Yes! Time for more Japan Pics!

The next day we took great tours of Kyoto and Nara, both old capitals of Japan. Tokyo was very modern so it was nice that we got to see more traditional buildings around town.

The countryside was beautiful.

At a stop some kids saw us and were so excited to see foreigners that they stopped and started waving at people on the bus. Like I said, Japan is full of nice and friendly people.

Getting closer to the temple.

On the way there we saw a very old gate. The tour guide said this is the oldest gate in Japan. It was made somewhere around 700 AD.

The entrance to Todaji temple was near a deer park and they let the deer roam around everywhere. There is a legend that when one of the deities came down at this place to help the people of Japan, he arrived riding a magical deer. When he returned to the spirit world he left the deer. The Japanese believed that these deer are actually descents of that very deer, and they can be found roaming freely around the park. It’s actually illegal to hurt any of these deer because of this.

You can buy cookies and feed them to the deer and if you do, be prepared. You will be quickly stormed and attacked. The deer will swarm you and bite until you have no choice but to drop the cookies and run. My wife learned this first hand.

Insanely massive wooden carved statue at the entrance gate. There is one at each end. This one represents the omega or the end.

Todaiji temple. The roof weighs over 2,000 tons.

Inside the temple is a HUGE Buddha. The second biggest statue in the world, just behind the even huger Jesus statue in South America. You can fit 47 people standing up just in the palm of his hand. Crazy.

The Buddha statue is surrounded by tall carved statues that guard Buddha from evil spirits.

Inside they had a model replica of the temple.

This hole is the size of one nostril on the Buddha statue. They say that if you can fit through it, then you were blessed to go to heaven. Guess if your an adult your screwed.

Later that day we went to the stone lantern park.

The park was made up of thousands of stone lanterns. Only a few nights a year do they light them all. Imagine all these centuries old lanterns lit up at once. Something to behold.

After the walk through the park you enter a Shinto Shrine.

Where they still have Shrine Maidens!

After another day in Kyoto we headed back to Tokyo. First day back we went to hippest place in Japan. Harajuku!

This was the place for shopping and fashion in Japan.

Even cooler at night. More crowded too.

Speaking of crowded, next we went to Shibuya, a district in Tokyo containing the busiest intersection in the world. The Shibuya 109 building has been in countless anime and games such as Death Note and the World Ends With You.

Still don’t believe me it’s the busiest? It pretty much looked like that at every light.

Shibuya had a club Sega!

And another Ultraman Ad! Holy crap I love this country!

Shibuya looked a lot like times square, but bigger, taller, and tons of cool and creative ads. That’s typically how shops are in Japan. One store might be on the 3F, but a completely different on the 6TH.

More big bright buildings in Shibuya. At this particular intersection they played video game music during your crosswalk. I think I heard Mario Bros. and Mega Man.

Sadly this ends part 2 of the tour of Japan.

Next time Tokyo Tower and Akihabara, the otaku mecca paradise for people who love anime, music, figures, and video games. Also see the king of monsters himself, Godzilla! You can’t miss it!

]]> http://2dteleidoscope.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/a-personal-note-6-observations-of-den-den-town/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:40:38 +0000 2DT http://2dteleidoscope.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/a-personal-note-6-observations-of-den-den-town/

I’m back.  Sorry to keep you waiting.

Last weekend, I’d originally planned to visit Akihabara with a friend.  It’s kind of like Mecca; everybody ought to do it at least once, right?  But things happened and I had to cancel at the last minute, so I asked my friend if he couldn’t meet me around Osaka instead.  It worked out for the best, because we spent a lovely rainy day in Osaka’s own anime and electronics hub, Nippombashi, a.k.a. Den Den Town.

The official map, courtesy the Osaka prefectural website.

I was impressed with the variety.  You’d think that once you’ve seen one shop, you’ve seen them all.  But this was not so:

*Animate had a kind of a crowded, homey feel to it.  One floor was dedicated to manga, another to anime goods, and the top to CDs/DVDs.  I was shocked to see a lot of very attractive, fashionable people shopping around.  The back wall of each floor had some hetero H and Boys Love.

*Melonbooks only had two floors, but it felt gargantuan.  Everything was exceedingly well-lit, organized and nicely displayed, and again, everyone looked good.  More than half of it was doujinshi.  The amount of porn was breathtaking.  All of the Boys Love was segregated to a large inner store on the second floor.

*Mandarake (in Umeda, but we went on the same day) felt like a cave: Rough walls, a T-Rex skeleton, and endless shelves of vintage books and toys.  The organization was workmanlike, and people there looked just a bit more like what one would expect of otaku.  But only a bit—not a bandana or fanny pack in sight.

There were many other places: Several maid cafes, a museum selling Tony Taka and Nishimata Aoi’s art for several thousand dollars apiece (!), heaps of dodgy electronics stores.  Even a Touhou vending machine.

If you're looking for it, it's outside of Jungle, close to Nippombashi station.

People in the area were surprisingly well-informed.  One nice girl at Animate knew the names and faces of Touhou characters, and a maid at one of the cafés we visited was a fan of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. I’m sure many of them are trained to have a working knowledge of popular shows, much like a supermarket employee is trained to know where to find your favorite brand of potato chips.

But as hard as it is to wrap my head around, it’s also quite possible that these are just normal young people who love anime. Clearly, the gender line is already changing with the increasing presence of BL, so why not other stereotypes as well?  I used to be suspicious of Nakagawa Shoko, the supposed born-and-bred otaku idol… But really, given time and the law of averages, why wouldn’t she appear?  Den Den Town seems to have plenty of her kind.

berikut ini tempat-tempat yang sangat terkenal dan ramai dikunjungi oleh orang-orang Jepang bahkan orang asing

1. Akihabara
Akihabara merupakan salah satu kota di jepang yang memiliki toko-toko elektronik terbanyak dan terbesar. Akihabara pun sangat terkenal di Jepang bahkan seluruh dunia telah mengenal Akihabara sebagai kota elektronik terbesar dan terlengkap….(! ,^so tau gw y…)

Akihabara sebenarnya terletak di tengah metropolitan Tokyo, tepatnya di Distrik Chiyoda (bagi yang pengen kesana bilang aja ke alamat situ). Orang Jepang biasa menyebut kota tersebut dengan singkatan “Akiba”. Kalau pengen nyari barang-barang elektronik terbaru dan terbesar bisa nyari aja di Yodobashi-Akiba, Laox dan Softmap. Di sana juga terdapat banyak penggemar anime yang berseliweran di jalan ( mereka sering disebut otaku ) yang memakai dandanan persis seperti idolanya dalam anime. Di sana banyak aksesoris dan kostum anime maka tak salah kota tersebut juga sering disebut kotanya anime.

2. Ikebukuro
Lha ini dia kota yang sama seperti Akihibara, kota surganya para penggemar anime dan manga. Banyak sekali toko-toko di sana menjual banyak pernak-pernik yang berbau anime dan manga (kartun-kartun jepang gitu…). Di Ikebukuro ini terdapat toko anime terbesar mungkin di seluruh Jepang yakni Animate. Walaupun Animate memiliki banyak cabang di Jepang tapi Animate di Ikebukuro inilah pusatnya dan yang paling besar. Di Animate dijual mulai dari komik, artbook, DVD, VCD, CD, figurine sampai merchandise unik dapat kalian temukan disini.

3. Shibuya
Shibuya merupakan salah satu kawasan yang terletak di kota Tokyo yang banyak didatangi dan dikunjungi masyarakat Jepang bahkan kota ini juga banyak dikunjungi oleh warga asing yang sedang pergi ke Jepang. Shibuya dikenal sebagai kotanya anak muda, karena kota ini sangat digemari dan digandrungi oleh anak-anak muda, karena kota ini dipenuhi dengan bermacam-macam departemen store dan pertokoan, berbagai macam hiburan ada di kota ini, banyak tempat makan yang serba ada dari yang murah sampai yang mahal. Kota Shibuya pun menjadi pusat keluarnya model-model busana dan keluarnya trend-trend baru, maka tidak salah anak-anak muda suka jalan-jalan di kota ini. Dan jika kalian kesana jangan heran saat melihat banyaknya orang-orang yang menunggu dan menyebrang di lampu merah ( banyaknya minta ampun sampai terheran-heran saya lho(belum pernah kesana sih….^, ^!).

Kota tersebut siaga 24 jam karna tak perah sepi.

3. Shinjuku
Shinjuku merupakan salah satu nama kota yang sangat terkenal di Tokyo. Shinjuku merupakan simbol kota metropolitan di Jepang yang sangat ramai di datangi oleh masyarakat Jepang dari berbagai golongan, baik tua muda ataupun kalangan orang kaya sampai gembel ada di sini. Shinjuku sama dengan Shibuya yaitu kota yang selama 24 jam selalu siaga 1 tidak pernah sepi dan mati aktivitasnya. Di waktu pagi hari kota shinjuku ini terkenal dengan dunia shopingnya, karena semua barang yang di inginkan tersedia di sini, dan toko yang ada di Shinjuku ini sangat banyak, jadi kita bisa jalan keluar masuk toko sampe kaki kalian kejang kejang atau bengkek… ledes (wkwkwkwk)….Dan yang seru juga dunia malamnya dengan lampu kota metropolitan yang cantik, dan dunia hiburan yang menarik untuk party time setiap waktu. Shinjuku ini tidak bedanya dengan kota Shibuya, yang membedakaan adalah Shibuya kotanya anak muda sedangkan Shinjuku kota semua golongan dari anak anak sampai kakek-kakek dan nenek-nenek pun mejeng di sana. Shinjuku pusat kota terpadat di Tokyo bahkan kota teramai di Jepang.

4. Nakano Broadway
Nakano Broadway berada tepatnya di pusat kota Nakano. Nakano Broadway merupakan gedung besar yang terdiri dari beberapa lantai. Di dalamnya terdapat toko-toko yang menjual berbagai barang hobi, mulai dari manga, anime, figurine, idol merchandise, military, hingga maid cafe. Nakano Broadway sendiri sering dikenal sebagai ‘gedung otaku’ karena merupakan pusat toko Mandarake di wilayah Tokyo. Mandarake adalah toko yang menjual berbagai macam barang otaku, dari mulai doujinshi, baju cosplay, manga bekas, balljointed doll, hingga mainan yang langka. Selain Mandarake, ada pula toko-toko kecil yang menjual game, figurine, dll. Walaupun disebut gedung otaku, tidak seluruh toko yang ada di sini berhubungan dengan otaku. Di sini kamu juga bisa mencari baju, perhiasan, sepatu, hingga ke tempat kursus nail art! Bahkan kalau kamu merasa lapar setelah seharian ngider, silakan singgah di lantai BF dari Nakano Broadway. Di sini terdapat supermarket yang menjual barang dengan harga lebih murah ketimbang toko 24 jam atau convinience store (orang Jepang menyebutnya ‘konbini’). Juga ada toko cemilan dan es krim yang sangat memikat hati. Nah, silakan mampir!

