On the second day of the trip we explored Akihabara, Tokyo, The Miraikan Science Museum, and Rainbow Bridge.

We left around 10AM to make our way towards Akihabara. Our first stop was a giant 6 story arcade. It was loud, smelled like cigarettes (smoking is still allowed indoors in Japan), and dark because there weren’t any windows. We walked through all of the floors, and some of the group tried out a game or two.

After wandering around some more we ended up at a Maid Cafe. It wasn’t lunch time yet so I had a waffle with ice cream. They didn’t allow filming so we couldn’t get video or pictures. I didn’t quite understand the Maid Cafe thing, but James and Paul went back later in the trip and had more authentic experience. Our next stop was the Don Quixote, a multi-story Walmart-type store that has tiny aisles and anything you could need.

We’d had our fix of the area, so we took a driverless monorail over a bridge and to The Miraikan Science Museum. On our way over we saw people dressed up in Mario character costumes driving go-karts down the street. At the museum we saw a demo of Asimo, Honda’s robot that can walk, kick a ball, and hop on one leg, among other things.

When we left the museum we saw that we were near a BMW driving experience course so we stopped to watch people drive cars around cones. It seemed rather lame, or the drivers were timid. From there we walked to a mall to sit inside and relax because it was really hot and humid outside.

After spending an hour or two at the mall we regrouped and made our way to Rainbow Bridge. When we got there it wasn’t lit up, and an internet search told us that it only lights up during a certain time of year. We did, however, sit on the beach and enjoy a nice view of the Tokyo skyline and a lot of really colorful boats out on the water.

At this point it was way past dinner time so we went to a ramen place then made our way home. I picked up some bananas at the supermarket across the street from our house, dumped my camera card onto my computer, and went to sleep.

On day three of the trip we attend a couple of festivals.