Disclaimer

This is an old export from Discord, so I kept the original text and just applied some minor changes.

Here is a list of minor improvements I applied to this post:

Fixed typos and missing punctuation
Fixed formatting
Added Japanese text where it's relevant
Re-arranged order of images
Added more images
Added images from Steins;Gate, with their corresponding episode numbers
Unfortunately, I had to remove the custom emojis: KEKW SmugTao Megumin

Day 0: November 19th - PART I - Bad start (x6)

Day 0 because it's the day I landed and it was not a full day.

After landing in Tokyo around 11:20 AM, I had diarrhea so I had to run to the toilet. (x1)
So the first pic I took, wasn't the typical picture of the "Welcome to Japan" sign in the airport but that of a bidet, with a piece of my butt on the picture.

After a while, I got done shitting to get shit done.

When I went through immigration, they almost sent me back to France, because I didn't specify a hotel on the visa entry form...
I really had no hotel though... (x2)

The lady asked "return flight to France?" and I refused, so they sent me to an interrogation room.
I got interrogated, it was great, and I got allowed to pass immigration, onwards to customs.
Then I struggled filling the customs forms because I'm dumb, but I managed after a few minutes...

Finally got through immigration and customs, but I got lost.
The airport was too big but I needed the following things:

train pass
SIM card
train ticket for the Keisei Skyliner to go to Ueno (上野).

Found a vending machine for the train pass, a counter for the SIM card, and a counter for the train ticket

However, after buying the SIM card, I had to go back to the counter to get help because it wasn't working on my phone 😭 (x3)

After nearly 3 hours of wandering around in the airport, I finally boarded the Keisei Skyliner, which takes around 45 minutes to get to Ueno.
It was tough, even tougher because I couldn't sleep in the plane, had to continue my day even though I hadn't slept in a long time.

AND IT WAS ONLY 3 PM SO I'LL HAVE TO STAY AWAKE FOR A FEW MORE HOURS.

Once in Ueno, I got lost again. 😎 (x4)

The train system is way more complex than Paris metro.

I had to go to Akihabara (秋葉原), and I didn't know which train to take.
So I went to a help counter and asked where to go, went there, boarded the train, and after two stops, I was finally there.

Akihabara (秋葉原), a weeb's dream...

Day 0 - November 19th - PART II - Bad start (x6)

Now that I am there, in Akiba (Akihabara but shorter), what to do next?
I took 2 pictures after getting out of the station, before getting lost again...

It was almost 4 PM by then

I just walked randomly left and right until I landed on the main avenue, Chuo Dori (the one in Akiba, not the Chuo Dori in Ginza)

It was filled with stores, tourists, and maids handing out flyers. Too many of them.
If you ever walk down Chuo Dori, ignore them, do not look them in the eye, avoid them like the plague.

Speaking of maids, one of them talked to me and I decided to follow her to her store.
It felt like going into a yakuza den, following a random girl, about to get kidnapped and my organs stolen.

But no, it was just a shitty cafe, the walls weren't even painted, it looked like a bunker with those fucking stone walls.

I stayed in there for 30 minutes, paid 4,000 yen for 2 cups of orange juice... (x5)
But the bitch tried to make me buy a limited edition champagne bottle for 55,000 yen...

Then I walked back to try and find a Kaikatsu Club (快活CLUB), the cybercafe where I was supposed to spend the night in.
At this point it was around 5:20 PM, walked down the Chuo Dori and found one in approx 10 minutes.
Got a membership card, and booked a room around 5:50 PM.

Dropped off my backpack in the room, and left again, to roam the streets of Akiba.
But as I opened my phone to check my trip plans, I noticed that I forgot to put my trip plan on my phone 😂 (x6)
I remembered it more or less, but I needed a way to get the file from my external SSD to my phone, and it wasn't easy, messed things up a bit.

This is the start of technical difficulties to get these files back...

Kept roaming until around 8 PM then got back to my room, showered, ate some bento (弁当) (boxed lunch) from a konbini (コンビニ) (24hrs open small market), and went to sleep for the next day.

Day 1: November 20th - Recovery mission I

Okay, the start of the mission to recover my travel plans onto my phone.
My disk is formatted in ext4 which can only be read on Linux, I tried reading my disk on the Windows machine in the cybercafe, but it didn't work.

But first, I walked past a Gong'cha store and decided to get myself some Matcha Milk Tea 😋 🍵

Plan A: Buy an adapter to read the disk on my phone

My old phone still uses a micro-USB charging port instead of the now standard USB-C, so it was so much harder than expected.
I bought a microUSB to USB OTG adapter (OTG means On The Go, to plug disks).
That didn't work either, for some odd reason, I could read an USB drive, but not the SSD, because it was NVMe and Android doesn't support NVMe or something, only SATA. I myself was confused, time to think about Plan B.

