Finally, I got to see it! I had seen a video of it a month ago and definately wanted to see it live. Not, it's not a rock concert. I'm talking about the full sized Gundam atanding on the port in Odaiba.
From our hotel in Asakusa, we took the subway to Shimbashi, where we changed to the "Yurikamome Line", that took us to Odaiba over the Rainbow Bridge. The views from the window on the train were not as amazing as they should have been, since there was a fence blocking it, but we still enjoyed it. The trip was a little expensive, though. These two facts made us decide to walk over the bridge on our way back.
While we were on the train, we saw some sort of music festival going on near our station. It was on the exact opposite direction than the Gundam, however, and that was a priority :D.
Finding the way to the gundam was really easy: we just had to follow the crowds. The first thing you see when you approach it is it's back. At first, it doesn't look so tall. But as you get closer, you start getting an idea of it's height. It's feet are about as tall as a person. On the video I had seen the mecha was moving it's head. Unfortunately, they didn't show that today...
After taking a few photos in front of the Gundam, we walked over to the beach at Odaiba. You can get some really impressive views over Tokyo from Odaiba.
There was nobody taking a bath, so we assumed that the water was too cold. We got our feet in, and surprisingly, it wasn't cold at all. Weird...
After laying down on the beach and enjoying the weather for a while, I went to the water again to walk around a bit. There was a woman with two children nearby. They were playing in the sand, making figures, while the womas screamd "kowai!". When I looked closer, I saw a jellyfish that had been washed up on the shore. That -might- have been the reason why nobody was swimming...
At 14:00, we got on our way to Akihabara to boy some souvenirs, stopping at a deparment store first to get some lunch. The views from the rainbow bridge were amazing. What's better, almost everybody takes the train to the other side, so we were walking there alone. To cross the bridge by foot you've got to like the noise of the city, however, or else you'll end up with a huge headache. You walk on the first of two layers, right near the street, and the layer above creates the effect of a tunnel, amplifying the noise the cars make when they pass by.
When we got to the other side of the bridge, it started raining. When we got out of the hostel, the sun was shining, and it was extremely hot, so of course, we didn't bring our umbrellas. Running from one shelter to the other, with the towel on the backpack to avoid getting it wet, we somehow managed to get to the nearest JR station and catch the Yamanote line. We were soaked, but we had arrived...
At Akihabara, we first got to "Akihabara Electric City", where I looked for some rare electronics I could buy. I actually found something I needed, but there were different models with slight differences, and I didn't have the exact specifications, so I couldn't buy it. I'll probably return tomorrow or the day after to buy it, now that I looked up the specs on the internet.
Afterwards, we looked for a game hall, where I wanted to try the "POD"s, those mecha simulators I talked about yesterday. I asked one of the players there how to use them. Apparently you have to boy a "Pilot Card" for 300 yen. It's some sort of personal account. The more you play (and win), the more points you get on your account. With those points, you can buy yourself a new mecha or some accessories for it. Each round you play costs 500 yen. Obviously, even though I really wanted to try it, I wasn't going to pay 800 yen for just one round, specially since it would be my first round, and everyone who has ever played a shooter game knows that the first round doesn't usually last much if your opponent is someone with experience...
Nevertheless, I did the usual thing I do when I'm at a gaming hall: play DDR! The version they have here never reached Spain, so I decided to check out the new songs instead of doing my usual ones. That was definately not a good idea... I couln't get the rithm straight, so I had to try and guess when to step, which made me become tense, and thus a lot more tired... I ended up doing only "D"s... When I finished, a guy dressed as a business man started to play. When he got in the machine, I though he just wanted to check out the machine. But then he got to the song selection screen, where you can select the difficulty too... "Challenge mode", songs with difficulty level 15, etc... Ouch!
On our way back to the hostel, we did what we wanted to do in Akihabara in the first place: look for souvenirs. In the end, the only thing I found that was both cheap and cool were a few "Fullmetal Alchemist" figures from a capsule station. I'll try to find some more things during the three days left here. :'( Just three days left...
