Although, an exciting event occurred yesterday, I bought my PINK DS Lite today….yay!! I’m so excited! I did have a lot of difficulty fitting the screen guard onto the touch screen though, because of pesky air bubbles.

Now’s crunch time for me to start conserving and seriously planning about whether I want to travel to the Aomori and Kyuushu areas….but, I’m feeling a little tired and lazy now. Maybe later

Oh, but LaForet, which is a huge 8 floor mall for women only, just began their huge sail yesterday. EVERYTHING is at least 50% off in the store! It’s crazy! When I passed by the other day, there were lots of people both customers and workers. The worker had megaphones and were jumping up and down clapping in an attempt to promote the event. I plan to go today

It took about 2 hours before you could actually control your character in battle. The cutscenes are done in pure anime and there are many of them. There are a lot of loading times in between cutscenes, scenes with character portrait dialogues, and actually playing time. These loading times aren’t especially long, it’s just that they occur often.

Also, this latest installment of the series incorporates some new gameplay elements. If I understood correctly, in order to allow your persona to reach the height of its potential, you must pay your dues to the community system, which I believe is talking and making friends amongst your peers at school. This means that it stresses how you respond in certain situations and makes the actual chance to choose your response more frequent.

The game also stresses the fact that it plays out in real time, toggling from Early Morning, Morning, Lunch Time, After School, Evening, Night Time, and the dreaded 0 hour, which I can’t remember the name of. It may sound cool on paper, but the game so far hasn’t allowed me much freedom considering the passing of these time intervals. Thus far, these intervals have only been shifted under the control of the computer who in turn is playing out the main storyline.

There’s something interesting about the turn-based battle systems in this game as well, not that the Persona series was ever known for linear battles. There are the traditional three characters to your party, and this only happened to me once, but when there was only one enemy left, your party has an option to do an all out dust-ball and sound effects melee attack. Cute, isn’t it?

At first, the character models were a bit of a disappointment because they all look a little stout and too cute. They take some getting used to, but at all right, and they don’t really push the PS2′s power to the limit. I think that the best way to preserve the slickness of the Persona characters is in the form of some sort of cel-shading, and not falling back to the character molds in the likeness of the fudgies.

One thing that worries me is that if this game gets released in the US, the censorship will have a major party with this title. In order to release their personas, a character has to shoot him/herself in the head with a special gun. When I first saw this, I was taken aback and a little shocked. Seeing as how the suicide rate in Japan among young teens is fairly high, I thought that this was a really bold move. But, this is Japan. If Persona 3 is released in the US anytime soon, I really hope that Atlus does its best to preserve the whole nature of this installment and not give in to the pressures of censorship conformity. The Persona series has always been one that pushes the envelope considering its content. And, wouldn’t it be nice if they kept the original Japanese voices as well? Ah, we can only dream….damn, lazy Americans.

The members of Wednesday’s party of temple-goers were Andrew and myself. We headed out at about 1 o’clock, which was not a smart thing to do. Why? It’s because most of the temples in Kamakura close at 4:30pm….or 16:30 in Japan time

We were able to make it to Daibatsu, which is the huge Buddha statue and one other temple with a really long name. I can’t remember because it’s just that long.

It costs 200yen to get into the area to see Daibatsu. Now, I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but I was a little disappointed to find that all I had to do wasa trot right around the corner and boom, there it is! I guess I was expecting to walk through this lush green garden filled with random Buddha-inspired statues. I’ve noticed and have possibly even mentioned before that Japan is seemingly very fond of huge open places. Woo, look! Marvel at big Buddha!

Now, that other temple we visited after getting back from Daibatsu, the one with the really long name that I can’t remember, was acatually being retrofitted. It was one of the biggest temples I have seen so far, though. And much like Daibatsu and some key Japanese park, it had a huge open space comparable to the size of a football field that led to the man pavillion that was actually being remodeled…or retrofitted, or whatever. Instead, they had a huge partition screen surrounding the entire project, which I found pretty corny, but took a picture anyway because I know someone else will get a kick out of it..haha!

