10/15/08 Tokyo Game Show 2008

This Sunday I went to the Tokyo Game Show 2008 with some of the Ashikaga crew. It bore a striking resemblence to last year's show. I think that it might have actually been more crowded than it was last year though. It is located in the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba.

The big ticket game being previewed this year was Resident Evil 5. The little movie about it on display made it look pretty darn cool. I wouldn't have minded checking it out, but the line to play it was 3 HOURS LONG! Ahhhh! Ok, I need to address this. I think that Japan is way too accepting of this waiting in line business. Come on people, can't you give me a ticket with a time to come back on it? Do I really need to be physically in the same spot long enough to give myself a blood clot? This is ridiculous. You might not hear about the dark side of the game show from the usual news outlets, because reporters and other people whose time has value get to go on the business days, which I assume aren't so awful. Bah!


Although I didn't get to see the beloved Resident Evil, I got a chance to play the Dead Rising port for the Wii called Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop. While it is always fun to bash zombies' heads in, I must say that this game is a miss. One of the things that made this game great on Xbox 360 was the huge amount of zombies that can be on the screen at one time. When your character opens a door and finds three hundred undead on the other side, it can be a bit unnerving, but in a good way. I think that the Wii's hardware limitations will really take some of the flair away from this game, as I hear that only 100 enemies can be onscreen. That combined with a general arcade style overhall makes the game feel like it is geared towards very casual players with short attention spans. Catch the 360 version if you wanna be cool.

While waiting in line we were given these cards that explain the controls. They even had an English one! Its a nice idea considering the copious amount of free time that a line provides. Studying this also lets one avoid looking like a dope when everyone is watching you play.

Just as last year, a highlight of the show is all of the people dressed up as video game characters. Most of these people are very serious, and often their costumes are flawless. I wondered how they constructed some of their props. Unfortunately I only recognized a few of the characters.

Here are some random people preparing.


They seemed to have a pretty tight community going on, and often they were taking pictures of eachother. Here are a couple of girls from Street Fighter taking shots of Tidus from Final Fantasy X.


This was my favorite group of the day. These are just about movie-quality representations of Rikku, Tidus, and Yuna from Final Fantasy X, and yes I realize that I am a big nerd.



Here is a short little clip of the costume area. It is located between two giant buildings.

Next are a few shots to give a bit of perspective on the show.

Our crew has a few new faces. Kim, Clarence, Me, Shaun, Joe, and Zishan.

It was fun, but I think that this will be my last Game Show, one way or another.

Later in the day I found something beautiful. Its a claw game with Nintendo cartridges inside! I know! Wow!

10/8/08 Korean War National Museum

Today and yesterday the kids have been experiencing the joy of school-wide exams. Bad for them, good for me. It gives me a bit of time to address the magical, self replenishing stack of papers on my desk that need grading. There is an English listening component to each classes' tests, which I record a tape for. The tape is then played over the intercom at the appropriate time. They say that everyone hates the sound of their own voice. How about the sound of that voice reverberating through the halls?

I stumbled onto a bit of Springfield news on the internets. It seems that The Korean War National Museum(website here) is slated to be constructed in Springfield, "across from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum". An article on the project features some comments from advisory board member Buzz Aldrin, famed astronaut and Vietnam veteran. I look forward to visiting the museum, especially after the lengthy introduction to the war I received at the War Museum of Korea in Seoul, although its probable that the point of views expressed will be similar between allies. The museum should be a welcome addition to the tourism opportunities available in my hometown.

10/6/08 On Japanese Social Networking Sites

I found this article on msnbc.com that I thought was interesting. It comments on Japanese society in relation to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, or the Japanese native Mixi. I can personally relate to this article. I signed up to Mixi about 2 years ago in order to stay in touch with Japanese friends after I returned to the US. It was really a pain finding the people whom I know. Someone would add me as their friend, and I would check out their page to try to figure out who they were, only to find a picture of a dog wearing a hat. No additional photos. What the heck!?

One paragraph is especially striking. It concerns the online dating site match.com.

