First Car Snap: Silver FD3S

Yet another section/category of BBMIJ I’d like to kick off is the Car Snap section. If I happen to get a picture of an awesome car I see, I’ll post it up here. That includes cambered out VIP cars or janky Ricers and everything in between.

Not sure if I’ve stated it formally or anything, but I love cars and love working on them. I’ve owned a bunch, and I can safely say I’ve never regretted a purchase, no matter what others might say (not a lot are supportive of this hobby of mine).

Well, it’s not much, but heres a quick snap of the FD I saw today.

For those who might not be into car stuff, this is a Mazda RX7 FD3S, produced from 1992-2002 (though I’m not sure about it being produced all the way up to 2002… that’s what wiki says)

A nicely done FD I saw around my neighborhood

Note – Now and forever onward, all the license plates of cars I post will be scraped (hopefully nicely, as Japanese plates are a LOT easier to photochop than US plates). Though it might seem a bit contradictory, I want to leave the owners anonymity intact. It’s what I would want done for my car, so I will do it for all others.

First JWeird Feature: BS Man

Another section of the site that I’d like to kick off is the JWeird Feature section.

This section will be largely things that I manage to get a picture of (because we all know if there are no pictures, it didn’t happen), that I can’t explain, don’t want to explain, or think should be better left unexplained.

To kick off this section, we have BS Man/boy/thing. I saw it at the Tokyo game show, and from what I could understand of the promo stuff that was playing on the screen inside it’s mouth, the theme of the game was “We don’t need BS!”/”We don’t have any BS!”.

Feel free to correct me, if someone knows more about this game/character than I do, but I thought it was hilarious.

The BS Man... Looks like a domo clone...

First JStuff Feature: Pocari Sweat

I thought I’d start a section/category for all the stuff that I come across that’s cool/interesting/new/possibly unknown/important.

I’ll call it the JStuff Feature category, from now on.

The inaugural feature is going to be a drink I found in japan, called Pocari sweat.

Pocari Sweat. The greatest tasting sweat on earth.

Essentially, the drink is like Gatorade, without the flavoring. And it is GOOD. It’s almost addictive. I mean it, as I was drinking it, I found it hard to stop. They might as well have put some hard drugs in it, because it had an uncanny never-have-enough sort of taste (kind of like apple juice, which there never seems to be enough of).

I dunno what in the world a Pocari is, but it’s sweat is delicious. I wish I could catch one of these magical creatures and just make it sweat all day. Maybe I’ll run into one someday.

Hope you enjoyed the first JStuff feature, maybe when the internet becomes taste sensitive, I’ll upload a sample, but for now, you’ll have to just go by my word I guess.

Second Day in Japan? Tokyo Game Show.

And I was worried about having content for the blog. Yesterday, officially my second day in japan, me and some new friends went to Tokyo Game Show 2010. I didn’t even know it was happening, but luckily for me, some others did, so I followed along. It was a little far away and difficult to get to, but it gave me a lot of insight into how the trains in Tokyo work. They’re very organized, and run on tight schedules, I can see why they are considered some of the best in the world.

I realized on the way there, however, that my camera was dead. At first I thought I forgot the memory card (which I didn’t), but then I realized that the battery was dying/dead. I couldn’t charge the camera (my charging stuff was mixed in with my bigger baggage, which I didn’t have access to at the moment), so it was a big fail on my part. I essentially carried a fancy black rock with detachable lens throughout the day. Luckily others also brought cameras, so I’m borrowing/using some of the images I took with their cameras, or they took.

There are a lot of pictures, and as for this post, I’m only going to upload some (because I only have some of them at the moment), but unless I forget, there will be a part 2 to this post, which will contain the rest of the pictures.

Some scenery on the way there, I think I took this picture from the train... Still working on my photography, though this is just a regular neighborhood.

At a random train stop (well, random to me), someone pointed out that Disney Land was over there. DISNEY LAND. LESS THAN 10 STOPS AWAY FROM WHERE I LIVE. Well, I thought it was amazing anyway.

A wall at TGS, with some interesting graphics on it.

The banner over the entrance to TGS2010

There was a Megaman Universe booth... I didn't really go inside, so I'm not sure what exactly this game is going to be like, but it was cool looking!

From one of my favorite series of all time, heres a lifesize figure that was propped up at the show.

A little note about the following pictures. There were A LOT of cosplayers at TGS 2010. Some of them stood out, and some didn’t, these are just some of the pictures I managed to scrounge up of some of the cosplays I recognized and loved. Yeah, theres a lot I’m not covering, but I wasn’t able to take pictures of all of them (since my camera wasn’t functional), so I just have some. The ones I put here are top notch though, pretty awesome stuff.

A fantastic cosplay of Yuffie. Japanese cosplayers are definitely a cut above.

Another awesome cosplayer, dressed this time as solid snake. I finished MGS4 the day I flew out of the US (packing was a little less important than seeing the ending), and this guy did an awesome job on Old Snake.

Look for the continuation of this post, hopefully sometime in the near future, I should have some more pictures and possibly description of TGS…

As for a cursory description of TGS: there were screens, games, costumed people, people, small people, big people, foreigners, xbox stuff, ps3 stuff, bigger screens, more people, smaller screens, cellphone stuff, technology, booths, EVERYWHERE. It was crazy. So much stimulation. Being my first game show, I was really surprised at how well set up everything was.

