Last month, I visited Japan again for the fourth time. I met with sayaka, NekoDiv, gishi, Vestrel, KamiCreed, and Mook. Unlike our past Japan trip, everyone’s schedule was all over the place: saya was there three weeks prior, and the rest of us went +/- 1 day and on different flights! We also stayed for different lengths, too. Nonetheless, we managed to hang out together here and there in the midst of our random exploration. It was a nice break from all things work for almost two weeks, aside from a couple of days where I was out sick. Anyways, in an attempt to organize my thoughts, here I go in no particular order.
hololive SUPER EXPO
I don’t have much to say here, really just leaving this section for posterity, since I rambled a bit in this post. tl;dr it was super fun, and would consider it again next year.
Karaoke
I managed to go to karaoke not once, but twice this trip: we went to ECHO in Akihabara and Joysound by Ueno. ECHO had the DAM machines, which I used last year with saya, and Joysound had, well, Joysound machines 🙂 Both were pretty good, so I don’t really have a preference over another. The first time I went the week prior with saya, Ves, Kami, and gishi, while the second time I went with Mook, NekoDiv, Kami, and gishi. The Joysound run was mainly for hololive coasters, for which the first wave began on the 14th. We bought a couple of drinks, and I managed to gacha my way to a Koseki Bijou coaster. Yay!
Maid Cafe
Another thing I finally checked off the bucket list was going to a maid cafe. I went with saya, Ves, Kami, and gishi, and we hit up the Maidreamin’ right outside the JR Akihabara station, across from the Jonathan’s family restaurant, on the 6th floor. I went in not knowing what to expect, but it was actually quite fun. We did go quite late though (at around 9-10pm), so there weren’t a lot of groups there. That being said, there were several cute maids making their rounds: they definitely encourage money spending with alcohol shots (albeit very weak) and games like buying a non-alcoholic shot and seeing if you get the “sour” one of the bunch, after which you win a photo with the maids. I did both with saya: we took a shot together and I also managed to get the sour one. The other thing we did was request a song performance as a group, where the maids would dance. We requested Kawaikute Gomen, and we got a really good performance. Overall, we had a good time: maids were cute, service was cute, and regardless of if you went alone or as a group (saw both types of customers there), everyone was vibing.
There are a couple things we would change up next time. First, it would be better to go during a slightly busier time. The maids go around making sure everyone’s having a good time, so I feel like if there were more people, we wouldn’t feel as pressured to participate in everything. Next, when we came in, they had two courses: one for an hour with one drink included, and another for an hour with unlimited drinks from a given selection. We chose the former, and sort of regretted it: basically any time another group got drinks, it would immediately be “kanpai time”, and within the first like 10 minutes, I was done my drink 😛 . I personally can’t see myself going alone: I had a great time with friends.
Not posting any photos of it here since most of them have people’s faces in them, but it was definitely a blast!
abec/BUNBUN CHARACTERS Exhibition
Another event I went to with NekoDiv and KamiCreed is abec and BUNBUN’s 20th anniversary exhibition showcasing their works over the last 20 years. For me, their notable works have been in Sword Art Online and Yuuki Yuna wa Yuusha de Aru. I was able to read some of the wall of text throughout the exhibit, but there were lots of kanji I couldn’t read (still got a lot to work on here).
At the end of the exhibit was a message board for fans to write some notes. It was cool to see lots of Japanese people leaving comments, as well as a number of foreigners like myself. There were lots of art, so needless to say, I bought the event artbook, as well as a really big wall scroll of Yuki Yuna. She’s now hanging in my home office in full view of my webcam. 🙂
Hakone
I revisited Hakone for another hot springs experience, and went to the exact same place with gishi, NekoDiv, and KamiCreed. With four of us, I decided to book a private villa that featured both an indoor and an outdoor bath (AKA tenburo, 天風呂). Like last time, we were greeted with azuki mochi and green tea, which was nice given the long two and bit hours of train and bus.
In terms of food, I was just recovering from the flu or something so my stomach just wasn’t cooperating with me: I ended up vomiting all the really good kaiseki dinner and breakfast afterwards. I was pretty upset with that, but it can’t be helped. The food was all really good though and staff (like last time) were really friendly, explaining all the different dishes. I think it just means I have to go again at some point.
Arcade
I went to the arcade several times this trip. Unlike last trip, where I went to Round 1 in Ikebukuro a lot, this time I was primarily at Taito Station in Akihabara, as it was close to my hotel. I played Polaris Chord and maimai for the first time, and those were really fun. Polaris Chord had some interesting mechanics with the I also played quite a bit of Chuunithm Verse. I’m still quite a newbie, but it was nice to relax and just enjoy the music.
MOGRA
I had another opportunity to stop by MOGRA in Akihabara this trip, and had a great time. Aiobahn was there to open for his Ochakai event. TeddyLoid was there as well, but I unfortunately had to leave a bit earlier to meet up with friends for dinner, so I didn’t get to stay until his set (and I saw from the setlist that Aiobahn also closed it out), but overall, I was happy to stop by my favourite anisong club to jam out.
Food
Aside from being sick for a couple of days, I did manage to enjoy some food good. Don’t really have much to say; instead I’ll leave it to the photos to do the talking.
Closing
Overall, this was a good trip to take a break from work. Hanging out around Tokyo and going around to eat and shop around was nice. It was unfortunate I got sick in the middle which made it hard to enjoy the food, but I still had a blast. I’m hoping to come back in September this year, but we’ll see how the planning goes
Anyways, that’s all I got this time around. Until next time!
~Lui