Udah dulu ya lain kali gw sambung …

Tonight is my 2nd-last night in Japan. I’m not really sure what to say to this besides “wow.” Not “wow, already,” because the act of returning to Tokyo made it clear to me in advance that the trip was almost over. Also not “wow, finally,” because apart from the odd disappointing destination, things have been pretty good. Anyway, the last two days.

Yesterday I went to Akihabara Electric Town, aptly nicknamed nerdvana by someone I know online. In my last post, I said “I’m under budget, so maybe I can catch up by buying geeky things.” Akihabara had no problem supplying me with enough geeky things, but I restrained myself and didn’t buy some things I saw, for reasons of “I’ll never use/wear this.” If my PS2 could play NTSC-J games, believe me I would have bought the International versions of several Square Enix games. And God Hand. When I get back I’ll probably just buy the NTSC-U/C version.

Also in Akihabara, I found English instructions for the Gundam game I previously mentioned, Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senjō no Kizuna. I forked out some money and played a few rounds, it’s crazy fun 4v4 action in the original Gundam setting. Virtual On’s got nothing on this. I dominated my first couple newbie matches but once I got to players closer to my level I started losing hard. I seem to have always had the high score on my team though. How about that?

I never found any Mega Man figures, but I did get a Mega Man Zero 3 strategy guide, which is written with furigana, so I think I’ll try to translate it in my spare time, develop my language skills. I’ve always learned best by doing. The furigana is important, as trying to decipher kanji I’ve never seen before would be an exercise in inefficiency at best.

On the way back from Akihabara, I stopped at a noodle place within Suidōbashi station for dinner, it was yummy and as often I burned my tongue by trying to eat too fast.

Today I went to check out the Sony building. It wasn’t open when I arrived at Ginza station, so I wandered towards Hibiya Park and the Imperial Palace grounds. Since the Imperial Family resides there, very little of it was accessible to the public but what I saw was all very well kept and pretty. Across the street was a park full of fountains that put on various shows of water, it was nice to sit and watch the waterworks for a while.

Finally I made my way back to the Sony building after a brief arcade stop. It was basically a several floor showroom of Sony products, not really worth the time for me to go since I had no plans to bring a new TV, camera, or PSP back to Canada with me.

So, off to Tokyo Tower. At the base of the tower is a four level building with shops, restaurants, and entertainment. The tower itself has two observatories, both with different and interesting views. It was pretty busy though, and hyperactive kids abounded. Still good times.

For lunch/dinner I had pizza and for dessert, a cool waffle/ice cream combo. Check it out in the photos, it was delicious. I would have gotten another crepe (there was a crepe place nearby) but that waffle bowl just looked too good not to try.

Tomorrow’s my last sightseeing day. What to do?

Saturday 21st November (Melbourne: 22:55 // Tokyo: 20:55)
Music: Don’t Say “Lazy” – Scandal cover.
Location: Oura-machi Kanazawa-shi Ishikawa-ken.

Oh my freaking god – day four and I’m still writing about day two… when will I catch up so I can stop complaining!? ><

Anyway, the rest of this day, I will try to summarise – very briefly and with no diversions. THAT WAY IT’LL BE DONE AND WE CAN GET ONTO MORE IMPORTANT THINGAS LIKE HARAJUKU AND HOST FAMILIES YEAH? @@

The rest of Akihabara time was spent looking for Super Potato, failing quite a number of time (please don’t say that you are surprised), but still finding it at the end. Super Potato was interesting. It had old consoles – things like the DreamCaster and Sega (kya~) – and quite a number of old games that are not sold anymore. In fact apparently some of the games cannot be found anywhere else because they are so old. But I wouldn’t know. I don’t understand these things too much.

Some stuff that were in Super Potato.　Probably pretty cool and worth quite something.

I didn’t (or rather, couldn’t) buy much there because I lack any Nintendos, Segas and PS Ones. Dammit, I want to Play Final Fantasy! WANT WANT WANT. Leon unfortunately got screwed over here. Because each level has its own register, when we left to visit a higher floor, he left two games he wanted to buy in the display. When we came back later, the one game he really wanted was gone, and he could not find the second one because he could not remember what it was and had intended to use the first game as a bookmark.

After Super Potato we left for the Station. It was here that I decided to but the most delicious mochi I have ever had. <3

So I know where to get the mochi I want. Now I just need to buy a box of loose green tea leaves. *dreamland*

(On a side note, Microsoft Word which I am using because I cannot access the nets, autocorrects “mochi” to “mocha”. Shame on you! SHAME ON YOU, MS. Well, I do love mocha as well… still… SHAME ON YOU.)

We went to Tokyo Station because that was where it’s hip to get tickets for night busses apparently. I won’t go into details about how we screwed up on our way to look for the tickets – I am sure that by now you can imagine what happened. It follows quite a pattern. We never learn it seems.

We ended up going into a travel agency at the station like 10 minutes before closing time. Somehow, we managed to communicate to the lady behind the counter we were looking for a bus to Kanazawa. This was the second major achievement of the day, and gee, it made our Japanese seem legit. Unfortunately, all the busses leaving the next night were “ippai”. Looking at ones that ran from a different station as well we got told it was “ippai”.

In the end, we got a night train – about ¥2000 more expensive but that is okay. Nothing can beat our accidental waste of money at the Ramen Shop from today and also, the Locker one on the next.

After getting our tickets, I realised had no cash left. So the only logical course of action was to go to an ATM and withdraw it, correct? And Commonwealth said that my Travel Money card should work was a credit card and ATM card overseas.

I TRIED AND TRIED. IT DID NOT WORK. Q_Q

CARD GOT REJECTED. I TRIED AGAIN.

SAME RESULT.

And so then, I panicked. Worried. Fretted. RAGED. Wanted to rip my hair out (but of course didn’t because that is just painful and disgusting).

After running around for some time – I had forgotten what happened during that time because if all the panic from above – we found one ATM which was of a different company to the fail one’s.

I will now recommend this bank to anyone who wants to open a Japanese bank account. Just give me a couple of weeks to memorise the name first. Patience my dear Watson.

After this we went back to the hostel to put the purchases away and went to look for dinner.

Somehow, I think we were looking for Denny’s but then ended up walking past a station or two to get to Tokyo Dome.

HOLY SHIT, IS THAT A SHIP? <3"

And wow, Tokyo Dome was amazing. It was an amazing Christmas display of lights and patterns and sparkly stuff. I would love to come back here again one day for Christmas and actually enjoy time here properly. The lights were so very beautiful~ <3

There was one store that had a display of white hippos sitting outside at a table, wearing Christmas hats and “eating dinner”. SUCH A COOL DISPLAY. This is the awesomeness of Tokyo’s efforts in window displays.

And well, that was pretty much all for Day 2. It was the night I stayed up until about 3 – meaning about 5am on my laptop. Yeap, I still have not changed the time – and I do not intend to.

Now, oyasumi~ *chu*

I’m still behind, but at least Akihabara is finished. *dies*

My host mother makes breakfast at 7:30. We all eat together. And despite my relationship with early mornings, I think I have no complaints really. Her food is good. It’s traditional Japanese. I think it’ll be worth it.

Friday 20th November (Melbourne+ 10:26 // Tokyo: 8:26)
Music: SS501 – Because I`m Stupid
Location: KaraNET 24 internet cafe and karaoke

I wonder if they are actually good earphones...

I`ve totally forgotten what I wanted to write about Akihabara… I`ve just been to Harajuku abd Shibuya and I’ve forgotten it all. Q_Q

Or maybe this specific song is a little too distracting. The guy does the best　”No-woahhhh” here, haha. <3

I woke up around 9 and had planned on meeting Leon aout at the lobby area about 9:30… I was late. NOT THAT I’M EVER REALLY ON TIME, BUT YEAH. One thing I don’t think the trip will change is my inability to concentrate, organise myself and be on time. Which is a shame really, but hey, at least I’m learning some Japanese, right?

Anyway, we wandered aroubd Jimbocho trying to find a place to have breakfast – it was decent enough for dinner, but as a place for breakfast, it was not that idea. This area is known for it:s stores if used books and AH MY GOD, there werse some amazing buildings for books there! There was one store and ur was like two storeys tall, only it was only one floor and from floor to roof, the place was covered in books! From the outside, you could see into it all clearly – the front walls were windows and there were twio pillars holding the building up. It was a grand entrance. It was amazing! In the past couple of days, I’ve seen that Tokyo shops really do put so much into their displays – so very aesthetically pleasing and so very squeal worthy.

Becuase of that, I’ve taken so many spam photos. And I’m not sure if it’s becuase I’m in Japan everything else seenms amazing or if all of it is genuinely amazing.

My legs are killing me. All that walking we did today and yesterday… NO WONDER JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE SO FIT. They have to walk everywhere! I think the logic here is that if you need to get to the next station, it does bit take much longer to walk there through a road than it will taking the subway.

Was it Japan that made everything amazing!?

But then again, it might be so. I bought a melon pan for ¥105 at a supermarket today, and it was the most exciting thing for me ever! However, do note this melon pan thing – was on day three. Saying this, I am clearly getting off track. WHY AM I SO EASILY DISTRACTED… :I

We arrived at Akihabara Station relatively easy – and by this time, we had decided to combine breakfast and lunch together into one meal. It seems than when we fail at Japanese on our adventures, it happens at crucial moments. Or rather, the person on the receiving end of our failure expects something from us, but we do not know what or how to say. This morning, we walked by another fantastic machine waitress kind of thing. I WANTED GYOZA AND RICE. And hey, it said ¥150… I thought it was a very good price.

But when we went in, we were told by and actual waitress that we had to order ramen… why we needed to, we could not figure out. We went outside to have a look though and being the clueless foreigners we are, went back in after deciding that we could not figure out what the lady had meant. Eventually, after much struggle and some exasperation from the waitress, she came outside and pointed to some buttons on the top row. Giant buttons. Buttons which were apparently compulsory… oh shit.

After some struggling, we failed to convey to the waitress our desire to eat only the Gyoza and Rice and handed her the tickets we got and ran off. Not only did we make a fool of ourselves, I’m pretty sure the she was not happy with our departure (or anything else for that matter) at all.

After some more walking we ended up going to McDonalds where I had my first taste of the Teriyaki Burger. I’m not sure what the meat was – looks like beef, small chance it might have been pork, but oh well, it does not matter – but the sauce was damn trippy and yummy at the same time. I ordered an unrecognisable drink. Which I have forgotten the name of. ._. It was… how to say… sort of a sweet drink. A pale white in colour and well, not quite a strong sweet taste but sort of tang mixed in sweetness.

