Tokyo Redux III: Akiba

Yard-sale like vendors outside the Akihabara UDX Building

As I made my way back towards nerd central, which I recently learned is affectionately shorted from "Akihabara" to just "Akiba," I stopped in a couple of anime figurine shops...
mostly in the vague hopes of discovering a nice mini of any number of various characters who were probably a lot more popular back in the '90s. No such luck for me. The Sailor Moon minis I found were actually quite hideous, and I already know a place in Kyoto where I can buy the adorable chibi-fied Final Fantasy figurines.

(Google "Sunako" and "Sunako chibi." For the main character of the anime/manga The Wallflower, or Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, Tomoko Hayakawa actually utilizes the chibi style regularly to show Sunako going back and forth between her humorous self-conscious side and her more mature, self-confident side. The Wallflower is essentially a modern Pygmalion/My Fair Lady story.)

In any case, no figurines really struck me besides fairly large one of Elwyn/Elwing (an elf character from the anime Shining Tears X Wind)--about whom I know nothing else. She was just pretty, and in the end, too expensive.

I found my way to the Tokyo Anime Center, which I found rather lackluster. Like the Pokemon center, it's mostly a small shop of a fairly limited selection of merchandise. I think there's also a theater next door, which probably shows promotional clips or screenings or some such, and perhaps the Center sometimes has important guests from the anime industry visiting.

That day all was fairly quiet and empty. The store mostly carries merchandise from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bleach, One Piece, Astro Boy, some Studio Ghibli films, and a few anime unknown to me. Here, the coolest thing I saw was some NERV duct tape.
Not saying too much.
Near the Akihabara UDX building, I ducked inside a dinky merchandise shop, which sold CDs, books, folders, figurines and small knick-knacks. I actually spent probably about twenty minutes in there digging through the baskets of discounted posters and folders. My efforts were pretty well-rewarded, too, I think; I found an adorable Furuba poster of Kyo and Tohru, as well as a tin commemorating the n-th anniversary of Clamp's X series.

Since I was running out of the the couple of hours I'd allotted for exploring Akiba, I didn't manage to check out the Kanda Second-hand Books Area nearby, which is said to have over 150 bookstores I would have loved to get lost in had I had the time. Second-hand bookshops in Japan are slightly dangerous places for me, I think.
But it sounds...fascinating.

A few examples of kogyaru fashion, above; there are several different sub-categories of this style, taken to different extremes. The basic idea of the look is a schoolgirl uniform with a shortened skirt, usually with loose socks, died hair, and sometimes with tanned skin (although there's a more recent gyaru style called shiro gyaru which goes for the pale look).

Tokyo Redux II: Kanda Myojin

Before diving back into the nerdom of Akihabara, I took a short stroll down from the station to Kanda Myojin shrine.

There was something rather enchanting about finding it, the small side entrance torii coyly and quietly tucked away between the red-brick city buildings.

Kando Myojin was an important shrine, at first mostly to the samurai class, but in the Edo period it became popular with the general public after the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu paid it particular respect. People today visit Kanda Myoji to pray for luck in business, family, and in finding future spouses; the kami enshrined here are Daikokuten, Ebisu and Taira no Masakado.

 

a beautiful fountain to the right of the Main Hall

 

a statue of Dakokuten

A somewhat unusual statue of Ebisu, who is usually portrayed as a cheery man with a fishing rod. This statue hearkens more to his origins as the firstborn "leech child" of Izanagi and Izanami. Because of a Izanami basically messed up the marriage ritual by greeting Izanagi first--and they had to redo it--Ebisu was born deformed and thrown into the sea in a basket as a child. He washed ashore on one of the northern islands, where Ainu found and raised him, and he eventually grew bones. Thankfully.



A fortune-teller machine. Reminds me of Big a little bit, only with a Japanese puppet instead of Zoltar.

When I arrived, workers at the shrine were taking out some of the mikoshi. I believe they were making preparations for a festival coming up soon. Kanda Matsuri would be held this year on the 15th and 16th of May (about a week and a half after I visited), in honor of the kami of Kanda Myojin, although originally it started as a victory celebration after Tokugawa Ieyasu won at the battle of Sekigahara.