Japan 2004: Chapter 2 - Day 2: Ikkebukurou + Akihabara

We'd been to Japan twice before - on the second trip, from sheer coincidence, we were put up
in a hotel smack in the middle of Japan's anime manga metropolis Ikebukurou. We were
never the same again. And so decided to relive the Sunshine City Prince Hotel experience.
XD



One of the touristy things we did on the first day was to scoot over to Sunshine 60,
the 60-storey office building with an ambient elevator ride to the observatory on top. The kids
came along for this. Sei couldn't be bothered, saying something about private helicopters and
a view of the bloody world. ^^;;



Sanada : Wow...



Yanagi : I can hardly contain my excitement.

It sometimes occurs to us that Yanagi can be quite a bit like Sei. This bothers us immensely.
Scratch that. It scares the hell out of us.

*******

Our true motive in coming to Japan, other than for Dolpa 12 [and more yaoi doujinshi than you
can shake a stick at], was to take an all-Sumika tour of Tokyo. So our first stop was
the electronics city Akihabara, where we hit Radio Kaikan for the Akihabara Tenshi no Sumika | SR...



This is a random shot of a scarecrow in the station. Because it's a crow scarecrow. Ha ha.
We are so funny.



It was not hard to find Radio Kaikan. There were signs all over the station [well, not hard if you
read katakana. XD;;], and as soon as you emerge from the appropriate exit - voila.
It was particularly easy to identify also because there was a giant Futakoi billboard right smack
in the middle, and Jun has been mildly mad about Futakoi since cultivating an unhealthy
interest in G'S Megami. XD;;



The Akihabara Tenshi no Sumika was the first Sumika we'd ever set foot in - and it was
wonderful. But there are no pics, because photos aren't allowed in Sumika. XD;; Sorry.



We snuck a few photos of the outside though - this is the customer display window : the dolls
you see here belong to actual owners, who dress them up and install them in the shop front
for a couple of days. We feel obliged to squee and say "RO! RO!". There you go.



The other shop window featured Dollfie Dreams. There are multiple DD displays all over
the Volks shops in Japan. Most of them are very...rewarding.

In hindsight, we have this to say about the Akihabara Tenshi no Sumika : it ranks, to us,
among one of the top Sumika in Tokyo to visit. Quite big, with very pleasing setups, and some
merchandise we never saw anywhere else. The Showroom itself is also notable. There is a
very comprehensive display of the various 1/6 Volks bodies and moulds that was not always
to be found elsewhere.

*******

At the end of the day, we returned to Ikebukurou. Ikebukurou, of course, has its very own
Volks SR...



...Which we got lost looking for. It's tucked between streets, in a back alley. But the interior is
quite large. As all SRs, the specialty is 1/6, but there are also quite a few SD showcases,
and we spent many an hour here over the past few days.



While it's not an SR you should go out of your own to visit, it's just a handy place for an SD
break between killing yourself with doujin at Animate, killing yourself with doujin at
RaShinBang, and killing yourself with doujin at Mandarake. ^____^

Stayed tuned for the third part of our very exciting Japan adventure, where we wake up at
4 something in the morning to rush to Tokyo Big Sight for [finally!] the one and only Doll's Party 12!

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