Also, for lunch, I had yet another hamburger steak…and there was corn. One of my corn pieces had a smiley face, and thus, demanded camera time. Can you figure out which one he is??
On Thursday, I headed out for Yokohama, adventuring out on one of my solo excursions. I guess I must have come on the wrong day because it seemed like everything was closed. I wanted to visit the Yokohama Art Museum only to be met by closed gates as its days of operation are Friday through Wednesday. Then, I was goingto check out the local amusement park by the pier, and yes, you guessed it, that as well was not in tip-top functioning order. However, the park does have this huge, extremely intimidating ferris wheel that allows you to get a bird’s eye view of almost all of Yokohama. Just imagine if you were to get stuck there! Oh, and I did go crazy with Gashapon fever at the Sega Club there…heh!

All in all, I would suggest Yokohama as a weekend trip. Connected to the Minato-Mirai station, is Queen’s Square, a huge mall full of western stores. And, just right across the street, if you have the shopping bug for brands you can easily find in America back home, you visit Landmark Plaza. The interior of the mall is great to take pictures of, and I believe that was the highlight of the trip.

Oh, that and there’s a Pokemon Center located there with great big over-priced pokemon paraphanalia! Don’t you tell me you’re not wanting to see the picture….because I know, and here they are! I faced much danger trying to take these pictures covertly because if I got caught…..they could just as well throw me out, or just ask nicely. You’re welcome :p

That night, I headed over to Naka-Meguro to meet Andrew and his compadres for their weekly nomi-kai at Ootaru. With the release of Loco Roco that week, there was a huge turn-out and everyone geeked it up with their handhelds…I ate my onigiri set and took photos…wah-lah(haha, I forgot how to spell that)!

On Friday, I met with one of Andrew’s friends, Masae-san, and we headed out for Harajuku to go shopping. We ended up in Shibuya and I actually bought a ‘one-piece’ dress….it’s so cute. They call dresses a one-piece here.

That night, last night, there were a bunch of people over and we had music, drinks, food, fun, and free haircuts!…well, just one. It was another late night, and I believe that when the guests finally tuckered out and left, it was 4:30am and the sun was brightly shining. The pictures aren’t that great, but the videos are wonderful

Side Note: I decided not to invest in a new digital camera here. The camera that I’ve been eyeing is the black Sony DSC-T30. I was able to find it for around 34400 yen, which translated into American dollars, is just over $300. The only drawback was that when I was actually able to find the camera in the small unknown side-alleys of Akihabara, it was a domestic model. This means that all the menus are in Japanese and don’t have a language option for anything else. I know it’s a small detail, but it would bother me to no end. I’ve been keeping a watch on the US price for the camera, and the cheapest I’ve been able to find is about $360. I’m hoping that by the time I get back, it would have fallen even more. That’s it! Bye!

Today, I went to the two I-Box stationary stores located in Mizonoguchi and bought a bunch of Signo 0.18 pens! They’re 210yen each! In America, they’re about $3-$4 a piece! I just coudln’t resist. I also picked up a couple of pastel colored HI-TEC-C 0.4 pens in pink and sea green for 200 yen each. As you can see, I also have new stationary sets to use. So, if you want me to send you a letter all the way from Japan, send me your physical address to my e-mail address (go to www.wondercast.com), haha! How exciting. I think that stationary stores are my second favorite place here in Japan :p
When I was perusing the Kinokuniya manga/anime branch store in Shinjuku, I came across the 12 kingdoms novels. I picked them up, as you can see here. What a challenge they’re going to be to read. I also picked up a middle school novel to practice reading as you can see in the picture.

I can see myself getting hooked on the UFO catchers here at the arcades. I was intent on spending 1000yen today in hopes that I would win something. I decided to go for the big-headed chickens from Brave Story. There’s something about the feeling you get when you watch the claw slowly lower upon the item you have in mind, and when it looks like it’s yours for the taking, it drops right on the edge of the tunnel opening, causing you to spend at least 200yen more to actually knock it into the tunnel so you can pick it out of its little basket….which is what I had to do. So, in the end, this little fat chicky cost me 600yen….the remaining 400yen, I spent on other UFO catchers, and didn’t win. But, Andrew spent 300yen, and got that weird DoComo mascot mushroom head.

Oh, and if you look carefully, the dessert shop we went to had the candy drops from Grave of the Fireflies. I couldn’t help myself. Do-Roppu!

