July 6, 2025 - Claw Machine Undisputed Champ

 Akihabra - the electronic shopping capital of tokyo. Hundreds of multi-storied buildings with video games, video game merch, claw machines, collectibles, role playing games, pachinko machines, and everything the international nerd would love. We went into the largest multi-storied building to get our nerd on…lots of really good stuff and alot of things of which I was unfamiliar.  We had lunch at a Tomoyaki place, basically a savory egg pancake with meat, veggies, and noodles all cooked on a griddle in front of you. It was very good although the mochi and kraft American cheese one was a little far out there for our tastes. 

The streets of Akihabra, multi-story electronic and gamer stores. 

I'd love to see all of this at night, next time for sure!

Godzilla display...way cool. 

The Pokemon Center...all things Pokemon. 

Tomoyaki straight from the grill...the waiter was lots of fun too. 

Gentle readers, I am obsessed with claw machines, who knows why. It is the only game of chance I can truly get behind as it requires a bit of skill. I went into a claw machine store and threw my 500 yen into a machine with Pokemon stuffed animals…I won on my first try! I still had four tries left but no dice…or no more stuffed animals, video games, or figures…one can win…

Undeniable proof of my championship claw machine abilities!

My winnings! Pikachu! 

What do nerds like besides gaming? You guessed it, a multi-storied building of naughty adult sex toys…we popped into the Love Merci five story building to check out the wares of sex toys, lubes, sex dolls, fetish wear, and other devices.  The top two floors were designated as men only floors and I was interested in what could possibly be there to offend the delicate sensibilities of the fairer sex. Sex dolls, pocket masturbation toys, videos and fake boobs - maybe I’m jaded by being in the bay area but it was hard to see anything that would warrant calling this the largest and most risque adult sex toy building in Japan. It all seemed so Frederick’s of Hollywood and and not so much Mr. S Leather. I’ve seen more explicit things on the sidewalks of the Castro just on a Sunday afternoon…

Another Akihabra oddity was the maid cafe. It’s a cafe with the servers dressed in maid’s outfits. Several of the maids were standing outside handing out coupons. Tempting...but we did not go in as I don’t understand the attraction but to be fair I don’t understand the attraction of Hooters either.  

Unless these maids actually clean my house I'm not interested!

Definitely need to checkout Akihabra at night next time and enjoy the crazy sites and sounds of this electronics paradise.