Machida during the Day
Machida at Night
I was told that Tokyo is expensive and it really is no lie. The clothing stores in Machida are especially expensive. It's equivalent to shopping in some upscale boutiques. The fashion here is kind of interesting to say the least. I believe the fashion trend is a gothic lolita getup which is very popular with the teenagers. Apparently, many middle aged and older men are attracted to Lolita type women. Something that is obviously far different from America. I mean you still have the guys here who are attracted to skinny big-breasted women, but being attracted to Lolita types are more common here than in America.
Machida is two stops from Fuchinobe station which is close to the location of the university and the student residences. Obirin daigaku (university) has a free shuttle that runs between Fuchinobe station and the campus. This is useful because it usually takes a good half an hour to walk to Fuchinobe from campus and another half an hour to walk from my apartment, Leopalace, to campus. This would bring my total commute time to one hour.
The trains that we take are the JR Rail Lines. They are a privitized line and can be compared to the commuter rail system in Boston that services many cities outside of Tokyo. Within the Tokyo area is the Tokyo metro. This is similar to the subway in Boston which exclusively serves the immediate area of Tokyo City. The only difference is that the JR Line also runs in the same area as the Tokyo metro while the commuter rail in Boston services North, South, and Backbay stations. The best thing about the rail system here is the cleanliness of the cars and the frequency of the trains. Trains usually run every 3 minutes and there is a tag board that lists the destination and the time for the next couple of trains in both kanji and english. This is something that we are vitally lacking in the Boston subway system. Also, many trains within the Tokyo area have tvs that show you your next destination and a map that highlights the amount of distance traveled/left to travel. The only downside to the subway is that the AC doesn't really work that well. Because there are so many people packed into the trains at once, it can sometimes be very hot in the cars.
Akihabara Akihabara is known a hot spot for electronic goods especially for gamers. Here you can find the latest in electronics and games. It's a bustling place with more tv's and more large and colorful signs.
There are also duty free electronic shops where you don't have to pay any tax. Since I have been interested in anime since I was very young, I made it a priority to stop at the Tokyo Anime Center. This multi-floor building has everything from manga, to plushies and also dvds of every anime new and old available. There are also a ton of arcades aimed at little kids and pachinko aimed for adults; more specifically middle aged men. Since this place is a large tourist spot I found that most of the electronics in the store were very expensive. It seemed that they were more expensive than those found at Yodobashi Camera in Machida. I was, however, lucky enough to come across a baby blue DS Lite for 16280 yen (approximately $163) which was cheaper than those found in other electronics stores in Machida where the DS's run for 16800 yen ($168). I decided to make that a splurge purchase so I can practice my kanji with a kanji dictionary made for DS. I recommend it to anyone who is coming to study in Japan if they have not already bought a hand held japanese dictionary which is also very popular here. I hope to spend more time in this area in the future!
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