If I remember correctly, right after getting out of the station at Akihabara we had our first and only splurge. Walking by a street stall, I found there was a display of electronic dictionaries. I had planned on getting one in Kanazawa as Tomoda-sensei had put on the schedule that we would be given an information session on purchasing electronic dictionaries. Unfortunately (…kay, fine. To be honest, it was not really all that unfortunate), the guy there was a damn good salesman. Plus he spoke to us in Japanese and didn’t just switch to English because we spoke the language terribly. Admittedly, the guy did not really know how to speak English, but still – it very much appreciated. We felt so much less inept! ^^

He showed us how to work the kanji, explaining it to us all in Japanese. We spoke rudimentary Japanese to him in response and got it tax free as well. A saving of about ¥4000 I think. The only thing is, I realised there was a problem. Am I considered to be an exchange student if the program I am participating in is not an exchange with another university? I don’t know how to answer this question.

留学生ですか。留学生じゃないですか。まだ分かりません。

Walking through Akihabara, we came by numerous vending machines that held cans of coffee with Neon Genesis Evangelion characters on them. Being a great fan fo the series, Leon bought one. It was a cold, windy, rainy day and he pressed the button for the cold can even though there was a button for a hot one. This is did not notice until afterwards. Later in the day, he had another go at buying another can to collect. This time he did choose the hot one… but he screwed up again by choosing the can with the exact same character on it.

Somewhere throughout the day, we went into Yodobashi Akiba. A huge, huge 8 floored store of electronic goods. The first floor was <3. It had laptops, computers, tablets and phones. DoCoMo phones! Ultra thin tablets! Ultra thin laptops! Computer screens that were like 50 billion inches! Oh that floor was just amazing fun. So much on display, and so much to play around with.

This giant display phone here actually worked as a phone. All the buttons, all the functions - it was on there the buttons, all the functions - it was on there and very, very accessable.

I... wonder if they actually know what this could mean. xD

I used those tablet things for the second time in my life today.

I THINK I SORT OF UNDERSTAND HOW THEY WORK NOW. The harder you press, the thicker you line will be. There were also some very sensitive tablets which if you hovered the pen tip a little away from the board, it’s move along with it like a mouse. Or maybe that is the case with all tablets and I just noticed it on the really big, expensive looking ones.

But they were so cool! I see the appeal for them now!

I had fun writing “gaijin” everywhere on random tablets. They know who’s been here now, heheheheh~ :3

On one of the levels of Yodobashi, there were two aisles for Gashapon! Most of it was not worth spending the couple of humdred yen for, but still, TWO AISLES OF GASHAPON IS VERY COOL. Or well, amazing to the eyes at least.

After growing tired of Yodobashi, we walked around trying to find Super Potato. Funny story that – Super Potato is in the Electric City part of Akihabara, we spent the majority of the day wandering around shops that were NOT in that section. That was our destination and we got distracted for a good 3 to four hours at other shops. One of those shops for Shoten Books, which we visited on my insistence. It had around 8 levels as well!

What I find interesting in Tokyo is that many large stores have numerous levels and what you buy on one level, you must pay for on that same one. It’s the same as stores like Myers here I guess, but still… if the store is like 8 floors, that means there are 8 registers… for this store alone. Actually, thinking about it again, it’s not that abnormal. Stores like Target and Big W have about 8 registers for their stores as well. What is strange about this I think is that only certain items can be bought at certain registers.

They had one floor for manga – WANT… TO… BUY… SO… MUCH! @@

Freaking Kimi ni Todoke~ <33

ASFHDAIDHSFBNKDANK. <3

What I ended up buying was the collection of short stories not written by the mangaka herself. This collection was featured in the Margaret issues that Shiina Karuho was away from because of her newborn baby.

However, there were some new original sketches there by the mangaka – one of which was Yano-chin in her younger years… She had short hair and looked like a tomboy then! BUT SHE IS STILL SO CUTE~ I love Yano. Such an awesome character, haha.

One of the more amusing books encountered at Shoten was the one called, “Naze, Watashi wa Ningenkata Robotto wo Tsukuru no ka?” – “Why do I make Robots in the Form of Humans?”

Very uh, specific. Very uhm, obscure. It’s obviously… a problem that requires a self help book to be written on it.

I think there will be guys who are disappointed that we did not in fact go into a Maid Café. But in all honesty, there were so many maids in the Electric City district handing out fliers that I was put off. I usually have a high tolerance of things… but these maids – so much service and their voices – quite a few of them were either high pitched, nasally or both. I don’t think I could sit in a café and hear all those sounds around me. Not unless, I was rather convinced that I’d get something interesting from this. I see these Maids were made to cater to a certain demographic. One which does not, unfortunately, include me. Shame, really. I was looking forward to it so much as well.

What was more unfortunate was that there were no Butlers handing out fliers on the streets. That makes finding them so much harder. I was curious as to whether these butlers are sickeningly sweet or uber cool and efficient, or like those hosts at Host Clubs. But oh well.

There never was enough time in Tokyo in the first place. Booboo.

What was cool about some traffic lights in Tokyo was that there was a countdown bar – so when the Red man flashed, the bar would be full. Over time, the nimber of bars lighted up would decrease… and you knew how much time you had left until you could cross. It makes an impatient person even more impatient. :3

And while I am sure there was more done in Akihabara after the book store, I’ve just realised – the complied posts for this trip is over 4500 words. I don’t even write essays this long. And here I was wondering why it took so long to get all the days typed up.

Right now I am on day 3. I started this post at the net café in Shibuya and am finishing it on the train to Kanazawa. I have a feeling that I’ll just keep on falling behind with the records… which is a shame becuase the longer it takes, the more I will forget. Q_Q

To finish off, I think I miss Melbourne. You know, despite hearing all the news about impromptu hurricanes and what not. I loved Tokyo – and this expensive city is amazing… but still. Something. I don’t know. Why am I saying this? Well, I went on MSN tonight at a rather decent hour – considering the time I usually go on it like midnight here, hence around 2 in the morning at Melbourne – and well, 10 CONVERSATIONS AT ONE TIME. I cannot type that fast… I mean, it was good. But like, I should not be missing people now. Gyah. How do I cope in the next 10 weeks then?

I think I should get some sleep. Looks like this day will be getting a part iii. FFFFFFFF still on day two, in Kanazawa. Gyah. I’ll have to make these shorter.

1:21am – Oyasumi~

So, Yesterday, on Friday, We planned to head out to an Izakaya around 7. However, Sebastian and I had some business to do in Tokyo, so He and I took off at around 1:30, and arrived in Akiba at around 2. I wanted to buy a new TV and a Xbox360. Both used, cause I didn’t want to spend too much money. On the way there, I wrote a letter to the woman who’s name I received from Mateusz about the Job opening. Shortly thereafter, she called me, but in Japan you’re not allowed (well, supposed to) talk on the phone on the train, so I told her I’d have to call her back later. We arrived in Tokyo and shopped around for a bit, before I found a Used 360 with DVD remote, Wireless controller, Headset and HDD for 12000￥ Not bad, that’s about 100 bucks US. My brother paid maybe 3 or 4 times that much for all his 360 stuff.

We got back to campus at around 7, which is right when everyone was meeting to head out, so we quickly headed to the dorms, grabbed a quick shower, then headed back to meet at the campus Lawson. We headed to Dorakichi, the Izakaya we always go to with Kei, Take, and two of their friends, Nanami and Mari. I called Lee Jiyoung and she came a bit later as well. When we were done with the Izakaya a few hours later, we all were going to head to Karaoke, so we headed back to campus to get our bikes. On the way, the Japanese said they were too tired and went home, but we really wanted Karaoke, so we went anyways. Lee Jiyoung called Jang EunHye and she came with us as well. We all got our bikes ready and then Lee and Jang asked where the Karaoke was. We told them it was my Kita-Urawa station, which is about half an hour bike ride. Jang said she can’t even ride her bike to Minami-Yono station, which is about half the distance. So she rode on the back my my bike instead. Lee said she thought she could make the ride, so she rode her own bike. The only problem is, theres one big hill on the way, that I have trouble with, as my bike is not a speed bike and pulling my 100 kilos (220 lb) up the hill is hard enough, but to add another 45ish Kilos (100 lb) to the back of my bike really weighed me down. None the less, I made it to Kita-Urawa, but we walked up the hill instead =D. Right as we arrived, two cops came up to me and said, “You know, it’s dangerous to ride with someone on the back of your bike” and got ready to write me a ticket. Great, just what I need, to get in more trouble. However, the other cop was like, “Dude, they’re foreigners, let the be.” then asked us what we were doing in Japan, what we were studying and let us go.

Whew.

So then we went to the Karaoke, which was 370 yen for 30 minutes or 1200 yen per person from 12 to 5am. We chose the 5 am package (even though it was already like 1am). We went inside and got our room. We began singing like fools (my voice almost died) but had a great time. The Korean girls were obviously singing in Korean, However, as it is a Japanese Karaoke, they had the katakana furigana above the Hangul, so Alessio and I tried our best to sing along as well. To stray from the topic a bit, but to explain something coming later, we have this joke about German/Swedish, because one time we heard the Sweedes talking in their native language and we were talking about how all the words sound really manly and one of the words we heard them use was Stol, pronounced “Shtoool.” when we asked them what that really awesome word meant, they were like, “uh.. Chair…” which is about as not-manly of a word you can come up with. So now whenever the swedes or the germans, which share the same word, are speaking to each other in their language, everyone interjects “SHHHTTTOOOOOOL” and good times are had.

Anyway, to digress, the Koreans are singing, Alessio and I are trying to sing along, and it comes to near the end of the song, and the lyrics, which we can read the phonetics of, say SHTOOL SHTOOL SHTOOL. Seriously, like about 45 times. We lost it, we were rolling on the ground laughing for the better part of twenty minutes. When I think back, I still break out into laughter.

At 5, we packed up and headed home, the cops were gone, so Jang jumped back onto the back of my bike and I rode home. I decided I would cook breakfast for everyone when we got home as well. Sebastian and Harrison went home, and I just made eggs for the rest. I dunno if it was good, they said it was, I’m still not a confident cook though. Everyone was really tired though, so they all returned home shortly there after and I crashed pretty quickly after my exhausting bike ride.

Thursday 19th November (Melbourne Time: 1:58 // Tokyo time: 23:58)
Music: Lia – Doll
Location: Sakura Hotel, outside the elevator that keeps mysteriously opening… though no one is there.

Today was Akihabara. It was SUCH good day~! <3

Cutest keyrings and plushies in Akihabara. Remind me to buy some before I leave. (!!)

