Tokyo, Japan – Anime eyes with pastel outlines stare down from outsized billboards.
More red light than we're comfortable with.
Rings, dings and heavy drumbeats rise from basement arcades housing cartoonish stuffed animals in glass cases. Electronic claws dangle ominously overhead.
We’ve come expecting ornate swirls of neon set against the darkness, but the streets of Akihabara Electric Town are desolate.
Loose papers cartwheel like modern-day tumbleweeds.
Sidewalks of the shopping district known for anime, manga, video games and electronics are instead lined by young women in short skirts and sailor outfits. Apparently, the area is also known for its maid cafés and hostess clubs.
While most of it is apparently innocent cosplay, it doesn’t take us long to see the Lolita fashion as an irreconcilable difference in culture.
For our group of middle-aged men, it’s Game Over.
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