The plan for day 2 (Saturday) was to attend the Shrine
festival. This was one of the reasons we had picked the dates we had picked.
The plan was to watch the parade and then follow it to the shrine where there
was a big festival. We wanted to immerse ourselves in Japanese culture and
really experience a proper festival. However the plans changed as the weather
was not on our side!
The forecast was much cooler than Friday and rain, so much rain. We ate
breakfast before we left again and then headed out. I checked where the parade
was meant to be at the time we were arriving and we headed there. I suggested
Matt take one of the many umbrellas that were in the air bnb but he said he was
ok and I had my little foldable one. However once we got out the station we
became very aware that it was not a light shower. Now I am British so I am
plenty used to rain its second nature to us over here on our little island. But
this rain was unrelenting and so heavy. It was literally bucketing down and it did so all day. Matt
was soaked through in minutes so we made a dash to a convenience store to get
ourselves more sturdy bigger umbrellas. It’s amazing that they literally sell
umbrellas everywhere and they are cheap and amazing quality! Once we were
suitably protected we headed out towards the parade.
We found it quickly and followed it along where it stopped
for a break. That gave us the opportunity to find a nice spot to stand and
watch it go past so Matt could get some pictures. After a half an hour rest the
parade started up again, unfortunately though due to the weather everything was
covered in plastic wrap as well as the people. I don’t blame them, they would
be soaked through and their outfits looked beautiful and full of intricate
details which would be ruined in the rain. We watched everyone go past which I
did enjoy and once they had gone we debated if we should follow and go the
shrine or take shelter inside somewhere. Akihabara was just 10 minute walk away
and we decided to go and have look round the shops there than stand outside in
the rain. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to do the full festival experience
but the rain just wasn’t letting up!
I was really looking forward to going to Akihabara as
it is the anime and manga shopping central. It is full of maid cafes and more
anime related shops than you can shake a stick at. I was also very aware that
there was a Yuri!!! On Ice café in Anime Plaza and I was also very aware from
my research that getting into said café was quite difficult. From what I
understood you had to queue early in the morning to get a lottery ticket to get
a time slot to go to the café. I had come to terms with the fact that I mostly likely wouldn’t be able to get
in but as I was there I wanted to go and have a look.
We found Anime Plaza pretty easily and they had a stand
outside for the café. Using google translate (seriously portable wifi and
google saved me so many times) there were two slots in the day that still had
spaces. I of course freaked out and after some confusion with going to the wrong
floor and then a slight language barrier with a lovely and helpful cashier we
had two tickets to the café and only 40minutes to wait. I was so excited and I
seriously couldn’t believe that we had gotten tickets there.
We queued up just before our time and were let in I think it
was around 13:40 and took our seats at our reserved table. It was amazing inside,
from the minute you stepped into the 4th floor the walls were
decorated in Yuri!!! On Ice artwork. Yuuri, Viktor and Yurio each had their own
wall and they had the first 2 episodes playing on loop in the back ground.
The menu was all
themed with Yuri!!! On Ice food and drinks but it was all in Japanese and
google translate came to save the day again. I ordered Viktor’s drink ‘Living
Legend: Apple Juice’ and Matt went for Yuuri’s drink “Glass Heart : Blue Soda’.
Of course we ordered a Pork Cutlet bowl each and then pancakes to finish it
off. People had said that it was expensive in there and they just ordered a
drink and dessert but we went for full course off the entire menu because hey
when will I ever get to do this again!
The drinks came first and they were so pretty and delicious and then the food and desserts came out. It all tasted really good and just sitting in a Yuri!!! On Ice café eating Yuuri’s pork cutlet bowl my heart was so content!
I think you had an hour to an hour and a half and we stayed
there most the time. To be honest with you I was so fixated on watching the
show on the TV I kept forgetting to finish my food. The atmosphere was great
and I really enjoyed all the food and drink.
Much to my dismay the time to leave came around and we made our way over to the counter to pay. The front desk was decorated in more artwork and cute trinkets and posters. We got to take home some drinks coasters that came with the drinks and also 2 posters each. Even the lift was decorated with Instagram style pictures! We then headed back to the 3rd floor where I bought a few limited bits including a blind packet badge (I got Viktor yay!) .
After that we had a look around Akihabara and that is when I got my first idea of the shops there. They are huge and vary between 2 to 10 floors tall. The Animate there I think was about 8 floor high packed full of Anime and Manga merchandise. It was a dream world! We decided to call it a day after a small selection of shops as it was still pouring down and my converse were rubbing really badly my poor pinky toes.
I can't remember now alas if we went out to try another ramen place that night or went to Wendy's (they had loads of American chain shops and fast food restaurants out there!). What I do remember though is that I was still totally on a high of going to the YoI cafe and my feet were super duper sore!
I do remember the rain finally started to let up though and day 2 came to an end!
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