Plan B: Buy a small cheap notebook, install Linux, get the files, should be easy...

But I couldn't find a cheap enough shitty laptop without shooting myself in the foot in terms of budget.
Guess I have to think about Plan C...

Around 8 PM, entered a random restaurant and ordered some CURRY (カレー) 🍛
Ate, went back to the cybercafe, did boring things, showering, laundry, etc...

At this point it was like 2 AM, I spent the day walking and shopping, which was unexpected but still hella fun!
I was getting ready for Day 2.

Plan C: buy a Raspberry Pi Zero mini computer, a display, and a whole lot of stuff to be able to plug the disk in 💀

This plan worked, I managed to recover my files, but let me tell you, finding all the parts was hell 😂

Took me two days because I had other things to do, aside from roaming shops in Akiba...
I also didn't sleep until 5 AM.

NORMAL TOURISTS ARE ASLEEP AT THIS TIME!

BUT ME? I'M CRAZY AHAHAHA

Day 2: November 21st - Recovery mission II & onsen (温泉) (hot baths) visit

I kept doing some quick shopping I did find half of the items I needed.
I went to some small electronics shops, BIC Camera, Yodobashi Camera, Sofmap, none of them had the last few items I needed.
I said fuck it, it's 11:30 AM, I have a train to take.

I went to the station to take the train to Shinjuku (新宿), and from Shinjuku, take the Odakyu Romancecar to go to Hakone (箱根).
Approximately 1h30 of train trip to the west.

Arrived at Hakone around 1 PM... dropped my bag and jacket in a coin locker.

A sign said there was a shuttle bus stop:

couldn't find the bus stop 🤦
tried to walk up to Hakone Yuryo (箱根湯寮) baths for around 45 minutes
couldn't find the Hakone Yuryo baths
walked back down
wasted 1h30...
the shuttle bus stop was right in front of the station, I walked past it
the bus took 3 minutes to get there...
wasted 1h30 walking for a bus that took 3 minutes to get there.

Around 2:40 PM I arrived there, and finally tried the hot bath

It was awesome, even though I almost passed out after getting in the cold water.
There are a bunch of hot baths, inside and outside, and there's one cold bath to cool down.
I tried the different hot baths, then tried the cold bath, instantly regretted it, stayed 10 seconds in there, and went back to a hot bath.

After around 1 hour of bathing, I almost passed out, if I had stayed 1 minute longer in the baths, I would have passed out.
I felt my consciousness fading away...

Time to go back down and get some food.
I was still in Hakone around 5:30 PM and decided to get some ramen (ラーメン)

Ate slowly, then around 6 PM, went back to the station to take the train back to Akiba

As soon as I arrived, I walked to Kaikatsu to get a room
And around 2 AM I jerked off to some Japanese porn with blurred genitals.
Ahh, japanese women, so cute 😍
(it was allowed, they even leave some tissues for that purpose, and have porn websites ready for customers)

Day 3: November 22nd - Recovery Mission III & Homeless in Japan I

Still did some shopping:

Bought the Raspberry Pi Zero in "Store A" around 11 AM
Walked 3 hours to find the final parts
"Store B" right next to "Store A" had those parts
Wasted 3 hours when I could've completed this in 30 seconds
It was around 2 PM when I bought the other parts in "Store B"...

Now I'm fucking done with shopping for electronics parts, my next focus is visiting Cat Island.
But first, I need to sort some shit and get some food, so I slacked off in a cybercafe room for 2~3 hours

Around 5:30 PM, I departed from Akiba to go to Tokyo (東京) (2 train stops)
Then around 6 PM I boarded the shinkansen (新幹線) (bullet train) to go to Sendai (仙台). The shinkansen is too damn expensive.
Then I had to take a 45-minutes train ride to go from Sendai to Ishinomaki (石巻).

Total trip duration was around 3 hours, I finally arrived at Ishinomaki at some time between 8 and 9 PM.
And I had no place to sleep.
When I was in the train, I opened Kaikatsu Club's website to see if there was a branch in Ishinomaki.
There was one, but the website didn't show it to me, because it used GPS to find the closest ones, and I was way too far so it wasn't detected.
So I thought I was homeless for the night.

