Had the day off, which meant a nice cobweb-clearing trip to Melbourne. It was a beautiful sunny day too. I’d been thinking about this for a while. I wanted to buy some onigiri and taiyaki (with Premium custard!) from that Japanese café in Melbourne Central. But I wasn’t sure if they have the taiyaki. Melbourne Library has recently finished its renovations, so I wanted to see that. I also wanted to go to the Wax Museum Records store, which I only recently discovered still exists. Used to love going there in Degraves subway below Flinders Station when I was doing my library course at Box Hill Institute. They had a great selection of Japanese albums. I also planned to visit Heartland Records past the Victoria Market. I always come away with something from there. Anyway, that was the plan…
So I bought some onigiri at that Japanese cafe in Melbourne Central (they didn’t have taiyaki, damn). Also bought one of those Sailor Moon soft drinks at the Asian supermarket there (remember that display?). I got the Rae one. It was strawberry. They had a Usagi one, but it was something called pomato, which didn’t appeal. I wanted an Ami, Sailor Mercury one, which I’m assuming would’ve been blueberry (for her blue hair). But they didn’t have it. I then made the trek to Heartland Records near North Melbourne…but it was closed. Damn again!
So I went to the North Melbourne Library nearby. Borrowed JG Ballard’s The Drought and bought a book called We Sold Our Souls – a heavy metal-themed story (can’t resist them). Went to the upstairs non-fiction section and had a look around. It’s a nice library. Started reading The Drought while waiting for the tram. North Melbourne is just a sleepy strip of wide road with old buildings and up-market shops and, seemingly, a lot of homeless guys. I’d read The Drought a long time ago, but stupidly got rid of my copy after that. Stupid because I’ve wanted to read it again ever since I read the previous one he wrote, The Drowned World. Ballard is amazing. It’s nice to get a hold of that book again. Now I’m older I think I can give it the critical reading it deserves. I remember it ended with the main character not even noticing that rain was finally falling, such was his blasted state of mind. Ballad is amazing, but also difficult!
Then I went to Happy Town, the K-pop store off Bourke Street and bought some Twice cards. Had a hazelnut iced coffee while there and drank it in the idol café, looking at videos of boy bands and the cute photo booth they have there. Then went to Toku Exchange on Bourke and bought another Love Live mini nendroid. Had one of my onigiri and the softdrink for lunch in the sunshine on Swanston Street and opened my nendroid box. I got the Nico one – my favourite! Nico ni! It’s so cute. It comes with detachable pigtails. Then I went 
to Minotaur nearby and bought Vol 3 of Maison Ikkoku manga and Vol 4 of Mao manga. I’ve decided I will buy these Rumiko Takahashi mangas, if they have the issues I’m looking for. Also bought The Essential Anime Guide. There was also a similar book, The Essential Manga Guide, but I let that go (was sorely tempted though). You could say I went nuts!
I also discovered a new anime store near Dymocks, the One Stop Anime store above it. I was feeling about all spent out looking over all the desirable figurines and was about to leave when I spied something very interesting – and it was the very last thing my eyes fell upon. It was a mini nendroid of Towa from Yashahime. I had to get it! I’ve never seen Yashahime-themed figurines before. They also had Setsuna and Moroha, but I decided not to push my budget (I’ll get ‘em next time). I asked the man at the counter how long his shop had been there and he said about four months. He gave me his card. Checked Dymocks below but didn’t buy anything.
Then I went to the Melbourne Library to check out the renovations. It was disappointing. They’ve taken out or weeded a lot of their books for more study space, that’s the main change. In fact, I’d say they’ve gutted the collection. I tried to find my favourite Rough Guide to Anime book, which I’d borrowed numerous times, and it was gone, not even in the catalogue. The manga collection on the mezzanine is a pale shadow of its former self, as is the dvd and cd collection. It’s mainly a space for study and where they keep most of the fiction. Boy, it was sad. My poor memories!
Then I went to Wax Museum Records store located in an underground entrance off Flinders Street nearby. Actually it seems to be in the same place as it was before, just the entrance has changed. I was hoping they’d have some sweet city pop records, or at least some YMO, but they had bugger-all Japanese records. Double bugger. It’s still a pretty cool store and location, and there’s a pretty cool cafe space next door, complete with bar and pool table. Must check it out some time when it’s going.
I read more of The Drought on the train home, and that was the day in Melbourne. I was thinking it had been a pop culture drought, but that’s not entirely true. Cleared some cobwebs, but there were so many disappointments. And they didn’t end there. I had a look at the Twice cards I bought when I got home, and it turned out I already have most of them. The problem was, I hadn’t photographed them for my reference collection and so I forgot I had them. Damn! The only card I didn’t have was this Tzuyu card, which is at least something. Let it stand as a final memory of this special day. Tzu!
