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The bonus for this trip was that my the most well known animation types
friend since fourth grade, Karen Smith Tak‐ around the world. I loved Akihabara, but I
izawa, has lived in Japan for 50 years and was a little stressed out because of the
was excited to be our tour guide for five many gifts I had to get for my friends, so I
days. Carl and I had visited Japan in 2017 was quite a headless chicken, running from
and were anxious to introduce the Japa‐ store to store in the little time allotted.
nese lifestyle to Kalea. And, although some Needless to say, I got back to the hotel
signs were in English, it helped having quite frazzled, but with many shopping
Karen negotiate buying tickets in the sub‐ bags and gorgeous pictures on my iPhone.”
way and train stations and contribute Kalea's other most favorite places to
great suggestions for our itinerary. visit were Harajuku, Fuchu, the world-fa‐
We all met at our Ginza hotel each mous Shibuya Crossing and the beautiful
morning at 10, setting off with Karen for Hama-rikyu Gardens and Tea House.
that day's adventure. First on “Kalea's Wish At the Tea House, as is custom, we re‐
List” was a subway ride to Akihabara, a moved our shoes and sat down for the tea
popular shopping area for youth pop cul‐ treat.
ture, electronics, and fashion. As Kalea recalls: “The Hama-rikyu Gar‐
As Kalea explains: “On our first day of dens and Tea House was an incredible
sightseeing I did skincare and makeup and tourist area, and I had a lot of fun. The
put on my best clothes because I was going meal was delectable. Since it was a tea
to be walking down the most bustling service we had big bowls of bitter matcha
tourist area of Tokyo—Akihabara. Aki‐ brew with a choice of two overly sweet
habara is known for bright lights, bill‐ treats—a dorayaki (red bean paste pan‐
boards, and youth culture. The youth cake) or a small seasonal confection! Trust
culture in particular being anime, one of me, it was very hard to pick between the
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