Akihabara, Hina Matsuri, and Senzoku-ike

Hey all!

Once again, sorry about my lapse in posts. Apparently the WHOLE WORLD is reading my blog (or so says my dad), so I better get better at posting so not to disappoint.

This weekend has been a lot of fun. Yesterday I went with my friends Gabby and Michala to Akihabara for the first time (and definitely not the last). For those of you who aren?t familiar, Akihabara is nicknamed ?Electric Town? here in Tokyo. That?s because it?s the city?s tech district. If you?re looking for the latest and greatest in gadgets, look no further than Akihabara.

But that?s not all: Akihabara (or ?Akiba? for short) is also the mecca of Japanese pop culture, particularly anime, video games, and manga. To refresh your memory, anime are Japanese cartoons, and manga are Japanese comics. As someone who was (and still is) very interested in this facet of Japanese culture, I was very eager to check this place out.

And Akiba didn?t disappoint. First, my friends and I went to ?Gamers?, which is a 7-floor store filled to the brim with manga and anime paraphernalia. It was like going to the dealers room at Connecticon (holla to all my peeps back home who know what I?m talking about). Except this dealers room was on steroids and probably cocaine. At Gamers, I purchased two volumes of manga? ?Yotsuba!? and ?House of the Sun?. Both comics are simple enough that I can read and understand them, but at the same time they will prove useful study aids. I?ve already started reading ?Yotsuba!? (a manga about the day-to-day life of a 5 year old girl and her friends and family), and I feel so cool, because I totally know what?s going on in the story!? ^___^

The three of us spent a lot of time at Gamers, geeking out hard core. Afterward, we went to another store that sold all sorts of anime-related stuff, from cell phone charms to coffee mugs to plushies. Don?t worry, I took a lot of pictures :)

Then, we went to?a maid cafe! This requires some explanation. A maid cafe is a type of restaurant in Japan where the waitresses dress up in cute costume (or cosplay). They serve their customers (mostly male) food and drink, and if the customers desire they will play a game with them or take pictures with them (not free, of course?maid cafes are notoriously expensive).

My friends and I were really curious about what goes on at maid cafes, so we went to one ourselves. It was actually really fun! The waitresses were adorable, wearing costumes fashioned after the shrine maidens at Shinto shrines. And when they served us our drinks and desserts, they had us repeat after them and say this spiel while making a heart shape with our hands. It was really cute in a really Japanese-moe way. The food itself was decent. I ordered an iced matcha green tea with milk, but my friends ordered hot chocolate and ice cream desserts. I took a taste of their ice cream, and it was deeelish. It was also really fun to spy on the rest of the clientele. Most were guys in their twenties who looked pleased as punch to be in the company of cute women. Not to be judgmental or anything, but it seemed like this was the only interaction with real-life women many of them will have for a while. At the end of the meal, we received these plastic credit-card-type cards that certified us as a ?Level 1 Master? (written in English, it said exactly that). It seems like if you frequent this particular cafe, you increase your rank level. I can only imagine how many levels there are? All in all, it was a really interesting experience. I would definitely go back again.

Finally, we went to 5 floor arcade building, where I played some good ol?fashioned DDR for old times sake. It was pretty sweet, playing DDR in Japan, where it was meant to be played. I thought about all my friends back home who would kill to be in my shoes. I apologize, friends. Let?s all go to Akiba together sometime in the near future :)

Yesterday was also Hina Matsuri, which is the festival celebrating daughters in Japan. Originated in the Heian Period of Japan, girls receive ornamental dolls that they display prominently on a red carpet tiered display. On Hina Matsuri, offerings of wagashi (or Japanese sweets) are made to these dolls, and then later the sweets are eaten. It is also customary to eat chirashizushi (which is fish and vegetables on a bed of rice soaked in vinegar and soy sauce). We celebrated yesterday evening? I helped my host mom make the chirashizushi, which was super fun, and then after dinner we ate sakura mochi, which is a japanese rice cake favored with sugar and sakura (cherry blossom) flavor. It was awesome!

Finally, today after lunch my family and I went to Senzoku-ike, which is a neighboring town not far away. ?Ike? means ?pond? in Japanese, and indeed there is a huge pond in Senzoku-ike with many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples nearby. We visited a number of these shrines and observed the pond animals. THERE WERE SO MANY KOI FISH! They were all different colors, and they were HUGE! There were also a lot of ducks (or ?kamo? in Japanese). Afterwards, we went to a nearby library. Apparently libraries are open on Sundays in Japan. What a concept! It makes sense?people actually have time to read on Sundays. Another reason Japan is awesome. I checked out a children?s picture book to aid with my studying. I felt a little silly?but it was worth it. The book is called ?Panda ko-panda?, and it?s a Studio Ghibli book (the famous creators of the movies ?Spirited Away? and ?Ponyo?). I?m looking forward to reading?and understanding!?it.

Tonight my host dad is making gyoza?a dumpling that is Chinese in origin but enjoyed by many Japanese. I love gyoza. I sorta love everything here. Will the fun never stop?!?!

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Source: http://kcjapan.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/akihabara-hina-matsuri-and-senzoku-ike/

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