Match has increased its paying users in Japan by tailoring its approach to better fit marriage-minded Japanese women, timing advertising campaigns with national holidays when they travel home and face pressure from parents to find a mate.

Maybe its just me, but this sounds a bit predatory.

10/5/08 A Baseball Game, Finally!

I finally got to see a baseball game in Japan. My friend Kazu invited us to a match in Yokohama, which is south of Tokyo and takes almost three hours to reach by train. The home team is called the Yokohama Baystars, but Kazu loves the Hiroshima Carp, hence the slightly distant venue. I would still like to check out the Tokyo Dome where the Giants play one of these days.

Unfortunately for my friend, the Carp ended up getting their faces stomped 14 to 5. He wasn't very happy.

What should I mention? First of all, the field was a bit different. In addition to everything being much smaller than I am used to, everything was artificial. The grass was all AstroTurf, and the diamond looked artificial as well. Only a small patch around the bases was even dirt, I assume to allow players to slide.

There were people walking up and down the isles selling beer just like in the US. They sold beer Japanese style, though. They would just walk around and do a little wave, rather than yelling "BEER!" at the top of their lungs all day.

I felt that it was absolutely necessary to have a hotdog. Everything was there, the meat, the bun, ketchup & mustard, but wow, they sure don't taste like they do at home. The mustard that is often available in Japan is interesting. It has lots of little mustard seeds mixed into it which gives it a nice texture, and it contains some wasabi for an added kick. Not bad.


The fans in the outfield were divided according to what team they supported. I was impressed by the number of Carp fans present. They were close to equal the number of home team fans, despite being based on the opposite end of the country. Die hard, I guess.

Speaking of die hard, the fans exhibited more of the ultra organized cheering that I have come to love. They had a small band and several little cheer routines, bearing some resemblance to the fans at the soccer game.

Here is a tiny bit of a kind of two layered wave type cheer.

We had several hours of free time before we needed to catch our train home, so we did a bit of walking around. Yokohama has a vibrant Chinatown, and I had a good appetite, so it worked out pretty well.

I am a big fan of Chinatowns in general. They are always so colorful and bustling.

This display bowl of plastic soup even had a spoon suspended from it. Next there will be plastic hands holding forks.

It was a very satisfying day.

Here are a couple of fake news clips that I thought were funny. Enjoy.

Is our wealth hurting Africa's feelings?

10/02/08 The Sports Festival, The Second Time Around

Today there were no classes due to the annual sports festival. It seems strange to have this and the tournament day so close to each other, but no one is going to hear me complain about it. This morning was actually a bit cold, and it was misting rain intermittently, a pretty rough time to be running around outside. I sat under one of the many tents most of the time, half watching the kids play and half working on my kanji. I've gotta learn 300 of those little beasts.

The kids competed with each other based on which little class they are in. They did group jump rope, tug of war, relay races, and a few other things I have only seen in Japan. I didn't bother taking any photos this time, as I feel like I covered it pretty well last year. As far as I could tell, it was the exact same program only with a few new faces. You can relive the magic and see the story and video of the practice here, and the blog about the real deal festival is here.

Several parts, most notably the marching and the calisthenics, seem a bit militaristic at times. Watching them practice sometimes felt like watching a little boot camp. Most of the students seem to really enjoy it, though, so whatever. During one marching practice, some of the kids in the back row mentioned something about North Korea, then he and his buddies did a bit of sarcastic goosestepping when their teachers weren't looking. Maybe there is hope for these kids after all.


I've been trying to keep up with the news on the American economy, but the situation seems to be changing so fast that I can't keep up. All of this delicious news has been a smorgasbord for the likes of John Stewart and Steven Colbert. I think that they have a really good position for commenting on our society. They can say whatever they want as long as its funny, but it often comes out very true as well. Stewart especially comes down with some scathing commentary that I cant seem to find anyplace else.

Here are a few of my favorite clips from the Daily Show episode on September 25th. Alas, they are a couple of days old, but they age like a fine ginger ale. Enjoy.