Akihabara & Honyaku Konnyaku

I wanted to post a some of pictures of the area where I work everyday.

Akihabara is the electronics center of the world. All of the latest stuff you can find here. This area is also a great place for the Electrical Engineer and home surveillance buff.

There have been other aspects of Akihabara that are interesting it is also a great place to pick up the latest anime. My office, in the UDX Building, also houses the Tokyo Anime Center. In the one picture you see Doraemon on the left (The blue little one). Doraemon is really popular with the kids. The story is that he is a robot from the future that can pull out a number of tools from his pouch on his belly. My favorite tool of his is the "Honyaku Konyaku". Honyaku is translation and Konyaku is a kind of tasteless gel like substance. When Doraemon eats this Honyaku Konnyaku he can understand whatever anyone is saying to him no matter what language they are speaking.

Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

In Japanese cuisine, konnyaku appears in dishes such as oden. It is typically mottled grey, and firmer in consistency than most gelatin. It has very little taste; the common variety tastes vaguely like seaweed. It is valued more for its texture than flavor.

Japanese konnyaku jelly is made by mixing konnyaku flour with water and limewater. Hijiki is often added for the characteristic dark color and flavor. Without additives for color, konnyaku is pale white. It is then boiled and cooled to solidify. Konnyaku made in noodle form is called shirataki (see shirataki noodles), and used in foods such as sukiyaki and gyudon.

Also in Akihabara there has been many "Maid Cafes" popping up around the office. You will typically see girls dressed as French Maids waiting at the station entrance to give you a flyer or a pack of tissues touting their Cafe. I have not been to one of these places but have heard many a tale of adventure from others who have ventured into these places. Apparently they greet you as you come into the Cafe saying "Goshuujin sama Okaerinasai!". Which means, "Welcome home master!"

If you order the Omelet Rice they will sit with you at the table and write your name in ketchup or if your food is too hot they will actually blow on it for you before you bite into it. I'm thinking about going but to tell the truth, I am afraid of what will happen to my world after I leave the Maid Cafe. Will I expect my wife to do the same? When I passed the shop in the picture here with the maid uniforms, I actually had to think, "Hmm, What if my wife wore that?".