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About a month ago, I mentioned the famous crosswalk in Shibuya where gazillions of people make tracks every day, as well as the nearby Starbucks across the way. Yesterday, I had to kill some time before hooking up with some friends, so I headed for said sutaba to have a drink and snap a few pics of the scenery from the second-floor window. Keep in mind, rainy season is still in full effect here, so the streets weren't nearly as crowded as they usually are, but even still, the number of people I saw in my 30 minutes or so of silent observation was truly staggering.
While you're at it, have a look at a 30-second clip of the hordes in motion.
Last night, I went to my first Japanese baseball game. Considering I've been living here for over two and a half years and visiting regularly for over six, it's kind of hard to believe that it's taken me this long to finally get out to a game. I've always had a soft spot for baseball (lifelong Yankees fan here -- was at the Stadium for Game 6 in '96 when they beat the Braves to win the World Series), so it felt great to get a feel for what a Japanese game was like. The mood wasn't as different as I expected it to be, but nevertheless I had a really good time. I went to Jingu Stadium with some friends to watch the Yakult Swallows play the Yokohama Bay Stars. Yakult (the home team) won 3-2 -- their closer, Shingo Takatsu, actually broke the Japanese record for save points (number of saves plus relief victories) with his 270th point. Not that I really cared; I just wanted to have fun, and I did. And since the Swallows won (not exactly a common occurence), it seemed like most of the other people in attendance had a good time too:
I'm definitely heading back soon. Going to baseball games in the summer was always one of my favorite ways to beat the heat (especially in Chicago), so I want to try to get back into the habit ASAP. I wonder which team I should start supporting?
I was going through some misc. stuff on my hard drive earlier when I stumbled upon some old screenshots I had taken way back in 1996, a couple of months after I had started working at Ziff.
The screens came from an old Sega Saturn game called Dark Savior, which was published by Sega. As it turns out, this was no ordinary version of the game; My friend Mark and I managed to score a copy of an early, unedited English version of DS that was never actually shown to anyone outside of Sega. We got it directly from the Japanese producer of the game, who at the time was obviously unaware that he was breaking all kinds of rules by giving us the disc without notifying or getting approval from anybody in Sega PR.
This version happened to be a direct translation of the Japanese one, which means that all of the colorful language that's generally accepted in Japanese games was left intact. As a result, playing through it proved to be one of the most entertaining experiences of my gaming career.
Below, have a look at a few of my favorite lines. (Click on an image to see the full-size, unedited version.) WARNING: Screenshots contain graphic language.
I can only imagine what the ESRB would've had to say about this one had it been released in its original form... :)
I haven't asked anyone in the game industry for an autograph in a long. long time. I used to do it a lot when I was still new to the business, but after a few years, the excitement wore off. I was fortunate enough to meet many of the guys who I considered to be legends in my first two years at EGM when I used to fly out to Japan with Mark and CJ every few months to cover trade shows and press events and whatnot. After that, things cooled off a bit, and I stopped seeking out the almighty sig everywhere I went.
...Until this week.
My good friend Nao is in town on business, finishing up the U.S. versions of Soul Calibur II at Namco, so I asked him to ask the producer of the series, Hiroaki Yotoriyama, if he'd mind signing my copy of the game. My company did a bit of translation work on the U.S. versions (Weapon Master Mode), so I figured maybe he'd cut me a break and offer up the ink. A few days later, I received this:
Pretty cool, eh? Yotoriyama-san is a relative unknown outside of Japan, but hopefully that'll all change once Soul Calibur II hits, because he deserves a LOT more credit than he's received thus far.
As for me, I guess I've still got a bit of fanboy blood left, after all. :) Is that such a bad thing?
The dreaded rainy season is in full effect here in Tokyo. Shown here is a view from the second floor window inside the Starbucks near Gakugei-Daigaku station:
This is what it's going to be like on pretty much a daily basis from now until the end of June. Hope you've got a nice umbrella...
My life these past few months has been a complete blur. I rarely ever have a chance to sit down and think about anything aside from work or going out with friends lately, and because of that, my backlog of things I need to do is starting to get huge. This weekend was the first time in ages that I've had a bit of time to just chill out and reflect, and I almost wish I hadn't done it, because all it did was stress me out when I realized how much petty crap I have to deal with. Between renewing my visa, paying long overdue living taxes, searching for a new apartment, looking for a school to study Japanese, keeping up with freelance work, etc. etc., I feel like my head's gonna explode.
I'm not sure if it's because I live in Tokyo or if it's because I'm getting older, but I feel like time is moving faster and faster with each passing day. I don't really mind the crazy pace all that much (suits my personality -- I'm an energetic guy), but I wish there was a way to cut down on all the extraneous BS so I could actually enjoy it more without having to worry so much about the little things.
I don't really have a point for posting this, BTW; I think I just needed to vent. I'm feeling better already, though -- I think I'm gonna forget about all this responsibility crap for tonight and go see some friends for a bit.
