Japan Trip 2012, Day 0 - Landing and Pasera (Akihabara)

I figure I've put this off long enough, I guess I should get started writing about the trip I took to Japan a good... month ago. Yes, I'm still playing Dragon's Dogma.

So, I'm only really calling this Day 0 because I just landed, hung out with friends, and went to sleep. I didn't even take any pictures this first day, but eh.

I came in through Narita, out in Chiba prefecture. From Narita, you can take the Narita Express out to Tokyo, which is pretty standard to do. You can pair your train ticket with the purchase of a Suica card at the airport in a package called Suica + N'EX (go figure), and they'll give you a special price on the Narita Express out of the airport. If you're coming back to Narita within two weeks, you can get the same special price on a return ticket too... or you can just get the deal on a one-way ticket, making the entire combination quite worthwhile either way you choose.

If you're not familiar with the Suica, it's one of those cards that you see in anime... well, okay you don't really see it, people usually slip it in their wallets, but then they touch the wallet up against the gates to the train platform, right? This is the magnetic card that does that. You put money on it on fare machines, and when you exit the station, you touch it once again on those magnetic readers and it'll automatically deduct from your credit based on where you came from.

Suica isn't accepted everywhere in Japan, all of Tokyo is pretty much a guarantee, but elsewhere not so much. There are other types of magnetic cards like it that are local to other areas of Japan, but unless you plan on clearing out of Tokyo post haste, then it's a real good value and adds some convenience to your trip. Vending machines and some restaurants within Tokyo will also accept Suica for payment, so even if you're using a JR Rail Pass for the entire trip, you still might see some use out of the 1500 yen they initially put on your card. I took a picture of the special one they give you as a tourist like a week after I got it, so here's what they look like.

Either way, once I got off in Tokyo and into the hotel, I was able to meet my friends. The plan was to go off to Pasera in Akihabara - they had a special karaoke deal going on that served you Im@s-themed food as you sang (and all the drinks you care to down, alcoholic included), with three hours of paid karaoke as part of the deal.

We were able to rent out the Evangelion room for our karaoke session, and the staff would periodically bring us plates of more stuff. Azusa's raisen cream canapé I remember were pretty good, as were most things that were actually food, though I'm not sure if I liked the Chihaya octopus carpaccio, or the Takane ramen salad. The Ami/Mami steaks were great, probably the best thing there in my opinion, though the Hibiki pizza apparently contained SPAM. I thought it was missing something...

After we were done, we just headed back to the hotel and slept. I got to share a room (and a bed) with someone coming off sickness, despite my attempts to convince people that was a bad idea... and I got sick a few days later. Who would've thought? I also neglected to bring cold medication, which made things worse. I'll never forget to bring that stuff again, especially if I go during rainy season when everyone in Japan is sick.