Akibahara, Tokyo

My first stop the moment I touched down on this foreign earth was AKIBAHARA!!!! It's a must stop for an "anime" or IT gadget craze people like me. Akibahara is a totally different dimension from the hotel (at Funabori) area. There is a signboard denoting that "Akibahara Electronic town". High rise building are everywhere. I wont use high scraping building here. You will see why later ^_*

On most corner of the building (be it big or small) it's always filled with the anime posters. I dont know how to read but I found them interesting. This is not something that you can see in most places. I guess maybe only in Akibahara probably. I might be wrong cos this is my first time travelling out from Malaysia and Singapore. To a totally different culture than what I have been knowing since childhood.

In here, you will find kawaii (cute in japanese language) young ladies dress up in anime-like character. However, you have to ask if they allow you to take picture. Or else you will be labelled as rude! Some will allow you to do so and some will not. Therefore, what you have to do is ASK!! A anime fanatic me will of course not to miss this chance to take their pics. Hehehehe...

And of course, they wont be short of figurines and other anime related stuff selling like hot cakes. Most of the shops are crowded with people. Mostly japanese. You will be shocked how organized their shops are!!! Look how nicely they displayed the Gundam in front of their shops! I just love this!!

Then, we are hungry! You can see those carts the moment you came out from the exit of the train station. Two carts are selling kebabs and one are selling takoyakis. Different types of takoyakis. The normal that we are eating and some are in soup base and other sauces. You will get a variety of takoyakis here. I just love takoyakis!!!!!

The Takoyakis cart!!

The Kebabs Cart!!

Since we are here, we would like to try out the kebab over here. Of course, you can get those in Singapore and Malaysia but we wanted to taste the difference between countries. How does this SGD 10 kebabs taste like. The first bite of the kebabs taste really superb!! The meat wasn't too dry after long grilling. It's still juicy as ever. They have 3 stages of spiciness. Mild, medium and Hot and I asked for extra hot!! The fillings are really thick compared to the ones that you got it over in Malaysia and Singapore. The first bite of the kebabs here is skin. But in this place, the skin are really thin and filled with juicy meat plus tomato puree plus their hot sauce!!! Two thumbs up and two toenails up for this!! I really like it!!

We also bought the takoyakis. We wanted to try what is the different between the takoyakis that we have tried and the ones in Japan. To my surprise, it taste TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!!! Unlike the ones we had (dry fillings, little tako), the tako (sotong, cuttlefish) is big and the inner is juicy. The juicy fillings are still hot although you leave it for 15-30 mins! We waited quite long for this takoyakis. You need to have a queue number too. The superb taste makes you want for more. It cost about SGD10 for 10 balls and it's totally and truely worth it!! I doubt I will ever find the same one again in Malaysia and Singapore. I MISS this takoyaki A LOT!!

OK folks, currently I will stop at Akibahara. Next I will talk about Asakusa Temple, that is near Akibahara (according to my sis can get there by walking) but to me I think it's better for you to catch a train. Else you will walk for 45-60mins to reach this place .... Hahahhaa... Till then and see you in the next blog folks!!