Tokyo Day 3 Part 3 — Lunch at a Kaiten-Zushi, Maid Cafe Cosplayers, Akihabara
Previously we were checked out Harajuku Kids (Tokyo Day 3 Part 2). We visited Akihabara next. Train Station: Akihabara.
Lunch at Revolving Sushi-Zanmai, Akihabara
At about noon, we got our old, decidedly uncool selves out of Harajuku and into Akihabara Electric Town. Akihabara, or Akiba for short, is a large shopping area for electronics, computers, manga and anime goods. There are also a number of maid cafes here, a themed cafe with service staff dressed as French maids.
Lunch was at a busy Revolving Sushi-Zanmai, located on the 8th floor of Yodobashi Camera Akiba. According to the menu, we could get two pieces of nigiri-zushi for 103-yen. Sounds like a good deal!
It was our first time eating at a kaiten-zushi (sushi on conveyor belt) in Tokyo and we were conscious about the numerous opportunities for a faux pas. To our horror, we were presented seats in front of the chef counter.
Yikes! We kept thinking of everything we learnt about sushi-eating etiquette –- do not pour too much shoyu(soy sauce) or you will be seen as wasteful, do not dunk the rice part of the sushi or you will be seen as stupid, do not add too much wasabi or you will be seen as insulting the chef — How stressful!
Ever the consummate cheapskate, we waited and waited for a 103-yen salmon sushi to be placed at the conveyor belt but most of the plates were in the 300-500 yen range. The only cheap plates on the belt were tako (octopus) and tamago (egg)- not my favourites.
The dubious translation on the menu pasted near the table read– “Salmon(Eng) = Saumon(Jap)”. Although we thought salmon was “sake” in Japanese (and “saumon” sounded suspiciously French) Dari mustered enough courage to ask the sushi chef for a salmon sushi in Japanese and guess what? We didn’t get our cheap saumon, we got… a $$$pecial plate of “saba” (mackerel). (-_-”)
Cosplayers @ Akihabara
Part of Chuo Dori, the main road cutting through most of Akiba Electric Town area was closed off to traffic today . This is the same road (Chuo Dori) that stretches from Ginza.
Waitresses from maid cafes (themed restaurants with waitresses in cosplay attire) were out in full force on the street promoting their services. They are identified by their cute uniforms, usually variants of a French maid costume, carrying a basket of flyers about the maid cafes they work at.
Like in Harajuku, the people in costumes were more than willing to pose for the camera.
We saw quite a few other characters too, like a guy in Sailor Moon-ish outfit complete with pink wig, another guy in all black wearing what looked like a lucha libre mask.
Nekomimi or catgirls (note the kitty ears) pose. Nya!
The cutest costume went to a shy, lanky guy (there were quite a number of guys in female costumes) in a flowery country maid dress – very sweet! ? ? ?
There were also a lot of wannabe singers performing their own songs on the street. I guess it’s illegal as they scampered quickly when a cop came to do his round.
A different kind of performance – live manga character drawing on human canvas!
We walked up and down the road a couple of times, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. It was a very unique experience. ^_^
Next up, a trip to Mori Tower at Roppongi Hills (Tokyo Day 3 Part 4).
Related Posts
Filed in: asia, japan, journal, tokyo
Do you have something to add? Please leave a comment.
You can also subscribe to our feed to get future articles delivered to your feed reader for free.
Comments
[...] we were at Akihabara checking out cosplayers on the street (Tokyo Day 3 Part 3). We visited Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills next. Train Station: [...]
hi, there thanks to you because I’m in task for browsing some Akiba’s road pictures, and I found your site. if you well, may I take some pictures here? thank you before and nice to meet you :D
Hi, thank you for visiting, however you may only take the first photo of the post and please link back to our blog or to this page. Photos of cosplayers unfortunately cannot be posted on other sites without permission from them.
[...] Harajuku (Tokyo Day 3 Part 2), watch maid cafe maids and cosplayers on the street of Akihabara (Tokyo Day 3 Part 3) before ending the day watching the night skyline from Tokyo City View at Mori Tower, Roppongi [...]