We did a lot in a week, let me just say that.
When we arrived in Tokyo, my wife and I met up with Sonomi-san, who was my interpreter for the lecture at Keio University later in the week. I randomly decided that, rather than go to a cafe, we’d meet at an Alice in Wonderland-inspired restaurant called Alice in A Old Castle. We figured it would be goofy, with the kind of microwaved food one got in a themed cafe. Boy were we wrong! First of all, when we arrived, there was no door. Just a story about Alice and the Little Mermaid on a wall. Then the wall opened…..
The food was amazing. All I can say is, if you can go, do. It was darling.
We finally managed to see the building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the neighborhood, Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan.
One of my very real pleasures while I was in Tokyo this time, was to finally meet Dr. Thomas Baudinette in person. Tom has been feeding me Thai GL news, and was part of our Thai GL panel at Yuricon 2023. He, my wife and I ate okonomiyaki together. It was a lovely time, during which we talked about our various fandom studies.
The wife and I ran hither, thither and yon around Tokyo, looking for random things. We *did* find the Hello x Kitty / RRR collab in Tokyo station as well as a PreCure Store celebrating a 20th anniversary with keychains of every Cure ever.
Animate had some art from Nakatani Nio and Canno celebrating the new HQ opening.
And Gamers in Akihabara had a little celebratory Ralaire balloon in their Yuri section.
Which brings me to “shopping for Yuri in Tokyo” 2023 edition. Every store has a Yuri section, but only Shosen Book Tower still has the Yuribu concept. Comic Zin still has Yuri doujinshi visible and marked. The new Melonbooks in Ikebukuro it was probably more prominent than it was in Akihabara for Yuri doujinshi. In every other store, it wasn’t hard to find the Yuri section. Every Animate we went to had a section of Yuri and so did Gamers. No banners or signs so if you don’t have an idea at all of what you *might* be looking for, it could be challenging. If you have any idea of the titles you’re looking for, or just look for Yuri Hime comics, it was actually very easy to find. So, not huge whopping Yuri sections the size of BL sections, but a slightly larger chunk of shelving every time. I picked up a few manga I had not heard of and took some photos of covers for later.
Also of note – Melonbooks and Gamers make it very tempting to not go with Amazon or Animate. Both Gamers and Melonbooks are doing a lot of extras. Acrylic standees, extra art, signed books…most of what I picked up was because of the extras. I even got Volume 1 and 2 of a series wholly new to me because V2 was signed by the creator. ^_^
On Wednesday, it was my very sincere honor to be able to present a lecture at Keio University. After class, some of the students joined Professor Nakamura Kasumi-sensei, our interpreter Sonomi-san and myself and the wife for lunch. We had a fantastic time. The students are doing incredible work. I hope to be able to read their research one day soon. Thanks so much to everyone for an amazing day!
The last full day my wife and I criss-crossed the city hitting up places we wanted to not miss or revisit. We discovered a Starlight Revue pop-up shop! (Which was good, because I managed to miss every single pop-up that I had wanted to get to otherwise.)
We stopped at Gee! Shop in Akihabara, where Cospa stuff goes to be sold, and random stuff after pop ups. They no longer had any I’m In Love With The Villainess stuff, but they did have a little Yuri corner!
I bought myself this t-shirt in a size too big, but I really liked the design and color.
We ended up our trip at Yuri Cafe Anchor and let me tell you…it was so charming and lovely. It’s a little place, but crammed full of Yuri manga, doujinshi and books you can read. The Asagao to Kase-san movie was playing on screens, and Yuri anime music over the speakers. The staff could not have been sweeter. The food was not fancy, but it was very enjoyable. I recommend the apple and Camembert cheese. It was just right. They had some books in English and Thai, as well. Now they have a copy of By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga as part of the collection! If they are still around when I need to downsize, they’ll be getting a bunch of stuff from me. ^_^
This book had a reverse image on the back, as if we were looking at the characters from behind. Very clever!
Shelves and shelves of Yuri. It was so fun to look for titles I did not know!
Their shelves also have all sorts of gew-gaws, pins and whatnot. ^_^
We absolutely thought it a terrific, warm, friendly place that any Yuri fan should visit if you’re in Tokyo.
I bought shockingly little for myself this time – a few books, some doujinshi and a bunch of pointless crap, as one does. I did get a lot of Lucky Boxes, though. Of all the crap I got, this little gashapon toy might be my fave – Badtz Maru….on a Super Cub. ^_^
My thanks to James Welker and his students, Nakamura Kasumi-sensei and her students, Sonomi-san, Tom Baudinette, Mutsumi Natsuo-sensei, Ayumi-san from Yuri Times, the staff at Yuri Cafe Anchor and my wife for a wonderful trip!
Here’s to more adventures in 2024.
