Took a different airline to Narita this time so I ended up at a part of the airport I wasn’t so familiar with. Was quite a walk reaching the usual immigration queue. Not sure if it’s because of the cheap Yen and over-tourism but it took almost an hour when I arrived in the afternoon at 16:59.

SIM card machine was still there but this time I decided I’d just roam until I could get cheaper cards at the chain department stores like Bicc Camera.

Ended up spending some time looking for the lifts because I had a big suitcase and didn’t want to risk it rolling down an escalator even though most people just toll it onto one anyway… Spent a fair bit of time trying to find one to get to the lower train platforms even though I did the same the last time.

Was staying in Akiba this time so took the Skyliner express again to Ueno just like my last trip. There was an English speaking guide there by the ticket machines once again and I was guided to the staffed desk because all the machines were taken. Was back to familiar territory at this point.

May 6 was the last day of Japan’s Golden Week holidays which was probably why there was a long queue full of both foreigners and natives. I had tried to time my trip to avoid the big holidays because I’ve seen on Japanese news and other people’s vlogs of how bad travel can be during that time.

Couldn’t get a space on the suitcase rack either. The train was packed but fortunately the seats are wide enough to fit a suitcase in front of you.

Japan has some night twilight skies. All those silhouettes of buildings and power lines really remind you of what you see in Anime. Then the train passed by an illuminated vending machine with the kind of drinks and ads fairly much exclusive to Japan so, fairly much a sight you’d only see in the country. Quite a composition.

Was kind of surprised how many people got off at Nippori station instead of Ueno although I guess it’s not that much of a difference by local train. It probably also means you can stay in a more quiet neighbourhood.

Leaving Keisei-Ueno station was a bit of nostalgia. Still looked the same since I was last here. Was a bit more of a walk to get to the JR’s Ueno station, Japan’s main train network. Again, didn’t help I was trying to find the lifts. Was easier when I was staying in Ueno.

Fortunately the local trains weren’t as crowded. I wasn’t using Maps because I was fairly familiar with the green coloured Yamanote Line trains. Akiba wasn’t that far from Ueno but obviously dragging a big suitcase around wouldn’t make it much of a fun walk.

Ah, Akiba… Electric City exit still looked the same. They were doing a 30^th Persona anniversary collab with JR’s chain Atre store.

I’d memorised roughly where the hotel entrance was because it wasn’t far from the station exits but I’ll go into that in another post.

After dropping off luggage, it was time to go find something to eat. Travelling solo and being extremely socially anxious I usually avoid cafes and restaurants. Might be because I’m too self-conscious and care too much about how others perceive me so usually it ends up in some kind of awkward interaction which often turns hostile... Then the not so fun part is you’re stuck with that situation for the time you’re with that person. Last trip I mostly had Bentous, pre-cooked meals and sandwiches from the conbinis (convenience stores).

This time I thought I’d just just try to face my fears (or rather ignore them) and have better food.

By the time I had dropped off my belongings, it was around 21:00. Most places had closed so there wasn’t really much choice for food.

I ended up in a Taiwanese place at Yodobashi's food court, ordering Ramen for dinner. Lots of East Asian foreign workers in Japan. Here they were talking in well, Taiwanese. I think the waiter was Japanese though because he didn’t have an accent and the receipt was a Japanese name.

Shoyu Ramen was ok-ish. Wasn’t so great I’d recommend it. They offered set meals but last time I ordered one I couldn’t finish it and felt pretty guilty afterwards. So, ended up ordering one small thing instead.

Was running on 2 hours sleep. Couldn’t sleep night before the flight nor on the flight itself. That didn’t stop me from wanting to take a walk about one of my favourite places Akiba before returning to base of course. My native friend had reminded me Akiba was a tourist spot, a “tourist trap” made to appeal to foreigners but obviously that didn’t matter.

I liked the vibe in Akiba.

Well, only thing I’m still not used to are all the girls in costume trying to get you into their themed maid cafes. Part of the tourist attraction I guess but it’s not exclusive to Akiba.

Came by an interesting clock. It was around 19C. I was in a t-shirt like most other tourists taking in the sights while the natives were in padded jackets and sweaters for the night.

Was planning to snap photos of all the station stamps I came by. There was a Detective Conan stamp rally going on which seemed to be popular with foreign tourists too because quite a few dropped by to stamp their card.

Usual ACG collab with products. Not a character I recognise.

This was a pleasant surprise. 15^th anniversary Steins gate promo poster from last year was still up outside the Akiba branch of Donki. Before this trip I kept seeing it in the odd walking tour vid of Akiba I watched.

I was hoping the exhibition was still up inside but obviously it wasn’t. There were still another piece of promo art while heading up the escalators but nothing else (also no annoying Donki store theme song being looped!).

Would have been nice to see the exclusive artwork and time machine model.

Some more of the Persona 30^th Anniversary art work outside Atre.

Dropped by Akiba again the following day to see how good the Persona 30^th anniversary collab was.

Lots of cardboard character stands inside Atre on the second floor where the collab stalls usually are.

I think there was someone dressed like Futaba but don’t know if she was staff that was there to promote the collab or not.

The pop-up shop goods weren’t that exciting really with lots of expensive small acrylic items.

Have a pretty cool view overlooking the Electric Town Exit at the hotel which I had requested.

It was easier to do a sunset/sunrise time lapse in Ueno because the floor was higher. This time you could probably just make out a camera sitting on the window with super zoom on phones these days... which makes it feel a bit more awkward.

I discovered the sunset time lapse looked best as the place lights up. There wasn't enough happening during sunrise for the timelapse to look that great.