Dogstar Travel: Day 3 - 2014/10/02 Chiba and Yodobashi Camera

Day 3 - 2014/10/02 (Thurssday)

Chiba, Pokemon Center (Tokyo Bay) and Yodobashi Camera

A very late blog of day 3 of my trip so some photos such as those of items are outdated. Omatase Shimashita.

Mina, Ohayou Gozaimasu.

Sensoji in the morning. I love waking up to this every morning.

What I see as soon as I step outside the hotel.

To the left you can see the main shrine to Sensoji.

Between the hotel and Don Quijote is construction for shopping complex and another Richmond Hotel. As of writing this post the construction is complete. I hope non of the historic buildings don't slowly disappear otherwise this area will for ever be changed.

Behind the hotel is charging bay for electric cars.

A slim vending machine. You probably know they are everywhere.

Street adjacent to Hanayashiki amusement park. Main shrine at Sensoji directly ahead.

Small restaurants/shops still closed. Most stores open from 11am and onwards in Tokyo. Very few open earlier.

One of the pickup/drop off points for the Asakusa Panda bus. There are 2 buses (one female and one male) that have routes different routes. It is free and you can use it to get to Skytree. My parents and I road on the female bus the previous year just to rest from the humidity. Got to see the streets for free in airconditioned confort LOL.

Entrance to Hanayashiki.

Comparison shot from Love Live s2e11 (14:16). The girls are standing to the left of the entrance.

Post box with a panda.

Main shrine.

There are a few smaller shrines around the Sensoji grounds.

Statue of Danjuro Ichikawa a famous Kabuki actor (1838-1903).

Very quiet in the morning. Mostly office workers heading to work.

To the right of the above photo you can see these koi.

Did you know that the main shrines clay roof tiles were replaced by light weight titanium versions in 2009. This reduced the weight from 930 tons to 180 tons. Will last for 1000 years due to their durability and will not crack during an earthquake. Found out this info watching an NHK documentary.

The grounds and buildings are so well maintained.

Perfect symmetry.

Off to work on the mamachari (mama's chariot). Saw a truck one day taking away bicycles that were parked in a no parking area.

The 5 story pagoda. Did you know that no pagoda of these type have fallen during an earthquake? The reason is that the center column sways cancelling out the vibrations. Skytree uses the same principle by using a large concrete cylinder to achieve the same result. Go watch the NHK Tokyo Eye documentary on Skytree.

These lanterns are illuminated at night. If you are visiting Sensoji I recommend doing it mid afternoon and stay till 7/8pm and explore the area. The area is wonderful at night and vast majority of the tourists are gone. Visit Ueno, Kapabashi or Skytree in the morning first.

Another shopping arcade on the east side of Sensoji. You see many young children going to school on their own. On last years trip I was a little shocked to see a tiny school boy walking in the underground maze at Ginza station on his own. He was tiny and probably 5 years old. I have learned this is common in Japan. The kids learn to rely on themselves to get to and from school. Japan is very safe. You will see kobans (police boxes) every few blocks in Tokyo so I guess this helps to keep a sense of security.

Took a train to Chiba. There was construction at Chiba station on this date so it probably looks different now. Notice the elevated railway track? If you are a fan of the anime Oreimo you should be familiar with it.

On my way to Chiba Park. The sign shows Chiba Parks mascot. This was my only planned anime pilgrimage for this trip. I couldn't justify doing others but I want to return and do a more detailed anime pilgrimage as I enjoy finding locations in anime.

This street is the same street that Kyousuke and Kuroneko walk during their date in s2e8. See the building with the blue tarp above the entrance in the distance? That is where the scene shown below this photo occurs.

Comparison shot of Oreimo s2e8 (7:58)

Here is a map of Chiba Park. Many scenes in Oreimo occur in and around the park. Since I came all this way I should have visited the school which is north-west of here. Oh well.

The elevated railway. You can see youtube videos of when they had the trains decorated with characters from Oreimo.

Comparison scene from Oreimo s2e3 OP (0:54).

The pagola at the park. The lotus plants surrounding the pagola were not in bloom at the time.

Comparison scene from Oreimo s2e3 OP (1:40) with Kuroneko in the foreground.

The lotus flower mascot of Chiba Park is located at the pagola.

The shelter just behind the large stone ornament in the above photo is where Kyousuke and Manami sit in s1e3 (8:00).

Below is a similar shot to the above scene. I cannot remember if I actually took the photo from the same location underneath the shelter.

The stone slab with japanese characters. I can only read hiragana.

After Chiba Park visited the Pokemon Center at LalaPort. There was a free shuttle bus that I used at the time from Funabashikeibajo station to Lalaport.

Some cute travel luggage. During previous years trip I bought a hello Kitty luggage for my niece and filled it up with souvenirs and gifts. You should have seen her eyes light up when she saw the bag and opened it. Why don't you do the same and bring only a small carry-on bag on your plane flight to Japan, buy a Hello Kitty luggage as a carry-on and fill it up with your purchases. I will post 2013 trip so you can see the bag.

Tokyu Hands is a cool general purpose store that you can see in major areas of Tokyo. I always like to have a look. Had ramen for lunch before proceeding to the main destination.

Hello Pikachu. This is one of the major Pokemon Centers in Japan. ORAS was about to be released.

Once in a while a customer or two would come but otherwise very quiet.

Lots of merchandise and lots of plushies.

Should have gotten some exclusive halloween themed items.

Back to Asakusa to drop off purchases.

Now back to the station. This is what some of the stores looked like when their cool shutters are open. You don't know what kind of store they are until they open.

I learned this is a traditional theatre where men play all the parts including women from yes you guessed an NHK documentary. It is a dying art so show your support and go watch one of the acts.

Next destination is my favourite store Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara.

There were isle upon isle of phone covers, dongles, accessories and charms. I ended up spending about an hour trying to decide what to get. Here are some photos of a few of the things available.

After purchasing some phone covers went up stairs to the camera section. My niece wanted a Instax-mini. Replacement film is about 4 times cheaper than back home. So here is my next tip. Buy a large box or two while you are here.

There is so much to see in this store I could seriously spend half a day here. I stayed about 3 hours on this night and about the same on previous years trip. They have a restaurant floor where I had dinner so you do not have to leave the building. Their camera section is mind boggling. Sooo many cameras, lenses you can try and accessories. Get your passport for duty-free. If you want to buy a camera there are only two brands that come with english menus. Canon is one of them. I forgot the other brand.

After dinner went to the toys and games floor and tried some gachapon. Many business workers were trying their luck also.

Spent most of my time here but despite this I did not get to see everything.

Back to Asakusa

Konnichiwa Mii tamadachi.

Sensoji and Skytree from hotel room.

Loot of the day. I also bought 11 pokemon figures that I will not show here it I have posted too many photos already. I have kept all the pokemon bags and the tamagotchi bag from day 2.