EXPENDITURES:
One Common One-Day Ticket for Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway ¥1000
One SHARP Papyrus electronic dictionary ¥18 800
One umbrella ¥105
One scarf ¥105
One Rilakkuma rolled penny ¥100
One fail attempt at breakfast (Gyoza and Rice) ¥150
One Teriyaki McBurger Set – fries and Qoo-M ¥490
One ELECOM card reader ¥1380
Two Gashapon ¥300
One Kimi ni Todoke: Collection of Original Short Stories ~Ashita ni Nareba~ ¥648
One Mochi Cream Green Tea ¥189
One Mochi Cream Caramel Macchiato ¥189
One Mochi Cream Chocolate ¥157
One Twister Set – fries and Melon Soda ¥560
One Train from Ueno to Kanazawa ¥9750
Multiple fails: Priceless

Total amount spent today: ¥33 923

Electronic dictionary + Train Ueno -> Kanazawa: ¥28 550 (study)
Subway ticket + card reader: ¥2380 (needed)
Teriyaki + Twister: ¥1050 (meals)
Others: ¥2993 (self-explanatory)

Good night~ :3

เคยคิดไหมคะว่า วันนึงคอมพิวเตอร์มันจะกลายเป็นส่วนที่ขาดไม่ได้ของชีวิตคนเรา?

ซีจำได้ว่า ตอนเด็กๆเรียนคอมพิวเตอร์ที่โรงเรียน สมัยนั้นโน้ตบุ้คยังไม่แพร่หลายเลยค่ะ โน้ตบุ้คหนักจะตายจะแบกไปไหน? แล้วพิมพ์โน้ตบุ้คแล้วจะได้อะไร? แต่ปัจจุบันนี้ เราไปที่ไหนก็เห็นคนใช้โน้ตบุ้ค ทำงาน สื่อสาร หาความรู้ ความบันเทิง ฯลฯ

แต่นี่มันอะไรกันนี่ เดินไปด้วยพิมพ์โน้ตบุ้คไปด้วย ขี่จักรยานไปด้วยเขียนโปรแกรมคอมพิวเตอร์ไปด้วย โอ้โหไม่อยากเชื่อเลย โน้ตบุ้คกลายเป็นอวัยวะส่วนนึงที่สำคัญของคนเหล่านี้ไปซะแล้ว

รายการทีวีที่ซีเอามาให้ดูวันนี้ถ่ายทำที่ อากิฮาบาร่า เมืองอิเลคโทรนิคของ โตเกียวประเทศญี่ปุ่นค่ะ เล่าถึงพฤติกรรมของคนที่ใช้คอมพิวเตอร์กลางแ้จ้งค่ะ

ผู้ชายเสื้อสีส้มคนนี้บอกว่า เค้ากำลังทำเว็บเซอร์วิส”เล่นๆ”

เค้ายังบอกอีกว่า ท่าพิมพ์คอมกลางแจ้งท่านี้ เป็นท่าที่นิยมมากที่สุดค่ะ ซีไม่ขอออกความเห็นอะไรทั้งนั้น

ผู้ชายเสื้อสีดำบอกว่า เดี๋ยวนี้ใครๆก็ใช้เนตสื่อสารกันทั้งนั้น ขนาดว่าออกมาเดินเที่ยวกัน จะคุยก็ยังไม่สนุกเท่าพิมพ์คอมคุยกัน เลยเปลี่ยนจากสนทนาเป็นพิมพ์แทน ส่วนผู้ชาย(ผู้หญิง?)คนที่ใส่แว่นดำบอกว่า ฮั้นเสียงแปร่งๆไม่เพราะเลยต้องสื่อสารด้วยแป้นพิมพ์แทน

วีดีโอก็จบลงครึ่งๆกลางๆยังงั้นเลยค่ะ มองในแง่ดีมันก็เป็นการใช้เวลาให้กับสิ่งที่เราชอบอ่ะนะคะ แต่ถ้ามองอีกแง่นึง พวกเค้ากำลังบกพร่องกับการมีส่วนร่วมในสังคมที่ไม่ใช่โลกออนไลน์ หรือเปล่าเอ่ย?

via : Danny Choo’s

Nakano Broadway sells nothing useful. Like Akihabara, its east Tokyo rival, it sells large quantities of bizarre manga and anime spin-off novelty items. Unlike Akihabara, which at least manages to sell some useful things, (TVs, cameras, computers, etc) in Nakano its all useless. Much of the bin fodder they peddle isn’t even related to manga or anime. Yet still, every weekend its packed with people emptying their wallets. It makes for a fascinating afternoon wander.

Huge manga collection is a big draw for locals

Just a 5 minute ride from Shinjuku station, the first place to head for in Nakano is Mandarake. Its a huge store which spreads its tentacles along 3 of the 4 floors of the Nakano Broadway complex. It boasts stocks of over 100,000 products. Basically, Mandarake sells anything they can get away with sticking a price label on.

The sheer variety of utter crap on sale is breath-taking. Small scale plastic model airport meals sell for 1000 yen (about 7 pounds). You can pay 20,000 yen for a fading picture card of a long retired sumo wrestler you’ve never heard of. And if you’re a fan of 5 inch high plastic models of purple haired unfeasibly large breasted girls wearing intergalactic high school uniforms you’ll be in heaven.

You don’t have to be an otaku, an obsessive geek, or be particularly knowledgeable about manga or anime to enjoy Nakano Broadway. As I found out, there is enough fun to be had just looking at what other people spend their money on.

In one store, amongst the jigsaws, cosplay outfits and anime figurines, I saw a bit of 20,000 yen software on sale that you use to translate your dogs barks into Japanese speech. It’s a ridiculous technology and I don’t even own or like dogs, yet I thought about buying it. Such is the danger of these trash shops. In the end, I was happy to escape that particular store only 2,000 yen lighter after buying a miniature Lego Japanese Tree Frog.

The highlight of my afternoon came as I was leaving: a huge collection of ornate 50 yen fake food erasers. Overcome by their fragile charms I was tempted to buy the whole lot. It was only the thought that I never actually use a pencil, let alone an eraser, that restricted me to just buying the green tea and tuna sushi models. They are the perfect souvenirs of an extraordinary place.

Fake food eraser lover's paradise

Today certainly was uneventful; if you disregard everything that actually happened.
Yeah, that was a most wickedly constructed sentence, was it not? First I lulled you into a false idea of today being uneventful then I suddenly and violently shattered this fixation by coercing upon you an antonymous statement… And all of this in only one sentence… Overwhelming!

I probably mentioned that this superserious test is coming up tomorrow and don’t bother keeping your fingers crossed since I want to clear this by my own ability and not by some supernatural bogus.

Anyway, today I was to Aki- “Electric Town” -Habara together with Carl.
Today was also a display of how bloody great it can be to have a telephone. This since we were THIS close (see picture) of missing each other. It was only due to my incredible keenness and attentiveness that I managed to spot Carl among the hoard of Japanese.
After this first minor calamity the rest of our visit went on with unmatched coolness.

Ate at the some kind of Japanese fast food place called “Sukiya”. Which serves curry and beef and noodles and whatnot. I had a Mega Beef Rice Bowl or sumthing like that. Great stuff undeniably.

That was topped off by a crepe just as Japanese custom holds. Had one with Strawberry and Vanilla Ice-cream, Strawberries, Chocolate sauce and Cream. Might’ve been a bit too much… as usual here in Japan.

Furthermore I must give credit to a few Japanese guys I encountered today. The first one was a railway worker at Akihabara Station. Sure, he was not more friendly than the rest of the staff, but he struck my dumb by being able to speak a fully understandable English! Kudos to him!

The second credit goes to the guy working at some aptly named place or other in Akihabara. The thing was that Carl’s camera was slightly scratched or something, nonetheless this amiable Japanese guy certainly replaced his camera post-haste. Very cordial indeed.

I have mentioned the maids giving out leaflets at passerbys, here’s a shot of them. Unfortunately I could not get a photo of myself with one, since that’s not allowed… All the same;

There, in the bottom left corner, how I laughed the first time.

We caught a last fleeting glance of Akihabara as we turned around heading towards the station.

Oh and by the way, long live the Arcades!

ttfn folks!

Japan has the very best public transport system I have ever used. Its clean, safe and more important on time and punctual. That said, there was one small thing that kept tripping me up, embarrassingly at first! The railways are operated by different companies and if you want to travel from say Tokyo station to Chidori-cho, you have to take a train from Tokyo, change at Gotanda then another to Chidori, simple and easy.

Well not exactly. When you change in the UK you tend to run to the next platform and that’s that, your ticket is valid from where you start to your destination. When changing lines in Japan, you have to pass through another barrier, then buy another ticket for the next leg of your journey. This confused the hell out of me and my traveling companion, we set off alarms and had men in uniforms rush around more times than I could mention due to our stupidity, it took us about 3 days to figure it all out and approach the barriers with some confidence.

Being the innovative bunch that the Japanese are, they have come up with Pasmo a prepaid electronic card that does away with all the fare calculation and barrier worry! Simply put, you buy the card (for 500yen, but its returned if you return the card) from a station vending machine (of course) load it with some money and away you go. Swipe it at the start of you journey as you enter the barrier, then swipe it as you leave at your destination. The fare is calculated and the amount debited from the card.

The UK has something similar in the Oyster card, but Pasmo takes things a step further. You can use your Pasmo card to buy goods from vending machines and some department stores. Additionally it can be used in places like museums to gain admission

There are other cards available, Suica for example is interchangable with Pasmo, this means you can use your Pasmo or Suica card at any one of the outlets or stations that you see the signs. *Suica has a special offer running for visitors using the Narita Express (N’EX) from Narita airport, you buy a card for 3,500 yen and your train fare is an amazing 1,500 yen leaving you 1,500 yen to spend when you hit Tokyo (500 yen is taken as deposit for the card, returnable if you return it) The only real difference is the area that you can use the card, I got the following information for where you can use the cards from japan-guide.com “Suica can also be used in place of Icoca on JR trains in the Osaka, Okayama and Hiroshima regions, in place of Toica on JR trains in the Nagoya and Shizuoka regions, and in place of Kitaca on JR trains in the Sapporo region. PASMO, however, is limited to the Greater Tokyo area”

The final hard bit of traveling in Tokyo has been solved by some clever electronics and some lateral thinking, being able to use the card for other things is a stroke of brilliance, but this is Japan so we expect nothing less.

Otaku.

*This entry was taken from my other Blog, 8k From Tokyo, I am going to write here instead, yeah I’m lazy…

*This offer was valid at the time I wrote this, check with JR first!

Not umpc but…
Phone stickers are huge in japan. Never really felt the need personally and also never really got with the US craze of stickering up their laptops either. But i saw this makie sticker and thought it would suit my macbook pro. What do you think?

