What do you get when you mix maid girl voices and turtles? "Look, you're really cute, but I can't understand what you're saying!" (~ Finding Nemo)

After we ate lunch, we split up into groups, and thence, the Sun Young, Momo, So Rim, and I ventured out to explore the strange world of Akihabara. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've heard people refer to Akihabara multiple times as "nerd central." Famous for its numerous electronics stores (as well as catering other goods to the various otaku communities), it's a pretty fun place to wander around in. And it's not at all short of interesting sights, even if the game supplies, anime figurine, or book stores aren't you're thing.

Take for example, this, uh, "pop life department" store. (Yes, it's a sex shop. A five or six floor sex goods shop.)

 

The Korean girls were rather intrigued by the shop, which isn't surprising once you learn that there's really nothing like this in Korea. Honestly, I don't think there's anything quite like this in America either...I mean there's Adam and Eve's and Spencer's...but even they have some level of discretion, and tend to be at least slightly tucked away.

This store was very blatant, out in the open, and--pardon the pun--naked.
And the people are pretty unabashed about going inside for their shopping, whether they're middle aged men or young couples. We of course were giggling madly throughout the entire tour.
I might have cackled a few times.
(There was just some really amusing stuff to be found there...)

Maids and...cat-girls hawking their cafes...I wanna see a ninja restaurant. Or that prison lock-down one Amy Steinberger wrote about in Japan Ai.

 

We also decided to go to a maid cafe, for the sheer experience of it. We picked out one that wasn't too expensive, compared to the entry fee prices for some of the other ones we'd heard of. Incidentally, we basically got what we paid for...a fairly mediocre maid cafe experience, but an experience none the less.
Maid cafes are exactly what they sound like--little cafes where girls dressed up in various styles of French maids serve you tea, cake, ice cream, or what-have-you.
To be honest...most of the maids we didn't find particularly cute. And one was particularly annoying...mostly because she spoke with the little-girl voice which is considered "cute" by some people. (In Japan, cute...to the point of excessive young-girlishness, is rather popular in general.) In my opinion, the most attractive girls there were working in black shirts, pants, and aprons making food in the kitchen. And that girl who seemed to be dressed like a waiter. There are actually garcon cafes too, which are pretty much the same as maid cafes, but cater more to the female crowd.

The food was cute though. (And overpriced.)
Turtle matcha parfait.
I was merciful and ate the candy head first.
I would have taken pictures, but they're not allowed--only polaroids with the maids that you pay for. I had to sneak this one through clever use of checking my cell phone.

A couple of other glances, walking around in Akihabara

And thanks to Akihabara's Book-Off, I found my first Sailor V manga--volume two of the 1st edition. If I'm lucky, I'll find (or if I must, order off of Amazon Japan), the other 2 volumes of the original edition and the 2 volumes which comprise the newest KCDX edition. I also found two more Pretear volumes, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside--three down, one to go.