New Media!

Seems like it's been ages since I last posted. Don't worry, I've been busy! Side projects do take up free time. Seeing friends off likewise!

Anyway, since last time, I've posted a few new media clips for you. A new album on facebook and a new youtube clip that we shot last weekend. The latter is entitled "Using Tools: Incorrectly" and is a montage we shot Sunday night.

Check them out!

Random in Japan (facebook)

Using Tools: Incorrectly (youtube)

It's Shiggy

Saw an interesting article today in the NY Times about Shigeru Miyamoto. Papa Nintendo, if you will. The brains behind some of the world's most famous characters, as well as the company that has brought everything from going to piranha plant infested green pipes to the Wii Fit (currently selling like hotcakes!). Shiggy, as he's commonly referred to in gaming circles, has successfully accomplished time and time again the art of entertainment at its finest, bring family and friends together for just one more game. He himself is so well recognized in the US that he was recently found to be the most influential person in the world, at least according to a Time online poll. Practically a celebrity!

The reason I find this all so interesting is that throughout all my travels in Japan, other than in gaming magazines, have I ever heard about Mr. Miyamoto. Never on tv. Friends don't have a clue. Just keeps himself busy, doing his regular salaryman activities, doesn't live any rich lifestyle or anything. I hear he likes gardening (hence, Pikmin!)

Original article:
Resistance Is Futile (via NY Times)

Week in review!

The past week has been hectic, working on some side projects while back at work full time. I did finally secure my new online portfolio domain, and will share that just as soon as I can get the page together!

For now, here's the week in review... quite possibly the fewest posts since I launched this blog!

- Did a movie on how backwards Japan can really be.
- Banana peppers: not in Japan!
- Witnessed a pretty gruesome wreck. However, I checked the paper the next day and couldn't find anything on it... so maybe these folks were ok in the end!
- Learned more about the death of the Peachliner people mover.

So there you have it! Four! Hope your weekend's awesome, it's great weather here in beautiful Dayton O.

Peachliner, The Dead Train

So. There's this gianormous concrete loop of a train track right outside of my fiancee's parents' house in Komaki. Simply huge, and high above ground. At the one side is a train station. An abandoned train station! And not just that station, but every station along those tracks. Yes, this particular train, the Peachliner, was the first "people mover" line to close its doors in Japan. At least so according to wikipedia!

Some excerpts from the wiki I found interesting, other than the almost over usage of the term people mover:

"In 1974, [the Peachliner] had a projected ridership of 43,000 ... The line was opened in March, 1991, but by this time the ridership projection had been cut to just 12,000 passengers per day... between 1991 and 2004 the line only averaged 2,670 passengers per day, amounting to only 6% of the original estimate."

"The maintenance of the line required some 11.5 billion yen per year, a tenth of Tokadai New Town's budget and, compared to construction costs of 31.3 billion yen, the equivalent of rebuilding the line from scratch every three years."

Talk about poor planning. And of course, this thing is mostly above ground, so the demolition costs to rip out all the concrete would be substantial, so there it will sit. For a long time. And I'll see it again.

The Car Was On In Its Side

Recently, I've been doing a lot of driving. About a 25 minute commute to work, longer in the evening. The better part of that on the highway. Never really been any huge problems: despite ongoing construction throughout multiple portions, I've only been significantly slowed up once.

So while clear sailing it home a bit later than usual today, I saw it on the other side. I was in the left lane, and so were they, on the other side. Flipped up on its side, a car had just gotten beat to hell, flipped, and was standing such that driver's side was pavement first. Just happened, too: the highway, two lanes at that point due to construction, blocked off by those involved and immediately behind. Not a single cruiser or ambulance on the scene yet. Haven't looked into the traffic reports yet, but that would have taken some time.

My thoughts and blessings go out to all those involved. Hope everyone's alright.

Things Not in Japan

Not in Japan: tasty banana peppers!

Try as I might have, couldn't seem to find them. My fiancee's been on the search for two years now. For the love of all that is holy, if you know how to find 'em in Japan, let me know. For everyone headed to Japan: stock up now.

Backwards Japan

Some stuff, for whatever is reason, is exactly backwards in Japan (compared to America!) Like the emergency hotline: here in the US, we would dial 911. There? Oh yeah, totally 119. Black and white photos? Are shirokuro (white-black). I can't think of the word for it, but I'm pretty sure that ladies and gentlemen was also reversed. And lots more!

