Japan - Day 7 - Lowell and David go shopping.

26th December, 2007

Since Devin has been sick for a few days, Lowell and David ventured out to the Akihabara district.  The Akihabara train station even has a sign pointing you to "Electronic Town."  I promised Devin I wouldn't spend a lot of money.  She asked me to put my promise in writing.  I hesitated...  But she had nothing to worry about.  I didn't spend too much money.  So we hopped the train and took off, only having to make one transfer at the huge Ikebekuro train station.  We got off at Akihabara and ventured out, not really knowing what we would find.  I knew I wanted to find a store called Yodobashi Camera.  A friend that lived in Japan for a few years suggested it for me as a "Costco for Electronics."  He wasn't lying.  It was eight floors, each with a different list of items.  Floor 1:  Cell Phones, MP3 Players, etc.  Floor 2:  Computers.  Floor 3:  Laptops.  And so on.  David found the toys on Floor 8.  Unfortunately for him, much of what they had was too big for us to take back home.  But we found a "Magnetix" set that was small enough.  Endless hours of fun to be had by all.  (Look for some pictures of David's Magnetix Jewelry on a future day's page.)  We visited the Colonel for lunch.  (KFC, in case you're wondering.)  After lunch, we found a few more stores, all with too much to buy and not enough time.  Back on the train home, we stopped at the Seibu mall.  I was looking for a jacket to use for skiing.  The only jacket I currently own is a thin single-layer nylon windbreaker that's not even waterproof.  Alas, my search for a jacket ended when I got to the sporting goods area and the largest size they had in stock was XL.  So it was back home for a relaxing evening and dinner at Jonathan's.  David loves the pancakes there, as he gets a small tube of chocolate to decorate the pancake.  Oodles of fun for David.

One fun story from this day:  While traveling on the train, David and I started playing a word game.  We'd choose a letter and come up with words.  David would say, "The letter e.  Elephant." So I chose the letter "s."  David's word:  spontaneous.  I couldn't help but laugh.
 

A few pictures are below.  Click on the image to see a larger version.
 

A garden taking up a city block that's right next to the park.	The park we found a few days ago for David to burn off some of his energy.	David waiting for the train.	One of the trains coming into the station.
A view of the street in the Akihabara district.	A view of the signs on the building for Yodobashi Camera.	The front entrance to Yodobashi Camera.