We wandered around part of Akihabara today. That’s the nerd/geek/gamer Mecca district of Tokyo, full of electronics stores, arcades, maid cafés, and every fannish thing under the sun. (Speaking of maid cafés, the girls out on the streets in their frilly uniforms shilling for their cafés looked so cold and unhappy! They had coats and…

YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID…I HAVE A PAIR OF HATTIFATTENER TONGS. I also have a plushie Too-Ticky, which is totally awesome. Yes, I went all the way to Japan and bought a bunch of Finnish childrens’ book swag, but I am quite pleased at how popular the Moomins are over here. We happened upon the Moomin…

We keep running into Star Wars stuff as we travel. There are two especially cool things I want to tell you about, though. Near our hotel is a historic doll maker that mostly makes traditional collectible dolls. And some collectible dolls that are not so traditional. I give you the Dark Side Samurai displays: http://www.yoshitoku.co.jp/list/10/…

We’re watching the Japanese version of COPS at the moment, and the segment that just aired consisted of pulling a guy over because he had a headlight out, then searching the trunk and finding a kitchen knife, then administering a breathalyzer test and finding the guy was over the legal limit. And now they’ve pulled…

Your argument is invalid; I have Snufkin socks. Because Snufkin. (If you are unaware of The Moomins, then I am sorry for you and your deprived childhood.) On the back, just above the heel, is either The Mymble’s Daughter or Little My. I’m inclined towards the former because she looks pleasanter than Little My tends…

As Stephanie said, I picked up a Pacific Rim gachapon for myself, because hell yes I did. What did I get? Well here’s the orb, unopened: And opened and assembled: Yep, Gipsy Danger! The machine said it was vending toys from Vol. 1 of the PR set. From the manual inside, looks like other possibilities…

We spent most of the afternoon in the Tokyuu Hands, a giant crafts, DIY, and stuff store. We found several banks of gachapon machines. Toby, of course, zeroed in on the Pacific Rim one. We had to go get change, and then I stayed and guarded our loot while he fought his way back to…

– shiny puffy quilted coats – “toggle” buttons on coats – uggs – ankle boots with heels – opaque black or grey tights – seriously mini skirts – inappropriate footwear in bad weather. Seriously – 4″ heels in cold and rain?

I was pretty surprised to see so many iPhones in use by people on the train and walking around Japan. I was under the impression that while Apple had done a lot to make their products into a desirable fashion brand here, market penetration was still pretty low. But just informally surveying the people I…

Latin/lounge cover of Manic Monday, with a mariachi breakdown. WTF, Japan?