I’ve mentioned the amazing used bookstores before in my earlier entry. Well, get this: when I first arrived here and went to a small local non-branch used bookstore, they had every single volume of the NANA manga available. Also, on my first visit to the Harajuku Book-Off, they had a plethora of NANA volumes. Okay, cool, right? I can pick them up for about 200-250yen each. All right, all right. Well, when I went back earlier last week, there as no NANA in sight! Not anywhere! I think it’s a conspiracy against me, or at least just a conspiracy to make everyone spend 390yen on new NANA manga. There was the release of the NANA anime DVD on the 7th, and the used versions of NANA did all disappear around that point….so a-hah! Conspiracy it is!

P.S. Apparently, coffee jelly is a big thing here…It’s good, but not at Wendy’s. If you get some coffee jelly with vanilla ice cream on top, you can wait until it melts a little to mix it up and make coffee ice cream jelly!

That same night, upon coming home, when I was supposed to head off to bed, I actually got sucked into losing 500yen in a game of Omaha poker with the roommates and friend, which later degraded into a game of ‘Kings’ and then some sort of form of ‘Deuces’….all of which I lost It was so late, or early, in the morning of the next day that when we all did head off to bed, I could see the faintest light from the sun peeking out over the horizon. I sure slept well that night

The next day, I headed out for Yoyogi Park, being that it was a Sunday. Sunday is the best day to go to Yoyogi PArk because hoardes of street performers litter the sidewalks and it’s also when the Yoyogi to Harajuku overpass/bridge-like area is inundated with tourists trying to get a good photo of the cosplayers.

I’m not sure what I was really expecting, but the cosplayers that day were a little disappointing. The most bizarre sight that I might have seen that day was one fairly tall Japanese guy wearing lolita clothes and makeup.

Yoyogi Park is also home to Meiji-jingu. I really enjoyed how lush the walk to get to the shrine as. The forestry was thick and tourists swarming. The charm stand was even open. O-mamori charms range from those protecting you in love to victory to passing entrance exams. They’re all horribly over-priced though. The shole set-up reminds me of going to the concession stand during a baseball game though…completely cheesy!

After perusing the vicinity of Meiji-Jingu, I can’t help but feel that once you’ve seen one temple in Japan, you’ve seen them all. This temple had its own garden full of azaleas/lilies, but you have to pay 500yen to go in. Well, let’s just say that these flowers only bloom in the spring, and it’s a total waste of money to go any other time unless you like getting spider webbing in your face and seeing 12 inch long slugs.

Later that evening, I was able to catch the little Tsunashima street festival that was run by the local branch of the Yakuza :p I swear, some of the people working there looked fairly shady. I enjoyed watching the games where little kids were either trying to catch goldfish or minitaure turtles….that of which would probably be illegal in the US…man, we never get the cool animals! You can also have a silver-tailed squirrel as a pet here, I saw it for sale at the pet store!

It was really busy, and reminded me of walking through the streets of China Town during the Moon Festival, where people are merely gawking and walking unintelligently. I did like the little cream pastry I bought for 100yen, though…I want another!

Until next time, toodle-loo!

So, I’ve been to Harajuku three times since I’ve been here. It’s definitely one fo the shopping centrals here in Japan. There are always so many people. Omotesando is right next to Harajuku, and you can find many upscale US brands to indulge yourself in. There’s also a mall named the Omotesando Hills located on the main street. It’s HUGE! It’s about two blocks longs and the interior structure is sort of interesting. The likes of myself can’t really enjoy Omotesando Hills, nor many of the other boutiques located on Omotesando, because everything starts with a 3-digit price tag to say the least.

Although I didn’t go into the Dior store, there was a huge display located at the entrance that I wouldn’t mind having as a decorative piece of furniture when I can finally afford the modern home with indoor pond of my choice.

One of my favorite types of stores of all time upon arriving here are the amazingused book stores! Haha! I love them! You can get used manga for as cheap at 84yen, depending on where you go. It’s great. In Harajuku, there’s one of the biggest used book store chains located there. The store is called ‘Book Off’. I could spend hours in there because not only do they sell used manga, they sell CDs, DVDs, and video games. A lot of Japanese people go there just to litter the aisles and read the comics instead of buying them, and it’s busiest on the weekends, of course.

