'll find another cluster of streets with other electronics and hobby shops.

If you take the opposite Showa-dori exit, there's a big Yodobashi Camera store.

Peculiarities

One specialty of Akihabara is the 'maid cafes'. These are cafes where the waitresses are dressed as cute maids, and act a little cutesy... well, that's it, really. Some of them are really just like normal cafes, but the waitresses wear French maid's costumes. I visited a maid cafe in Akihabara once; there was nothing untoward about it, and it had a mixture of male and female guests. Others, I have heard, may involve more interactivity or quirks like maids playing children's games with the customers or giving massages or something.

Ad for a maid cafe. You can often see maid girls on the street trying to attract customers.

Another feature of Akiba is that it has quite a few weird and wacky gift and souvenir shops. There are some souvenirs and snacks you can't readily find in 'ordinary' Japanese souvenir shops. You can buy canned oden. (Why would you want any oden at all?) You can get cookies with maids on them. You can buy snacks with the Prime Minister on them. You can buy cans of bread with anime characters on them. (Yes, canned bread. Yes, it really does sound disgusting, doesn't it?)

I will continue with more geekiness in the next post. ^_^

Karaoke recommendations

While on the subject of karaoke, if you're looking for some Japanese songs to learn/sing, here are some of my favourites. I chose ones that I thought were popular and well-known, fun to sing, and not too fast to read. Mind you, if you are a total beginner at reading Japanese, they will still be too fast.

If you don't like singing karaoke, I still recommend giving these songs a listen. ^_^

I have included the Japanese song title and artist. I tried to put it here as you'd find it on a karaoke selector. For example, 'Kiseki' is usually written in hiragana.

Male artists

Ue o muite arukou (I look up as I walk), Sakamoto Kyuu

上を向いて歩こう, 坂本 九

Apparently this song was actually released in Western countries under the name 'Sukiyaki', but good luck finding that on karaoke selectors. This song is an oldie and very well-known, has a pleasant melody, is not too long, and is at a tempo convenient for reading.

I don't know why they called it 'sukiyaki'. If you didn't know, this is a nostalgic sort of song about loneliness and the passing seasons, while 'sukiyaki' is a hotpot dish. I heard this title was chosen just because 'sukiyaki' sounded recognisably Japanese to the Western ear. It's a bit like releasing the Beatles 'Yesterday' in Japan, only calling it 'Hamburger'. 

Linda Linda, The Blue Hearts

リンダリンダ, ザ・ブルーハーツ (often 'The Blue Hearts' is written in romaji))

This song has repetition - one good thing - a very easy chorus (can you sing 'Linda Linda' over and over again? I thought so) and if you have Japanese friends with you, you can possibly get them all shouting along and jumping up and down on the seats (if they are anything like my friends anyway ^^;;).

I think the words are easy to remember, so give it a go. ^_^

I also like The Blue Hearts' 'Train Train' - another good 'group song' that everyone shouts along to - but it has more lyrics, and *way* too fast for me!

Ashita ga aru sa (There's always tomorrow), the Ulfuls

明日があるさ, ウルフルズ

This song has been done by a few groups, I believe, but my version of choice is the Ulfuls. They're great. ^_^ Actually, this was first done by Kyu Sakamoto, who did 'Ue o muite arukou' mentioned above. This is a fun, catchy song, and has a repeating chorus that's easy to join in with.

Speaking of the Ulfuls, I also enjoy their Guts da ze!, Banzai! Suki de yokatta and Eenen, the first two of which are particularly well-known, but all are more difficult to sing than Ashita ga aru sa. ^_^

Kiseki (Miracle), GreEEeeEEEEen

きせき, GReeeeN

I can't remember how many 'e's in Greeeeeeeen so I added a few for good measure. ^_^ Okay, it's four. This song is SO popular and a really good Jpop song. It's not high on my list of personal favourites - I find the melody a bit monotonous to sing for an entire song, and I don't know it well, and the speed is just slightly challenging for me. If you're not too slow at reading Japanese, it should be okay.

Speaking of GReeeeN, their song 'Michi' is one of my favourite Japanese songs at the moment. I heard of this song when a friend sang it at karaoke. See, karaoke is good. I found out about lots of new songs from it. ^_^

Female artists

The male songs I listed above are also comfortable for a girl's range, in my opinion.

Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara (As though enveloped by kindness)

やさしさに包まれたなら

As a girl, I love this song; it fits my range so nicely, and it's a really pretty, mellow song, very sweet and uplifting to sing. This is the 'theme song' for the famous Ghibli movie 'Majou no takkyubin', in English 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.