Black people in Japan +1

I’ve finally arrived. In Japan. I don’t know if culture shock is contagious, but it must be, because I’ve culture shocked every Japanese person I’ve come across. It’s a weird feeling to know for a fact that you are drawing the gazes of everyone around you. I even heard some people coming off the plane saying “Dekai!” which means “huge” or “big” essentially (I’m translating loosely, I’m sure someone on the world wide interwebs will comment and tell me if I’m wrong). He even made a guess to my name, he thought my name was “Frank”, I guess a typical American/Big Person/Black person name? I resisted the urge to turn around and correct him. I figured I should get used to it. Plus, it’s kind of nice to be able to pick up on conversations about you when people don’t know you understand what they’re talking about.

My first day in the country was quite an eventful one. After getting off the plane, I got my heavy bags mailed to my dorm for around $35, which I thought was amazing, considering it was quite far. I met up with some people from the college I’ll be going to (Sophia Univeristy), and had some of my first conversations with actual Japanese people. I don’t know why people make a big deal about communicating with people in other languages, it was actually kind of fun figuring out how to say what I want to say, and then saying it, and making sure I was understood correctly. Unfortunately, despite promising myself I was going to study numerous times this summer, the only studying I did amounted to reading the notebook from the FIRST Japanese class I took… Needless to say, I should study some more later…

After that, we took multiple train transfers, and a bus, and got to my train, finally. It turns out the Japanese concept of space must be different than the US… Because evidently, two locations that are 50 minutes away from each other by train are still considered to be in the same city (Tokyo). That can’t be normal. I also learned the hard way that everything looks close on a map, yet reality is much more tiring.

Later that night, I went on my first Japanese adventure, finding the convenience store. I had a map, some money, and long strides on my side. Despite all that, I got lost pretty quick. Turns out I was reading the map wrong (not to get into too much specifics, but I’m not a bad navigator, I just misunderstood that the exit point to my dorm wasn’t as it was marked on the map…). However, I found the convenience store eventually, and got some snacks, drinks, and made some copies (yeah, convenience stores in japan have copy machines… go figure.). Then on my way back, I promptly got lost.

I’m really not a bad navigator. What I did was try to engineer a new route back home from where I was… I guess it was a little too early for me to be making shortcuts. Either way, I found my way back, and plopped down on my bed to sleep.

Very interesting use of greenery there, Japan. Nicely done.

The all-powerful & famous Japanese vending machine. These are the first I saw when I got into Japan

A baseball field I saw on the way from the airport, looks like America is alive and well.

Unfortunately, I have no idea if this building has anything to do with the Honda Motor Company. Maybe in that building they sell happy Hondas? I may never know.

We're not in Kansas anymore

Some fields I saw on my way from Narita Airport

Another picture I just felt I had to take... Like a tourist rite of passage or something.

While some might think this looks like a picture out of a first class/business seating section of a jet, it's in fact the view from a train. Very nice, to say the least.

OK, Finally get outside the trainstation, and of course I see some nicely fitted wheels to start. No chrome 22s or spinners. Just some tasteful wheels. I love japan.

Half of my room. Yes, it is as small it looks. Scratch that, it might be even smaller than it looks. I can extend my arms, and touch the wall and my closet at the same time. Then again, I am 6 foot 5.

A different view of the other half of my room

The rewards of my first adventure in Japan! I played it safe at the convenience store, and picked some snacks that I could easily distinguish (the Japanese have a love affair with bread, as do I)

Half eaten sandwich. It was actually really good, despite how it may look.

Well, that’s it for the first day in Japan. This post is a little retroactive (I guess that’s what I’ll call it, this post was made 1 day or more after the fact), I can say that the next post should be pretty entertaining… I took a trip with some new friends to the Tokyo Game Show. Being my first time to a game show, I was taken aback by the sheer number of things they had to do and see there, as well as the sea of heads (some pictures I took will illustrate this more). Look forward to it!

Flying to Japland

As it turns out, Japan isn’t that close to the US. My flight wasn’t the most direct one, but it took me to a bunch of places on the way to Japan. The first flight I took, which was 11 hours long, was one of possibly the worst experiences I’ve ever had on an airplane. BUT, it had nothing to do with the plane, or the service, or the people (I flew on Asiana, great airline, they served steak, amongst other things. STEAK).

It had to do with fitting in the seats. I am far too tall for economy. I don’t know what the means for the future (maybe I’ll try stowing away with the cargo, because theres no way I’m going to pay for business class), but there was no comfortable position for me to sit in my chair without my knees being held in place between my seat and the seat in front of me. To make things worse, the person in front of me decided that it was a good idea to try and force their seat down, despite the fact that my knees were making it impossible. Eventually, they figured out that there was just a huge person behind them, so they gave up. And while most were able to rest their heads back on their seats, close their eyes, and get some well-needed rest, I found yet another disadvantage to being over 6′. When I put my head back, I get to rest it on a whole lot of NOTHING. Air. Cushion-less matter. For those of you who are have no idea what I’m talking about, think about sitting on one of those chic, trendy couches that have no head rests, so your neck and head make a 90 degree angle. It was a wonder I made it through the flight. I think I’m the most tolerant person on earth. And It’s probably true. Probably.

Well, anyway, I’ll be in japan after some more planes and some more flying, here are some pictures I snapped on my way, complete with comments.

Snapped a picture of a rather deserted section of LAX

My last taste of America

South Korean culture

Asian food

Airport Water Fountain

Toilets

Shopping area in south korean airport

The vehicle that brought me to Japland

Bring it on, Japan. A couple more hours and I’ll emerge from the sea and destroy your buildings.

**NOTE – If you don’t know who “Kel” is, you are too young. I’m going to make a ton of references, probably, and maybe you should take some time to educate yourself on what they mean. I’ll leave a hint for this first one: Google “Keenan and Kel”.