Back from Japan (here’s all the anime goodies I bought!)

Me in front of a big K-ON! poster ad in Akihabara

I got back from my 3-week stay in Japan a couple of days ago. To say the least, I had an awesome time but it’ll take me a while to gather all the photos and write complete coverage of my trip. So for now, I decided to simply share photos and info about the anime goodies I bought while I was there, particularly at the anime center of the world, Akihabara.

The organization sponsoring my trip gave me a generous amount of money to spend on transportation, food, gifts, etc., so I was able to buy lots of nice anime goods, but I couldn’t go too crazy =P I believe I spent about $200 worth of anime stuff, which was a really pleasant treat for me considering how broke I am right now.

For those of you who don’t know, Akihabara (“Akiba” for short) is a major shopping area in Tokyo specializing in electronics, video games, collectibles, anime/manga goods, and basically anything an otaku could want. While I was in Akiba, I spent most of my time at three particular stores; Animate, the largest retailer of anime, manga, and games in Japan, Yodobashi Camera, a 9-story electronics store, and Gamers, a store similar to Animate that also has a good selection of otaku products.

The main kinds of anime products that I like to buy are “character goods,” things like figures, plushies, pencil boards, posters, key chains, etc., or basically anything that’s not a DVD, video game, book, or CD. There was an amazing selection at Animate and Gamers (Animate has 2 floors just for character goods) and even Yodobashi had a nice selection on their 6th floor.

Anyway, here’s all the anime stuff that I bought during my time in Japan, most of which can’t be found anywhere else…

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Top left: Kannagi clear poster – since it’s still pretty new, I haven’t been able to buy any Kannagi products yet. This would be my first =)
Bottom left: Lucky Star desk mat – I already have an FMA and Haruhi desk mat. I hang them on my walls though, they’re too pretty to be used for anything else XD
Top right: Hayate no Gotoku! posters – there weren’t too many Hayate products but the posters were nice. The Maria and Nagi posters came together in one pack.
Bottom right: Promotional Spice and Wolf card – I got this neat little card of Horo for free after spending a certain amount of money at Gamers.

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Top middle: Shakugan no Shana folding bag – this adorable bag is made out of the light material used in those reusable shopping bags and, if you notice the zipper on the bottom, it can be folded and zipped up into a CD-size pack for easy storage. Very nifty, just have to find something to use it for XD
Middle left: Spice and Wolf 6-color pen – this handy pen has five pen colors to choose from and an additional lead pencil attachment.
Middle: Disney jigsaw puzzle – in addition to anime, I’m also a fan of the animated Disney movies. Disney jigsaw puzzles are big collectibles in Japan, in fact the variety and quality of Disney products in Japan is way better than anything you can find in America. This puzzle is one of my favorite designs, with a scene from literally every Disney animated movie ever made, though I wish I could have found the larger version that I saw in Osaka station three years ago.
Middle right: Haruhi Gensou strap – cell phone straps commemorating the Haruhi Gensou concert that was held in April. In addition to Haruhi, there were also Mikuru and Yuki versions.
Middle bottom: K-ON! mouse pad – I couldn’t resist it XD I believe it’s made for a lazar mouse rather than a roller mouse because the surface is harder.

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Kagami plushie: Considering all the different anime series out there, I didn’t see a good variety of plushies. But I had to get this one, since Kagami is one of my most favorite characters of all. I didn’t see plushies of any other Lucky Star characters so maybe they release them at different times.

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Haruhi figure: I’m sure some of you have seen this figure before. I’ve had my eye on it for a while but, when I saw it at Gamers, I figured I should just get it there straight from the source and not have to worry about shipping costs online. I really like it ^^

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Pencil boards: I love collecting anime pencil boards so I found a few more to add to my collection =) The small K-ON! one at the right actually came out of a gashapon machine. The paper above it shows the different versions that were available.

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Since Pokemon is so mainstreamed in Japan, it’s easy to find Pokemon products at most shopping areas and not so much at Akihabara. Before going to Akihabara a couple of weeks ago, we made a brief stop at the Pokemon Center in Shiodome along the way.
Left: Pokemon chocolate tin – I bought this at one of the shops in Tokyo Tower. It comes with twelve little chocolate snacks that are actually pretty tasty. The tin box will definitely be useful later on.
Middle: Skitty/Eneko figure – he was less than 200 yen so how could I resist XD I have two other pokemon figures in this same series. They come with cute little sticker cards too.
Top right: Pokemon fireworks glasses – something you’ll probably only find in Japan. When it’s totally dark and you look at a small area of bright light such as fireworks or sparklers through the glasses, you’ll see glowing Pikachu faces ~^^~ It’s hard to get a clear shot through the digital camera but here’s an attempt. When we were doing fireworks one night, I got this as a gift from the people I was staying with ’cause they know I love Pokemon.
Bottom right: Pokemon DSi cover – I liked the DS accessories they had at the Pokemon Center but they could’ve had a better selection, especially for the DSi. But I’m satisfied with this one =)

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Sheet with 492 pokemon: This gigantic reji-sheet has all the current pokemon on it (minus Arceus). I have no room on my walls for it but I’ll find somewhere to put it =P

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Chi’s Sweet Home stickers: It was hard to find Chi’s Sweet Home products but I found these adorable stickers at Nekobukuro, a store in Ikebukuro that specializes in cat products (there’s even a room where you can play with real cats). There were different variations of the sticker packs but I thought this was the best one.

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Freebies: And these are just free anime magazines/flyers that you can pick up at stores and stations. Pokemon ones on the top row (the 12th movie was heavily promoted while I was there) and the bottom row are magazines you can grab at stores like Animate and Gamers that discuss the latest products that they’re selling.

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Well, that’s about it for all the anime goodies I got while in Japan. I’ll have to make updated photos of my room once I get all my new stuff situated. I’m so glad I was able to get such nice things because, unless I can find a job in this bad economy soon, I don’t know when I’ll have the luxury to buy stuff like this again.

Anyway, I intend to spend the next week or so recovering from jet lag, seeing friends and sharing my trip with them, and most of all, catching up on 3-weeks worth of anime that I didn’t watch while in Japan. After that, I need to seriously get busy finding some employment, and of course, get back into the swing of steady blog posts. Full coverage of my entire trip to Japan will take a while to post but I’ll try to have it done before too long.

See you all soon.