I'm in Tokyo waiting for my teaching job to start till at least next week and staring at the four hotel walls is getting kinda boring. Anyone fancy meeting up to hit Akihabara/Shibuya?
What kind of times? I can generally sneak out around 10ish on any given night (to Shibuya) or my lunch break (11:00-12:30). Shibuya Kaikan has Death Smiles at 50 yen a pop. Get ready to breathe in some smoke though.
Shibuya Kaikan was not the most filled with smoke arcade I've ever been to though, but it had all the brilliant Cave-shooters for cheap 50yen (DOJ, Mushi2, Ketsui). ^_^ If you really want to feel like being poisoned and eaten alive, you gotta go to the game center under the train bridge in Yuurakucho. They don't game good games either (erotic shougi, 1990's sega tetris, SNK soccer titles, old mahjong stuff like "Shanghai The greatest Wall"), I just went there by incident.
YOu only went to Shibuya Kaikan during the day, right? At night it's 100x worse. They have a relatively healthy fighting game community, and Melty Blood & Guilty Gear are on the same floor as the shooters. The 50 yen arcade across the street (Shinjuku Sportsland in Shibuya or something) is a trainwreck. All the games are on B1, and there's zero ventilation. No A/C either. I went in there for 10 seconds during the summer and almost roasted.
Yeah, only during the day. But I think I can imagine what it is like because I was in the game center you mentioned... something with Sportsland. The air in that place was terrible indeed. I wonder how HEY! manages to have cool and fresh air all the time. Maybe because the people rather steal their ashtrays but to use them (as I did, shame on me!:nod.
Literally any time. Just had a phone call from my company saying that I might get a week's teaching in Kyoto starting from the 16th and that's being hopeful. Still, can't complain. I'm still being paid and there's no rent since they're putting me up in a hotel. Kinda like a free holiday I guess. Anyway, Shibuya Kaikan sounds good. Whereabouts in Shibuya is it? I think I might be clubbing in Shibuya tonight anyway, so we could meet up beforehand? I'll PM you my mobile number.
Sounds good. I can sneak out around 22:00 or so, when the little guy goes to bed. It's quite close to the Hachiko. From the station, go to Center-gai... walk about 50-60 yards and look for a red sign that says "GAME" on your left. 4th floor (depending on how you count) is the floor of fun. I think it might even be the 2nd floor for a brit.
I took pictures if you need any aditional help ^_^ Go left to the Tsutaya/Starbucks-bldg: Follow the street for about 50 metres. 10m ahead is a giant McDonalds french fries sculpture. Turn left, enter here:
