Reporting Live and Direct from Japan!
Woo… finally checked into a hotel with an internet connection!
Still uploading the pictures, but you can probably see some of it in the Flickr bar on the right.
Anyway, Japan is a wonderfull place, and 10 days is just barely enough to just scratch the surface ~ we’ll be back, and for a longer stretch next time.
Anime and Gaming
First up though, will be something near and dear to my heart: Anime and Gaming. In this, the country of Gamers and Otaku, the Mecca will have to be Akihabara:
Not only does this place have enough electronics to send a Neo-Luddite into catatonic shock, it is also an Otaku’s heaven, boasting at least 6 (I stopped counting after that ~ sensory overload) multi-storey buildings selling nothing but anime, manga, gaming and related merchandise. Heck, even in Shinkuku where the biggest Kinokuniya I’ve ever seen (which occupies about 6 floors) houses it’s anime and manga section in a seperate annex building!
Speaking of anime, we went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, about 30 minute’s train ride from Tokyo:
Cool Fact #1: For admission tickets, they use film strips from their anime… and you get to keep them!
Cool Fact #2: You get to see a short film in the in-house Saturno Theater… which is only ever shown in-house and never released anywhere else.
Eat your hearts out, 1Obn!
Finally, for gaming, Japan probably features arcade games that are found nowhere else in the world. Case in point; while walking around in Akihabara, I saw this poster outside an arcade centre:
The fact that it’s a Gundam-related game caught my interest… but what was interesting was the details…. it’s a %$#@! *ZOMFG! Gundam Simulator!
Full 180-degree display, 4-pods interlinked for team play, head-sets for inter-team communications, pilot station for stats (you get a card with your record).
*drool*
Now, when will this be coming to Singapore?!?
lol u finally posted…i’ve been waiting for u
Comment by Xak — November 12, 2006 @ 2:35 am
(hmm.. i thought i left a comment… but anyway,) god you’re such an anime-ing, gaming freak!! hahahah! yeah 10 days is barely enough to scratch the surface. japan’s too good!! if you like gundam and robots and stuff, search akihabara. i’m not sure where exactly it is, but they have shops that lets you play and fight with robots! it’s so fun. and there is also a studio that plays several famous anime scenes, and you can try to be one of the characters, speaking through the mike and changing your voice to suit it!! of course there is a script, but you can come up with your own plot, which can be so funny as well!
Comment by gilda — August 11, 2007 @ 12:38 pm