Just before leaving for Japan I saw they had an SE popup shop open in Ikebukuro’s Parco (main building at the station) with figures of Crono and Marle from one of my favourite JRPGs Chrono Trigger so headed there to see them in the flesh.

Passed by Anime themed Casetify phone cases along the way which is an HK brand. Adapt to the local market for business.

Despite being non-scale, the Form-ism figures definitely looked great. Not sure I want to build up more clutter though... There was quite a lot of merch at the popup store.

Was tempted to get the alkaline battery powered crystal lamp from FFXIV. Fun days playing the MMORPG. It looks pretty cheap to be used for décor and reviews online were poor too but, I ended up getting it anyway because it seems to be hard to get a hold of online.

I later discovered it's actually very commonly available if you go around pop culture stores with SE sections.

There were also these blind box FFXIV keyrings that had some pretty nice art and also had an NFC tag in the form of a vinyl record. Reading it sends you to streaming music services where you can listen to the soundtrack.

Again, I thought these were hard to get a hold of (which they're not) because they're sold out online so I bought one from each volume. I wasn’t after anything in particular. Just randomly pulled two and hoped I got some good art.

The whole floor was pop culture related with dedicated Capcom and Jump stores too.

Jump store was quite big and can’t be without a statue of Luffy of course. There were some nice posters but not fan enough to put them on the wall really. Had some merch for the One Piece live action too including Lego sets.

Chiikawa's pretty popular. It's fairly much everywhere with different kind of themed venues.

While I was there, I visited the Evangelion Store Tokyo-01 which was on the sixth floor too to see if it had changed. They moved Rei’s statue and had a large cardboard stand of her with long hair from the Rebuild movies. Buying the complete set of the movies from the store would bag you a set of pin badges and a screens digest book with a unique serial for collection authenticity.

Don’t think I noticed what they did with the counters last time. Very Evangelion.

Infolens store featuring Western game franchise was still there and felt like their Fallout section has grown since my last visit. Could be something to do with the live action series (which is a fun watch).

Nuka World box was tempting but wasn’t interested in its contents. The merch wasn’t cheap and fairly much the same RRP if you bought it in the West.

Well, if you were in America anyway... Otherwise it'd be cheaper buying here without the import fees.

Always wanted to try an Omrice which you see in Anime all the time. I came by a restaurant in Parco which specialised in egg dishes. Not exactly the original but the “Hashed Beef Sauce with Hokkaido Beef” version tasted really good.

Spotted Lycoris Recoil outside a Pachinko. Must be their latest collab.

And look, a girl in Akiba getting attention without hollering at you or handing out leaflets.

Spotted these ads from an upcoming Steins;gate orchestra. I enjoy the game music and listened to it while working for a while. Not sure I'd go to an orchestra for it though.

I always saw this place in the Akiba walking tour vids I watched and there was always a giant Sakura Miku plushie outside but not when I got there.

It had a nice Miku corner inside though with a variety of Miku merch, not just figures.

Ended the night at a Gusto. First time at the place but I liked it already.

Order via tablet (multi-lingual), get served by Bellabot, go pay at the self-serve register. Great for introvert or socially anxious me.

So these were the designs I got along with two bonus cards for spending enough money there. Quite happy with the Stormblood art from volume 1 featuring Yugiri but not quite fond of the Shadowbringers art from volume 2.

Can’t remember who the hooded figure was but remember they revealed themselves and was on your side though.

I needed a new keyring but these are a bit on the big side so I’ll just be keeping them as décor.

It was 20 Yen for a carrier bag and I still have trouble hearing the word “fukuro” for bag. Since I was in Ikebukuro I thought the clerk was asking if I had some kind of Ikebukuro loyalty card. I waved no at first so he gave me an odd look and repeated whether I needed a bag. Now he started to speak both in Japanese and English.

Anyway you’re not getting much of a design for the bag.