Can I live... elsewhere? Pt. 2

When I left you guys I had the pleasure of viewing some beautiful shrines and eating great Japanese food outside of Tokyo. Now I felt it was time to explore the insides of the great city and hit some of my old stomping grounds. Of course first on the list was Akihabara the mecca of all Nerds worldwide. If you are not aware Akihabara is a section of Tokyo dedicated to electronics of all kinds. You can find DVD's, video games of all kinds and more action figures than you can shake a stick at. If only you could see the huge smile on my face as I dropped dollar after dollar playing Street Fighter IV, some Gundam games I don't know the names of and Soul Calibur V. I took a trip to the huge mall dedicated to electronics in Akiba. Like the true "Otaku" I am I fit right in. I didn't make it to a maid cafe though... but there's always next time.


Next on my agenda was to hit up Shibuya to take in some Japanese fashion highlights and get some feedback on my clothing company MotherGreen & H.K.M. I had some really good conversations with a couple shop buyers about the brand. Shino of course played translator/business manager because of my limited Japanese knowledge (thank you very much). While walking down the street in Shibuya Shino and I found ourselves next to another black man who saw me and exclaimed "oh damn, I thought I was the last brother left here!". After conversing for a while with the homie I learned he was from San Diego and had been living in Japan for 6 years. He was looking to stay for the long haul and was not fond of the economic conditions back home. In his words you could make good money teaching english or doing security work on a military base, meet a good attractive woman and in general live a happy life in Japan. While standing on the corner with the Californian named Shawn another black man who knew Shawn walked up. This gentleman was a soft spoken church going gentleman also from the states. This guy had been living in Japan for 12 years and according to Shino his Japanese was perfect. It turns out he was originally from NY and moved out there for a change. After that ANOTHER black man just walked up and joined in. We now had an official State of the Black Union meeting in Shibuya. Tavis Smiley would be proud.


On another day I got to visit the area called Ginza which is very reminisent of Fifth Avenue in NYC. Tons of big name stores all over the place. I saw a Kabuki theater in this area. Took some pictures and kept on walking. There's actually another huge electronic store in Ginza (about 5 HUGE floors) called get this... "Big Camera". The name of the store is Big Camera. *blank stare*



After Ginza I found myself in Shinjuku which I have to say is just beautiful at night. Shino took me to a very tall building there to overlook the city of Tokyo. I got to see Tokyo tower from there. We also went to a Krispy Kreme where they have you stand on line AND while waiting they give you a complimentary original glazed doughnut. It was on the second floor of this Krispy Kreme that I wrote my many postcards headed back home to the US. It was here that I realized I had only a few days left in Japan and began to think of the return home.

Check in for the next chapter of my great trip to Japan.