In anticipation of a full day of exploring by myself, I packed my backpack with my GoGo no Kocha and my camera to set out for Shinjuku. Japan’s Shinjuku area is along plethora of shopping malls and known for its adult-oriented enteretainment district known as Kabuki-cho.

I arrived at Shibuya to transfer to the JR Yamanote Line which passes through Harajuku before arriving at Shinjuku station. I was all ready to take a 20 minute long train ride, but much to my dismay, it only took about 10 minutes…and I was there before I knew. One thing about Shinjuku station though, it has four different exits: North, South, East, and West. Under my own impressions, I found this station to be exhorbently huge. If you exited through the East exit when you wanted to exit through the South exit, you might be walking a good 4 long blocks around the terminal to get where you actually wanted to go. So, the best route is to re-entere the station and navigate its catacombs.
The first place that I wanted to visit in Shinjuku was the Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment Offices (TGCO). Why? Well, it’s because there is a Tourist Information Center (TIC) located there. Also, on the 45th Floor of one the towers, there is an observatory where you’re able to see a 360 degree aeriel view of all of Tokyo. Okay, so this sounds simple doesn’t it? Upon promptly leaving JR gate, I followed all of the signs’ directions that led to the TGCO. I have to tell you that it’s a fairly long walk if you follow the signs, and I believe that there is a more direct route if you know where you’re going, but that certainly wasn’t my case, har har!
I continued through the never-ending hallways of the substation and what seemed like 20 minutes of walking under artificial lighting, I arrived at the gates which led to the underground entrance of the TGCO. These gates….were closed shut, however. I didn’t recall there being a scheduled holiday for Monday, so I thought it was a little weird that the building might be closed.

I came atop back on the street aftet walking up a long flight of stairs, and right in front o of me I was greeted with Shinjuku-Chuo Park.

The main highlights of the park that I found were Kumano Shrine and the Cardboard Box House “district”. I really liked the layout of Japanese parks because you can’t help but feel that it’s so very clean and organized. Also, there are numerous signs littered in the park that restrict people from entering the foliage and the rest of the greenery living in the park. The rules are strict, but you get to enjoy a clean and fresh environment because of it. It’s a park, there’s not much else to say, so enjoy a couple of pictures.

There are a lot of homeless people living in Japan apparently and it seems that they like to concentrate themselves in the parks. I think it’s a little endearing that they’re allowed to have a little bit of the park and make it into their own makeshift neightborhood. That, or there’s nothing that the local authorities can do because there’s just so many of them and would do whatever they wanted regardless of what the police may tell them…who knows? Certainly not me.

I did find it fairly amusing that this one man was sweeping the “doorsteps” of his little home as pictured below. Even in the midst of poverty, the Japanese like to keep the utmost hygenic behaviors alive.

After walking around in circles, I finally found Kumano Shrine.

No, I didn’t take part in ringing the huge roped bell over the firepit in fear that the local Japanese temple caretakers might run out after me accusing me of defiling their sacred prayer place. I’ll save that for when I have a real a audience! Haha! I do wish that I could read and understand more kanji though, because olong the side path of the shrine, there were smaller shrines erected and one, I could only guess was for animals of some sort…I guess….

Kumano Shrine was what I was really looking for in the park, so after stumbling upon it, I left. And, after walking right across the street from the park, do you know what I found?? The ground entrance to the TGOC.

I wasn’t sure whether I was allowed to go in or not because there was a security guard standing watch outside and everyone who I observed entering the building was casually dressed, for work. Haha! I took my chance and decided to play the gaijin-card if he stopped me. But, no. I was allowed to save that special trump card for another day, which you will soon be hearing about in a future post.

At the Tourist Information Center in the TOGC building, they offer free voluntary tours around certain part of Tokyo. One of these days, when I’m bored, I may just take them up on that little offer. Anyway, this is a sample of what you can see from the 45th floor of the observatory.

There’s a little over-priced cafe and toy mess on the same floor as well. I guess it could make for a fairly romantic dinner spot at night, what with all of the lights of Tokyo’s skyscrapers adding the the dim ambiance. Anyway, I’m more interested in these overly adorable little animal figures! They’re too cute! Why don’t they sell these in the US?

I didn’t spend all that much time at the TGOC, and most people would think that I should have considering all the time I spent trying to find it. But, I can’t help it if I get bored easily.

