Random pics from Japan Nov/Dec 2015 Trip

In Asakusabashi.

Looking outside office window in Temmabashi, Osaka. I think.

Gundam thing in Akiba.

 Yet another loli slice of life anime. ZZzzzzzz.

Completely forgot to eat here. Must remember next time.

Outside Kinshicho station. I was here to eat ramen which I will write about in my new ramen shops post. They were pretty good and I remember they sang Pink Lady's Pepper Keibu and Kiroro's Mirai.

Microsoft game exhibition and talk in Akiba. No one really cared. Now if the 360 backward compatibility on the Xbone were region free, I would think about playing Lost Odyssey in Japanese.

Virtua Fighter t-shirts! OMFG. Love the jyunen hayaindayo one but I've already got too many t-shirts and I'm already going to get more this trip.

So tempted but didn't purchase. I believe this was just a cloth.

In Shinbashi goin to Odaiba for Sambomaster.

Should have bought the clothes hanger from Village Vanguard in Odaiba!!!!! I should have thought less and bought more.

Guy doing comedy, juggling act next to Gundam. I'm so sad that Idoling! have disbanded cause everytime I've come to Odaiba, I've always run into a free live.

Really wanted to get the SF2 shirt.....

Yamada Yoji promoting Haha to Kuraseba on morning tv. Unfortunately, his movie starring Nino started showing on the day I left. :(

View from hotel in Saijo. Ichiryuu where I had the horumon tempura is on the left. Didn't get to try the karaage from the stand in front of it though.

Fujisan from shinkansen.

Amiibos galore. I'm just waiting for the Ryu & Ken amiibos. Which reminds me, I haven't touched my Wii U in ages. I managed to resist the temptation of getting a N3DSLL for the second trip. I fear I might no be able to resist a third time.

My body is ready and I've stocked up on PSN money. Still can't decide whether to buy digital or the DX pack. Pissed off that the the day I left was the day of Ryu ga Gotoku 10th Anniversary celebrations in Akiba where they unveiled the RGG6 trailer. I should look up and see whether they sold any goods but its probably going to make me even more miserable than I am now.

Regretting now going to watch Furuta Arata and Tabe Mikako's twins. If I had enjoyed Otona Keikaku's The Lover Seven Years Ago more, I would have had more enthusiasm to go. I was feeling lazy. My excuse was it would have definitely been sold out and I would have had to pay a lot for resell tickets but thinking about it, I feel only regret.

Project Diva Dreamy Theater two arcade quality controller for only 8950 yen! OMFG. Unfortunately it weighs a ton and shipping it back to Australia would have cost more than the thing.

OMFG, its the Homura holding Kyuubei figure I saw from the Madoka exhibition! Somehow this figure doesn't seem easily available. I've got way too many figures and I need to downsize.

Ahhh, it looks so good. In the end, I decided I would buy it if I could find it cheaper and in a box, which I did. I need to downsize my figure collection before I start buying again.

Guts figure for like AUD$350? The face just looks wrong.

OMFG, Guys in armour for aud $450????? If it were huge like the Art of War ones, I would really think hard about it. This thing must be so rare.

Really cheap but something wrong with this Guts. Zodd looks pretty good though. Should have bought it.

Boxed Guts which is supposed to be same as the one three pictures above but the picture on the box looks a lot better. In the end decided it was not worth it.

OMFG Running the Saturn and Dreamcast on SD cards and even more impressive are the really small tvs. I have to really look into this. I wonder if I can buy a system and get them to install it for me.

The only Legend of Galacti Heroes goods I can find. Seriously, all I want is a black t-shirt with 銀河英雄伝説 on it and I promise to buy 2!

Someday, I shall go Japan to watch Wrestle Kingdom. The last one had some of the best wrestling I had seen in forever. I can't wait to see Nakamura vs AJ Styles. The drummer of Sambomaster had a t-shirt that said Strong Style Nakamura Shinsuke on it. I need to find out where to get that shirt.

I don't give a crap about a movie series where only 2 out of 6 movies were good.

Luke, I am your chichi (父）。Chichi??!! (乳)

With new girl at Hotaru, Miho-chan. I never imagined I would be singing the dango song from Clannad with her. Everyone else was laughing their guts out saying wtf is this song?

Ore Monogatari movie review

The last movie to watch on my last day in Japan. I only watched the Oremonogatari anime about halfway before giving up. It just wasn't going anywhere interesting.

