Last week I took a much needed vacation to Tokyo. It was to get away from work, from Yamaguchi, from everything, for a short while. As with almost all vacations it was all too brief; I was there for only 3 full days and could have easily stayed another two weeks if I didn't have this nastiness called work that needs to be done.
I met a friend up there, a fellow author, and he showed me a nice section of Tokyo called Jimbocho that is famous for its bookstores. I found a place that sold a lot of American comics in English. I was immediately transported back to my childhood. I spent some money on mostly Image comic but also picked up a trade paperback of Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder. I had heard good things about it and I love Lee's art.
I also spent time in Akihabara, meeting in person for the first time a fellow I had only chatted with online. We had fun geeking out and I bought a She-Hulk figure, much to my wife's dismay.
The highlight of my trip was spending the day in Odaiba. Although I had been there many times before, this was the first that I got to view the life-size Gundam and go into Fuji TV. Sadly, the tour section of Fuji TV was closed. The view from the spherical observation deck is fantastic. I never get tired of taking pictures of Odaiba.
I'm not a Gundam fan but it was a thrill seeing it. The thing is huge! The picture doesn't do it justice. The ankle joint itself comes to my head. It turns its head (and in the summer I think shoots out a mist of water). The projection mapping at night was a neat show. I really enjoyed it.
As always, my time in Tokyo was too short and I can't wait to go back.