So! I found more proof. Just a little video showing how backwards the society can be!

Check out the proof here.

Week in review!

Wow. What a week. Said goodbye to Japan life and hello to the American one. Mixed feelings abound! Though, the adjustment period is coming to an end, as I am no longer completely lost in that fog known as jet lag.

I have made the decision to continue posting the week in reviews, as it's still a great time to reflect on what I felt was newsworthy over the course of the past week. And here we go!

- We went underwater with some of our sea friends at the aquarium in Beppu City, Oita prefecture.
- Got the run around from some folks that overcharged us and gave us bad directions in Japan.
- I said goodbye with a final post in Japan, with a movie to boot.
- A brief story about immigration being polite for a change.
- Confusion from my reverse culture shock and jet lag.
- Rural trains that don't come: The Train From Jokoji.

As always, have an excellent weekend!

The Train From Jokoji

The train from Jokoji ... never comes. Seriously, its got to be the most rural station I've ever visited in Japan. No ticket accepting turnstiles. No ticket vendors! (You have to go to the next station and tell 'em where you came from... Leads me to wonder if I went out to a further and more rural station with no accepter that I could really milk this one...)

So! What a perfect time for a movie. A short film, shot to make it looked like it was lost to the ages. Grainy. Dirty colors. And this great song called Insensatez by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Though, there was a temporary issue on youtube, and here's the the kicker: the video was immediately flagged for using "some or all" of the audio content, held by UMG (Universal Media Group) In other words: youtube pre-scanned the audio portion of my song looking for "borrowed" content before posting the clip. I got an email! And was allowed to use it, so as long as they could place ads on my youtube page for this clip. Don't they do that already?

And now for the video.

UPDATE: while checking for a link to Jokoji, I saw that my youtube clip is already the number 4 link on google. And I only uploaded it late yesterday afternoon!

Reverse Culture Shock and Jetlagged

I don't know how to properly define this one. On one hand, it's always good to be back. Seeing friends and family, hearing how much you were missed, good to see ya backs. On the other hand, I don't sleep normally anymore. Just can't get the swing of it.

Yesterday, I crawled into bed around 4:45 pm and was sound asleep a minute later. (Eventually woken up for dinner at 6). It becomes very difficult to distinguish dreams (which become more realistic than ever before) and normal day life (which somehow seems drab and unreal). Hard to explain it!

As for the reverse culture shock, there's always a bit of this that's unavoidable. I think part of this is the self-indulgence of liking the fact that I was the foreigner, the guy most people don't see everyday, and thereby finding my own niche to fit into. Not so here! The high level of service compared to questionable levels here is also somewhat trying. I am skeptic to even eat fast food right now.

Back. To. America.

Something interesting happened to me yesterday as I entered the states: for the first time that I can ever remember, every immigration worker was polite to me. Even going as far congratulate me for getting the fiancee's visa. Rather nice! I don't know what to say.

Usually it's like the biggest punch in the face when you come back: Why were you gone? Do you actually live here? Did you only bring sake back or you got something else we need to know about? Did you actually come back here by yourself? You wouldn't lie to us, would you?

Anyway, a bit weird to be back at first, but what got me going: seeing my parent's lawn a sea of green. It looks freakin' awesome. Went out for a walk on that last night and put me at ease.

Sayonara, I'm Outta Here

Bags are packed, goodbyes have been said (mostly!), and that sick feeling in my stomach is ever-present and unforgiving. Trying to find reasons not to go back, but nothing in particular can stop this. As I write this, my ride to the airport is waiting for me.

In the midst of all my final preparations, I managed to throw together one more final movie, of the self portrait type. I've wanted to try something experimental like this for some time, and I'm rather pleased with the results so far. Tried to use some new techniques in here. The youtube clip looks like it lost a lot of quality, so I'll re-upload it once I get back.

Anyway, check it out after the jump.

UPDATE: The new hi-res version of the video is now available here.

Just In: People Screwing Up in Japan

Yesterday, went shopping in Sakae with my fiancee and bro-in-law. Just another busy, busy Saturday. Folks everywhere! Draining, really. So afterwards: we go to get pizza. Not just any regular ol' pizza, but the locally renowned Pizza Salvatore, famous for its gourmet pizzas and nice atmosphere. Actually, the pizza was ok, almost too thin for my likings, and the place was kind of loud. And despite River Cuomo's Ivy League track record, I don't particularly find Weezer to be the kind of music to play at a high class joint. Anyway! The bill came, three of us, 9340 Yen. ($91!) Ouch.

