Dear Chibi,

Wooo! We’ve reached part 3! (Click here for part 1 and part 2)

Akihabara, Tokyo

Pachinko & Slots can be found everywhere all of Japan.

Our trip wouldn’t be complete without having a taste of the anime and manga culture from the country it originated from. Akihabara is seriously a male otaku paradise. Everywhere you turn there are billboards of anime girls, girls cosplaying as maids roam the streets and every building is loaded with anime, manga, doujin, figurines etc. However, I say ‘male’ otaku because everything seemed tailored to the male population. There is an awful lot of anime porn/hentai in every store you walk into. It’s practically unavoidable. It was kind of a turn off for me ^^; (lol, Sorry Marcus..had to say it!!)

I did manage to find a few Sailor Moon goodies in Akihabara. You can read about them here.

Oh, and while we’re on the topic of anime, from pure observation, One Piece is the single most popular anime out right now. There is a TONNNNN of One Piece merchandise found all over Japan. We laughed when we saw that Luffy has made it to every single souvenir and convenient store in every city we’ve been to.

Maid Café

@HomeCafe Maid Café, Akihabara

How can you go to Akihabara and not check out the much talked-about maid cafés? Unlike regular cafés, waitresses are all pretty young girls dressed up as maids, who address you (their customer) as their “master” or “mistress” depending on your gender. There are strict rules in place, such as no photography or video, no touching of the staff, minimum spending and 1 hour maximum time in the café. Admittedly, it was a little nerve racking walking into one. Jacky even considered not go in at all cause he was so embarrassed by the idea XD It was a different, unusual experience for us.

The food was pretty mediocre for the price you pay, though I doubt people go there for the food. The main appeal are the maids, who act all cutesy as your servant and play games with you if you pay them. I’m not sure how they intend to appeal to female customers though… maybe they don’t~
While the idea seems cute and innocent, I felt the concept was slightly offensive and degrading to women. I don’t know, I sure wouldn’t want to be seen as a sexual object o_O

As we left, they gave us each a “License Card” which I thought was pretty amusing. Lv. 1 MY MASTER. I wonder what they call you when you reach Lv 100? XD

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Dear Chibi,

I wasn’t expecting to find much (if anything) related to Sailor Moon while in Japan, but I kept my eye out for them anyway :) As some of you may know, I don’t have much of a Sailor Moon collection.  I wrote a little bit about it here when I bought my first Eternal Sailor Moon gashaphon. Other goodies I own include the manga (Chinese), some VCDs, stickers/cards, gifts from HK and Sailor Moon cels.

Anyway, this entry isn’t about sharing my mini collection, but rather, the stuff I did manage to find in Japan and the stuff I bought :D All of these items are official and not bootlegged :)

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Live Action) Sailor Moon doll
(Bandai 2003) Second hand, box unopened.

I love this one so much :3  I’ve always wanted to own a Sailor Moon doll, and I’m glad this is the first “doll” I’ve ever had in my life XD (I never had any dolls as a child) I found this gem at a little old store in Mitaka on my way back to the station after checking out Ghibli Studio Museum.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon gashapon set (new) @ Golden Age in Akihabara

Golden Age sells some really really old stuff. The store is full of dust but that only excited me more XD I spent a good amount of time here going through boxes and shelves and finally came across these. These were new. yaaay. The store owner was really nice, and when I picked these up he informed me these were from the Live Action incase I was looking for anime versions. Of course, I knew that already but I appreciate how he informed me and not just try to sell his stuff. It was also in this store where I found a Luna P ball! More about that down below XD

Eternal Sailor Moon, Figure Maniacs Sailor Moon and Usagi (Sailor Moon World (Series 5) gashapon)

I was really happy to find the Figure Maniacs Sailor Moon. I love it so much and have always wanted her >w< The style is very different to the others and the detail is pretty amazing. I found her and Usagi with the ice-cream from the same store in Akihabara. I also found a Super Sailor Moon gashapon at another store but decided to pass since the store owner was nowhere to be seen >.>;; Usagi with the icecream and Eternal Sailor Moon actually come from the same series set :D

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