So I didn't really give a debriefing and my overall thoughts, so for the record:
* Osaka was... fine. Dotonbori was a fun place with some good food, the aquarium was fairly cool but not an amazing experience compared to something like the one in Ikebukuro. I liked having music halls available nearby even though we only went to one.
* Kyoto was nice but we only had time (and stamina) to do Sanjuusangendou and the Imperial Palace. The former is amazing still (went there in 2001). We shouldn't have walked all the way from east Kyoto through Gion up to Karasuma, we were fairly tired by the end.
* Kobe was great for the Nunobiki Herb Garden ropeway. Didn't see the garden itself as we walked down past the dam, which was great but quite a hike. Kobe beef was very overrated, although I think we eventually stumbled into a touristy one after my carefully selected place turned out to be closed.
* Himeji was cool, but should have been a day trip. We had poor weather as well.
* Hiroshima was awesome! Best food:
https://goo.gl/maps/PUhUxckDUR4SQywf8 (hole in the wall lunch place, the chashu ramen there was sublime)
https://goo.gl/maps/vfik9u6MgGnrcbky6 (couldn't find a direct link, but the gyoza place on top of this Coco introduced me to the world of gyoza)
The memorial park was... powerful. Extremely tough to stay around. We also went to the ground zero place. Our hotel was right near this. There was a ton of great shopping to be done in the shopping streets near this location. Then we went to Miyajima, and OH MY GOD so lovely! However, right now they're restoring the torii so it's all covered up which was a major disappointment. Still, the island was amazing. I can recommend the folk museum as a way to experience an old, grand villa. We only saw a little of Momijidani but it was lovely even before the fall colours really started showing. Also, go there early as hell. On a Sunday afternoon it was packed, but when we arrived in the morning it was really pleasant.
* With "only" eight days in Tokyo we focused on a couple of areas. Akihabara is Akihabara, you know all about the Mandarakes and Super Potatoes and Traders. But let me recommend a few spots:
- There are at least two Retro Game Camps, one on the main floor and one basement, off the main street on the west side. The basement one had some good games at really decent prices.
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https://goo.gl/maps/tLDKMk2JXiHVwnK96 - BEEP @ Akihabara, a really cramped basement shop with SUPER obscure stuff, like MSX, 32X, arcade boards and other. Go here to find those things the others are too mainstream to care about.
- I can't really find the place on Streetview, but on the west side of the main street, fairly far to the north, there's a small shop that has a ton of cool merch like SNK and Sakura Wars and Mega Man stuff.
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https://goo.gl/maps/W5gLXu4M9F87a9U78 - Visited before, but Friends is great for rare stuff. I found the Dracula Battle Perfect Selection albums there.
We stayed in Ueno, a bit north of the station. It was a fine location with conbinis fairly near. Ueno Park was pleasant, but I found it weird that the ponds were mostly overgrown. I made a trek up to Nezu Shrine which was not really worth it. We also went shopping for kitchenware at Kappabashi, I got some cool christmas gifts. Ameyoko was a bit cool but too crowded.
We went to Kawasaki to see the Warehouse arcade before it closed. It was really cool to see the place but also to play some authentic Street Fighter 1, as well as MvC2 and VF5:FS.
Finally, we did two days in Odaiba. Tokyo Motor Show was interesting even for someone without a car interest. We then had the Chrono Cross concert and arrived early to go to the TeamLab place in Toyosu, but chickened out when it turned out there are places where you have to wade around in water. I think I need to eventually see the place, but as an event in itself.
As usual, I trawled through probably a hundred shops for a few specific things. It was fun, but ultimately a bit of a waste of time. The hard ones to find were:
- Figma Labrys, only eventually found her at Mandarake Special 2 (I think) in Nakano Broadway.
- Bring Arts 2B, they had a stack at Super Potato in Akiba, when strangely all other places were sold out.
- Zelda 3, I saw one in Osaka but figured I could pick it up later. Nope. It was completely erased from Akiba. I saw one in Nakano but it was too expensive.
- The Dracula Battle albums as mentioned, I looked around everywhere for them in 2016 too.
- Genso Suikoden for Saturn, this game just doesn't exist anymore. It was a very late release and probably fairly rare to begin with.
* This time around I really enjoyed the conbini experience. Top 3 things to try:
- the fried chicken, especially Lawson's L Chiki but Seven Eleven and Family Mart were also fine
- onigiri, especially the beef and spicy ones
- weird katsu sandwich variations
Anyone who considers visiting places outside of Tokyo should add Hiroshima to their schedule. It might have been because we had great weather, but it felt like a really cool and friendly place.
When I go back (because of course), I think maybe a couple of days in Hiroshima, then flying up to Sendai or Sapporo, and then exploring the north a bit before returning to Tokyo. I don't really feel a need to revisit the other places now.
