Last Days of Summer

     Whoa I haven't made a blog post in the longest time!  Well it's the last day of summer, and my fun is almost over, so I though I'd give an update at least.  So much great stuff this summer, namely Comiket, Mount Fuji, drinking parties, and more!

    First off this month was Comiket.  Comiket is a large event in Tokyo where they sell many limited copies of self-made fan books, call doujinshi.  Many items sold here are not sold anywhere else (I would say about 66%?) so many people from all over Japan (and the world) come to buy these books.   While Comiket is a great event and all, the massive amount of people that come make it beyond crowded... 590,000 came out for the three days this time.  Not only is there a lot of people, it's freaking HOT.  On the second day, it got past 100 degrees F (40C for you Celsius people!).  Combined with Japan's oppressive humidity, lack of cold drinks, and 3+ hours waiting in line, this turned Comiket into an Otaku Oven of Death. About an estimated 2,000 people had collapsed from heat stroke.  Inside the building I imagine the temp. was pushing 105 degrees, as a neverending waterfall of sweat covered my face.  It just wouldn't stop, I have never sweated so much in my life.  Even my patented Quick Dry™ towel couldn't keep up.  I felt like I would pass out myself, luckily I am fairly heat-resistant.  I myself saw a guy taken away on an ambulance stretcher inside the building. This guy was out cold and people were screaming to make way.  I can only hope the hentai doujinshi was worth it.  If only.  As one of my friends on Facebook noted, only the strong can survive and become Otaku.

    A few weeks down I went to the Mount Fuji Highlands,  with a couple of my Japanese and American friends.  This was the spot of Japan's most notorious roller coaster park Fuji Q.  This place was the sight of quite a few Guinness World Record roller coasters, and boy they lived up to their name.  Lines for the roller coasters were about 1-2 hours long, but they were worth it.  The wait wasn't really that bad as we all sat in the line and chatted for a good while.  They even had other themed attractions, such as an Evangelion world and Gundam themed attraction.  I really wanted to go to the haunted house as well, but there was no time.  But I would definitely recommend the roller coasters, they were really intense.  Next time I go the first thing I'll be going to will be the Hamtaro Sky Adventure Haunted house first.

    Later in the month I ran around Tokyo for a couple great drinking parties.  As usual I went to hit up the international parties in Tokyo.  But recently I've been trying to avoid going to international parties in Roppongi... as I'm tired of seeing all the same people... but sadly Roppongi is like where 75% of them are held.  Meh.  Probably the best one I went to was a Yukata party in Naka-Meguro.  It was nice as many people came in Yukata, and you could also get a discount.  I also got the chance to re-unite with my UNC colleagues at a drinking party as well, and it was really great to see everyone again!  I hope we continue to have awesome meet-ups in the future.  I think a UNC Karaoke party is in store.  I want to hear Sawamura-sensei and Aratake-sensei do a duet!! I know I'm not the only one!!

   Well that's all for now.  Next month is sure to be quite eventful, so I'll probably be making a post as welll.  My birthday, two more smaller doujinshi events like Comiket, the release of Monster Hunter 4, second visit to Fuji-Q, some friends will be coming back to Japan, school starts back up, and on top of that, I may have another special announcement...  Ugh, September is gonna be too much for me...  (*´Д`)

Hong Kong Trip

Hey folks, I finally got back from Hong Kong last week, and had a blast.  I chose Hong Kong because A. it was close and B. I heard people speak English there. I had not ventured outside the land of the rising sun for quite a while, so it was refreshing. I'm also really glad that I'm only an hourish from the Airport!

On the first day when I got there I had at least 10 maps I printed out to make sure I didn't get lost, and I was able to find the place I was staying at, the Anne Black Guest House.  I had a random headache(obviously from the unbearable jet lag from the 1hr time difference) and pretty much crashed when I finally got to my room.  I was glad that the room had some decent AC so I just let that sucker run full blast while I slept.

For the next two days I would just walk around the city, to get my bearings.  I got pretty lost once as for some reason I had decided that leaving my city map in my hotel room would be a great idea.  Luckily I asked a random stranger with a smart phone and he was able to send me in the right direction. 

After I got used to walking around, I decided that it was time to start shoppin as it's always a good time to shop for cheap foreign junk when you're out of Japan.  I decided to go to a supermarket first.  To my surprise I was able to find Ruffles, Spam, Campbell's Soup, and American candy.  I stocked up on the wonderful American Junk food.  I would later go on to an International Market to find Munchies, Rold Golds, and Miracle Whip, all impossible goods to find in Japan.  Sweet relief!!!

Later in the week I would venture down into the shopping districts such as the ladies market and sneakers street.  There were soooo many brand name shoe stores here, it was overwhelming.  Adidas, Nike, Reebok, like 2 of each store on each side of the street.  I was glad as the stores here had shoes over a size 11 as those are also impossible to find in Japan(they did occasionally have size 11+ in Japan, but most of them were of the ugly shoes imao).  The shoe selection here was also the best I've ever seen, better than the US and leagues ahead of Japan.  I got me a pair of sweet Nike Free's for less than $100, I was happy.  So if you want a new pair of sneakers in asia, go to Hong Kong.  A+ selection and good price.  I'm assuming it's because the sweat shop is on the other side of town, aka somewhere in China.