From our hotel in Asakusa, we took the subway to Shimbashi, where we changed to the "Yurikamome Line", that took us to Odaiba over the Rainbow Bridge. The views from the window on the train were not as amazing as they should have been, since there was a fence blocking it, but we still enjoyed it. The trip was a little expensive, though. These two facts made us decide to walk over the bridge on our way back.
While we were on the train, we saw some sort of music festival going on near our station. It was on the exact opposite direction than the Gundam, however, and that was a priority :D.
Finding the way to the gundam was really easy: we just had to follow the crowds. The first thing you see when you approach it is it's back. At first, it doesn't look so tall. But as you get closer, you start getting an idea of it's height. It's feet are about as tall as a person. On the video I had seen the mecha was moving it's head. Unfortunately, they didn't show that today...
After taking a few photos in front of the Gundam, we walked over to the beach at Odaiba. You can get some really impressive views over Tokyo from Odaiba.
There was nobody taking a bath, so we assumed that the water was too cold. We got our feet in, and surprisingly, it wasn't cold at all. Weird...
After laying down on the beach and enjoying the weather for a while, I went to the water again to walk around a bit. There was a woman with two children nearby. They were playing in the sand, making figures, while the womas screamd "kowai!". When I looked closer, I saw a jellyfish that had been washed up on the shore. That -might- have been the reason why nobody was swimming...
At 14:00, we got on our way to Akihabara to boy some souvenirs, stopping at a deparment store first to get some lunch. The views from the rainbow bridge were amazing. What's better, almost everybody takes the train to the other side, so we were walking there alone. To cross the bridge by foot you've got to like the noise of the city, however, or else you'll end up with a huge headache. You walk on the first of two layers, right near the street, and the layer above creates the effect of a tunnel, amplifying the noise the cars make when they pass by.
When we got to the other side of the bridge, it started raining. When we got out of the hostel, the sun was shining, and it was extremely hot, so of course, we didn't bring our umbrellas. Running from one shelter to the other, with the towel on the backpack to avoid getting it wet, we somehow managed to get to the nearest JR station and catch the Yamanote line. We were soaked, but we had arrived...
At Akihabara, we first got to "Akihabara Electric City", where I looked for some rare electronics I could buy. I actually found something I needed, but there were different models with slight differences, and I didn't have the exact specifications, so I couldn't buy it. I'll probably return tomorrow or the day after to buy it, now that I looked up the specs on the internet.
Afterwards, we looked for a game hall, where I wanted to try the "POD"s, those mecha simulators I talked about yesterday. I asked one of the players there how to use them. Apparently you have to boy a "Pilot Card" for 300 yen. It's some sort of personal account. The more you play (and win), the more points you get on your account. With those points, you can buy yourself a new mecha or some accessories for it. Each round you play costs 500 yen. Obviously, even though I really wanted to try it, I wasn't going to pay 800 yen for just one round, specially since it would be my first round, and everyone who has ever played a shooter game knows that the first round doesn't usually last much if your opponent is someone with experience...
Nevertheless, I did the usual thing I do when I'm at a gaming hall: play DDR! The version they have here never reached Spain, so I decided to check out the new songs instead of doing my usual ones. That was definately not a good idea... I couln't get the rithm straight, so I had to try and guess when to step, which made me become tense, and thus a lot more tired... I ended up doing only "D"s... When I finished, a guy dressed as a business man started to play. When he got in the machine, I though he just wanted to check out the machine. But then he got to the song selection screen, where you can select the difficulty too... "Challenge mode", songs with difficulty level 15, etc... Ouch!
On our way back to the hostel, we did what we wanted to do in Akihabara in the first place: look for souvenirs. In the end, the only thing I found that was both cheap and cool were a few "Fullmetal Alchemist" figures from a capsule station. I'll try to find some more things during the three days left here. :'( Just three days left...
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On the train to Odaiba
The Gundam :D
On Odaiba. Pia wasn't posing, the picture just turned out like this :D
Akihabara Electric Town
At the game hall, watching someone play Beatmania. This is actually not the fastest I've seen around here... It's creepy
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