Day 287, Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan
Akihabara, or Akiba for short, once went by the name Akihabara Electric Town. Post WWII it was the go to location for electronics, and franky, it still is. But in addition to electronics, it’s also the go to locale for anime, manga, and video games. Friends of Cali are big anime fans, so we went to Akiba to find some souvenirs for them. This would have been impossible had my cousin and his wife not agreed to help us track down these specific small anime figures, in a sea of not only stores, but floors and floors of anime related items. Never seen anything like it!
This fella wasn’t an anime figure, but rather encouraging people to give blood. 
Here are the building sized billboards you will see in Akiba.
After trying a few stores, thanks to my cousin’s guidance, we ended up getting the little anime figures here.
We took a short but very tasty cream puff break. My mom used to make these, so when I saw the cream puff stand, we had to try them.
That sugar bump gave us the energy to tackle the bookstore skyscraper that was at least seven stories high. Floor five was all anime, all the time. My cousin helped us track down the three series we were looking for. 
After that we had tea at the Renoir Cafe. Cali ordered hot chocolate with came with extra cream on the side in the tiniest little cream pitcher I’ve ever seen. 
We walked by an electronics store the size of an arena. There was a lone cherry blossom tree in full bloom, just to remind you of the sakura season. 
After our successful shopping outing, we went back to our apartment, since this is our last day in Tokyo. My cousin and his wife gave us parting presents, which was very kind! We said good-bye and hope they will come to visit us.