Well we’re back from Tokyo now but there are still some more images to show you from our trip. If you missed the first two installments head over here and here. All of these pics are from my Girlfriends camera and mostly document much of our side diversions while in Tokyo over the past week or so.

Up above is an outtake from an FLJ Magazine shoot we did in the shop, where they had Prolly, Greg, Lamour, the Tokyo store staff and myself all pile into the shop’s window display.

This up above is the much fabled used panties vending machines of Tokyo. I’ve been going to Tokyo for over a decade now and had never, ever seen these. Sure I had heard about them…EVERYONE has heard about them. And anytime I come back from Japan someone undoubtedly asks about them and I say “Those don’t actually exist”. Oh but how wrong I was!

To my understanding these were something that sprouted up in the 90s and were quickly done away with…but the stories about them spread and continued to live on long after their demise to the western world. I think most people outside of Japan just assumed these sorts of machines lined the streets sprinkled amongst the many vending machines offering soda, candy, coffee and beer. Unfortunately for the tourists who like to point and giggle, they do not…but they do however exist.  Snopes has a good chronology on the urban legend of these machines if you’re interested.

We discovered these while in Akihabara AKA “Electric Town” Akihabara is an area of Tokyo known mostly for it’s electronic and gadget shops but there are also a fair number of Cosplay maid cafe’s, video game dealers, toy stores and adult video and book stores. We hit up one of these adult stores which was actually a 6 or 7 story megaplex. Tucked away in a barren corner of the shop where these vending machines selling the much fabled school girl panties for about $10 – $20 a pair. There was even basket full plenty of disposed capsules near the machines in teh event you couldn’t wait ’till you got home to see what you got. But that wasn’t the only thing we found…

Yes these are exactly what they look like, child sex dolls made of rubber. We found these on the very top floor of the adult megaplex. They were set up in this charming window display showing the different options/ages of sex dolls available for purchase. I’m not really sure of the prices these were retailing for but I have some strange suspicion that based on the signs that you could actually rent one of these if you wanted to. I don’t know what’s creepier, these existing or someone renting one after it’s already been used.

Notice the one topless one on the far left who looks considerably “older” than the other dolls. They at least had the modesty to cover all of the dolls that were under the age of 18 in clothing. Unfortunately we were the only people up on this floor… so we didn’t get a chance to peep the horny throngs of Japanese men that were aplenty on the floors below. I guess rubber doll pedophilia is a niché fetish it seems.

Now on to something less perverse…Ramen! One day we trekked a good 10-15 minutes from the Takadanobaba
train station to indulge in some Ramen. It was a place we had been brought to one before that not only was cheap but not surprisingly blew most hot-shit Ramen spots in NYC out of the water. This totally hit the spot on grey and rainy day in Tokyo.

Afterward we took a walk down the block to one of my favorite places in Tokyo. The type of spot you would never see in NYC…The U.N.C.L.E. Hobby Gun shop.  This shop is crammed floor to ceiling with every imaginable style of airsoft gun. You want an airsoft Uzi or a replica of Hitler’s Walther PPK? They got you! A Bazooka and a Gatling airsoft gun you say? Yup, they got that too!

Everything in-store was made to look as authentic as they could. Prices ranged from $30 for used beat up hand guns to the upper thousands for those of you looking to reenact Terminator 2. But don’t try it if you ever find yourself there. There is no way you’re getting these past customs. I wish i could have taken photos inside the space, but the proprietors were not that into the idea. So all I have for you is their window display.

On another day we stumbled into a small supermarket. You know how unless you’re shopping at a Wholefoods most supermarket’s in the U.S. usually have a pathetic seafood section. It’s usually a refrigerated cases stocked with frozen shrimp and Gorton’s fish sticks, not in Japan though. Even the lowest rungs of supermarkets have treat their seafood sections like we do our meats.

The whole section wrapped around two walls and was full of every aquatic creature you can or can’t imagine! I don’t even know if what I’m holding is all that exotic but I’m envious that when I go grocery shopping in the US I don’t have the option to throw one of these into my cart for dinner.

On another day we hit up the Tokyo Zoo. We didn’t really take any photos of the animals because, I don’t know? I just hate taking their photos. I feel bad enough that they’re locked in these cages for my amusement, I don’t want to start harassing them with a camera. Plus it was cold and rainy and the animals generally looked a bit miserable.

My girlfriend did however find this awesome “Do not feed the animals sign” on one of the monkey enclosures that we had to take a photo of. Look how awesome that sign is! You’d never see anything like that in a US Zoo. Look at that monkey’s poor bloated belly from eating that cookie. What an evil jerk that kid is. Where were his parents?

OK that does it from my end for images… I’m sure Greg will probably post some 4 weeks from now.

- My Pal the Crook