Finding ESP in Shibuya

I took the Tokyo Monorail from Haneda Airport to Hamamatsucho Station and then jumped on the Yamanote Line. Just like old times. Headed to a place I had not been to since 2008. Buildings looked the same but what is with all of the anime style signs? It's not just here but in other places which are starting to look like Akihabara.

At least the big screens were still there at the Shibuya Scramble. I like taking a photo to see what image I caught. Good luck? I could use that.

It's not easy to take photos while trying to walk through the Shibuya crossing with all these people. But the results are fun.

The new Ghost Busters movie was coming out in Japan and lots of advertisements for it. I tried to get a decent photo of the ad playing on the MODI building. Not happening but the building looks cool.

While I would have liked to visit a few places in Shibuya, the hot humid weather made it difficult. I was trying to not over do it (even though I know I did). There was one specific place I really wanted to see. I was glad I found it without any problems too.

The ESP Craft House. Famous guitar makers, they create instruments for many musicians all over the world.

The upper floor is a museum and I wanted to check out the Takamizawa guitars. They are very imaginative and unusual. I thought had missed it since I went on a day after the dates on the advert.

I wandered around admiring the guitars. Like this beautiful Sugizo Eclipse Brilliant guitar. ESP has both new and used guitars for sale.

I wanted to get something and a guitar was kind out of my budget. I was looking through the guitar picks and found a couple related to Sugizo and Luna Sea. I gamely asked the shop clerk if they had Moi dix Mois picks. Then I said Mana and she lit up. Not only did she get me a guitar pick but then asked if I had seen his guitar. She led me upstairs to the museum.

Not only did they have one of Mana's jeune fille custom guitars but next to it was one of Közi あかうずくん Akazu-kun guitars. Since they don't allow photos in the museum I am borrowing one of their photos. The guitars are hung on the wall inside cases.

I could not find a photo of Mana's guitar but it's the same as this one he used in the video for "La dix croix".

So after much fun looking at all the guitars including the Takamizawa exhibit (amazing instruments) I headed back to Shibuya Station.

Stopped to get a couple photos of Hachikō along with many tourists. Popular dog.

Old rail car being used at Shibuya City Tourist Booth.

In case anyone is wondering if there is anything going on in Tokyo about the future Olympics, yes there is. Not just signs and shops but on television a lot. Of course the Rio Olympics were happening while I was in Tokyo so there was almost non-stop coverage.

That was my short visit to Shibuya. If you are into music and visiting Tokyo I recommend stopping in at ESP Craft House. Besides having a lot of historic guitars in their museum they also have special exhibits. They are located at 1 Chome-20-16 Jinnan, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0041, Japan, just a couple blocks from Tower Records.