The Japanese whiskey bar turned into another night of karaoke for some of the adult members of our group. Despite this late night fun, we all departed the house refreshed and ready for the day’s activities.
Budz predicted that today would be his favorite day of the trip. He knew that we would be visiting Akihabara to shop in the electronics district and to visit a special cafe (more on that below).
Akihabara (aka Akiba) is famous for the stores dedicated to anime and Manga (appealing to Suaram and Rose) and video games (appealing to the other kids).
On the subway, there weren’t many signs asking for polite phone behavior but we never heard anyone’s phone ring, no one carried on a conversation on the trains and any games or videos that were watched were always accompanied by headphones.
On the street, we didn’t see anyone smoking either. Perhaps because it’s illegal in many places in the city.
It wasn’t very long after arriving at Akihabara that the kids began clamoring for 100¥ coins. We found block after block of multi-story shops that had claw machines, video games, and vending machines.
We saw one unique storefront that hosted some vintage vending machines. (We definitely would have eaten the popcorn but both machines were broken)
There was one machine which caught our eye. Most of the slots in this machine were empty but there was one conspicuous item found in it for 100¥.
Jessica was heard telling Budz, “Absolutely not. We are not fitting a rotary phone home in our suitcase.”
We have been blessed so far to not have the kids realize that their subway cards have value on them that can be used beyond fares.
They point to a vending machine and we shrug and say, “Sorry, I have no change for that”. One of them may figure it out, but at least we made it to Day 5!
Eventually, the cheapskate parents cashed a bill or two and let the kids play some games. Suaram worked hard at a claw machine that she was sure was “rigged”. Shortly after she stopped feeding the machine her coins, she ran across the prized item in another store and bought it instead.
The selection of anime seemed dazzling to this author but he is pretty far from an authority on the subject. Suaram seemed pleased and that is really all that matters.
Tiffany offered sage advice about not expecting to win at the claw machines because they are designed to tantalize with a close seeming victory to get more and more coins. She then got obsessed with trying to get a cute coffee mug that was ‘so close’. This time it was Toaster_ham who declared the machine “rigged”. Mom agreed but only after dumping $7 into it.
The kids found a classic video game (Street Fighter) and battled it out.
Across the street, the parents played Pachinko. This is an extremely popular Japanese game that’s a mix between pinball and slot machines. They quickly realized they knew nothing about the game. The bright flashing lights, the loud cheerful electronic voices, and the cutesy video characters were all intended to excite the players. It was 20 minutes of fun and we turned a 2000¥ investment ($13) into 57 points, redeemable at the cash-out counter. This amount yielded the value of a can of Red Bull!
We had lunch at the Go go Curry counter. They serve breaded meat (pork, chicken, etc.) on rice covered in a thick, sweet curry sauce.
We have now had a few lunches in Tokyo where we needed to interact with a kiosk before sitting down. The good news is that we are starting to figure these things out. There seems to be a little less pointing and gesturing now.
The afternoon was beautiful and warm in the sunshine. We walked around Akiba for a few more stores before catching another train to take us to our afternoon adventure. This was the destination that the kids were most looking forward to.
The Cappiness Cafe doesn’t actually serve beverages to its patrons. It does offer food, but only for those that live at the cafe. 3 South American capybaras live there and are fed by the patrons a mix of banana leaves, grass, and feed pellets.
These 60 pound rodents are similar to the kids in 3 aspects; 1) they are juveniles (only 15 months old), 2) they are adorable, and 3) they like to lie around when not being fed. They are not like our kids in that they are bathed twice a day and were welcome to hugs and cuddles.
You will have to ask the kids the names of these capybaras, but I believe that 2 of them were from the same litter. The staff were very attentive to their needs while maintaining good order among the visitors.
Our time with the capybaras was about an hour long and the clock moved quickly. There was another group ready to meet them as we were leaving so let’s assume that these guys are living the high life.
We have enjoyed a surprising limited amount of sushi/sashimi on this trip. Tonight, we decided to correct the oversight by visiting our neighborhood sushi restaurant. It was excellent, as you may have guessed, and we all had a fun time getting one last group dinner together in Japan. Tomorrow afternoon we will downsize again to only the 5 Adventurers.
5 Adventures Together 