Unfortunately I had to work on Sunday. The upside (on top of the over-time pay) was that I got to watch the Tokyo Marathon from the best spot in the city - our office. Even the police took one of the corner rooms and made it their stakeout.
People were running through Ginza for at least 4 hours, possibly longer. At the beginning of the day there were many eager, athletic individuals jogging along briskly. Towards the end of the day you saw the sluggish and sad ones. My initial urge to mock them was quickly subdued when I remembered that they had covered more than 40km - I would be dead by then.
There were also some costumed highlights. Aside from the old people in inappropriately short shorts, Darth Vader - red lightsaber in hand, was the best.
In the evening we went back to Akihabara, the electronics district, to visit the Gundam Cafe. A Gundam is a giant war machine suit made popular in an anime series. I went as a mere escort but it was still entertaining. The washroom was the highlight because it was inside a Gundam. Actually, it just had a big red button and when you pressed it, Gundam start-up sounds were heard and lights flashed. It was still cool though.
Akihabara has historically been the techy neighborhood. After the war, the military sold the surplus of electronics at a market under the train station. Engineering students would buy the items and use them as parts to build radios - hot but limited commodities back in the day. To this date Akihabara is the neighborhood for fancy electronics and the latest gadgets.
It's not a war machine suit, it's a mobile suit.
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