Cosplay
On my last full day in Tokyo, I went over to Harajuku where, on Sundays, cosplayers come together to show themselves off. This specifically happens around the Jingu bridge, close to the Yoyogi park.
Although some of the players were very well dressed, overall, I was a bit disappointed. Additionally, surprisingly, quite a few of the cosplayers were not happy with their photos being taken. Sure, there were quite a lot of tourists on the lookout with their big cameras, but the whole point of these people coming together here is basically to show off.
Nearby, in Takeshita street, Japanese schoolgirls hunt for the latest fashion. Most popular? Shoes and socks. And readymade cosplay costumes. But all that is small and cute and can be sold is popular.
In art gallery Design Fiesta, artists can advertise their own art. Not surprisingly, there was some crap amongst some reasonable stuff. 80x80cm wall spaces go for 525 yen per day, around 5 dollars.
Media
Hunting for gadgets, I came across Book-off, where manga sells for 105 yen (1 dollar) per comic, which are small paperbacks. They were also pushing CDs and DVDs, and from the bargain basement, I picked up 5 CDs for 2.5 euros. All Japanese, but MC Hammer and Terence Trent D'Arby were on sale too.
Everyone loves clamshells
The Japanese love their cellphones. And they love their clamshells the most. Sliders are a tiny minority.
And the Japanese love their video game halls. Though most contain slot machines or vertical pinball machines. Odd stuff.
I didn't find too many DDR machines, although I was able to hop around on a DDR Supernova 2 machine.
New to me were the card game machines. Not poker, or something similar, but Magic The Gathering like, or simply playing soccer, with playing cards.
The machines use a flat table and a TV screen. On the TV screen, you can see the game as it progresses, which depends on where you put and move your cards. I'm thinking the cards are equipped with RFID tags to make this work.
And, finally, the photo booths. They're in Thailand too, but Japanese video arcades have floors dedicated to them. Some have desks where you can borrow outfits, wigs and other peripherals, just to make the girls look even cuter.
Oh, there's also the toilets. The more fancy toilets don't have ass showers from a hose, they've got the ass shower built in. A control panel allows you to set the heat and power of the shower. After that, it's pure enjoyment…