I walked around, tried 6 different hotels to find a place to sleep.
3 of them were open but fully booked, 2 of them were closed, and 1 of them was probably completely abandoned 😂

Well, I went to the ferry port, I told myself I'd spend the night sleeping on a bench waiting for the ferry.
I wasted a few hours on that bench, got myself some drinks, charged my phone using my external power bank.

It was around 12:30 AM when I tried opening Kaikatsu Club's website again, and this time IT DID SHOW A BRANCH ON THE MAP.
I wasn't homeless anymore, maybe.
I took a gamble and decided to walk there.
Arrived around 1 AM, and there was a room available, although not a private room...

Day 4: November 23rd - Cat Island & Homeless in Japan II

8:00 AM: wake up
8:15 AM: arrive at Ishinomaki Station (石巻駅) to deposit stuff in a coin locker
8:16 AM: decide to take a taxi to the Ferry Port to not miss the ferry
8:19 AM: arrive at the ferry port, book ticket to Tashirojima (田代島), the cat island
8:51 AM: ferry arrives
8:55 AM: board the ferry
9:00 AM: ferry departs
9:49 AM: arrive at Tashirojima island, on Nitoda port (仁斗田港)

CATS!
EVERYWHERE!
I have so many cat pics and vids!

12:04 PM: finally tried takoyaki (たこ焼き) at some local restaurant on the island, I love takoyaki
12:45 PM: left the restaurant to walk and PET MORE CATS!
1:22 PM: arrived at Nitoda port to take the 1:40 PM ferry back to Ishinomaki

I was planning to arrive at Shibuya (渋谷) to meet a friend at around 5:30 PM loooool
There were some unexpected train problems in the first train, it stopped for around 45 minutes.
Then I had to wait an hour for the next shinkansen because the previous two were full.

Arrived at Shibuya around 9:08 PM
Met my friend at around 9:50 PM
Spent the evening and had dinner with my friend
Took the train back to Akiba at 11:53 PM
Arrived around 12:45 AM

And then, I was homeless.
For around 4 hours.
Walked around Akihabara and neighboring places to try to find a Kaikatsu Club
Tried 6 different ones, they were all full...

Put my stuff in a coin locker again, only kept my jacket because it was getting cold.
Roamed around, went into a store open until 5 AM.
Talked to some random maid, because there are some even at night.

Got some hot coffee (not sex) from a vending machine, and a bento from a konbini.
Took a piss in some public toilets.
My feet were burning and hurting from all the walking...

I wanted to take a night walk like in Yofukashi no Uta, I just wasn't expecting to be homeless.
Someone working in KC showed me how to see if there are available rooms on the website.
Kept refreshing until I had 12% battery... and around 4:20 AM, finally!

Day 5: November 24th - Free Day

I did everything I planned on doing, so the last few days were just free days with nothing planned.
Just SHOPPING ON STEROIDS!

Although I woke up at around 3 PM because of the homeless night.
And around 5:18 PM, I finally got my travel documents back from my SSD and onto my phone.
The setup is wild.

Then went out, coin locker, walked, roamed a bit, went into various stores, the usual.

Around 6:20 PM, took the train to Ikebukuro (池袋), this is the place where I spent the night, instead of Akiba for once.

When I arrived in Ikebukuro at 6:48 PM, I checked on Kaikatsu Club's website how many rooms were available.
There were 17 rooms available.
I'm SAAAAAAAAFE~

Booked the room around 7:13 PM and rested there for an hour, because my feet were still hurting like hell from all the walking around.
Then I left to play some crane games and gacha.
Man I suck at it, I wasted at least 2,500 yen trying to win prizes.

Only prize I won was a One Piece Card Game...

I have no idea what I ate that day.
Some bento again, their bentos are so tasty and so filling, how could I not.
I wanted to go to restaurants a bit more, but I ended up eating more bentos than expected.
A bunch of onigiri (おにぎり) (rice balls) too...

Time to sleep, honestly, no idea when I slept, probably around 1 AM.
The next day is gonna be busy.

Day 6: November 25th - PART I - I went places...

This day was super tiring, my feet were crying.
I walked around in Ikebukuro again, the usual, enter stores, check if there are interesting items to buy.
Couldn't find Animate Ikebukuro, which was my main target.
So after 2~3 hours, I decided to leave for Akiba again, but just to store my stuff in a coin locker.
Then I went from Ikebukuro to Akiba, to drop my stuff in a coin locker, then I ping-ponged from places to places.

Nakano (中野), Shinjuku, Shibuya, then back to Ikebukuro , then back to Akiba...
That's a lot of train rides. I did find some good items to buy in Nakano and Shinjuku.

I decided to spent my last night in Akiba.
I loved Akiba so much, truly my paradise.
This is also where Steins;Gate happens, how could I not love it.

