25 October 2026
Umbrellageddon
Ochanomizu to Akihabara and back in the rain
I never use an umbrella. I loathe everyone who uses one. Their main purpose is to try and poke my eye out, in a globally coordinated operation. And so when it is not even raining, but the mere suggestion of rain means that everyone needs to ram metal spikes at my eyeballs rather than risk getting three drips of water on their naturally straight hair, I get annoyed. For that reason I headed to where more people would be than nearly anywhere else, Akihabara. It is 1.5 stops over from where I am staying.
I never really go inside any store in Akihabara, I just look at the reflections of the LED (formerly neon) lights on the damp roads, however it was not really damp enough for it to have the full reflective glossy effect I was going for. Instead it was just wet enough for umbrellas, and pork.
This is the shopping street with LED lanterns my hotel is on. Earlier today there was a rained out second hand book market.
The shopping street is mainly book shops, new and second hand. Since I was here last year a big new modern one opened up on the corner, not this one, this is a random small one.
Back on the main road and most of the stores are snowboarding shops, open at 7pm on a Sunday night. I saw 2 different groups of teenage Japanese boys posing for photos out the front of a store, with the staff, with the snowboards they had just bought. When you buy a snowboard in Japan, part of the deal is they get to put your photo all over the internet. It is the law.
I remember walking past this last time, it turns out it is a shopping mall of sorts, I could only discern that on my walk back from the other side of the road. There is a supermarket under where I am standing.
Akihabara now. Really not particularly busy. So far nothing has been busy. Typhoon warnings being taken seriously days in advance?
Here is the actual Akihabara station. Almost a ghost town.
I chose a pork stir fry set for my dinner. It seemed the healthiest option. Lots of vegetables, and most importantly, cheap.
Finally, I was stopped at the intersection so why not point my camera up into the light rain and see what happens? This came out ok for high ISO 1/5 of a second handheld.
Tomorrow is supposed to rain all day without stopping. I will play it by ear as far as plans go.