Biggest surprise was how much Anime stuff was in akihabara and Tokyo as a whole. People seemed to drill it into my head that Anime was just as weird in Japan as it was in America and I could really only find stuff in a few certain place because it was niche there too. Nope, it was absolutely the opposite. Practically any store I blindly went into in akihabara was an Anime store, whether if it was a tiny hole in the wall or a giant 5 story mall. Even all over Tokyo there were character shops and Anime billboards. It was so much, and I was told such the opposite that I sort of felt like it was some weird conspiracy to hid Japan's lame secret.

Biggest disappointment is definitely how late shops open and how early they close. The first time I went I'd wake up at 5am or 6am, ready to go and see some sights for an hour then eat a breakfast, then visit some store or museum or something I heard about. But then find out nothing at all is open before 11am or noon, except Dennys and American fast food places, and then by 8pm most of the shops close. I'm definitely used to the 10am to 10pm life with plenty of breakfast spots.