Shiyakusho Episode 5

Wow. What an unforgettable, depressing episode. Shiyakusho has reached very watchable status.

The way the story is presented is so good and so are the restrained performances.

You really feel the guy's pain and him trying to do the right thing.

Certainly an episode I will not soon forget. Can the series keep up the quality of the stories? Shiyakusho and KDO2 are my go to shows atm but what should I check out next?

Japan 2019 trip Day 12 and 13: Takaosan and Kawagoe

Finally we got better weather and it was time to go hiking at Takaosan which is about an hour from Shinjuku.

Map of the multiple hiking trails. We took the default easy trail, trail 2.

Takaosan cable car station.

The cable car goes partway up Takaosan.

View from inside cable car.

View from end of cable car line.

More walking.

and more stairs.

and more temples.

View from top of Takaosan. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy. On the way down we took the chair lift which was pretty fun.

Back to Shinjuku and dinner at Fuunji. After so many years, the taste is always the same and always excellent!

Didn't realise Wendy's and First Kitchen merged...

Could not get this annoying laughing Pokemon. Unfortunately, this is our first trip where we did not win anything from a UFO catcher.

The next day we went to Kawagoe about 30 minutes from Tokyo.

Kawagoe is known as Little Edo because its got old buildings from when Tokyo was known as Edo.

 

 A lot of people will walking the streets wearing traditional Japanese clothing.

For lunch we had this kurobuta set for about 1800 yen. It was ok.

Bell tower from Edo days.

Kimono shop.

Ranhansha jdorama SP

Ranhansha is an interesting dorama SP starring Tsumabuki Satoshi and Inoue Mao as a couple who lose their only son when a tree falls on him during an extremely windy day.

Ranhansha shows the chain of events that leads to the son's death and then we watch as Tsumabuki Satoshi investigates the incident and confronts all the people in the chain of events, looking for someone to blame.

Ranhansha is an interesting show because while the son's death was caused by the certain elements coming together at the wrong time, there were also people in that chain of causality that were negligent in their duties.

The question is how much of the negligence each party did was the cause of the child's death? Who or what was the major cause? Would it have made any difference? I like jdoramas that make me think and Ranhansha did make me think quite a bit.

The only thing I did not like about Ranhansha is that the dog guy did not get his comeuppance. Would have loved to see him get run over by a car or something. Very watchable show and thanks to Keiko1981 for the subs.

Japan 2019 trip Day 10 and 11: Back to Tokyo for shopping

We took the shinkansen back to Tokyo and I had been waiting for this for the whole trip, to eat at Oreshiki! Oreshiki is my 2nd or 3rd favourite tonkotsu ramen place.

Something was different with the soup. It tasted a bit diluted compared to usual and even my partner who is not usual tonkotsu fan could tell the difference. Disappointing and did not give it another go which we should have. It just reminds me of a couple of our favourite places in Melbourne where the food is inconsistent or they have changed cooks and it was never the same. Enjoy your good restaurants while you can.

 Now they've got vending machines with a touchscreen and animations when you choose the drink. Does this actually save money or is it a marketing gimmick?

Went to Shinjuku Marui Annex and there was a Marvel pop up store.

I managed to resist buying any shirts because I have way too many from buying hundreds each time I go to Japan.

On a side note, I don't like how Peter in the MCU is basically a mini Iron-man a suit that can solve any of his problems. It removes the sense of danger too much.

The main reason I came to Marui Annex was Surugaya.

lots of Megadrive

and Saturn games

Poor Ant-Man. No one wants his shirts.

Waiting for connecting train at Ochanomizu.

Loot from Surugaya. My wallet was very, very light after this. The main thing I wanted was a gamecube..

.. so I could play Eternal Arcadia Legends aka Skies of Arcadia. I'm currently around 30 hours into the game.

Dragon Quest XI mural at Yodobashi Akihabara. Love the game. Not many old school RPG series left.

Where once again we went back to our favourite sushi place, Magurobito.

I'm no expert but we love the temperature of the sushi here.

Its slightly chilled and tastes fresh to me.

I love my maguro.

Stumbled onto a Tohou Project collaboration event!

Sometimes you don't even need to plan anything for Japan.

Had some taiyaki for early lunch. We couldn't really do anything the next day because the weather was gloomy so we just walked Akihabara.

I love Bloodborne but 5000 yen a shirt is way too much. However, I would not mind a Sekiro shirt.

Tried the Sichuan crunchy chicken and its no match for konbini chicken.

Went to Friends which is the no 1 or 2 obscure retro game shops that most people don't know about along with Kaden no Kenchan.

The price of GBA machines is crazy. I'm guessing there's a huge demand from foreign buyers like for the Megadrive.

Found out that the cable and memory card for the Gamecube was sold separately.

Coco Ichi for dinner with an extra order of Coco de chicken.

A remember getting take away of a box of these many years ago.

Testing my Gamecube in the hotel room. Hint: get a Japanese powerboard to make life easier. The forecast for day 12 was good so we could finally do another day trip after shopping and eating for two days.