Japan Day 1

So I finally arrived in Japan; although I arrived at 7.20 instead of 8am like originally stated in my flight details. For some reason, my plane was flying really fast. Which meant I had to wait for my friend for 1.5 hours instead of the original 1/2 hour as his plane was only supposed to land at 8.35am

Since we had missed the first bus to our hotel and the next was only at 11am, we decided to take the train instead. Long story short, we managed to arrive at our hotel just before the limousine bus would have and as we were leaving, we saw it arriving -_-. So that was a lot of trouble for nothing.

Anyway, we decided to head down to Akihabara as our first destination. On our way, we passed by Shiodome where we managed to take a photo of the clock that was designed by Studio Ghibli. As you can see, it's a fairly unique clock and it can be seen at Shiodome station.

Finally, we made it to Akihabara where I nearly had the shock of my life. It's been two years since I visited the place and when I got there, I immediately noticed that one of my favourite shops was gone. 

Instead, it had been demolished and the place was now under construction. "NOOOOOOOO!!! KBOOKS!!! HOW CAN THIS BE?!?!" were the thoughts running through my mind at the moment but I refused to believe that Kbooks could be gone and tried to search for its new location in Akihabara.

It was during the search that I chanced across Mandarake and as I was climbing up the stairs for Mandarake, I noticed Kbooks off in the distance. 

Apparently, it was now located across the road from Mandarake. Which is located somewhere behind the large SEGA arcade. Not the first SEGA arcade you see upon exiting the JR station, but the old one. So don't worry old-timers, Kbooks is still there and it is still good. 

Another thing I noticed at Akihabara was the sheer prevalence of Maid cafes now. This is one of the FIRST things you will notice after stepping out of the JR station. And then when you walk along the streets, there are several maids from different cafes positioned at various intervals, all trying to interest you into visiting their cafe. It got seriously ridiculous after a while. 

Anyway, after walking around for 5 hours in Akihabara, my friend gave up and said he was too tired. So we had dinner with his other friend and eventually made it all the way back to the hotel at 9pm. Just in time for some well-deserved sleep; since I hadn't slept since the previous day.