Until next time...
Last September, I wrote about how I'd gotten hooked on online console gaming with the U.S. release of Sony's Network Adapter and SOCOM for the PS2. A few weeks later, I got into Phantasy Star Online for GameCube, and then about a month after that, Xbox Live hit. It was an interesting period in videogame history, but the excitement cooled down soon after when the realization set in that there weren't many good, fun games available for online play. Not yet, anyway.
Fast-forward to now, nine months later. As I type this, I'm waiting for the PlayStation BB Navigator update to download to my Japanese PlayStation 2 so I can proceed with the installation of my first big online game since PSO: Minna no Golf Online. I've been a huge fan of the Mingol series since the original version (it's known as Hot Shots Golf in the States, or Everybody's Golf in Europe), and I even wrote a little translation guide for the previous version so importers with no knowledge of Japanese could play it. It's an alarmingly fun game, and being able to play it with the gazillions of hardcore Japanese players out there online sounds extremely enticing, if also a bit terrifying (I expect to get my ass handed to me quite readily over the next few weeks). Japanese players take their games way too seriously...
Anyway, the point is, it looks like the whole online fever thing is about to kick in again, so obviously, I'm excited. I might even give Final Fantasy XI another go. All that chatting will probably be good for my Japanese, so maybe I'll try starting that up tonight as well. よし、がんばるぞ！
PS -- Rainy season (and summer) has arrived. It's all downhill from here...
So, those of you who've been with me for a while have probably noticed that this site's been undergoing a lot of changes as of late, mainly due to the fact that I ditched the old layout in favor of a new blog-based setup. I still have a ways to go before I get everything all caught up, but things are progressing smoothly.
The latest bit I've been working on is the list of links over there on the right side of the page. A few of my good friends here in Japan have their own blogs, which got me to seeking out other similar pages, and in the process I found a few very cool sites run by (seemingly) cool people. Definitely check them out if you're interested in seeing what other people like myself have to say about Japan. I'm sure you'll find some fascinating stuff in there. And if you just can't get enough, be sure to check out Kurt Easterwood's page for the most comprehensive list of Japan-based blogs anywhere on the 'net. I'm still going through them all myself; it's gonna be weeks before I can make it to the bottom!
In other news, my good friend and former co-worker Kevin Gifford has resurrected his old site, Video-Senki, for a second run in the form of the new-and-improved Video-Fenky. Even though Kevin's in San Francisco, he writes mostly about Japan (with a heavy emphasis on game-related topics; we're all gamer geeks at heart), and his posts are almost always informative and entertaining, if a bit off the deep end sometimes. Definitely check it out and tell your friends about it.
I feel like I've got a lot to talk about, but I'm out of time for now, so hopefully I can get back with some more updates later in the week. Ciao for now...
On Saturday, some friends and I went to the Virgin Cinemas at Roppongi Hills to check out one of the films being shown as part of "The Basques in the Cinema," a Spanish film festival that took place from Friday to Sunday. The movie we saw was called "Lucia y el Sexo," or "Sex and Lucia," and it was surprisingly captivating. There's an awful lot of nudity and err... physical interaction... in the film, so I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of 18 (or perhaps over the age of 50, heh), but if you can deal with the raciness, you'll find there's a lot to like. I was especially absorbed by the atmosphere and the dialogue. Whoever did the subtitling did a really good job; at the same time, perhaps just the simple fact that the audio was in Spanish added to the movie's appeal. (Hearing beautiful women speak Spanish is definitely one of life's finer pleasures, if you ask me.)
In any case, the movie's already out on DVD (I'm assuming what we saw was the 'unrated' version, considering how many gratuitous male organ shots there were), so if this sounds like something you'd be into, you might want to check your local Tsutaya (or Blockbuster, or whatever) to see if it's available for rent. You can also check out the official movie trailer here.
Edit: Forgot to mention one thing -- the movie was showing in Virgin's special "premiere" theater. The normal screens at Roppongi Hills are nice enough, but the premiere one is out of control. Big, comfortable reclining seats... dimly-lit tables at each side... free drinks (spanish cider for us -- how fitting)... it was really nice. Usually the premiere screenings cost 3,000 yen, but Lucia turned out to be normal price (1,800 yen), most likely because it was part of the film festival. They even had free food before the showing, though I'm not sure if that's the case for all premiere movies or if that was a special deal as well. In any case, it was a good time and if you've got the spare change, I definitely recommend giving the premiere screen a whirl.
What's the best way to counter several days in a row of partying hard and spending far too much money on food, drink and various social events?
You guessed it: Instant Ramen. Force yourself to deal with this crap for three days in a row and you can totally balance out the previous week's worth of indulging (at only 80 yen a bag -- roughly 68 cents -- it's quite a steal). In fact, if you can find some half-decent flavors (pictured above: Nissin Chicken Ramen), it's really not all that horrible.
...
Alright, I really, really need to learn how to cook...
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