I headed back down to the Shinjuu station through the same entrance I exited. This time, I was trying to find “Times Square” and Kabuki-cho, which was located outside of the South Exit of Shinjuku station. I’ll let you in on a small secret just in case you didn’t know; I have a horrible sense of direction. Ha ha! I think it’s due to the fact that I’m easily confused when I’m turned around and it doesn’t help that everything looks different from another angle Anyway, let’s just say that I wandered around for about an hour in the East and West side of the station and gave up and decided to make my way over to Harajuku.

But, hey look! There was a Persona 3 advertisement! And, NANA is everywhere in the stations! It’s so cool! I’m such a nerd!

Ahhh….Harajuku………well, I guess I will save that for the next entry! Stay tuned!

I left for Japan from SFO on the 29th. My flight with United was scheduled for boarding at 1:33pm. At this time, they came out to tell everyone that the aircraft was not ready because it was still needing to be cleaned. Just how filthy is this plane, was what I was thinking! We finally boarded at 2pm. It seemed like forever for everyone to get their bearings and before the aircraft even began inching towards the runway. It was then 2:30/2:25pm. Then, just as we’re about to take off for the land of the rising sun, the pilot reports that we have to head back to the gagte because the plane was experiencing some techincal difficulties. He ensures the passengers that the fix-up should take no more than 10-15 minutes. Ha. Ha. We didn’t finally get ready for take off until 3:30pm……the flight was 2 hours off schedule! The flight time to Japan was actually 9 hours and 44 minutes though. Thus, on arrival, the plane was an hour off of schedule instead of two. Still, by the time I got through customs and immigration, it was 6:20pm. It was the most uncomfortable international flight that I’ve had yet! The seats didn’t really decline back all that much. The headrest was too big so it made forced me to arch my back in a way it shouldn’t have to. There were no foot rests also. The meals were sub-par. The first lunch I had was described as a steak in some sort of BBQ sauce. When I peeled back the foil, it turned out that this ‘steak’ was actually a really bad hamburger patty. Unlike Singapore airlines, instead of offering real hot hand towels, they offered hot disposeable hand towelettes that grew cold about 15 seconds after being handed to you. The TV only had a pre-designated 9 channels which were showing such box-office slumps as Hoodwinked, Tristan & Isolde, Firewall, Failure to Launch, etc. Singapore airlines had actual channels to watch plus movies! Also, at each seat there was a remote that allowed you to control every aspect of the TV programs, meaning if you tuned in the middle of something, you could easily rewind or fast-forward to the place you wanted to start.

As we were landing, the skies were completely overcast, and I was naive enough to think, “Oh! That’s good! It’s going to be cool once I get out of the airport!”. HAH! Was I wrong! I caught the local charter bus line towards Tama Plaze at 6:45pm. This bus trip is direct to Tama Plaza and one other stop after it. The trip takes about 2 hours and costs 2800 yen! Lucky for me, the trip was actually 1 hour and 45 minutes. I arrived at Tama Plaza at what I’m assuming was 8:30pm. I still hadn’t set my watch to the current time. It was pitch black and I thought that I didn’t see my friend who said he’d be waiting for me. I had left him a message in the airport explaining that my flight was delayed and let him know what time the bus I was taking left. I also told him that if I didn’t see him, I’d continue en route to his house using the directions that he gave me. And, that is what I did. I was a little befuddled by the signs and the machines at the train terminal, and hesitantly bought my ticket for 150yen. I wasn’t even sure what the process of entering was. I watched other people as they entered and slipped my ticket into the slot just like them. I looked at the train maps to make sure that I was going in the right direction, and just to be sure, as the train arrived, I asked someone if the train was going for the station I wanted. Thank goodness! I was well on my way. I made sure to note how many stops it should take to get to the Kajigaya station (my destination). I was there in a little under 10 minutes. As I was about to exit the KAjigaya station terminal out of the gate, I noticed that it was closed unless you had a ticket. Haha! So, I explained to the station agent that I had put my ticket back in Tama Plaza. He asked me how much I paid, I told him, and he allowed me to go on my way. I thought that the station agents were going to be able to speak English, but I was wrong. Lucky for me, my Japanese was enough to convey what I needed. I was really surprised by how trusting he was of my story. Compared to how things are in San Francisco, this was a complete turn-over.