On the sixth day of the ninth month, myself and H. made our way deep into Tokyo, to Waseta, home to one of Japan’s most prestigious universities. One of H.’s old schoolfriends gave us a tour of the campus, and it was very impressive indeed. A fascinating mix of old and new, with a most delightful street of shops for the students. Also, I noticed that the omnipresent Japanese vending-machines in the Waseta area stocked an unusually high amount of Dr. Pepper. Said drink being my favourite beverage, I was naturally delighted. Apparently, the drink is so rare in Tokyo that looking out for it is like some sort of minor sport. Everytime we spotted a can, we would shout, “O! DOKUTA PEPPA!” in an extremely inflected Japanese accent. If Tokyo had won the 2016 Olympic bid, who knows, we may have seen an international “Dr. Pepper Hunting” event. I digress majorly.

The nectar of the gods.

After our tour of Waseta, the three of us travelled to Omotesando, the Japanese equivalent of Paris’ Champs-Elysées; as the comparison suggests, every shop there catered for the mega-rich. Being penniless students, we could only stand and stare wide-eyed at glamourous Japanese heiresses pick out Gucci handbags worth a small African nation. We traipsed on from the marble-pillared shops of millionaires to Aoyama for a brief glimpse of a Buddhist temple, the first one I had seen on my tour. It had been beautifully constructed, but unfortunately, it was shut (or at least, so it appeared). Our next stop was another of Tokyo’s little curiosities…

The temple in the Aoyama district.

Any self-proclaimed Japanophile will have heard of Harajuku. Hell, even Gwen Stefani sings about it. Harajuku is famous for its ‘cosplayers’, those wacky young teenagers who dress up as their favourite anime or video-game characters and parade about a small plaza every Sunday morning, posing, singing and performing. I’m positive the more reserved Tokyo-ite (Tokyon? Man of Tokyo? Tokyopolitan?) gives the place a wide berth, but it positively teems with tourists cramming to take pictures of men dressed in demon costumes and girls in ridiculously skimpy tutus. There was a surprisingly old chap dressed up as some sort of crippled rapper who walked around in circles beat-boxing, pausing every few seconds to hack up his lungs and occasionally answer his phone. ‘Disturbing’ would have perhaps been the most appropriate adjective.

Harajuku cosplayers.

The beat-boxer. Locking up your children is advised.

We must have arrived on a particularly conservative Sunday, as there weren’t many about, but I do encourage anyone reading this to Google Image ‘Harajuku cosplay’ and see what I mean. My photos don’t really do the best ones any justice.

The following day, the original trio was reunited, plus another of H.’s schoolfriends, a self-confessed otaku (geek). Fitting, then, that we were to make our way into my version of Heaven on Earth, the embodiment of man’s technological might – Akihabara. I consider myself a geek. I’d just like to get that off my chest. Any readers who will never return because of this announcement, know that I still love you, despite your decision. I love games. I’ve been playing them since I was 4 years old; I blame my Granddad for that, plus, all the other indirect consequences, such as lessened respect, inability to play sports with any real prowess and controller-related arthritis that will probably hit me when I’m 30. Apart from the video-games aspect of my geekery comes married a love for all things fantastical and obscure. Who’s that elf in The Lord of the Rings? Legolas, son of Thranduil, you petty mortal. Where does that minor alien species in Star Wars come from? Byss, you imbecile!

Akihabara is known as ‘Electric Town’ – any gadget you care to name exists there, and is for sale at (usually) an extremely fair price. Blu-ray player? Sure. Talking washing-machine? Probably. Any DVD that has ever been made ever!? Assuredly. Simply being there – in its aura – nearly turned this godless heathen religious.

Oh yes.

Apart from an undeniable love for flat-screen televisions, netbooks and cutesy game characters, one thing the Japanese seem to have virtually no scruples about is porn. There is lots of it. We’re not talking EE-cup, stiletto heels, peroxide blonde porn, either. Comic book porn or hentai (literally meaning ‘pervert’ or ‘perversion’ in the lingo) is the standard fare. One particularly massive comic store we visited had seven floors, five of which – I kid you not – were dedicated to all sorts of erotica. I mean,  there’s having a good time, and there’s going too far. Regardless, I’m sure Kleenex makes a killing in Japan.

There was plenty more where that came from.

Undoubtedly, the best part of our visit to Akihabara was the ‘maid cafe’. If I had been 15 years of age on my visit to Tokyo, it would have been akin to non-physical sex. The males that stumble upon this post will no doubt share my enthusiasm. And who wouldn’t? What honest, virile man would turn down the opportunity to have drinks poured for him by a beautiful Japanese waitress, dressed in a ridiculously suggestive French-maid outfit? Despite feeling a little sleazy for having gone (and with three other men), it was a fun experience. Of course, there was nothing remotely sexual about it. There were families there (though this, to me, defeats the purpose) and even getting a damn photo with the girls cost the upwards of €5, so unfortunately, I have none to share.

Ordering a drink was a double-edged sword, really. On the one had, we got to ogle an attractive Japanese woman and feel less predatory, whilst on the other, we were made to meow (yes, meow) to indicate when we wanted her to stop pouring out the milk for our iced-coffees. As I’ve said before, the Japanese just take it in their stride. H.’s friend meowed complete with appropriate gesturing, whilst myself and D. mumbled a half-hearted ‘meuh…’ and trailed off into silence. We all felt rather special, until we saw the same maid repeat the process with an equally as enamoured table of young adults. With hearts momentarily broken, we asked for the bill and were given custom plastic membership cards. Unfortunately, the maid misheard my name rather tragically, and so forevermore I will be ‘Duck-sama’, upon a hypothetical second visit. Should I return for the 2000th time, I shall be in receipt of a Black Card, with, as the pamphlet said, ‘unknown’ privileges. No prizes, ladies and gentlemen, no prizes.

More Akihabara cityscape.

And so, Akihabara came to a close. I reluctantly left the beeping gizmos behind, but I was about to experience something slightly more profound: traditional Japan.

]]> http://iangelial.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/tokyo-park-2095-pq-akihabara-2102-comic-caption-contest-3-others/ Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:33:58 +0000 iangelial http://iangelial.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/tokyo-park-2095-pq-akihabara-2102-comic-caption-contest-3-others/ http://espadakiller.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/japan-trip-day-2/ Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:44:16 +0000 Shawn http://espadakiller.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/japan-trip-day-2/

Went to Shibuya in the afternoon and Akihabara in the night.

And wasted the day at Shibuya actually, cause 90% of the clothes are all women’s wear, there’s hardly any men’s wear there. -_-

Still, bought quite a few things in Akihabara though!

Chio bu means pretty girls btw

Pictures after the break

Look at this number plate, lol

Shibuya!

Famous Shibuya scramble crossing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_scramble)

Chio Bu ad plastered over a buidling

Smoking Corner

Chio bu spotted! Didn't managed to get take a shot at her face though (but she's really pretty) =(

Another Chio bu spotted! Smoking~

Nice glasses and clothes

Nice hair

Shop for making Bling Bling with Hello Kitty

Full of huge buildings

Shibuya 109 Building. This whole god damn entire building (9 floors) are filled with girls clothings! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/109_%28department_store%29)

A closer shot at Bayonetta's huge ad

Shop selling full of guitars

And guess what? The whole building sells guitars as well. HOLY SHIT

Shops that are in small little paths of Shibuya are the best actually. Too bad most of the stuffs I'm not interested in~

Another huge ass shopping mall, a nice one that is

Went to Pokemon centre next, this is the entrance...to a Pokemon Shop, won't really consider it a "centre"

HoHo and Lugia. Can't take any pictures in the shop cause it's not allowed, and there's not many people so i can't secretly take them =/

Back to Akihabara, maid cafe spotted

Looks like "Melty Cure <3" is the name of the Maid Cafe

Testing out my tripod

Beautiful!

My dad looking at something, maybe pretty girls

Me and my Dad in Akihabara. We have been there! Here's the proof! XD

:O

Chio bu spotted again!

Making her hair...

"Please take this brochure, thank you". They actually do say something when handling out brochures, unlike Singaporeans, just keep their mouth shut -_-

Another cosplayer spotted handling out flyers

Smoking corner with many many vending machines

This girl is actually really cute, too bad i can't take a picture of her! >=((

Last picture of you before i go.... =((

And back to hotel. Bought a audio-technica "ATH-CKS70" solid bass headphones, a Oppai mousepad set, One Piece T-shirt, a figma figure, Pikachu softoy and some Pokemon stuffs to eat

And…that’s it for Day 2 pictures!

Tomorrow’s update will be a short one, only went to Ginza (Like Singapore’s Ochard Road, all branded goods are sold there) and Akihabara (at night to buy my stuffs) so only took a few buildings of Ginza. But not only those ordinary buildings. Buildings like Sony Building, Apple flapship Store, Tiffany and Co. store (whole building) and many many more famous fashion label buildings

Yo guys! Finally I’m back from the land of many many chio bu (pretty girls) !

Took a bunch of pictures, so i am gonna split them in 5 parts, which are 5 days

Pictures will do the talking from here on! ^^

View the pictures after the break

At Changi Terminal 3 Airport

Checking the check-in gate number

Some of the many many shops in T3

The A380 is amazing, big and comfortable. Even the LCD monitor in the economy class is big. And they even have Korean songs too!

Salmon for breakfast, yum yum

My father's breakfast, pancake

Reached Narita Airport, then proceed to take train to Tokyo Station

That's the normal train and we're not taking that cause it's much slower than the one we're gonna take

"There is a restroom On the upstairs near elevator"

And yes, finally our train has arrived. It's the express train (NEX) and it's much more expensive of course

Passing by a outdoor train station like the ones i saw in animes

Railway tracks ftw

Left our luggage at the hotel first (3pm then can check in) and saw this crowd of people standing here, guess what is it?

It's cause of Dragon Quest IX! Everyday gamers and otakus will gather outside the Yodobashi-Akiba building and team up with some random person that's there as well, and complete quests. Just like Monster Hunter. Interesting eh? XD

Yodobashi-Akiba Building. 9 stories and 7 stories are 95% electronic stuffs. I was SHOCKED at the amount of stuffs they had. I took some pictures secretly (Not supposed to) though

Look at the number of model kits @_@ (My father in the busy texting somebody)

Games floor, the whole god damn floor sells games and figures @_@

Xbox 360 section. There's many many Xbox 360 advertisments plastered everywhere in this building, but still the Japanese hates Microsoft. Well most Asians still support both PlayStation and Nintendo more anyway

PlayStation 3 games and peripherals

Bunch of PS2 controllers

Final Fantasy XIII!

A closer look at Lightning

PSP and PSP go section

More advertisting for FFXIII. Almost every game shops has FFXIII posters or some FFXIII related stuffs advertising in their shops

I want that boxart...=((

Nintendo DS section (there's a much bigger section at the left side)

Pokemon Pokemon. All are sample boxes only though

Biggest PSP i had ever seen

And that’s about the pictures i took in this building, off to the next batch of pictures~

Saw 2 pretty girls but didn't have the chance to take a shot, only managed to get a picture of their backs. And the guy that's walking infront of them, his clothes are really nice. The fashion sense in Japan is just amazing, Singapore are like crap compared to them @_@

My Dad

And me!

