You know what the difference between a vacation and real life is?

A vacation sounds like this: We woke up, had breakfast with Ana and Japanese anime/manga blogger Kazami Akira. The sun was out intermittently, even though it wasn’t warm, but at least we had no more rain.

We headed over to Akihabara and stopped at Gamers, because why not. Bruce and I bought random toys and from there we wandered over to Toranoana. There was a reason beyond just wanting to shop…there was an art exhibit of cover, calendar and omake art by Fujieda Miyabi. (Which Kazami-san has thoughtfully told me about on Twitter earlier this week. Thank you Kazami-san!) It was truly wonderful, with all his lovely art from Ame-iro Koucha Kandan, MajyoMiko, Iono-sama and other works. We all got a little choked up, then recovered and bought stuff. :) I did not, however, buy the $140 Signum figurine in the Hobby Japan store.

Lunch was an “American Diner” in Akiba which served us American Hamburg steak – a Salisbury steak slathered in BBQ sauce and mayonnaise and rice. Bruce had a hamburg stew, which was a milk/cheese stew with meat. Y’know, just like home.

We went back to Ikebukuro for a break, then headed out for an evening walk to Tokyu Hands and the Loft, where my wife happily bought stickers – and I got a set that said useful things like “I am no more use than a monkey” and “I came late for the cattle mutilation.”

Dinner for the wife’s birthday was at Monjaya, where Bruce and the wife made the monjayaki on their own, earning us each a commemorative set of miniature bowl and spatula from the highly impressed staff. :-)

We then decided to take a ride around the entire Yamanote line from Ikebukuro to Ikebukuro. It was fun, even when it got crowded between Shinagawa and Shinjuku.

And that, friends, is the difference between a vacation and real life.

It’ll be a few days before I’m settled in, but reviews will return as soon as I can.

See you soon!