Last Day in Japan

This morning we rode the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo. We caught a brief glimpse of Mt Fuji through the haze enroute. After about 2 and a half hours we arrived back in Tokyo, but had to deal with another problem . . . apparently the G7 summit is taking place in Japan starting tomorrow and as a "security precaution" all coin lockers at all train stations in Tokyo were unavailable for use. This was a huge problem primarily because we had huge bags on our backs and did not really care to carry them all day long.

It was only thanks to Nicole's keen eyes that she spotted some coin lockers that were just outside one of the train stations, which are therefore exempt from the same rules. Whatever works . . .We walked around Akihabara for a little bit, which is known as the electronics district of Tokyo. We went into Yodabashi Camera, whose Akihabara store is the largest electronics store in the world. Inspired by my recent lens purchase, Nicole browsed some of the Canon wide-angle equivalents, but the deals weren't that great, so we moved on. We walked a little bit more around Akihabara and went into the Sega building, which had six levels of games ranging from crane games to interactive games where one banged on taiko drums. Nicole had no such luck at the crane games. I went to use a restroom and unbeknownst to me was playing a video game while I used the urinal. You see there was a screen at eye level and apparently, the longer I peed, the more I progressed in the game. I didn't realize it was a game until halfway through, and I didn't really have the opportunity to play again. After Akihabara, we took the train to Ginza, a high end shopping area.

We checked out a couple department stores and went inside the Sony building where Nicole swooned over a giant 4k tv. They had a few new gadgets like a watch that had a face and band that would change patterns and colors, but it didn't shoot lasers. Nothing was super high-tech or out of the ordinary, however. We've apparently reached a point where the tech that is available in the U.S. is fairly comparable to Japan. After Sony, we walked around a bit, passing Hibiya Park. There seemed to be some oom pah music emanating from inside, and as we turned a corner we were slightly surprised to see an Oktoberfest going on . . . in May. Sometimes October just seems too far away.

After making a brief side journey to a Japanese fast-food called Mos Burger, we worked our way back on a very crowded subway to Akihabara. I snapped this picture of Yodabashi Camera on our way back from the lockers. From there we headed out to switch trains to the monorail and on to Haneda Airport. We arrived about four hours early and we had some time to kill. We did our best to unload what remained of our Yen, which included paying the very reasonable airport lounge fee of 1300 yen (about $12) for access to showers and a chance to change our clothes. We did our best to relax before the long journey back to Los Angeles. The ever popular reflections blog post will be next! Aren't you excited?