So many bicycles~

Parking is not free! Costs 100 yen

And the machine to pay. It states "100 yen for 24 hours"

McPork! McPorkkkkkkkkk! 100 yen!

Huge Xbox 360 Left 4 Dead 2 advertisment at the stress of Akihabara Electric Town

Love the buildings here, it's my dream to come to Akihabara's Electric Town and i am really happy ^^

This shop is really very cramp, many shops in Japan are cramp and you will have to squeeze. Sells porn at the back of the shop as well

NTT Docomo Shop (Similar to Singtel, biggest phone carrier and service in Japan)

Club Sega

The backstreets of Akihabara Electric Town (Chio bu spotted)

Let's have a closer look...

Another cute girl <3

GAME Trito Station. Saw lots of UFO catchers and pachinko machines inside~

Even this shop has the FFXIII trailer (look at the LCD screen at the bottom)

Big ass building. Didn't managed to go inside, wonder what's inside.

Cute girl handling out Maid Cafe brochures

Looks like a Otaku went and asked the cute girl for more info about this Maid Cafe

Full of tasty foods!

Back to the hotel room

Me standing there. Look at the hotel room, it's really small! And expensive too. Hotels in Akihabara are so god damn expensive. Many thanks to Junshen for finding and helping me to book this hotel though!

Bought these stuffs today. BoA's Bump Bump! Single, pivix 2009 collection book, OTACOOL book (featuring worldwide Otaku rooms via Danny Choo) and a PSP go pouch. Little stuffs i bought today, i know. But it will keep increasing for the next few days....

Octopus Ball! REALLY VERY NICE OMG

Watched a drama in the hotel and ALL tv channels are in HD 16:9 format. Singapore only 2 channels has HD and not all of the shows are in HD. Pffff

This girl is funny haha

YOSH! That’s all for Day 1! Damn these uploads + posting took me roughly 1 and a half hour. Gosh >_>

Look forward for tomorrow’s update for Day 2! ^^

Thanks to a great Japan eco-blog Kurashi, I learned about an Akihabara maids organization called Licolita that is involved in public environmental activities: including summer-time uchimizukko (splashing water on the sidewalk to lower ambient temperature), blessing bicycles at a shrine, and now growing and harvesting rice in rooftop pots. It is cool that this group is so focused on otakus (manga and anime fans) and raising their awareness and interest in urban ecology and agriculture.

I made my second trip to Akihabara today, as I’m fortunate enough to have no classes on a Friday, and it will be my last trip there for a while because I spent an awful lot of money today!

I have photos this time, but only of the outside of buildings, as Japanese shops tend to forbid the taking of photos inside. It’s a shame because the hobby stores in Akihabara are really a sight to see and photos might even be good advertising for them, but it seems to be standard practice here.

My first port of call was Animate, the famous anime, manga and character goods chain store in Japan. I didn’t pick up much in there this time as I was saving my money for other things, but I did pick myself up a pad of Deleter comic paper. It’s rather handy as it has its own ruler around the edges, and is marked out with guidelines suited to standard B5 doujinshi size. The manga circle at my university puts out a couple of different doujin anthologies, and I hope that I’ll be participating in that during my stay in Japan. I helped put together the finished pages for their latest release yesterday evening, which had a seasonal theme of Halloween (and also R-18, and it did have some pretty ecchi parts in the end).

Toranoana is also pretty famous. Most of the floors are dedicated towards doujin software, but they also sell figures, manga DVDs and other otaku goods. I ordered Figma Reimu from their website.

I didn’t visit Gamers this time, although I did go there last time, but they’re worth a visit as one of the major otaku shops in Akihabara. As you can see, they had a lovely pair of giant posters up advertising the release of Bakemonogatari and Kara No Kyoukai DVDs.

It wasn’t as crowded as my first trip, which was on a Saturday, but there were still lots of people around as you’d expect in an inner district of Tokyo. There were lots of gaijin, Japanese shoppers and of course the ever-present salarymen in their suits.

The colourful exterior of Radio Kaikan, probably one of the most distinctive buildings in Akihabara. This building is a large shopping complex, home to many stores including a massive, multi-floor Kotobukiya shop with all of the latest figures, an Azone shop where I bought my Azone Ryougi last time I visited, a Kaiyodo showroom with cases containing future releases, and currently releases available to buy, various smaller hobby stores (many with much better prices than the larger and official stores), a huge book shop, trading card shops and of course, the Volks Akihabara Showroom.

I took my time looking around the building, as there was plenty to look at. Kaiyodo had their upcoming Sengoku Basara Revoltechs display, which I took a good look at as I ordered them a few weeks ago. They’re due out on November 15th, and they looked great. The faces aren’t perfect, but the outfits looked fantastic – so detailed, and they showed them in a variety of poses that looked very nice. I’m quite excited about receiving mine in a week or so.

And of course, I made my way into Volks, with a very specific purpose in mind. I spent some time looking around their hobby goods first – lots of kits and some gorgeous PVC figures, but very expensive as always from Volks. Even the kits were expensive – they had one of their lovely Kagamine Len sculpt, but it was over 10,000 yen. They also had Gift’s newly released Kaito plushie, which was very tempting but I resisted.

The doll section was pretty large. Volks do not only all the different Dollfie lines, they also do numerous smaller dolls, fashion doll sized and smaller. Of course, it was their larger pieces that caught my eye. I had a good look at the Dollfie Dream girls on display. The DD line is lovely and the dolls are really cute, but I prefer their resin dolls and I’ve been interested in them for years.

They had plenty of Super Dollfies – their resin dolls – on display as well. There were plenty of their standard line, and of course various custom dolls built thorough the Full Choice System. They also had a number of unique and limited dolls, but on display rather than to buy of course. It’s really worth visiting for anyone curious about Dollfies (although perhaps not if you value your wallet) because there’s really no substitute for looking at them in person – photographs can only capture so much of their charm, especially the professional shots released by Volks which are a little too perfect. As well as selling dolls they also sold plenty of extras for existing doll owners – hands, feet, wigs, eyes, and of course various outfits, although their clothing range was pretty limited.

Eventually after spending a while looking around, I plucked up the courage to go over to the desk and get down to business – ordering myself a doll. Although it cost an awful lot of money, and was probably quite an ambitious choice, I went for their Full Choice System to get myself an SD13 boy. For those not familiar with it, the FCS is a service Volks offers for their resin dolls which allows you to choose from a wide range of different parts (many of which are exclusive to FCS) to build a doll of your choosing. They offer it for SD and SD13, and also for their Mini Super Dollfie line. I decided that since dolls are expensive anyway, and I wouldn’t be able to afford another for a while whatever I chose, that I would go with FCS to get one that I’m truly satisfied with rather than going for something cheaper and being less attached to it. In addition, FCS is only available at their Japanese stores and also their L.A. branch, and requires a shipping address in the same country as the shop, so studying abroad here provided a great opportunity to take advantage of their special service.

My Japanese speaking is pretty wobbly, so at first it was difficult to communicate and I probably said some weird and nonsensical things, but once I got into things it was okay, although I had to look a few things up in my dictionary. The hardest part was talking about the face-up, and in the end the easiest way to do it was to use their book of styles and point out different aspects from different dolls to get the feeling I wanted. Hopefully it should turn out okay. Technically I can send it back once if I’m not happy with the face-up, but I really don’t want to do that. I daresay my standards are probably lower than an experienced Dollfie collector anyway though, so with any luck there shouldn’t be a problem. I’m getting a stand with him, and the Japanese-style welcoming outfit which has just been added to the Volks Sumika stores (previously it was limited to the Sato main store in Kyoto).

All I have to show from my visit to Volks aside from a receipt with a price so high I don’t even want to look at it, is my Volks member card, which I got free when I bought the doll. He won’t be arriving until January, as there’s a two month wait for FCS dolls in Japan if you want their face-up done, so I’m going to be waiting a while yet before I have something to show for my very expensive day. I don’t regret spending so much money because I’ve wanted a ball-jointed resin doll since my mid-teens, but it’s probably the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought in my life, so it’s left me feeling a mixture of shock and embarrassment. Of course, it will all be worthwhile when I get my doll, but if I don’t have to hand over so much money again for a long time I will be very happy indeed.

I did make one other little purchase, though. A long-wanted figure that I found very cheaply in a neat little hobby shop. I wandered in on a whim, and it was definitely worth my time! They had a large range of limited and hard-to-find figures for really excellent prices, and had I not come to buy a Dollfie I probably would have arrived back in Tsukuba with an awful lot of figures. I was rather torn between Yoko and Figma Saber Lily, who I found for around 6,400 yen (figure only, I think – not the game) and was very, very tempted by. In the end I went with Yoko, and while it would have been nice to have Saber my wallet feels a lot happier. Nendoroid Yoko is pretty hard to come by in Akihabara, and she normally costs 3,500 yen when you can find her, but I chanced upon her for only 2,380 yen, so it didn’t take much to sway me into buying her. The shop also had Alter’s Bounty Hunter Yoko, which was very tempting, as well as the ebCraft action figure of Saber Alter, another figure I’d love to have. I also went into another shop and found GSC’s PVC Saber Lily for around 7,600 yen – the lowest I’ve ever seen her for -which was also quite tempting. Akihabara really is a great place for figure collectors if you take the time to search out the smaller shops.

Para los que no sepan, Akihabara es para los freaks como su servidor, como Disneylandia para los niños, es el lugar mas feliz de la tierra.. y en este video las personas de Game Life nos muestras y presumen el interior de una tienda en Akihabara.. de verdad que envidia.. pero espero un dia de estos yo tambien traerme mi propio videito!!!

There are various ways to discover a country, here are what is usually visited by first time travelers to Japan.

Everything depends on the length of your stay. But usually, you leave for 2 weeks, right ?

So, here is a classic for a 2 weeks trip :

Tokyo – Asakusa, Akihabara, Shibuya, Roppongi

Kyoto – Gion, the Golden Pavillon, Imperial Palace

Nara

Osaka

What I think :

When I go to Japan, I want to see the “real” Japan. Going to a place that looks like a Japanese district in the USA doesn’t interest me at all. What I mean is, I hate really touristic places. Gion was the biggest deception for me. Asakusa is the same way, though I like going there to buy souvenirs, hence why I went there once every time I was in the country.

What I have to say about these places, though :

Asakusa : despite what I said, it’s a nice place to see once. You might want to go elsewhere to eat, I personnally found there wasn’t a lot of restaurants.

Avoid going to Hanayashiki, the oldest amusement park of Japan : you have to pay to enter, and inside you have to pay for every single ride you want to do. And it’s not worth it for adults. If you have children, you may want to go to Disneyland instead, it will cost you less.