It has been done by various artists; the movie version by Arai Yumi (荒井 由実).

Rirura riruha (Real life, real heart), Kimura Kaela

リルラリルハ、 木村カエラ

Kaela Kimura is popular at the moment, and this song is bright and fun to sing. I heard of it through the Ouendan games. Linda Linda is also in Ouendan.

English songs

If you are wondering about English songs that are popular at karaoke, I have heard a lot of: 'Take me home country roads' (I never heard this song before I came to Japan), 'I was made to love you' (a Queen song I had never heard of before I came to Japan), many Beatles songs, the Titanic song... 

In my group, 'Under the Bridge', 'Livin on a Prayer' and 'Sweet Child o Mine' also seem to get a lot of currency, but I don't know if that's indicative of Japan as a whole, ha ha ha.

Karaoke kanji guide

If you should find yourself doing karaoke with a Japanese-only monitor, here are some handy kanji. (I apologise that this is a bit vague and incomplete. Truthfully, I can't read all the words myself - and on some monitors the actual words differ - but no matter what karaoke selector I use, I can recognise the key screens, and here is how. ^^;)

When you turn it on, you'll usually have to select an option to go to the song catalogue, and then you'll be presented with a few options.

歌手名 means 'singer'. Search by artist.
曲名 is the other main choice and means 'song'. Search by song title.
新曲 is another common option, it means 'new songs'.

Let's imagine you chose to search by song title. You'll be presented with a screen full of Japanese characters. If you want to sing a song with a Japanese title, all well and good.

The four buttons at the bottom are 'return', 'change to English characters', 'delete last character' and 'search'.

At the bottom of the screen will be a <=> button with the character for 'English' (英), which will take you to the English alphabet. You can change back by pressing the かな button.

When you are inputting your song title, usually you cannot enter spaces, so just type the title in as one word. If you make a mistake, look for the button at the bottom with '１字' in it, it will delete a character.

The search button is usually in the bottom right, will likely say 探す (さがす), or 'search'. Once you've pressed this, you'll get the search results. 次 (next) and 前 (previous) will take you forward or back a page.

If you change your mind at any point, usually in the bottom left corner is a button saying 戻る (もどる), 'return' or 'back'.

Once you've selected a song (the select button's usually in the bottom right of the screen), it'll show you the song and its first line, so you can confirm that's the song you wanted.

On this screen you can see the song info, including the song number (if you were entering the number from the song book, rather than typing in the song name). At the bottom, the button at the left is もどる (back) and on the right is the 'select' button.

You can also fiddle with the key, which I don't recommend, as you tend to waste half the song messing about with it. You'll know you've successfully input your song, as on the karaoke screen, the song you entered will briefly flash on the top of the screen.

Should you become disheartened while singing your piece, there'll be a button on the monitor, red in colour, including the kanji for stop (止), which cancels the current song.

Oh, one other tip, usually the first song will deafen you. You have to change the volume on the machine under the TV itself. Avoid the dials with sharps or flats # on them, they change the key. Volume is 音, there may also be labels for music and マイク (mic).

Some karaoke selectors may differ from this layout, but most of the ones I've tried have followed it. Oh yeah, and karaoke rooms also have books of songs, so you can also find the 'foreign songs' section and enter the relevant number of the tune you wanna sing.

Good at using chopsticks

One comment you often hear from foreigners after living in Japan for a while, is that Japanese people like to compliment them on their chopstick skills.

'Wow, you can use chopsticks!'
'You use chopsticks very well!'
'O-hashi jouzu desu ne!'

Some of my friends who have lived in Japan longer than me are quite fed up with this by now. They say it always makes them want to say, 'wow, you can use a knife and fork, well done!'

Of course, the chopsticks compliment is just a friendly thing to say, and not meant in a patronising way. It's just that so many people react in exactly the same way. Do they think that foreigners can't use chopsticks? Or that using chopsticks is really difficult to master? Because you can say 'I've lived in Japan for four years', then five minutes later, people will still express surprise at your ability to use chopsticks. I tell you, I'd express much, much more surprise if someone had lived in Japan for four years without learning to use chopsticks.

In my case, I fumble even using a knife and fork. Though I eat with chopsticks almost every day, I rarely even receive this common compliment. When I do, I always feel rather proud, ha ha ha. The thing is, though, learning to use chopsticks is not very hard. Even for an uncoordinated person like me, it took me a couple of days to get functional, perhaps a few weeks to get good at picking up small or slippery things. Most of my Australian friends, who've never lived in Asia, can use chopsticks.

