I lost my X20 lenscap.

It wasn’t in my trouser pocket nor my Crumpler. I was hoping that being in the country where the X20 was made would mean it’d be easy to get parts. Farhan-san said to try Bic Camera. As I was gonna hit Akiba again to check out Yuma-cha… I mean, Kotobukiya and Mandarake, that shouldn’t be a problem.

After a quick breakfast, I headed out to Meiji-jingu again and was lucky enough to catch a procession of shrine staff members[1]. No Shinto wedding this time of the day/week unfortunately. There was another congregation of staff in black suits as well as shrine maidens at the left side of the major quadrangle. Headed off to Yoyogi-kōen and seeing people running made me wish my left knee didn’t play up last month. Better be safe than sorry as I didn’t wanna risk messing it up any further just because I wanna have it down on my RunKeeper app[2]. There sakura blooms were pretty but I have to admit, I have started to take lesser photos as I have a feeling of hanami overload. Unlike Ueno-kōen, Yoyogi was more grass land, reminiscent of Hyde Park but without the squirrels.


On the way to Akiba, I checked out the Harajuku BAPE store which was in the very quiet back streets parallel to Omotesandō. The store was somewhat empty but for some reason or other they only let in 3-4 customers at a time. The floor staff was very courteous and didn’t mind me browsing. One of the guys who attended to me spoke perfect English which made things a little easier[3]. Two tees and a few 10,000円 notes lighter, I felt like another coffee at Omotesandō Koffee which was just a couple of minutes away. Just before I ordered my iced mochaccino, Miki-san, the same barista who served me yesterday, took one look at me and went to the back, only to return with my X20 lenscap! Yokatta naa! Talk about luck. Chatted a bit about my trip (in both rudimentary Nihon-go and English on my part) before saying goodbye.

I didn’t really like Akiba in the daytime as I kinda prefer seeing the city after 6PM. Just because I like what I get with the evening shots better and of course, the cooler temperature. My first port of call was Mandarake Complex and all its eight floors. If I wanted to come to Akiba for these figures, I’d need at least one extra empty suitcase. For some bizarre reason, I was somewhat nonplussed. I had the same feeling when I entered K-BOOKS and the *koffkoff* manga were just right there on the ground floor, catering for every perverse taste. Yum.

I returned to Kotobukiya and the STAR WARS series of their collection was just superb – especially the more cutesy bishoujo series (Jaina Solo was also yum). Got myself a Kōsaka Kirino-chan tee and I was pretty happy.

It was already 3PM when I finally had some hunger pangs. Took the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku as I felt like having ramen at Kaijin, a place that makes the broth purely from fish stock. My heart sank when the staff said that they were shut until 5PM. Headed back to Harajuku hungry and had my fix of gyuniku with a raw tamago to boot at Yoshinoya. *KOFFKOFF* The cheapest lunch ever at 360円 a go!

Rested my aching feet (would’ve been worse without my Asics) and headed back to Shibuya to check out Ishibashi and saw this baby – a second-hand MiJ Fender ’75 series Jazz bass for something like GBP237. I think it was in Olympic White, had a black pickguard, rosewood fingerboard with the archetypal block inlays. I added a mental note and told myself to first check the stock at BIG BOSS in Ochanomizu tomorrow before making my final decision.

I also accidentally sauntered into BAPE Shibuya following which it was to take my own sweet time and get some stuff at Tower Records Shibuya[4]. My favourite section was the ground floor where all the new releases are, the first floor where the books are and finally the second floor where they have CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays of contemporary Japanese artistes/bands. If I stayed in Tokyo any longer, I’d be broke by just being in Tower Records alone I think.

Time for an early night as it’s osushi asagohan at Tsukiji Shijo tomorrow.

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[1]I don’t think they were priests but I may be wrong.
[2]I did have it down anyway. Hahaha.
[3]I survived shopping at UNIQLO Ginza yesterday, so it wouldn’t have been much of a problem.
[4]I should’ve been here on Sunday evening for an event with CHELSY, but I think was too busy cavorting at an Akiba maido kissa.