I also went onto the ladies and electronics market.  This place was full of obvious bootleg items and very aggressive merchants, lol.  The only things I got out of here were some cheap shirts and a cheap pair of earphones(which is funny, because the bootleg ones I found had better bass than the ones I paid decent money for, they're getting better at this counterfeit business!).  Most of the stuff here was junk, an obvious tourist trap market.  Lots of foreign toys(a bunch of Angry Birds junk was here!) I love HK t shirts, and other clothes.

A couple other places I went to shop at were the health shop near my hotel.  It was pretty nice at they were stocked with many products I've never seen in the US, most stuff you can only get on the Internet(in North Carolina at least). I picked up some protein powder and other junk, they had pretty good prices.

The last day I went to the Ocean Park I had heard so much about.  It was pretty awesome, it was a hybrid Zoo/Theme Park, and had the best of both worlds.  I saw Giant Pandas, Red Pandas, and other various aquatic animals at the zoo.  I also had the chance to watch their trained seal show.  I checked out the waterfront as well, they had a nice light show.  I also must have gone on an off day, there were barely any lines(except for the bumper cars).  I rode the sky drop so many times, until I got tired of running back to the entrance, lol.

Also while in Hong Kong I decided to try my hand at Acupuncture.  So I looked up a place on the Internet that could speak English, and headed out.  Amazingly it was very cheap, and didn't take much time at all. 

Anyway all in all it was a great trip, I was surprised how much the Chinese were into Japanese culture as well, I found many places such as Genki Sushi, Gyuukaku, and Animate in Hong Kong.  The Animate even had Chinese versions of popular anime in Japan such as Madoka Magica, Pokemon, and Naruto.  I tried looking for a Shonen Jump but couldn't find one :(.  Game stores were also filled to the brink with Japanese and English games, mostly Japanese games. Game centers pretty much had only Japanese games, even Gundam and Street Fighter 5 lol.  Everyone over here also turns into smart phone zombies on the train, just like in Japan.  So my trip was pretty much a trip to Japan, only a Japan filled with Chinese people.

2-Day Nagoya Trip

Soooo I finally got around to getting out of Tokyo/Chiba, and planned a trip to Nagoya!  I had wanted to see some Japanese castles anyway, so I decided Nagoya Castle would be a good start.

It was my first time on the shinkansen (or bullet train) so I was looking forward to the trip.  On the 9th I rode on down to Tokyo station, manuevered through the chaos and went to the shinkansen tracks.  I bought a train bento and hopped into the train.  It was fairly quick to Nagoya, a little over two hours on train.  Once I got there it was about 5:00.  I was too late to get into the Nagoya castle, so I decided I would spend the day in Osu.

Osu was quite big, it was a hugely popular shopping district in the area.  I imagine if Akihabara and Harujuku had a baby, it would be Osu.  Lots of trendy clothing stores, electronic stores, and smaller food shops. 

After wandering around aimlessly for a few hours looking at shops, I decided to stop by the arcade.  Lots of people playing music games, rythm games, and the like.  I watched some guys play an Initial D racing game. 

Some hardcore DDR players were also in the arcade (as they always are) playing some intense DDR.  I.E. this one guy was getting like 300+ combos on super heavy, this guy is so pro he has actually taken off his shoes and socks to get better footing on the mat (but I don't think that's the greatest idea, doing that on a dance pad that many other people have used, but I think he wiped it off before hand, but it's still gross to think this guy has his sweaty feet all over this dance pad, even if you're wearing shoes...).  Even though he was amazing, I actually saw him fail one song, so I guess he's not perfect!

I also tried my hand at one of my favorites, a gun-based rythm game where you shoot music monsters to the rythm of the song.  While I was playing a few Japanese people stopped and stared to watch me own at the game.

Even though I had some Subway earlier I was still hungry so I went to this small food stall across from the arcade.  It was Japanese onigiri (rice ball) wrapped in cooked pork.  It was awesome, aparently the place had appeared on TV once before.  As it was getting late I decided it was time to turn in for the night, I had decided beforehand I would stay at a manga/internet cafe because staying at a hotel for just one night would be too rich for my blood.  Anyway I had gotten a coupon from some guy outside the arcade too, so I decided I would be sleeping at that certain net cafe!

When I got to the place it was on the top floor of a building, so I had to climb a few escalators.  I walked in and ordered the 10 hours package, which was about 2100￥($23ish?).  This place was a bit interesting as it was a little different from the normal net cafes that I stay at, the usual package consists of all you can use internet, drinks, and manga comics.  This place had all you can use internet, drinks, and vanilla ice cream!  And to top it off, this place had a free.... tanning service? What in the... well, I was almost tempted to give it a shot, because hey, free tan?

