 | It takes just a few minutes of navigating the foot traffic winding through the canyons to reach the Osamu Tezuka character-ceilinged stairway that leads to subterranean Mandarake Shibuya. Descended it for more doujinshi hunting--finds in Gundam Seed, One Piece, Saiyuki and Slam Dunk--and then poked around the cels, CDs and records. Was thrilled to find a time-capsule collection of late-'70s LPs for Reiji Matsumoto creations! Picked out three never released on CD--Columbia's Yamato Choral Suite (the one Yamato record I lacked in two decades of collecting!) and LP-and-sheet-music combo of 999 and Captain Harlock music arranged for two pianos, and Polydor's very scarce "Yamato: I Adore The Eternity Of Love" (a.k.a. "Disco Yamato"). They were 480 yen (about US$4.50) each--how the mighty have fallen...! After checking out, did a lame job on Xabungle end theme "Kawaita Daichi" on the shop's karaoke stage, and retreated tucky-tailed to K-Books Shibuya, which had opened across the street just last month, for more doujinshi hunting--a luckless hour of it. |  |
 | Night was falling, I was frustrated and hungry...and then I spotted the Pasela. Had been to the Okachimachi and Ueno branches, but not Shibuya yet--and they were offering a 500-yen-an-hour special, with soft drink included, until 6pm! There was just enough time to get in an hour at the special rate--so I went for it, getting an order of their tasty gobou (burdock) fries to gnosh on too. The room was on the sixth floor, which was decorated in a very traditional motif, with plinky koto music piped into the hallway--and the room itself was a jaw-dropper, from the tokonoma alcove over the floor-level couch to the sizeable state-of-the-art flat plasma screen on the wall! |  |
 | Pasela not only has a whole catalog filled with anime songs, but also offers footage from the actual anime with some of the songs. I hope to get good enough to enter Akira Kushida's karaoke festival in March so dutifully trained on the Xabungle opening theme and Gyavan ending theme first--but then spent most of the rest of the hour in the Saiyuki section, having fun ogling all the footage on that fancy screen! One of the many scenes shown during second Gensomaden end theme "Alone" is at left; a scene that made me miss the line during image song "Freedom" is at right. (The song lyrics are displayed on the screen a line at a time, and light up as they're supposed to be sung. You can see another reason why I like anime songs: Their karaoke lyrics usually have furigana over the kanji! ;^) Too many mainstream songs assume their "grown-up" singers don't need them.) |  |
 | And so, refreshed by Saiyuki footage and fortified with Coca-Cola and gobou fries, I took the Yamanote on to Ikebukuro to get as much done as possible at shops that would close at 8. Haven't ever looked to see the name of this street that leads toward Sunshine City, but I love going down it at night--it brings a natsukashii reminder of when I was a kindergartner dazzled by Ohio amusement park Cedar Point's midway at night, the first time I'd ever experienced bright lights and excitement like that. Ikebukuro and Cedar Point make for an odd juxtaposition... almost as odd as the lifesize flocked mare and foal who stand at the entrance of a game center along that flashy street. I always stop by and see them; it's something of a good-luck ritual. |  |
 | The K-Books Anime Shop, across the road from towering Sunshine City and down the block from Animate, was first. In the past, they've had Saiyuki fukusei cels, and occasionally have premium goods, event items, and weird wanna-haves like bedsheets, bath towels, Hakkai's ear cuffs, Gojyo's bandanna, Sanzo's gloves and shirt...but this time, nada. No good knickety-knacketies for other genres of interest, either. Continued on down a couple blocks to the K-Books Comics shop, with its third-floor feast of women's doujinshi, and had much better hunting there--a handful of Vampire Hunter D books, Saiyuki stationery sets by Gitenshidou and E-Plus, a Goku/Sanzo book by Tenkaichi Benny's from 2000 that I'd never seen before (one look at that centerfold, and it's easy to understand why people don't let this one go--yowza!!), and Aurora Vision's new Fullmetal Alchemist book I'd missed at the Winter Comiket! |  |
 | With half an hour to go, I boomeranged back to hit the Ikebukuro Mandarake, which specializes in women's doujinshi. From its ground-level, gated entrance, a broad spiral staircase leads down to the lower-level shop, and after a long day of shopping there's no better place for comfort as you search the shelves, with its well-lit, spacious aisles. Turned up another needed Slam Dunk book to end on a successful note. |  |
 | Headed back toward the station, stopping to devour a large chili and fries at Wendy's and to snap a photo of the Sanrio shop for Avalon Jones, whose film went mysteriously missing after she tried to shoot it herself last year. On the Yamanote to return to Shinjuku, was musing about stupid styles seen in Wendy's--a doofily enormous hat on one customer and another in a pair of cowboy boots with begging-to-be-stepped-on strips of conchos dragging down the outside an inch on the ground...when style of a different kind parked itself before me: the mostest awesomest jacket ever (the sultry guy in it wasn't too bad either)! Love how the fur hide comes down below the bottom of the leather jacket, even though it's just a strip attached inside near the bottom. We both got off at Shinjuku, and I figured what the hell, and snapped a photo. He strolled unconcernedly on, as if cameras flash in the vicinity of his back end every day. Banzai! |  |
 | Rescued the loot from the locker, rode the Chuuo across to Ochanomizu, and then took the Sobu one stop further to Akihabara. There I sought out a vending machine with bottled Dr. Pepper, getting one for the night and another for Sunday, and then headed down to the subway. No rat on the tracks this time--the jumbo one I saw was a couple years ago, but it's gonna take a good while longer than that to forget!--and the ride was uneventful to Minami Senju. There I had a reservation at Hotel Juyoh--a.k.a. the Wigman Hotel or Hotel du Wigman, after one of the neighborhood's wackier denizens and his ill-fitting but nonetheless bouffant blonde 'do. With 11pm nearing, kept an eye out for Wigman or any other nutty funsters who could be out and about, but it was a quiet walk in. |  |
 | Cheap (2980 yen a night!) and clean, the Hotel Juyoh isn't fancy but has all I want--a cushy futon, a heater and fridge and TV, and a lovely bath with women's-only hours at night, in a place that's usually undisturbed (except on those occasions when kooky bananas get hold of whistles and block early-morning traffic with a 7am parade down the street's center line). The hotel offers free Internet access from their three computers in the lobby; have never been awake late enough to take advantage of it, but maybe someday. There's also the fact that somewhere around this area is Namidabashi, making this the sorta-kinda area where much of manga classic Ashita No Joe was set. Want to find Namidabashi someday... but not this weekend. With apologies to my inner Yabuki, this is a Saiyuki weekend--and it's only half over! |  |