Akihabara : video games, electronic stuff, anime… if you like this, and want to have fun and find every single thing concerning your favourite manga, GO ! I went only twice : the first time it was very late and I was tired, so I didn’t appreciate it, and the second one was during a typhoon and I just had to go there to purchase a RJ45 cable, so I just ran out of the station, inside the first shop I saw, and then ran back to take my train. Did I mention I had forgotten my umbrella ? I’ll make sure to go back there next year.

Shibuya : I personally hate Shibuya. It’s crowded no matter what day it is, and the shops around there don’t interest me. You can’t understand what “crowd” means until you’ve been there. But Shibuya is THE fashion place.

Roppongi : Xmas is the time to go there. It’s amazing, with lights everywhere. Otherwise it’s a trendy place, expensive, a bit like Ginza, and it’s the “foreigner’s district”.

Kyoto : is a must see once in a lifetime. True, it’s touristic, but tourism has a good side : it’s easy to go there and you can find English speakers. There are a lot of other towns like Kyoto around the country, even prettier, older and so on, but Kyoto is the most famous.

Osaka : I didn’t like this town because I had no money when I went there. It might be seen like a smaller version of Tokyo, but I didn’t see enough of the town to be able to say something.

dannychoo.com – Sekai Camera post

Here’s a really neat iPhone application.  It’s called Sekai Camera.  I think you definitely need an iPhone 3GS to use this application.  A GPS seems to be required in order to use the application.

The idea is that you take your iPhone around and turn on the Sekai Camera application.  You point your iPhone camera at a location and then you can read “air tags” that have been left by other Sekai Camera app users.  You can even create your own air tags to leave for others to see.

Why I like this application is that the potential uses could be quite exciting.  People could tag facts about the places you are looking at.  This would be great for tourists or for those interested in knowing more about where they live.  It could be aself-guided tour complete with “air tags” with detailed descriptions about public art or a heritage building.

Obviously, I think most of the uses of the Sekai Camera will probably be of the more frivolous kind with kids air tagging silliness across the virtual Sekai Camera world.  There could even be virtual grafitti with unsavoury messages or solicitations.  I have no idea how the developer will handle these issues.

Danny Choo of dannychoo.com fame has a neat use for this app in Tokyo.  He’s going to set up a sort of virtual “tag” game where Hunters have to find Runners in a part of Akihabara in Tokyo.  More details on his Sekai Camera post.

Here’s also a YouTube video showing the number of tags in different spots around Akihabara in Tokyo.

Today I’ll be looking at the Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon concert.  It’s a favorite of mine, so I don’t have all that many bad things to say about it.

Click the pictures for the review, or you can read it all below!

MC

Today’s concert is actually done outside!  This is AKB’s first major outdoor concert, and the idea of a summer festival is present with the lanterns decorated by AKB48 members.  Also, this is AKB’s first actual concert using all three Teams.  Shibuya AX doesn’t count in my opinion.

To start off the show, Nacchinon comes on stage to talk about… whatever they’re talking about, and then they count down for the (live) overture!

Overture

This is the second time the vocalist of ‘Overture’ comes on stage for us.  The first being in AX08.  That time, I don’t think he had ever listened to the overture since he recorded it.  Luckily this time he was better: probably because he heard the overture only eight months ago.  Very little progress was made, despite his wearing of a rainbow purse and a towel over his head.  He even ended his own lyrics with “Are.”  I mean, at least finish the sentence if you decide to start it.  Oh well… On to the short skirts!

Dear My Teacher

Team A does their instructor-pleasing shuffle on stage non-nonchalantly and the concert begins!

My favorite parts of the song are the opening lines with Mai and Rina and then we they come back closer to the start of the chorus.

As you can see, it’s already raining!  I wonder if that’s the reason why there hasn’t been another large-scale concert outside…

What!?  Why are they moving?  Oh wait, does this mean what I think it means: they’re going to sing the second verse!?  Yes.  Yes, it does!

If you listen super closely, during and after the above three’s trio line, you can hear the Team K fans chant “1 + 2 = N-Nacchi.”  I love it.  Best chant ever.

Since so many girls have graduated and/or been added, the second verse has a few new additions like Mariko, Amina, and Fujie.

I definitely forgot that Acchan had lines in this song.  I need to watch A1 again, I think.

As you can see, it’s already raining!  I wonder if that’s the reason why there hasn’t been another large-scale concert outside…

Saishuu Beru ga Naru

Next up is Team K’s fourth Stage’s title song, which happens to be a new favorite in the time period of the concert.  Team K fist pumps out on stage, but with the now damp floor, it seems to be slippery as evidence of Sayaka tripping during the transition.

Natsuki’s back with an awesome hair-do!  Yay!

Please note the water on the camera lens.

I love when they get to perform all the verses of a song.  It gives the whole Team their original parts, and usually is the half of the song that my favorite member sings in.

I love how they had that whole ‘Amai Kokansetsu’ single and one of the reasons for it was the part of the stage that Ohori would often be in during songs due to her popularity.  They said that she was often in the back corner, all the while showing video of ‘Saishuu Beru ga Naru.’  What the viewer doesn’t see is that she mirrors Natsuki during the majority of the song and Natsuki is in the other corner, and that the duo get to be front and center in the first chorus and part of the bridge.

Shounichi

Team B’s most popular song gets presented for the first time here.  I used to dislike how they didn’t get to do their prayer, but in reality, that’s really not part of the song, but it’s more like it’s the intro to B3 and is just associated with the song because it’s similar in concept and immediately before the song when it was performed in the theater.

Just a little earlier that month Sasshi had been promoted, and only a little over a week before this concert, Ayarin was fired.  This kind of shows how Sasshi was given Team B front girl status immediately after she was given a full position.

Look!  A camera!

Aitakatta

Now the entire AKB gets to be on stage at the same time!  Who would have ever thought?

Natsuki gets the first real close-up.  That makes me happy inside.

Team K took off the removable raggedy parts of their costumes like in K4… if you care.

Moeno also was promoted a little while before the concert.  Since they probably only have sixteen ‘Shounichi’ costumes, she’s stuck with the ‘Boku no Sakura’ uniform that the RS wear here.  Also interesting to note: Inoue Naru has yet to graduate.

The current RS join in during the last chorus.  I find it funny that the first time I saw this concert, I had no clue who any of them were, yet now all I can think is about how I love a ton of them!

Nagisa no CHERRY

One of the perfect summer songs actually got a spot here.  I love when they perform seasonal songs in the right season.  Here, Mayuyu takes Acchan’s spot as she’s performed it the most recently.

Harugon, Haachan, and Rabutan get stuck with the back-dancing.  Nakagawa actually seems to out-dance her fellow Haruka despite her side position.

Namida no Shounen

Another fitting A2 song.  We even get a multi-Team cast!

CinDy takes Orii Ayumi’s lines as she does in B2.  It’s nice to see her with her old Team’s members.  She looks less old compared to them than she does with Team B!

Each time I watch this performance I always wonder about how Mai’s hair stays so styled dispite the humidity and rain that’s currently pouring.  I know that I should wonder this about all of the girls, but it’s only Mai’s hair that makes me wonder this.

Nage KISSU de Uchi Otose

Acchan’s unit for the night is her cowboy-costumed one from A3.  It seems like this is the wota fall-back favorite next to ‘Nagisa no CHERRY’ when it comes to Acchan.

Fujie has taken over Masuyama Kayano’s position… this is a very fitting selection.  It just sucks that I like both of them, so I never know which I’d prefer to see in this song at AX.

I love these costumes.  They’re so colorful.  And sparkly.

Gomen ne Jewel

I’ve always felt that these costumes looked a lot like ‘Nage KISSU de Uchi Otose’ and so having them right next to each other in a concert’s set list helps me confirm that they really do look similar and it may very well be on purpose.

The RS’s outfits look even more ‘Nage KISSU’-like…

I’ve heard many people complain about how they don’t like how Asuka and Yuka don’t get solos during the dance break.  While yes, that isn’t very great for them, we must remember that the other half of the unit at the time was the two most popular members of Team K and that Mocchi and Masuda got the same amount of solo lines (albeit in worse positions), so they had to loose something, which ended up being contrasting colors on their costumes and they share a dance part.  Good for them, regardless.

The stage seems to be getting even slicker.  Suzuki definitely took a tumble here.  Speaking of which, Nakanishi Yuka, Hatayama Arisa, Suzuki Nae, Oya Shizuka, Nakatsuka Tomomi, and Arima Yuka (I think) back dance here.  I might be wrong on the last two.

Glass no I LOVE YOU

I like how this song’s opening positions always tend to be sort of interesting.  Going back to the A2 roots, two girls appear on stage and the other two appear on speakers on the outside of the stage.  Very original and cute.

Why does Akimoto do this to me?  Rie, Moeno, and Sasshi are grouped so often.  I seem to always find them together.  It’s almost lucky that they will all be in different Teams soon.  But then I wonder if during a shuffle performance they’ll just take each other’s units.  Oh, and Myao’s here, too.  She gets to lead.

Junai no CRESCENDO

This is especially fitting in this concert.  I’m pretty sure the lyrics might mention rain.  And it’s raining.  Awesome.

I love how the setting matches their costumes so much.  I’m serious, this all works so well that I think it’s perfectly epic.  The blue, the pink, the rhinestones.  Sexy.

No3b looks like an actual music group here.

And again, suburb lighting.  Lovely.

Ame
no Doubutsuen

Ruining the mood like it always does comes the original song about rain.  And a zoo.

I love how dispite how unpopular Kana might be now, she still gets her part whenever Team K performs this song.  Oh, and that’s the lineless camel by Naruse in the background there.

Such coincidence.  Wonderful.

Ah!  The French revolutionaries are coming!  Quick, animals, go back to your cages!

Kagami no Naka no Jean de Arc

The choice to show this unit song so close to the time that its leader left AKB is a curious one.  They most likely had time to choose a different one or just cut it out since Ayarin had stopped regularly performing about three weeks previous to the concert, yet they decided to keep it in the set list.  Was it a diss at the original performer, or was it simply a push of it’s new one?  Maybe one day we’ll get to see Ayarin on stage with her flag.

I love Rumi’s spot in this song.  Everything about it.  She gets the same amount of lines as the center in the first verse (Ayarin/Sasshi get one solo in the second) and has the best outfit.  And she’s a perfect fit here, too.

CinDy gets to rev the audience up.

Despite the flag only really being used at the start and end of the performance, it’s so intense whenever the lead grabs it.

Blue Rose

‘Blue Rose’ half-shuffled version.  Here, Kashiwagi takes Yuka’s spot since she performed in ‘Gomen ne Jewel’ and Mika takes Ohori’s position because she’s about to have a unit song.  I love how they pushed Mikachi all of the time.

