I checked out of my hotel in the morning and headed to Akihabara again to check some things out before I leave the city. I visited a store called Yodobashi Camera, since it was supposed to be the biggest and I think it was. They sell all sorts of computers, electronics, appliances, books, DVDs, etc. A single floor was about the size of Best Buy but this store had eight floors (plus a restaurant floor)! To give some idea, I noticed one aisle was nothing but computer mice. Half of a floor was almost all phones. There must have been 1000 phones there. I didn’t see any Nokia, Motorola, or Samsung phones. It is all Softbank, DoCoMo, and au by KDDI. I could only inspect the physical parts of the phone, since it is all in Japanese. But everything seemed top notch; the resistance when sliding open the keypad, or flipping open felt like higher quality than I’ve seen on any other phones.
Elsewhere in Akihabara there are shops for everything. I saw one store that sold only light bulbs. Another that sold only fans. There are stores that still toys and models from the smallest giant robot to life-size dolls, clothes, and parts. This is also the place for any manga (Japanese comic books) or anime (Japanese animation) or video games (from latest to 20 year old Nintendo games) or arcades and of course, maid cafes. Too bad a lot of stores have no photography signs, I guess you have to see for yourself.
For lunch I decided I would try to find a buffet (called viking in Japan) I found on the web. I took the train to Ginza and walked, but the restaurant has been closed since a month ago. I noticed an Apple store, so I decided to go in there. It was four floors. I noticed the glass elevators had one button in Apple style. 3rd floor had a demo/learning theatre. The 4th floor had a free Internet area, which I used to find another place to eat. I liked the new Apple keyboard, which has a thin stainless steel design. Anyway, I set off walking again. I ended up finding a different restaurant on the way called Cali Cali. They had an Indian Curry buffet lunch. It was different from any other restaurant I’ve been to because you have to take your shoes off, then sit on the floor and use a low table. For about $10.50 I ate quite a bit, maybe too much since I wasn’t really feeling that great afterwards.
After lunch, back to Akihabara where I take my backpack out of a locker, and then to the bullet trains at Tokyo station for my next destination. Less than three hours later, I was in Kyoto at my hostel. It was dark out so no more sightseeing today.