This didn't seem right. I had a rough idea that we would break the 6000 yen barrier, but didn't think we had gone that far. So! I checked the receipt. Sure enough, someone had slipped in another 1600 yen charge that was totally not ours. (In lieu of putting down a charge for 580 yen). Anyway, we got our money back, but there really was no profuse bowing and apologizing, which you almost have to expect here in Japan.

Then! I had heard of this great bar with a really cool record collection, something like 5000 records. Sounds pretty sweet. Name of the place is Heaven's Door. We knew the rough area where it was located, but didn't know the full name, so we called up a directory information service. They gave us the phone number and address, and we called up a taxi to take us there.

The cabbie dropped us off at the approximate location, said he didn't know the right place. So we walked. And searched. And stopped in about 4 different convenient stores trying to find the right area on the map. Keep in mind, they don't typically have street names here in Japan, so it's a royal pain to try and find some places.

Eventually, we found the area where it should have been, based upon the address we got. We had been calling the number we got, but to no avail. Eventually, we came to the realization that either this place no longer exists, or we otherwise had bad directions. So we went to another izakaya instead, then caught a taxi / train / ride back home.

And upon looking it up on the net, the directory service had sent us on a complete wild goose chase for a neighborhood spot that contained a parking lot.

Twice in one day people screwed us here. What a day!

Underwater

Just posted a new video on youtube.
Ambient, underwater, soothing.

Underwater (youtube)

Week in review!

Sad to write, but this is the beginning of the end of my trip in Japan. I can't begin to describe how great its been to be here, spending time with family and friends, traveling around, working on projects, and just being left to my own devices.

So! It's time for the week in review, to show you what I did while you were sleeping.

- More Engrish love! Because it never gets old.
- Wrote a feature on selling your stuff in Japan. Recommended for anyone contemplating lightening their suitcase load!
- Watched the Chunichi Dragons get the snot kicked out of them by the Hanshin Tigers.
- Learned about the increasing bra cup sizes here in Japan.
- Released my Pyramid Power Toilet video (SFW!)
- Traveled to a local shrine and bamboo forest.
- Finally made the trek to Nagoya castle to learn about its colorful burning souls.

And that's a wrap! Got some videos to edit now... enjoy your weekend!

Burning Souls Ascended to the Heavens

Hard to believe it, but this time is my sixth time in Japan. And every time I've come, I've always ended up staying for at least some portion in Nagoya. My hometown away from hometown! And yet, as many times as I've come here, I've never been to Nagoya Castle. Never had any interest: it's a complete replica of the original that was lost in a fire in World War II, rebuilt in 1959. While I can appreciate it for its history, the fact that I know its not the real deal has always kept me from going.

Until now! I had to see what all the fuss was about. Also: learn some history about this iconic treasure!

In essence, the original castle, built in 1612, was lost to a fire due a USAF air raid in May, 1945. The castle itself sustained a lot of damage; fortunately, a lot of the artwork was saved. The castle was occupied and used by various samurai clans for years, and even used as a district headquarters and POW camp during the war. Hence making it a target!

But by far the most interesting fact I read was that as the castle burned to the ground, the flames changed colors from bright oranges to deep reds to shades of blue and green. Local folks believe this was due to the deep history of the castle, with the burning souls confined in the castle finally set free.

Finding New Places to Hide

Always looking for new places to visit here in Japan. Especially those right underneath my nose! The thing about here, is that most folks flock to the places that are for lack of a better word, "brand famous". They see them on tv, with talented folks visiting them, touting how great this hot spring is, how great this food dish is. So, when they have the free time, that's where they go.

Case in point: I recently asked where a good place to go visit a bamboo forest would be. I'm a huge fan of bamboo, find it quite fascinating. Actually, it's all over the place - I can walk 5 minutes from my fiancee's house and there's a huge forest of it, albeit private property. So! What I wanted was a place with a path to walk along. And a bit surprisingly, none of my Japanese friends I asked knew of any nearby.

Cue the foreigner request! I recently met up with some American friends for a nomikai last weekend, when I found out about a nearby temple, Jokoji Shrine, not 30 minutes from where I'm staying. Hopped on the train to visit there, and it was like being whisked away to a completely different place. Essentially, Jokoji is a large buddhist temple that sits atop a mountain, complete with a large bamboo forest on the side of the hill.