The Oremonogatari movie deals with the early part of the anime; Takeo and Yamato's courtship or rather their misunderstanding that gets prolonged throughout the movie.

The movie introduces a new element which is the girl that Takeo liked but it didn't lead anywhere but only served to add another misunderstanding. It is a shoujo manga afterall so I can't really critisize it about the misunderstandings.

The real star of the show is Suzuki Ryohei wo perfectly embodies Takeo. His facial expressions and mannerisms are anime perfect. Its one of those roles I can't imagine anyone else doing.

Its kind of weird that they didn't go super loli on Yamato but she's not bad in a different way. Ultimately its not bad but I hope they don't make a sequel cause the only interesting to continue the series is for Takeo and Suna to become rivals.

Butayarou Hakata ramen in Nakano

By the ramen gods, I might have found my new favourite ramen place in Tokyo. First off the soup is thick but not too oily. Its more creamy than oily. The taste is kind of different from Ougi's and is closer to Muteppo's.

Second of all, katamen aka hard noodles are acqually hard. I normally go barikata but normal kata is good enough. None of that soggy instant ramen style noodles.

The only weakness is that the chaashiu is lacking. But the soup and noodles are so freaking good, all is forgiven! If Butayarou had wanton topping option, I'm would die of happiness!

The three things on the left are topping options. From top, egg, onions and chaasshiu. Kaedama (extra ramen) is 100 yen.

I would recommend the top left option and then pay 150 yen to the guy for chaashiu topping. If you want a weaker taste for for the second one on the right. I would not recommend Butayarou to people who are new to tonkotsu but the second option is ok.

The second picture on the left is soft pork bone which I will definitely try next time.

You can find the map for butayarou here. Take the south exit from Nakano station and turn left and take the road along the tracks. After 10 or so minutes, you will see a flower nursery on your left and Nakano Zero on your right.

You will see two roads in front of you at the traffic lights. Take the road on the left. It will slope down and then turn left at the bottom. You can't miss it.

Red rice from Shounan no Kaze. My favourite ramenya and band are linked. The owner doesn't smile and mumbles but he did smile when I told him it was very delicious. Do give Butayarou a go when you are in Nakano.から

Sugihara Chiune / Persona non Grata movie review

I actually came across the name Sugihara Chiune some some time ago and ended up watching documentaries on youtube about this amazing person who saved countless lives.

Karasawa Toshiagi does a decent job as Sugihara. I'm pretty impressed by his English and understood most of his lines unlike Watanabe Ken.

He's got the cadence that many Japanese actors lack when speaking the language and he doesn't rush his lines which is very important cause most of it is in English.

Where the movie fails is the script. Way too ackward especially when presenting information to the audience like this Koyuki asking about the driver's family which came out of nowhere.

Yup. This aint your brother's Digimon.

The script has too much foreshadowing like Sugihara being so sure the US would get involved and Japan would lose. Finally I hated the subplot of Sugihara's ex who saved a professor who contributed to the bomb.

Basically the movie is more about Sugihara Chiune the myth, which is fine but the man is much more interesting.

You can't go wrong with a movie about saving Jews and the evil Nazis but the execution is just too ackward. Watchable for Karasawa Toshiagi's English but domentaries are better. Do look them up on youtube. I think the English name of the movie is Persona non Grata because Sugihara Chiune is a harder sell.

GAGAGA SP 15th Anniversary One Man Show at Shibuya WWW

Happy 15 years since their debut and happy to see them chugging along at live houses all over Japan despite drawing 200-300 people at most.

The event was held at WWW Shibuya which is just behind Parco.

I couldn't resist amking this my line picture.

Going down the stairs.

Taking a smoke at the bar next to the stage. The last live I went to was at a bar with a stage. This time its got a proper venue.

Because it was weekday, half the people arrived after the start time of 7pm. We got people in suits, kids who don't look older than 18, chicks who look like they're going to work and obasans.

Unfortunately I left right after the encore becaause I wanted to go drinking and drinking less than 2 hours at a flat rate of 4000 yen is not worth it. Very happy they play Matsuri no Jyunbi. I very wanted to stay till the end for Sotsugyou (which they didn't play last time) but maybe next time. If only they didn't start so late. Happy 15th GAGAGA SP and may you keep playing for 15 more.