Aya's Super Awesome Adventures in Japan: Den-Den Again!

This being my last weekend on my own before the program was over, I decided I had to visit one of my favorite places at least one more time. I was off to Den-Den Town!

I started off the day right, with a makeshift breakfast consisting of what I'm pretty sure began as something like bacon, burnt to a crisp, with eggs. I then tried toasting some bread in the oven-like device built into the stove, with less-than satisfactory results. I shared this with Kilo and Jackson, who might have been slightly grateful.

Yum?

Before leaving, I cleaned out my backpack, which had a few things left from the adventure before, such as this invitation to a love hotel.

Bow Chicka Wow Wow

I also left a note on the shoe cabinet near the entranceway. It looked something like this:

This was a recently (as in the day before) developed practice to let my roommates know the general vicinity I would be in, in case something went wrong.

These stones look like old computer monitors.
Coincidence? Probably!

I avoided the scary route I took with Sean, Courtney and Stacey the time before, and instead walked north directly from the Tennoji station. There were some interesting displays.

There was a very modern-looking temple off to the side, just a few blocks away from Shitennoji,

and a more traditional-looking building across the street from it.

Taking a short look towards the infamous Shinsekai, I moved right along and straight to the nerd center of Nipponbashi.

Den-Den Again-Again

This was my first time seeing a maid from a maid cafe!

Perhaps you, as a reader, are getting tired of this place, but I sure hadn't. I wandered the streets of this glorious place for what I assumed would be the last time.

One of the things I loved about Nipponbashi was the fact that it always felt new. I went there 3 (or 4?) times, and each time it was almost like a different place. There were so many stores, and the backstreets revealed even more.

This time I found what appeared to basically be a second full-fledged road full of nerdy shops. I even found a shop devoted solely to figures. Unfortunately it was getting late and I had one last destination.

Stores were starting to close up as I headed towards Shinsaibashi, and the bridge by the big "Glico" sign. This was the spot the rest of the group had gone to back towards the beginning of the trip.

Last time I ran most of the way there, and stopped in a couple of places to ask directions, but this time I was just walking, and I realized just how far it was. This time I had a detailed map, and actually knew where my destination was on said map. I recommend the map method.

After wandering through a few dark alleyways, I finally came out in a place I recognized.

I think that dragon place across the road is where I asked
for directions the time before. I was right on top of it!

And there it was! It's a pretty popular tourist spot, which is a con in my book, but the lights sure are pretty.

Digging through the crowd, I arrived on the bridge, where I asked a man to take my picture.

Hooray for non-selfies!

I had one last stop before I moved on. I heard that the music shop where Yui buys her guitar in K-On! was in this shopping mall, so I weaved northward through the dense crowd.

I had found it! I think...

It looks pretty similar...

After watching the scene from the anime again, I have gathered that this store might be the right one. It doesn't look the same on the outside, but the inside sure does. It was also closed, so I couldn't really go inside and get a feel for the space on the inside of the store, either. Not really terribly disappointed or satisfied either way, I decided it was time to head back.