{"id":1012,"date":"2007-12-27T21:31:01","date_gmt":"2007-12-27T13:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2007\/12\/27\/lucky-star-in-saitama\/"},"modified":"2008-02-04T16:11:44","modified_gmt":"2008-02-04T08:11:44","slug":"lucky-star-in-saitama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2007\/12\/27\/lucky-star-in-saitama\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucky Star in Saitama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was almost as tiring as yesterday<\/a> because I had to lug my 2.5kg laptop<\/a> around. An EEE PC<\/a> would really come in handy when I’m traveling.<\/p>\n

Tokyo Day 3<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s the fourth day of our little adventure in Tokyo and we took a trip to neighbouring Saitama prefecture to visit Konata’s favourite Gamers and Animate branches. Long story short: Saitama isn’t a very exciting place.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nJR Ueno Station<\/p>\n

The location is JR Oomiya Station West Exit (\u00e5\u00a4\u00a7\u00e5\u00ae\u00ae\u00e9\u00a7\u2026\u00e8\u00a5\u00bf\u00e5\u008f\u00a3), about five (long) stops away from JR Ueno via the Utsunomiya Line (\u00e5\u00ae\u2021\u00e9\u0192\u00bd\u00e5\u00ae\u00ae\u00e7\u00b7\u0161) or the Takasaki Line (\u00e9\u00ab\u02dc\u00e5\u00b4\u017d\u00e7\u00b7\u0161). The journey takes around 30 minutes and cost 450 yen on an express train. You can also pay 1280 yen for a one-stop ride on the Shinkansen.<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nJR Oomiya Station<\/p>\n

Immediately outside the exit, face left and you will find this:<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nTokyo Day 4<\/p>\n

Head towards the McDonalds and into the streets behind it to find the old location of Animate’s Oomiya Branch.<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nTokyo Day 4<\/p>\n

The branch has since moved to a bigger location about 10 metres away.<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n

In fact, it even has a second storefront just next door selling character goods. (There’s also a Melon Books<\/a> above it.)<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n

And a few hundred metres away from Animate lies Gamers. It’s kind of hard to describe its location. In fact, I had to ask a guy in Sofmap for it. Then I asked for the directions to Animate from a Gamers employee. It seems that they do hire real otaku in such places.<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nTokyo Day 4<\/p>\n

The East Exit of the station also happens to be one of the setting locations for School Days, specifically Sakakino-chou (\u00e6\u00a6\u0160\u00e9\u2021\u017d\u00e7\u201d\u00ba).<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nTokyo Day 4<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nTokyo Day 4<\/p>\n

Well that’s about it. We didn’t wander too far from the station because it was already getting dark (at 4pm). We split up and I ended up wandering around some familiar places in Ikebukuro to take pictures and busk in nostalgia.<\/p>\n

And by popular demand, here’s a soapland:<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s Odex:<\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of the other pictures suck, so I’m not going to bother posting them here. Go look at today’s gallery<\/a> for more.<\/p>\n

By the way, today’s doujinshi haul is as follows:<\/p>\n