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`)