The temple itself was very similar to most others: absolutely beautiful. It's hard to describe how peaceful these places are if you've never visited one. Totally recommend it, though.

As for the bamboo forest? Stunning. Just wanted to bring it home with me.

Pyramid Power Toilet Up

Pyramid Power Toilet: what a place! My remix video with ultra climatic ending is now up.

Hit the jump for the video.

News in Japan: Boobs are Getting Bigger

Watching an interesting feature on tv right now: compared with previous years, A cups are decreasing, and larger cup sizes are increasing. The morning crew of Pican Terebi has prepared all kinds of research to present their report on the changes of girls' sizes, complete with a chart showing the trends of J-cup sizes over the past 30 years.

Exercising those areas is equally as important, so they provided a good regimen as to how to work those areas. Gotta keep them up! They are pulling their bottom lips out, leaning back, then pulling imaginary "hustle ropes" down from the sky!

The scary part is the men are all trying it too. With a straight face!

jBaseball

Went to go see the Central League's No. 2 Chunichi Dragons yesterday face off against the No. 1 Hanshin Tigers, here in Nagoya. This was the third game of a 3 game series, with the Tigers snagging the first win on Saturday, and the Dragons coming from behind with a sayonara homerun to clinch game 2. The Dragons were only 1.5 games behind the Tigers going into the game, so it was supposed to be a good game: the only other time the Dragons faced the Tigers this season, each team won one game, with the last one ending in a tie (games don't go past the 12th inning in Japan). So this was the deciding game of epic proportions.

And man. The Dragons blew it. They ended up giving up 7 runs in the first inning alone, making it through the entire batting order. Nagoya's crowd fell silent, which is an understatement because the dome was packed for Kodomo no hi. Hanshin fans, whom were ever present, were louder than shit. You see, in Japan, they bring out their own pep band, with waving flags and the whole like. When said team is on offense, that team's band gets to play. Imagine the loudest possible college football college marching band. Inside a dome. It was out of control. Unfortunately, not for the team I was rooting for.

Selling Your Stuff in Japan

Just had another first time experience here in Japan that I've wanted to try for a long time, but never knew how: selling stuff back. Basically, I had a pair of shoes I bought before my last trip here in the fall, that just absolutely hurt my feet and were taking up space. Wanted to just get rid of them! Fortunately, my fiancee's older bro was also looking to clear up some space in his closet, and knew of the place just to do that. That would be Komehyo, which has several stores located throughout the Osu shopping district in Sakae.

First of all, the buy back center (kaitori center) is located separate of the Komehyo stores, but not too hard to find. Upon walking in to the reception area, you sign up to get your papers and a number for your consultation room. The whole concept is very similar to an emergency room, with different people being "treated" for their goods their trying to unleash. Since it is kind of a big ordeal, I turned my shoes over to my to-be brother-in-law, who had brought a collection of short and long sleeve shirts, hats, a jacket, and a belt. We were grouped into the American Casual section.

Waiting was not too bad. They have a lot of magazines and newspapers lying around, and have a free tea machine that supplies very kinds of hot and cold beverages. We waited about 10 minutes until being called into our own private consulting room. We were met by a young gentleman, who decided what would be bought back and give us a price.


The goods were shown and mostly accepted, with the t-shirts and meshback hats as the only unwanted items. The agent was a trip to watch because he was working as fast as possible, scribbling notes about the items down, and periodically pounding the hell out of calculator at lightning speed.

Finally, time for my shoes came, which made the cut. More frantic pushing of the calculator, and the price came back to us: an offer for 10000 yen ($100), which I assume was non-negotiable. We accepted.


We asked about the shoes, and those were said to be worth 1000 yen ($10, later to be marked up and sold around 5000 yen). Also, when asked if a particular brand (Stussy, of which bro-in-law owns a small fortune of) was popular right now, we were given a very firm "I'm not allowed to comment about personal trends" response. Interesting!

Finally, we left the room and took our paper with us. The payout rooms are located separate from the consultation rooms, but still much the same of the private window consulting. I left at this point to go back to the reception area.


The whole selling from start to finish took about 20 minutes, but netted us a quick $100! It was a really interesting experience, and I would like to know if anyone knows of other places like this. Anyway, if you've got fashion to sell in Japan, this is a good place to try out.

