Yikes, a solid week sans update. Sorry folks. I assure you I haven't run off to the back woods of Japan to live as a crazy old hermit... yet. That being said, this week went by incredibly fast.
Tuesday some of the students gathered to watch "Black Rain" in preparation for last friday's lecture. (Black Rain (1989) based on a novel written in 1966 about the social after effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. See: Amazon.com) Wednesday I chatted with some folks back home using a VOIP type service. It felt good to catch up on the goings on at school. Thursday after class I headed to Akihabara to pick up a new game that came out that day. For those of you in the US who have a PS2, "Shadow of the Colossus" is an awesome game.
Friday after classes there was a get-together with some of the JLSP and Japanese NiDai students organized by monday's JLSP professor. It was a lot of fun. I sat next to a Japanese student who I had met before when he sat in on a JLSP lecture and a Chinese student. I noted while looking at the menu that I liked Yakitori (a kind of shish-kabob) and Saba (mackerel) and the two student took it upon themselves to order for the three of us. I'm glad they did however, because what we were served was delicious. There was only one thing I was kind of afraid to eat, and that was because the Chinese student kept insisting (in English) that it was "Chicken Bone." (it looked and tasted like a hot dog... sort of.) After the party ended we all rode home together. There was a rumored after-party, but everyone agreed that they were too tired at that point.
Saturday I got up and showered before going to McD's for a big breakfast. I need energy for my crazy plot for the day; walk from Shimotakaido (home) to Ichigaya (school). Some of you are saying, "walk to school as a task, I do that every day!" I respond by noting that my school is roughly 10km (5mi) away from my house. There is a pretty straight path between the two in the form of a freeway that runs 3/5 of the way there.
All in all the walk wasn't very exciting. It took me about an hour to get to Shinjuku and another thirty minutes to finish walking to school. I took a lot of pictures on the way, but they were mostly stock-shots that I'll use later. At Ichigaya I got on a train for Akihabara.
The second trip to Akihabara was to further investigate something seen on the first trip. Akiba-enta-maturi (Shortened form of Akihabara Entertainment Festival). In conjunction with the 18th annual Tokyo international film festival, Sony and many of the stores in Akihabara put on this event which ended this weekend. There were deals to be had, and Sony's Playstation division had a pavilion set up. I walked around for a bit until I realized I had walked all day, and was really tired. Usually I stand on the train, but on the way home I had to sit.
This morning I went with a few other students and some of the Japanese helpers at the university to see the Hokusai exhibit at the National Museum in Ueno park. (the DL on Hokusai; Ukioe artist. You've seen that "Japanese print" of a big wave with Mt. Fuji in the back, that's Hokusai.) I really only knew that he did the 36 views of Mt. Fuji series of prints, but Hokusai (one of MANY pen names) did a LOT of work in his 89 year life. But really out of the 495 works displayed (it was a big exhibit) I only wanted to see one. It was there, it was wonderful, it made me happy.
After we had all walked through the exhibit we went out for lunch at a wonderful Japanese restaurant. I was glad hear that the same restaurant exists in Shimotakaido. I had a tasty bowl of grilled pork over rice. After lunch (which was late because we took a while in the exhibit) I went back once more to Akihabara.
Tuesday some of the students gathered to watch "Black Rain" in preparation for last friday's lecture. (Black Rain (1989) based on a novel written in 1966 about the social after effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. See: Amazon.com) Wednesday I chatted with some folks back home using a VOIP type service. It felt good to catch up on the goings on at school. Thursday after class I headed to Akihabara to pick up a new game that came out that day. For those of you in the US who have a PS2, "Shadow of the Colossus" is an awesome game.
Friday after classes there was a get-together with some of the JLSP and Japanese NiDai students organized by monday's JLSP professor. It was a lot of fun. I sat next to a Japanese student who I had met before when he sat in on a JLSP lecture and a Chinese student. I noted while looking at the menu that I liked Yakitori (a kind of shish-kabob) and Saba (mackerel) and the two student took it upon themselves to order for the three of us. I'm glad they did however, because what we were served was delicious. There was only one thing I was kind of afraid to eat, and that was because the Chinese student kept insisting (in English) that it was "Chicken Bone." (it looked and tasted like a hot dog... sort of.) After the party ended we all rode home together. There was a rumored after-party, but everyone agreed that they were too tired at that point.
