I'd like to take a moment to pay homage to the area of Nakano in Tokyo. It houses a covered alley of small stores that is attached to a multi-level shopping plaza. It is in this multi-level shopping plaza that our Tours+ guide, Chris (he was the guide on our Tokyo Disney tour, as well, and the three of us got on so well that we specifically requested his Fuji tour so we could go Star Wars shopping with him again), and the two of us always get turned around and have to stumble upon our favorite tiny sci-fi memorabilia shop. But it is sooooo worth the wandering around to find, let me tell you!
Though the shop is tiny (four people at a time is feeling a tad crowded), it's filled from tippy-top ("Hey, Brandon, can you stop looking at that clone action figure long enough to pull what I think looks like an electronic Naboo fighter off the top shelf?") to the floor with rows and layers of Star Trek, Star Wars, Matrix, Lord of the Rings and a few other sci-fi category goodness. Oh my, if I could live there! (Okay, but there isn't room enough for a bed, Arielle. I think I might be willing to carve myself out a little niche along the back wall.) We found great deals on new and used memorabilia during our November trip and were so excited to be headed back to our "favorite" store. (You can tell where this is headed, right?)
To our extreme disappointment, the store had closed and consolidated with one of its partner stores. Uh-huh. Not good. And the partner store didn't even have half the Star Wars or Star Trek memorabilia that our favorite store had! After a few minutes of silence outside the closed store front, and wandering around in the partner store, we did manage to find some things we wanted, but it just wasn't the same. :( Fortunately, Chris was prepared to trek across all of Tokyo to every good sci-fi store he knew (thank goodness for open-day metro passes) and all three of us found some great buys. It's always fun to go with Chris - he and his co-worker are the only two people we've met out here that can carry on an in-depth Star Wars conversation with us. I know, I know, we're nerds. :)
One other slightly random thing I'd like to share. Our hotel was in Hiro-o and ever day on the walk to and from the hotel to the metro station, we'd pass this cute children's clothing store.
Yup, and as you probably guessed, every time we passed, our conversation went something like this:
Me: Wow. Did you see that store?
Brandon: Yup. It looked like one we should know....it's just so...
Both of us: Familiar!
Upon which we'd both laugh at each other and our nonsense. I'm so glad I married someone who just "gets" my humor...and shares it! Makes life so much more fun! :)
---Arielle