Yes there were many strange things we encountered while trooping through Tokyo, and the odd signs were just the beginning.  Products and services that I had never imagined – and even still am baffled by.  Akihabara, ground zero for otaku – “super nerd” culture, oriented around manga and video games – definitely hit a climax. I wish so much I had seen someone sporting an Obama mask, screaming “yes we can,” standing next to someone in the mask on the right…Obama was heavily supported in Japan, and we found the paraphernalia to prove it!

Not all of the bizarre products we found were PG-rated though, and the girls in cute maid costumes handing out tissues on the sidewalk were just the beginning.

I honestly have no clue what to say about this one…a little doll is climbing out of this underwear.  I mean, I guess it would be a nice little pocket to hang out in…but it doesn’t make me want to buy the underwear.

And, a crowning jewel…

One of the upper floors of the Akihabara Don Quijote (like a wacky walgreens) is devoted to all things erotic and sexual.  This was one of the sex costumes…I’m not exactly sure it would be legal to sell this in the United States.  Role-playing as a “cutie” high school girl…there were some random and predictable others, but this one really took the prize.

Unfortunately, some of my other pictures have since disappeared, including one of some wafers that increased breast size, male underwear with an elephants truck protruding from the crotch, and a life-like replica of a Japanese celebrity’s hand…positioned quite suggestively…intended for women…the diagrams were so strange.

Akihabara was a bizarre place, full of video games and anime.  We never made it to a maid cafe, but when we return to Tokyo with money, we’ll have to check one out.