So, I was in Japan for about two weeks recently.  It was my first time since 2017, and my wife’s first time visiting since 2005.  Needless to say, we had a long list of things we wanted to do and finally narrowed it down to spending a week in Kyoto and then a week in Tokyo.  There’ll be more trips in future for other stuff.

I’ll probably have a bunch more posts to write about the trip in general, but I wanted to start off with a little side trip I made, almost entirely by chance.

See, about three days before the flight I was looking at a map of the east coast of Japan and realized that Numazu was basically between the two places we were planning to stay.  I’d always assumed that it was somewhere super rural or on Shikoku or somewhere, not literally  five minutes away from a Shinkansen stop, and this kinda blew my mind.

So, on a bright and sunny Monday morning, I boarded a Kodama Shinkansen bound for Mishima, which is the aforementioned stop, and set off at a couple hundred miles per hour towards the home of Aqours… and, critically, the home of the “Sun Sun Sunshine” Love Live! Sunshine!!-themed cafe, which I was bound and determined to see before it closes early next year.

And then we stopped, a couple of stations short of Mishima.  For a few hours.  Because there had been a fire on a hillside directly above the tracks, and train service was suspended until they could be sure that nothing was going to fall onto the tracks in front of a train going at ludicrous speed.  But I still made it to Numazu in time for …well, it was going to be lunch but we were stopped for so long that I finally gave up and hopped off the train and grabbed a mediocre ekiben and got back on the train.  So I wasn’t in the mood for actual food anymore, but surely they would have desserts?

It’s been several years since the peak of Love Live! Sunshine!! fandom, but Numazu is still pretty proud of their claim to fame, which presumably got a bit of a boost from the recent Yohane-themed spinoff show, and you will see plenty of school idols when walking around the station area.

They put the best girls in front.  And also Yoshiko.

The cafe itself is literally within view of the station exit.  I’m 50/50 on whether that’s to be more convenient for fans or to make it less likely that the fans will venture further into town and annoy the locals, but in any event it’s easy to find and has a super cheery exterior.

It’s a little run down inside, but at this point the anime IS several years old and the cafe itself is slated for teardown so that’s not too surprising.  The waiting area has a small sampling of merch and some decor.

You can’t buy any of the nesos.  Actually I didn’t see a single Love Live! neso for sale anywhere in my trips through anime stores.  Are they, like, super rare now or something?

It took a while for someone to come out and seat me, but eventually I was seated at a reasonably comfortable piece of lawn furniture and presented a menu and a long list of rules, which I will try to recite from memory.

In no particular order:  You cannot record video in the cafe.  You can take photographs, but you should not take photographs that include other patrons.  Since the place was damn near empty, that was not a tricky rule to obey.

You must spend at least Y500, which isn’t particularly difficult if you are ordering literally anything.  To receive one of the shop’s limited-edition coasters, you must order a drink.  You will receive a random coaster and cannot ask for a different one.   One drink, one random coaster.

You must finish your drink before ordering another.

They made sure I understood all of these.

The table is laminated because they don’t actually expect you to use the coasters.  In fact, when I ordered a “Ruby” (an extremely sweet cherry drink), they brought it out on a tray next to the upside-down coaster, put the drink down on the table, made a bit of a show of flipping over the coaster to expose the image side, and put it on the table on the opposite side of my body from the drink.  There was no risk of any liquid actually touching the coaster.

Oh, the coasters aren’t 100% random.  You can order a special dessert set to get a coaster featuring the (dog? wolf?) from the recent Yohane show.  I assume this coaster is not part of the random assortment.

For the record, I wanted sweets and I got sweet overload.  And a coaster.  For like Y1800, about 12 bucks thanks to the current exchange rate.

Oh, and the Ruby-themed drink I bought after finishing this scored me a Chika coaster.  That was Y700 and honestly more ice than drink, probably so the diehards slamming back drink after drink in their quest for a complete set don’t need to make TOO many bathroom stops.

I stopped myself at that point.  My policy with any sort of random merch is to buy ONE, be happy with what I get, and not keep going.

While enjoying my sugar, sugar, and more sugar, I got to listen to a video loop that seemed to consist of highlights from the Love Live! Sunshine!! anime, some advertisements for blu ray volumes that were released like seven years ago, and some interviews with the voice actresses/idols.  It was a pretty good time.

Then I took a few pictures of the interior and went for a walk in Numazu before hopping back on the train back to Tokyo.

I’m pretty sure the staff would have accommodated me if I’d asked to get a picture of myself with my face through the mikan, but dear lord a man must retain some pride.

I am more of a μ’s fan, but this was a good time and well worth the time it took for a little side trip, even if it included a few hours of unexpected sitting on stationary trains.