6/02/06: Confucian Gardens and the Nakano Broadway "geek mall"

     We woke up today to go to the Confucian Gardens slightly outside Tokyo. It was absolutely magnificent and quite large as well. It only cost 300 yen to get in, which I felt was quite reasonable considering how beautiful and exquisitely maintained the garden was. It had lillies, ponds, turtles, koi (fish), statues, monoliths, fountains, and waterfalls. The landscaping was top notch and it was a nice escape from the city to walk through these gardens.

     After we went to the gardens we rode to Nakano Broadway (a small shopping mall).  It was this mall full of discounted clothing, used clothing stores, collector's toy stores, old video game stores, shoe stores, vintage shops. It was really cool. I saw some of the most valuable Star Wars memorabilia I've ever seen outside a museum, and I also got to see video games that never came to the US. They even had original Mr. Game and Watch systems!

     I spent almost an hour in the collector's video game store looking through original Nintendo Entertainment System (FAMICOM, or family computer, in Japan) special editions, Final Fantasy Games and Memorabelia, Zelda, Link, Game Gear, Super NES, Playstation, and everything else that made me wish I had they money to spend here! I wish I could have bought the original release, special edition Zelda game for the NES (it's gold with a big triforce on the top) and with it I would have gotten sword controllers and a bunch of other sweet games! Other things that I really wanted included Gundams and Boba Fett, among other collectibles.

     I was successful in finding a pretty reasonable toy store and getting an Final Fantasy 9 action figure for six dollars and some fan-written manga (doujinshi) about Final Fantasy Seven. Also got some awesome wooden sandals for 20 dollars.

If you're a geek in Japan and you haven't gone to Nakano Broadway, definitely make a point of stopping in.

Signing off in Geeky Glory,
 Lady Lara Jones





















Yoga Tree pose.
















Waterfall.




















In the Lotus Position with Lotus Flowers surrounding me...yeah I know I'm a nerd.
















A picture looking out over one of the ponds. I wish the pictures did this place justice but they really don't.
















Lotus flowers up close were very beautiful.




















Chi from Chobits. You could buy her cosplay outfit for $200 USD.





















FFVII Cosplay for 260 dollars an outfit.