Rabu Study Day

I was going to include this in my overall trip report, but it came up in a comment thread, and after rambling along about it at length, I decided that I wanted to bump it up to a top-level post, because my love for Odoru has been rekindled, and MORE people ought to know about its awesomeness, darn it.

( Odoru Daisousasen: Basic info and links )

( Plot summary and characters )

( The Odoru Cult )

( Odoru 3! )

So, in sum -- if you haven't seen the series, check it out! It deserves more love.

Oh, my god, if anything could make me want to buy an iPad...

http://www.mediumatlarge.net/2010/04/caturday-ipad-edition.html

(The iPad looks cool and all, but with a laptop AND an iPhone, what do I need one for?)

And now for something completely different:

Getting this link from gaminette reminded me, I haven't posted here yet about our upcoming Japan trip plans!

I am still planning on hitting Japan with the usual suspects whenever spacealien_vamp is able to get leave, but in the meantime, gaminette made me an Offer I Couldn't Refuse. (Actually, it was more like "Wanna go to Japan?" Me: "Oooh, shiny!" I'm easy that way.) We are planning to go for about two weeks in August. She'll have to leave before the last day of Comiket, but I'm planning to stay an extra couple of days and try to do original author day on my own. (God help us all.)

Any suggestions for sightseeing? No doubt I'll do some manga shopping on this trip, but I want to save the industrial-strength shopping for the regular crew (who are usually responsible for recommending half the stuff I bring home anyway). So I'd like to take this opportunity to do more regular tourist-like things. Maybe even of the historical-cultural kind. Tokyo area only, we won't be able to range further afield on this trip. (Kinda too bad, as I am in full-on Heian mode right now, but Kyoto isn't in the trip plans this time.)

Things I have done in the past: Ikebukuro, obviously; Akihabara; Odaiba (ferris wheel!); Kitchen-town (where all the plastic food is); Tokyo Tower; various flavors of Tokyo Disney. It would be fun to do something different this time. I'm open to suggestions for day trips -- the only day trip I've ever done (besides Disney or Chiba) is Kamakura, that was fun.

We're definitely talking about a trip to the Ghibli museum, and I swear I'm going to make it to the Tsukiji fish market this time, but otherwise, we're wide open. Hit us with your best Tokyo-area recs!