31 October 2023
Geeks and Gorillas
First of all, the post office hostage situation is ongoing. Two people taken hostage at gun point after an earlier shooting of two different people at a hospital. It is big enough news that it is on the BBC. I saw footage of the hand gun. The last shooting in Japan was of former president Abe, for that shooting the guy needed to make a gun at home. I might go to the spot Abe was shot and killed at in a week or so.
Second of all, it is Halloween, and the mayor of Shibuya convinced me to not go, after he ordered the army to arrest all foreigners who dare to enter to take photos of Halloween. This is a reaction to the Seoul Halloween crowd crush that killed 159 people last year, a couple of days before I arrived there on my holiday before last (I take a lot of holidays). Although it is unclear why foreigners are being targeted so specifically by the mayor, it has become a meme of sorts on various parts of the internet where foreigners living in Japan frequent and discuss ridiculous things. There are stories in the news like, 'a bike was stolen in Hakodate 2 days ago, police are questioning foreigners at the train station to find out if they have been near the area'.
So after all that, it was time to go north a bit, to the next station which is Akihabara. It was quiet, but lots of tourists. For many people this area is the highlight of their visit to Japan, including most of the non Japanese people on my flight here.
After verifying that my favourite camera of which I have already destroyed 2 of, which is out of stock in Australia is also out of stock in Japan, not that I actually want to buy another one.... I suddenly felt very hungry, and so headed straight down a flight of stairs to the local Go Go Curry - the chain famous for having a Gorilla as it's logo.
I did not catch the train here. I walked, along and under the train track. It is not far at all from Kanda, there is a little pedestrian bridge over a river just before you hit Akihabara.
Both Yodobashi and Bic camera are fully sold out of Ricoh GR III cameras. Given that I have broken 2 of them beyond repair after taking about 1000 photos on each, I should be in no rush to buy a third. I wish they would hurry up and release a new version that is more dust and water proof!
The spot. A guy parked his Toyota BRZ covered in ridiculous stickers in front of me illegally hoping I would take his photo. He seemed annoyed when I moved closer to the train bridge so that his car was not in my photo. He had a giant teddy bear in the passenger seat, so I did not want to anger him.
Hmm, not a very sharp photo. It is hard to take a sharp shot while walking across the road at full zoom at night at 1/25 hand held.
The sign says it all really.
And here it is, Go Go Curry, pork sausage variety. This is the healthiest looking thing on their menu, everything else is combos of deep fried stuff on top of the curry. It is no Coco. It is however cheap and they take credit card. And on that note, everywhere I have been so far has taken credit card, I am yet to use cash even once other than to recharge my train card when I first landed.