I think they chose the ‘Temodemo no Namida’ duo to substitute in just because they wanted to add in their unit, but they already filled the set list.  ‘Temodemo’ would look so amazing here, though.  I’m going to take a moment to imagine it… and yeah, it would be great.

Fog much?  I’m pretty sure that even Memolist mentioned there being a ton.  I guess that they don’t have very much practice with using it outside, let alone with rain there to contain it on stage.

Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou

One of the more famous versions of this song is here.

It used to be that there were often costume changes for ‘Oshibe to Meshibe,’ but they kind of slowed down after this time.  Off-hand I remember that there were variations like teacher/student, office ladies, gangsters, Middle Eastern-wear, and a lingerie version.  On the second to last night of K4, they performed a version wearing the ‘Kinjirareta Futari’ costumes and an ‘Original Mix’ of the instrumental featuring a melody that sounded similar to a music box and like ‘Kinjirareta.’

I wonder how it feels for them to perform with bare feet.  I’ve heard that since everyone was slippery, Nacchan came up with a great idea to save them: pouring some sort of cola soft drink on the ground, placing a towel over it, and then stepping on it.  This made their shoes a bit stickier so they could hold on to the ground a bit better.  With these two rolling around on the wet, now sticky surface, I wonder if it was a bit uncomfortable.

Romance, Irane!

After an MC (shown on the second disc), comes
AKB’s most recent original single that was distributed traditionally.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this song.  The costumes, the lyrics, the choreography, the epic-ness…

They get to do two verses again, and so we get to see Natsuki singing in the very middle of the stage.  Aren’t we lucky?

So gosh-darned cool.

RUN RUN RUN

Usually, ‘RUN RUN RUN’’s opening consists of the girls taking off their vests and running to put them on the sides of the stage before proceeding to sing.  Here, the girls who just performed get to dance about for a moment before going back.

The Team performing this song and ‘Romance’ are modified Himawari-gumi Teams.  ‘Romance, Irane!’ had H2 Team 1, minus Sae and Yuka and adding Fujie and Chikano, and ‘RUN RUN RUN’ has H1 Team 2, minus Kayano, Yukarin, and Deguchi and adding Rina, Sae, and Yuka.

It’s always interesting how they use new costumes.  Since K4 was the newest Stage at the time.  They were pimping-out the ‘Shamu Neko’ uniforms.  These girls get to wear them here, and in an important performance of Baby! Baby! Baby!, the participating girls (Team A, I think) got to wear them.  It’s a shame that I’m not really all to fond of them.

By the way, for consistency, both verses were sung here.  It seems like every Team (A, K, B, 1, and 2)gets to perform one song by themselves with two verses.

Wasshoi B!

Ah!  ‘Wasshoi B!’ and some of my favorite costumes!  Yay.

This is one of the only nearly-full-member ‘Wasshoi B!’’s I’ve seen.  I think that the 3D show that featured some B3 Team songs may have had the full Team, but I’m not sure.  At least Naru is here, though!

I found Natsuki’s lantern!  I had never seen it before, but I just caught a glimpse of something that looked like an ‘N,’ and sure enough: it was!  I had always figured that that’s what Natsuki would have done with hers, but I never had proof.  Now I do.  Of course, I technically have no clue if it’s actually hers or someone else’s, but ‘N’ is kind of her thing, so it would have to be Natsuki’s or Mikipomu’s, as she’s a Natsuki fan.

I remember the first ‘Wasshoi B!’ I saw in that 3D show.  I couldn’t figure out why a couple of the girls didn’t have microphones for a moment and then were given some a little while later.  I think I kind of studied this for half an hour before seeing that they had given them up to lift another girl.  I was so impressed by myself for noticing it!

I love Team B.  The original, the new recruits, and the New Team B.

Gokimen Naname na Mermaid

I love this song.  Why on earth did it not get into AX09?  What is wrong with the world?  The rest of B3 got in!

In B3, the first verse and chorus is done by only half of Team B, as they left during ‘Hissatsu Teleport.’  Here, they give the other half of the girls choreography and present it as though everyone is usually on stage.  Also, they’ve added a few RS for no apparent reason.

Except, they do have at least three very good performers up there: Chiichan, Sara, and Chunchun!

Korogaru ishi ni Nare

Team K pops out for their anthem wearing the red Kouhaku fringe costumes.

Yay for Natsuki!

As you can see, some how my favorite lost her amazing costume from the last time she performed in it.  She used to have the best out of the three: the shorts.  Now, she’s stuck with the conservative one.  I’m guessing Sae is wearing hers, as Sae’s was white, and they put all of Team K in red for this.

Melos no Michi

Okay, the video of the very start of the song, the battle of Sae versus Nonti, is terrible.  You can’t see a thing.  I don’t know if they thought it’d be cool or what, but it just looks bad.

See, if Natsuki had her costume, she could look as awesome (even better, probably) than Sae.

The only reason I really like this song is because of N’s placement.  Her group has very, very similar voices, and you can hear hers pretty well.   It’s also nice that it’s one of the first two groups, which have the longer lines in the first verse.

At some point, some Kenkyuusei come in the back with the blue Stage-version ‘Skirt, Hirari’ costumes on.  I’ve never understood why there are so many versions of these costumes.  I’ve only seen the blue variations here in one (small) video and one picture.  They’re just not very attractive.

And they definitely don’t match.  They could have put the RS in the white Kouhaku outfits or something instead.  Those would match Team K and the Research Students’ costumes from the Team B Research Students’ costumes.

Only Today

This is another one of my favorite songs.  It’s so catchy and cute with a nice poppy instrumental.  And the girls get to wear the ‘Ato 1cm’ outfits!  I love these so much.  Almost as much as the ‘Romance, Irane!’ costumes.  The large amount of girls in Team A makes me wonder how many costumes they have per set for Himawari-gumi.  Since there are so many girls that have weird sizes, they must have more than sixteen and closer to twenty.

I found the lantern again!  I didn’t even have to try this time!

Normal-sized hair accessories on normal-sized girls…

And Takamina-sized hair accessories on Takamina-sized girls.

Skirt, Hirari

When I first read about this performance, I was super-excited because it was Team A-only, and I heard that it put the “SukaHira Seven” in their rightful places.

Too bad this is actually an encore version of the audio, as it has the single version with added Team A voices so you hear a lot of whoever is singing, but also everyone else simultaneously.

Who is that behind Amina?  Creepy.

Only a portion of the girls are actually wearing skirts.  And those skirts can’t flutter.  The irony.

Team A sang two songs without RS in the back?  It’s almost like they’re favored.  I guess they’re shuffling Teams for a good reason.

Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008

For the last song of the night, they sing their first single.  Team A is in front for the first half.

Then Team K pops up to form a line dancing with a forward-backward motion.

And then they go into ‘Nounai Paradise’-mode and add in some of that choreography.

Team B’s turn means they bring in the thumbs up and jumping motions of ‘B! B! B! Wasshoi!’ from ‘Wasshoi B!’

Team A has no characteristics, so they just act as though they are all good buddies and rock side-to-side and then pose and wave ‘Aitakatta’-like.

Pretty…

And this is the cover of the DVD and the PB to go along with it for this concert.

(Kenkyuusei Dance)

Yay!  I love this one.  It’s short, meaningless, but a transition, and I count it as a song.  I want a studio version!

The RS get to wear Team A, K, and B t-shirts.  I wonder how many got onto the Team that their t-shirt said.  And oh look, Chiichan!

Takajo Aki gets to introduce the encore.  One would think that it would be Oya’s job since she was the un-official Kenkyuusei leader, but I guess not.

Virgin Love (Research Students ver.)

I always think that ‘Virgin Love’ is just an okay song, but since I love just about every single performance I see of it, I think I actually really do enjoy it.

Who is this?  I have no clue.  Please fill me in.

Takajo is all over in this performance.  They were pushing her before she even joined Team A.

Yuka gets to perform with SKE48 tonight, too!  She’s busy.

By the end of the song, Team A starts coming out and the ‘Virgin Love’’s start sounding better.

Baby! Baby! Baby! (Team A ver.)

For whatever reason, Team A gets to sing an extra single.  Again, they’re just that special.

All three Teams performed ‘Baby! Baby! Baby!’ as part of their Stages (A4R, K4, and B3) for a little while when it was first released, so I guess they didn’t have to stage a new version or anything.  I just wish they would have just used the selected members or something.  Maybe without Ayarin.I usually really like short over-alls, but the ones that Hiichan and Acchan are wearing aren’t very attractive.  I feel sorry for them.

And I totally love seeing Fujie and Rina on the same stage.  Yes, I’m aware that Fujie is not in this screen capture.

Also, more talk of the costumes: I usually don’t like encore costumes like these from AKB, but I really like them here.  I think that it’s because the tops are light and seem more effortless and since it’s outside, it seems more fun-friendly instead of how I always expect to be awed by concert hall performances.

The lighting during the bridge alternates side-to-side.  I’m not sure if I like it.

Kojiharu definitely just shot someone.

PARTY ga Hajimaru yo (SKE48 ver.)

SKE48 performs ‘PARTY.’  It’s of course super-interesting since I’m not that big of a fan of the song, and I can’t tell the difference between a bunch of them at this point.  They hadn’t gotten their makeovers yet.

But there’s my Rikako!

Boku no Taiyou

For the third all-AKB song of the night, we have a single that hadn’t been performed in a real concert yet, and one of their better selling due to a one-of-a-kind photo included with each CD.  Here, a double-Team Himawari-gumi performance is given with Team B in the back.

Yay!  My girls are together!

Seriously, I’m loving this hair.  If only she dyed it back…

Team A and Team B get to wear denim shorts/skirts/pants/overalls, while Team K gets to wear white bottoms, similar to the RS.

Natsuki!  You are my sun!

Ohori’s recently-published memoir mentions that her grandmother passed away shortly before this performance.  Meetan had never had much support from her parents but her grandmother was a big part of her life.  In the book, Megumi says that this is one of the songs that she really sang her heart out in remembrance of her.

AKB48

AKB48’s fight song!

Team K starts in the front row, so that means it’s an instant N attack!

And it’s still raining…

The RS jump on stage at some point.  Now, where is SKE?

BINGO!

Takamina announces this one as usual.  I don’t know if anyone other than her and Ohe have ever done so.

It’s another modified Himawari-gumi performance with the less popular girls and RS in the back.  Natsuki’s in front and she gets her usual lines.  It’s wonderful.

The audience get their little strands of metallic tape.  Soon they’ll be flashier than the AKB members!

Natsuki!

Guess who’s pretty much dead center for bows?  Yup, that’s right.  No need to ask where she for this one.

And that’s Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon in just under five hours.  I made sure to be really quick with this one for whatever reason.  Next stop: Budokan!