The thing that amuses me is when, I have been talking to people only in Japanese for some time, and *then* they see me use chopsticks and exclaim 'wow, you can eat with chopsticks!' As a hint, the former skill takes much more effort to develop than the latter!

Japanese Pet Peeve: Shopping

I should preface this by saying that I mostly dislike shopping in general, not only in Japan. I could make a 'pet peeve' list about shopping for any location. However, today I'll focus on shopping in big cities in Japan.

The crowds

Going to a popular shopping spot on a weekend is no joke. Most of them have absolutely ridiculous numbers of people. If you go anywhere near lunch time, people will be sitting outside restaurants, lining up waiting for a place. People will line up half an hour to buy a particularly popular brand of donut or cake.

Every shop you go into will become a labyrinth in which every potential exit is blocked by human bodies. In general, shops are not spacious even when empty of people, so there are an awful lot of logjams. Going in for a casual browse becomes very frustrating.

I've realised how lucky I was in Yokohama to have Mondays off.

Shouting

This is absolutely the worst thing. Unlike in most of Asia, Japanese shopkeepers don't badger you to buy things. However, they do a lot of general, random shouting.

'Welcome!'

'Please look around!'

'How about some takoyaki? It's delicious!'

'Come and see these great specials!'

Girls' clothes shops are the worst in this regard, because there is obviously some kind of shopkeeper training course that teaches girls how to adopt the loudest, most nasal voice possible. I can't convey how awful this is if you haven't heard it for yourself. If you're within 10m of one when she shouts 'irasshaimase!! douzo goran kudasai!', you'll get a fright. Sometimes these girls are so piercing I actually wince in pain; it's all I can do not to clap my hands over my ears.

Food stores are also full of shouting, but are generally less nasal, featuring lots of men bellowing in the most gung-ho manner possible. In food halls, there can be quite a cacophony from competing stalls.

In pretty well every kind of store, the staff will say 'irasshaimase' (which basically means 'welcome' and doesn't require a response) when you walk past them. In some stores, where the staff are busy laying out stock or folding clothes, they will just shout 'irasshaimase' at random intervals, whether there is someone new nearby or not. When you leave, someone will usually say or shout 'arigatou gozaimashita!' (thank you!).

This in itself is fine, it just depends on the manner in which it is said; sometimes it's said in such an aggressive voice that it doesn't make me feel welcome at all!

The music

Another pet peeve is that some stores have their own jingle or advertising slogan, which will be repeated again and again over the speakers. 

'Nanaco de kao kao seven seven! Seven Eleven, ii kibun!'

'One price shop! One price shop de gozaimasu!'

'Tako tako tako! Tako tako tako!'

This is just about bearable if you're in the shop for less than one minute. I don't know how the sales staff can work there without going stark, staring mad.

My current supermarket is quite bad. Most of the supermarket is blessed with a repetitive, perky jingle. Imagine the chorus of 'This is the Day that the Lord Has Made' played on the tin whistle, converted into midi format, and played on loop, all day every day. However, different parts of the supermarket have different annoying jingles. While waiting at the checkout you get to listen to the 'takoyaki odango' song, which I always leave the store singing. -_-

The good

To be fair, there are also good points about shopping in Japan. Indeed, in most cases, I actually prefer shopping in Japan to shopping anywhere else.

Some products are cheaper than back home. In particular, books, shoes and alcohol. ^_^ There are more shopping venues to choose from, and sales assistants are usually pretty helpful. For me as a short, fairly small person, it's easier to find nice-fitting, reasonably-priced trousers and shoes.

When you walk around shopping areas, you can also find a lot of interesting things, like odd food, funny posters, or products you don't find back home. Today I saw a Japanese sword store, with swords selling for around $10,000 each. There are lots of cute gift stores, and food shopping is fun. 100 yen stores have a lot of good stuff with which you can equip your apartment.

The good shopping spots are in interesting hub areas, usually easy to access by train, so when you go shopping you feel like you're in the hum of Japanese life.

Muji

It took me forever to remember the name of this store: 無印良品, or 'Mujirushi Ryouhin'. You can recognise the four kanji in crimson on a white background. It's a popular lifestyle store. Muji sells a variety of products such as clothes, food, decorations, furniture, and various household items.

I call it the Store of Beige, because when you go there, absolutely everything is in varying shades of brown, beige and grey. Have a look at their online store if you don't believe me. ^_^

Everything is quite mass-produced and basic and functional. It's like IKEA, only more beige. ^_^