Well aside from the usual perks of low cost, free drinks and other bonuses, net cafes do have their usual downsides... thin walls and no enclosed rooms!  Also the Japanese men who tend to stay at these places tend to snore... LOUD.  And I do have a funny story about this.  Do you remember that Spounge Bob episode where Sandy is snoring so freaking loud that she can't hear Patrick and Spounge Bob making tons of noise? Well, it was kind of like that.

About a month ago I was staying at a net cafe in Funabashi (I had missed my last train).  I had setup shop in my booth cafe for the night, and was walking around in the cafe.  I was peeking at some Yakuza-themed manga, and was watching Japanese guys play Monster Hunter Frontier Online (pretty awesome looking game actually) until I heard some noise like a bear growl coming from behind me.  It turns out that some guy in the booth behind me had fallen asleep, and was snoring LOUD as hell (I am so glad I was not camped in the room next to him).  One of the internet cafe's waitresses heard this and came over to his booth to let him know he was snoring too damn loud.

Waitress: お客様…お客様…　(Customer...., Customer...)

Man: ZZZzzzZZZZZ

Waitress:お客様！！ (Customer!!!)

Man: ZZZZzzzZZZ

Good lord, this man was snoring so loud, he was drowning out the waitress' cries.  I think she eventually gave up and left...

Anyway, the next morning I got up out of the cafe, and headed toward Nagoya Castle.  When I got to the castle around the afternoon, it had quite a few people around.  It turns out that most of the Castle had been hollowed out and turned into a museum.... oh, well.  And even more hilarious the top leve of the castle had been turned into a gift shop.  Anyway after I toured the castle I went back down to the grounds and had a shot with one of the castle's samurai performers.  It was an awesome way to end the day!

International Party Shibuya

Wow, such a tough day, ran circles around Tokyo before the international party in Shibuya.  First my morning started off with teaching some Eikawa for Elementary School students.  Of course being the funny guy I am I like to mess with my students.  Our topic for today was "What`s for dinner" and I had them choose the food out of a pile of cards.  As it was boring enough, I decided to not just use the food cards, but ALL of the previous cards from other lessons, things such as cameleon, ladybug, and cheese, but this was by far the funniest conversation.

"What's for dinner?"

"Baby sister....."

".....Do you want baby sister?"

"..........Yes, please."

Of course, they bursted out laughing, and baby sister became the butt of many jokes (It was actually even more hilarious, as the little girl looked like the one in the exact same dialog in the book, and she actually dissapears mysteriously on the next page of another skit in the exact same household.  I wonder what happened to her?

Anyway, after that I was going to meet my friend Naoto in Kinshicho to see the new Japanese release of Life of Pi because I had seen a commercial on TV.  But by the time we got there, it was sold out, along with Ted.  Oh well.  We screwed around and went to Akihabara until the party.  Once we got to Shibuya, I was starving, and on the way to the party, we see a freakin Sbarro.  This was the first time I had seen one in Japan, and I was eager to eat some real American pizza, not that fake crap that everyone claims to have.  I enjoyed some real NY style pizza for the first time in a year, I'm certainly going back there just for that... but anyway, I reccomend it.

Once the party rolled around I was joined by another oen of my Japanese friends, Tasuku(he's a hot blooded otaku) and we wandered around for a bit until we found the party.  Once we got there it was very small and cozy, but a little too cozy as there were very few people, compared to the usual(about 30 people, compared to the 200+ parties I see in Roppongi).  However the drinks weren't bad, and afterwards we went to karaoke.  We started off the night with some Pokemon and Inuyasha, lol I guess everyone else had no clue what we were singing to they just sat back and watched the foreigners sing, and one girl called me マイケル, lol.

However we stayed too long and wouldn't make it back to Chiba on the last train.  My otaku friend Tasuku said he's treat us to a place that he's been wanting to go to for months now... an all night Cosplay Bar in Akihabara.  Me and my friend were'nt getting home anyway, so we said why not! 

When we got to Akihabara it was eerily quiet.  My friend Tasuku commented that he's never seen Akihabara this quiet before.  At 1am in the morning, it's an otaku ghost town.  When we finally got to the hole in the wall bar, we were greeted with a cloud of smoke and cosplay girls.  They seated us down and we ordered food and drinks.  The drinks had the wierdest names such as "~that~" and "little devil."  The complimented me on my ability to read the kanji, but I only could because I play too many games as it is.
The food menu was pretty standard for a bar, but a few entries had a twist, like the tower of onion rings.  They wouldn't let us pick the sauce, we had to roll a die to determine what sauces we would get.  Luckily, we ended up rolling cheese, barbecue, and chili sauce.

 I picked up various conversations about anime and junk, and Comiket.  I was actually interested in the most on the conversation about Digimon.

"Are you going to pick up the new Digimon game?"

"Yeah, I'm getting it tommorow!"

While I'm a fan of Digimon myself, blowing almost 7000 yen on a new PSP game(Especially Digimon!) is a heinous crime.  Bandai is obviously trying to suck every last dime out of the people who still actually like Digimon.

Anyway, by the end of the night, we were passing out and finally got around to ordering our check.  We staggered back to the train station, and I headed back to Chiba.  What a crazy night, huh?