Saturday I got up and showered before going to McD's for a big breakfast. I need energy for my crazy plot for the day; walk from Shimotakaido (home) to Ichigaya (school). Some of you are saying, "walk to school as a task, I do that every day!" I respond by noting that my school is roughly 10km (5mi) away from my house. There is a pretty straight path between the two in the form of a freeway that runs 3/5 of the way there.
All in all the walk wasn't very exciting. It took me about an hour to get to Shinjuku and another thirty minutes to finish walking to school. I took a lot of pictures on the way, but they were mostly stock-shots that I'll use later. At Ichigaya I got on a train for Akihabara.
The second trip to Akihabara was to further investigate something seen on the first trip. Akiba-enta-maturi (Shortened form of Akihabara Entertainment Festival). In conjunction with the 18th annual Tokyo international film festival, Sony and many of the stores in Akihabara put on this event which ended this weekend. There were deals to be had, and Sony's Playstation division had a pavilion set up. I walked around for a bit until I realized I had walked all day, and was really tired. Usually I stand on the train, but on the way home I had to sit.
This morning I went with a few other students and some of the Japanese helpers at the university to see the Hokusai exhibit at the National Museum in Ueno park. (the DL on Hokusai; Ukioe artist. You've seen that "Japanese print" of a big wave with Mt. Fuji in the back, that's Hokusai.) I really only knew that he did the 36 views of Mt. Fuji series of prints, but Hokusai (one of MANY pen names) did a LOT of work in his 89 year life. But really out of the 495 works displayed (it was a big exhibit) I only wanted to see one. It was there, it was wonderful, it made me happy.
After we had all walked through the exhibit we went out for lunch at a wonderful Japanese restaurant. I was glad hear that the same restaurant exists in Shimotakaido. I had a tasty bowl of grilled pork over rice. After lunch (which was late because we took a while in the exhibit) I went back once more to Akihabara.
Okay, so for the third time in one week, I went back there. I wanted to see the Playstation pavilion again.
Warning: Video game babble ahead!
-Monster Hunter 2 is Awesome! I never heard of Monster Hunter, but it's evidently huge here. I guess it's an online "Guild Wars" type game. Also, Monster Hunter Portable for PSP is coming out soon. I don't know if any of these games will make it to the states, but I sincerely hope they do.
-Metal Gear Solid 3: Substance. So, you get another copy of MGS3 (because you bought it already RIGHT!?), sure you get the original MG and MG2 games emulated for PS2. But really your box can not contain those 2 CD and you'd be happy. The shine of this set is MGS3 Online. Let your imagination go wild. Yes, you can do that. Whatever it is. It's everything you could want from a MGS online game.
-Katamari Damacy Portable. It's KD, that you can take with you. It uses the D pad and the right key pad to give it the usual KD controls similar to the PS2 versions. It should be coming to the states soon.
-Metal Gear Acid 2. If you liked the first MG for PSP, you'll like this one. The add on "gear vision" of whatever it's called is a bit more chincy than expected (it's made out of cardboard) but does make the screen 3d.
Sony did a good job of making sure they earned (will keep) a customer. After a long time in the game hall playing around with new games I decided to head home.
Hopefully this next week will be just as awesome if not better. Nothing on the books yet, but I'm sure something will come up.
Ja Mata Ne.
posted by Dockett at 10:30 PM
3 Comments:
Wait wait wait... did you just try the games you listed, or did you buy some of them? I'm really interested in seeing if Monster Hunter 2's due out in the States... guess I'm gonna have to look into it!
~Rusty
I just played the games mentioned. Most of them have release dates in December or January. An overly helpful staff member (ala Wayne's World) told me in perfect California English that monster hunter 2 was due some time in the spring. (Gamefaqs says Febuary for Japan)
hey dockett,
fyi for ya out there in j-tokyo, western is having their spring semester signing up for classes spiel starting tomorrow Nov. 1st! Hope you read this in time so you can get a decent schedule going for ya when you get back. goodluck with the rest of your semester. its sounds like you're having a blast.
-jozi
Post a Comment
<< Home