akihabara

Short update: Yesterday I woke up gloriously late. Took a cab to Super Potato Akihabara, a retro video game store about 7 miles from Shibuya City. The store has three stories dedicated to games from older Japanese consoles.

Spent the rest of my time just wandering around, getting some exercise and dropping into interesting-looking stores.

In the evening, Jon Wilson and I walked around Kabukicho looking for air-conditioned bars to have a drink. Despite all the warnings from locals and travel blogs, this is not a dangerous area. It's well-lit and packed with people. The bottakuri dudes – barkers, trying to get you to come to a second location with the promise of cheap drinks and oThEr wOrLdly pLeAsUrEs – are easy to say "no" to, they are polite and back off quickly. Good times.

Next post: sushi and jazz