El Psy Congroo.

When I arrived back at Akiba around 8:45 PM, things became spicy.
Picked my shit at the fucking locker, booked a damn room.
Threw my shit in the room and left instantly.

I HAD SHIT TO DO, GUESS WHAT IT WAS.
GAMBLING and visiting some erotic cafes. 🤑

Day 6: November 25th - PART II - GAMBLING

There was a gambling maid cafe called Akiba Guild (アキバギルド), basically a maid cafe with casino games.
I arrived at Akiba Guild around 9 PM, it was a gambling cafe, for 5000 yen I got $600 (fictional money) worth of chips.

I played some roulette, lost a lot at first, but then started winning, until the Roulette table closed.
I wanted to play some blackjack but the table was full.
So they sent me to the poker table, even though I never played poker and had no idea about the rules.

AT SOME POINT I WENT ALL-IN AND WON, even though I had no idea what the hell was going on
And a few rounds later, I went all-in again, and everyone folded, so I won again.
After this all-in, there were some free seats at the blackjack table, so I went to play blackjack, my beloved.

I played blackjack for a few rounds, because it was nearing closing time, they were closing at 11 PM.
When I played blackjack, it was the usual, lost some hands, won some hands, whatever.

But in the last round, before the table closed, I went double half-in on two seats.
Basically all-in, but split my chips in two, and placed them on two different seats (this is allowed in blackjack).

AND I WON WOOOOOOOOW.
My first hand I got 20, my second I got 19, and the dealer got 18, so I got double the amount of tokens I had before this round.
Sadly it was closing time. But I will be going back there next time.

AKIBA GUILD I AM COMING BACK SOON FOR MORE GAMBLING!

Then I got out of the gambling cafe, onto some erotic-themed cafes.

Day 6: November 25th - PART III - EROTIC CAFES

I wanted to go to a bunny girl cafe at first, where the girls are dressed as bunny girls, but I couldn't find it.
However, there was a succubus cafe at first, so I went there instead.

The girls were dressed as succubus, with demon horns, they were half naked ehehehehe.
So I spent an hour there. Eyeing the succubus boobs and butts, it was great ehehehehehehhhhdsuwhsidjoks.

There was some guy next to me, he was so lucky, one of the succubi took a pic of her posing and her butt facing towards the camera.
Lucky bastard, but I think he paid to get that picture.
I wanted a succubutt pic too 😔
BUT IT IS ETCHED IN MY MIND, ALL THE BUTTS.

Yadda yadda yadda, this store closed around 12 AM so I left around 11:45 PM...... BUT guess who forgot his phone in that cafe.

I was walking, entered a konbini, bought a bento (again) and the clerk told me to scan a QR code to get free items.
Tried pulling out my phone, noticed I'd forgot it in the succubus cafe.
That clerk saved my life, so I ran back there to get my phone back.

When I arrived there, the door was closed, but I could still hear the workers inside, I slammed on the door like a psycho a bunch of times.
Then someone opened the door and I explained that I'd forgot my smartphone on the counter.
Luckily it was still there.

But still, who forgets their phone in a succubus cafe ON THE DEPARTURE DAY????????
Me.

Day 7: November 26th - Departure day

10 AM: bought a suitcase to store souvenirs.
10 AM to 1:30 PM: roamed stores in Akihabara for my last shopping spree.
Got a bunch more souvenirs during that short time frame to stick in the suitcase.
I had to leave Akihabara at 1:30 PM at most, otherwise I might miss the plane...
1:27 PM: Went to Akihabara station and boarded the train to Ueno.
1:33 PM: Arrived at Ueno, went to buy Keisei Skyliner tickets to the airport
2:00 PM: Skyliner departed from Ueno to Narita Airport (成田国際空港).
2:45 PM: Arrived at airport, flight was at 4:55 PM, barely SAAAAAAAFE~

Bought some matcha castella at the airport though ehehehe.

Then the boring shit happened, lined up to get check-in on my flight, etc etc.
Only boring stuff, because it's time to return to boring France 😔

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

It was a fucking awesome experience despite the homeless moments, but in terms of souvenirs, it was quite disappointing, I didn't buy as much as I had expected! 😔

I WILL GO BACK THERE SOON, FOR A WHOLE MONTH, AND TAKE MY REVENGE!
JAPAN, I AM COMING BACK, GET READY, FOR THE MONSTER, FOR I HAVE UNLOCKED GEAR 5!
WAHAHA!

I'm ready to work my ass off to get the money, I'll work like a fucking slave.

November 2025: Japan