Engrish in Japan... More Love!

Just posted a new gallery of Engrish in Japan pics over on my facebook page... check it out for a good laugh!

Oh yes! Engrish never gets old pt. 4 (via facebook).

Week in review!

Been a busy week here. From traveling around Kyushu, to finding my bank account had a whopping $8 left in it, to a golf game and then a nomikai (drinking party) that still has my head ringing, it's non-stop here folks! And that's the way it is. Didn't post as much this week as a result.

Anyway, let's review the happenings!

So while you were sleeping, I was awake doing the following.

- Got to meet my new relatives. It's hard to describe how awesome that was to meet new people I now can call cousins and aunts, in-laws, etc., who were all extremely friendly and generous.
- Found the local frisbee golf course here in Komaki and hit it up for a quick game.
- Posted a picture collection from my trip to Kyushu.
- Gas prices surged by about $1.15 more per gallon.
- Hit up a local game center and played Otomedius and Simpsons pinball.
- Got my golf game on and learned about golfer's insurance.

It's Sunday morning! And I need to go clear my head with a good walk now. Hope your weekend was great!

Golfer's Insurance

Played my first real game of jgolf yesterday with the fiancee's family. There's a local family golf course that has a whopping 6 holes, and you can either play them once or twice. Or more! So we played a 12-rounder yesterday, quite fun. All except one of the holes were around 100-yards, which works well for me since I'm still quite green at the sport. Didn't make any pars, but did manage to pull off a +1 on the 273 par 4 hole.

One particular piece of literature that caught my attention at the reception area was a pamphlet for golfer's insurance. In essence, they cover your charges of paying the people with in the rare case you would get a hole-in-one or an albatross (3 strokes under on a par 5, new term to me!). Anyway, I can only imagine how much profuse bowing goes down when this must happen in Japan.

I'm so terribly sorry! I just got a hole-in-one. Now I must pay you wads of cash for having shown you the ropes.

Pyramid Power Toilet down for Remixing

Chalk it up to a comment about my last video being anti-climatic, I've temporarily pulled my newest youtube clip (Pyramid Power Toilet) in favor of remixing it with a more powerful ending. How Capcomish of me!

Anyway, look for the new remix in the next day. Sorry for getting your hopes up. The new version will be better, I promise.

Game Centers, for the Hard Core

It's hard to describe the feeling of walking into a Japanese game center. Yes, they're still alive and strong here. Yes, they're filled with nerds perfecting their art of the game. And yes, they're very different from that in the states. I should know, I grew up in game centers.

Despite the strong opposition, I managed to drag the fiancee into a center tonight to check out the scene. We headed into a particularly nerdy one in Sakae, the entertainment district of Nagoya. Part medal games (similar to what you might find in any other gambling area in the states), part new arcade games, with a few random ones in between. Classics that stood out in my mind here were Super Bomberman circa 1992, a couple of tetris games, and then the typical Japanese music games: the pop-n-beat games, DJ remix, Drum Mania, and DDR. (All of which were employed by master players).

As for me, I finally got to play Otomedius, a Konami game that mocks its own Gradius series. Actually quite a bit of fun! Basically, it's a shoot-em-'up with a really modern cartoon worldly setting. Gone is Sci-Fi space theme, in its place are girls with large jubblies! Would like to play this one some more!

But the real highlight of this particular game center was a Simpsons Pinball Party, which is rather rare in Japan. The good part was they had the free replay set at what I could only assume to be the lowest level, 6 million, which I managed to snag. Yatta!

Gas Price Surge is on!

Today was a big day in Japan for everyone that drives a car. Which is most people! Gas prices spiked today by about 30 yen a liter (about $1.15 per gallon more!), in order to meet the government's new gas taxes.

In essence, gas taxes temporarily went away for the past month, bringing gas down to around 120~125 yen per liter (about $3.75 ~ 3.95 per gallon) over the past month. That time has ended, and with the start of the new month, a new tax of around 25 yen per month kicked in, thereby effectively causing gas stations to jack there prices. And these taxes are here to stay. For the next 10 years.

Basically, if you didn't top off the tank before yesterday, boy did you get screwed today.

Hit the jump for the full story about taxes, prime minister Yasuo Fukuda's comments, and
the opposition trying to change this.

Gas tax bill (via Japan Times)