So, after some wandering around trying to get my bearings and finding the actual house after making several early turns, I arrived. It was good that I had checked out my friend’s pictures of his house that he took, because the parking lot that I had to walk through to get to the house would have totally thrown me off. I rang the doorbell a few times, and I heard a muffled female voice say “It’s open!” As I entered, I couldn’t help but feel like a giant in the house. It’s got really low ceilings! There’s a hallway that leads to the kitchen and it’s really narrow. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was taken by the fact that the house was so simple. It was also complete with sliding doors.

Andrew wasn’t home yet, and the girl who hollered at me came out and introduced herself as Lena. Soon after, another person showed up, Andreas. Still no Andrew. I arrived at about 9pm to the house. Finally after about 15 minutes, Andrew showed up and explained that he had been waiting for me at the bus station since 6pm. Oops! I told him that I probably didn’t recognized him and pegged him as a student since he was wearing a white button up shirt and black slacks Anyway, I quickly offered up the gifts that I had brought for him.

That night we went to an Izakaya in Mizunoguchi, which is about a 10 minute walk from the house. I totally forgot that smoking was allowed everywhere in Japan, but luckily, we were able to locate a non-smoking section. The food was decent. It wasn’t anything authentic Japanese but it was cheap. On the way back, Andrew showed me the video arcade, which was packed even at 11pm! When we got back, he introduced me to his other room mates Austin and Roland. Upon arrival, I took at much needed shower and went to sleep.
The next day, Saturday (remember, I lost a day when I arrived here) I took it real slow. Andrew advised me that I should just walk around the surrounding area to get a feel for my environment and get familiarized with the place. That’s what I did. I headed back over to Mizunoguchi again and checked out the big department store called OIOI. I thought it was pronounced ‘oioi’ but Andrew advised me that is was pronounced “maru-i maru-i”. It was over 9 floors high! Everything was really expensive and there were a lot of people there that day. I bought nothing. I also found a pet store though! They sold little rabbits! In the back room, they had cages and cages of birds. It stunk a lot. I kind of got lost coming back since the long alley that lead me to the department store and shopping area looked different because of a parked truck. But, I found my way back!
For breakfast, I just went to the AM/PM and picked up a croquette. I was so excited to find that they also sold my GoGo no Kocha! Yay! Of course I had to pick that up. I spend most of the day playig the DS game Ouendan that Andrew had picked up for 2000 yen. I finally beat it this morning, on the easy setting that is.

Andrew’s roommate Roland stumbled upon me in Andrew’s room and we chatted it up for a good part of the afternoon until Andrew got back at about 6pm.

After Andrew returned, we headed out to Shibuya to put money onto my pay-as-you-go phone and to attend a Canadian Day party. The streets of Shibuya reminded me of the streets of Hong Kong, what with all of the narrow lit up signs and oodles of illuminated billboards. I saw advertisements for NANA, haha! We did the phone thing with no problem and went to Shakey’s Pizza for dinner. Finding the place where his friend’s party was was a little difficult though. We circled the same block a couple of times, but we finalyl found it. It turned out that the party didn’t start until 11:30pm! It was only about 8pm when we arrived. We decided that we were going to not attend since it was a ridiculously long interval in-between. Instead, we met up with Andrew’s friend at a cafe. We were all going to head over to the Maple Leaf, but realized that it was way too crowded…and hot! It’s a foreigner bar and also had Canandian roots. So, since that day had been Canadian Independence day, it was packed rightfully so. We all decided to go to TGI Fridays. Going there, we had told that it was one of our party member’s birthdays even though it wasn’t. They brought out a huge sundae and sang Happy Birthday in english. They also took a polaroid of the whole group and drew pictures on the card that encased it. You certainly can’t get that in America!

Anyway, for the most part, I haven’t done anything too exciting yet. I found what looks to be a fairly reasonably priced hair salon so I can cut my hair, so I’m going to do that. Roland also said that he’d take me to Harakuku today (Sunday) because it’s supposed to be really happening there.

So, that is all I have to report right now. I haven’t really taken any pictures, but once I buy a bag to carry all my things in, I’m sure I’ll get around to it!

Jya mata ne!

Haha! Look for more exciting posts to come! The pinkness makes you want to eat cherry Tootsie Pops, doesn’t it? Well, it should!