Bizenghast is one of Tokyopop’s global manga that is showing some staying power—vol. 5 just came out, creator M. Alice LeGrow is working on vol. 6, and Tokyopop has extended the contract to an unprecedented vol. 7. You can check out what the fuss is all about this week, when Tokyopop is putting vol. 1 […]
From Live in Japan Source
This week’s “A week in Tokyo” starts off with a visit to Yanaka Ginza located in North Tokyo. The area is a popular walking spot and has many shrines dotted around the area as you can see from this map.
Get off at Sendagi station on the Chiyoda line and you will be at one end of this popular shopping street filled with old shops.
Folks who have been to Japan may be wondering about the scribbles on the square white boards that can be seen in some restaurants.
These are actually signatures from famous Japanese celebrities. The restaurant sticks them on the wall like a trophy as a sign of “this famous person ate here meaning our grub tastes good.” I saw one by Brad Pitt in an Okonomi Yaki place once ^^;
What food places also like to do is take a screencap of when they are featured on TV and stick it up too as a sign of “we were on TV so our grub tastes good.”
The combination of signatures and screencaps do their job and queues are automatically formed outside the food place.
This place sells Mince Katsu - mince beef deep fried in batter.
My herniated disc has been playing up again hence the lateness of this week’s installment of A Week in Tokyo. The problem I have is that when my back starts to feel better, I forget about my illness and fail to regularly do my rehab stretches thinking that I’ll be alright.
I still don’t know what the reason is but with a herniated disc, the pain will come for a few weeks and then disappear for months - only to come back again. While not guaranteed, regular exercise and stretches will strengthen the muscles in my back and help prevent the pain coming back. This has happened to me quite a few times now but I still have not learned ^^;
This time round I made a video message for my future self to look at. The video shows me staggering around the house in pain asking myself to please do those darn stretches. It felt strange leaving a message for myself but hope that the future me will listen and take time out to care for my own health.
In the past I’ve always talked about money which unfortunately is a fact of life and how important it is, and I’ve also talked about the importance of having goals in life, being passionate and focused.
One of the things I’ve not spoke about is how important it is to keep good health. I see the body as a shell for our soul which slowly deteriorates through time until it becomes unusable.
If that shell is damaged, it affects our temperament and the way we behave.
While none of us know when our time is going to be up, we can at least care as much as we can for our own shell through regular exercise and maintaining a balanced diet.
Just out of interest, how healthy are you in terms of the amount of exercise you do and the diet you maintain?
And I’m not asking about dolphin health ^^;
A poster at a library telling kids that bullying is a crime. Bullying in schools is a major problem in Japan as I talked in my previous bullying in Japan article - many children still kill themselves because of it.
Tis the rainy season in Japan. Temperature is cool at the moment but is usually hot n muggy and the rain makes you feel bleaugh. This product is to be used after a shower to make you immune to the muggy rainy season and also make you sparkle at the same time.
The ad suggests that folks who don’t use it look like snails.
Kaisen Don for lunch - 850 yen.
Back from shopping at Costco where you can buy huge boxes of Frosties and other goodies for less than half the price of the local supermarkets.
Costco available in your region too?
Restaurant full of carpets on the walls.
Hmmm. I can’t remember what food this was but remembering it tasting good and cheap - 760 yen for a meal for two. Three if you count Haruhi.
Tis the jolly season for mosquitoes too. This device is worn on your ankle or wrist and emits a sonic pulse (or something similar) that keeps away the mosquitoes. 1,000 yen.
Watching the trains from a bridge at Nippori.
While many stations have English maps, some stations only have maps like this. If you are traveling to Tokyo, print out this English train map and pay the lowest fare when you buy tickets. You can pay the difference at your destination.
At Ueno station.
Inoue Takehiko’s last manga exhibition at Ueno.
Never really explored Ueno park before - a nice place to laze around on a sunny Sunday.
Yes we have Thomas the Tank Engine too which you can barely see in this photo.
Due to my crappy childhood, I don’t recall ever visiting a zoo and think this was the first time I saw an elephant!
While I think it’s great being able to see animals that we do not usually get to see in daily life (well it depends where we live), I did start to feel sorry for the animals. They had pics of fat polar bears in their natural habitat and yet the ones in the zoo looked skinny and frustrated as they walked up n down their little cave.
How do you feel about animals in captivity? If you was the mayor of your city, would you keep or abolish your local zoo and for what reasons?
These furry guys were really cute though.
In general, the Japanese don’t litter on the floor so if they notice a bike that’s been parked for ages, they will use it as a bin.
A shelf of books at the station completely unmanned. These were popular at a time when they wanted to encourage people to read. One would take a book and just return it to the shelf when finished.
Lunch with Haruhi - priceless.
Bonsai trees. Hector received one from Technorati when he left to join me at Mirai Inc. Looking after a Bonsai tree is an acquired skill (as you can see from the wikipedia entry) and soon died in Hectors possession ^^;
The editing of Shibuya Rock Trooper is going to take a bit longer. The track is only 1.30 mins but we shot more than 30 mins worth of video.
The amount of anime licensed pachinko machines seems to be on the increase.
Mince Beef Katsu set with Mi Mi Mikuru on the side - 760 yen.
Tofu Ankake lunch set - 800 yen.
Plate of dead animals - 900 yen.
Cleaning out some documents and stumble across my old Gunlpla manuals. Ah the good ol days ^^;
Do you keep your Gunpla manuals or throw them out?
Ascii sent me a copy of this weeks “weekly Ascii” for some reason…
There is a “we asked 100 famous people what their fave digital item was” inside…
Among the 100 are celebrities that folks in Japan will recognize.
And for some reason I’m included in the 100 ^^;
I chose the iPod, MacBook Pro and Xacti.
First time I heard of Rie Sasaki.
When you visit a typical ramen place, you will find manga like Jump which often include gravure models on the cover.
By Danny Choo on 2008/06/26 22:24
From Live in Japan Source
Yeah, it seems that my sushi kick is not totally over yet – will it ever be? I have never heard of inarizushi before. I accidentally read about while browsing the Internet and it made me want to try one.So what is inarizushi and how is it different from the “normal” sushi that […]
From Live in Japan Source
I really do mean in the showers, not just in the shower room! It’s under a hotel, so the only thing I can imagine is that once in the halcyon smoking days of the 80s hotel guests would sit around the pool on loungers (even though it is indoor, but I saw someone doing that […]
From Live in Japan Source
Clicky is a powerful web tool that I have been using since late last year and other than my flickr account it is probably the only other web based service I have paid for. Why did did I pay for a web statistics tool when the internet is overrun with so many? It’s simple really, Clicky is the best web based stats tracker available now…period, believe me I’ve probably tried most of not all of them over the 2+ years this blog has been active or through my 5 years experience building websites.
Why is Clicky better than the others?
For me personally Clicky is head and shoulders above the competition because:
1. Ease of use - It’s simple, fast and reliable. You could be web development veteran or or a newbie if you have the ability to cut and paste a simple line of code into source code of a webpage and then log into to a website and read and navigate the results Clicky is for you.
2. Its free to try - When I first surfed in on the Clicky homepage I didn’t think it was anything special but the free 30 day limit free trial was appealing and even before my trial was over I became a customer.
3. Its customizable - Clicky’s web based user interface is customizable and it can be as simple or as complicated as you the user want it to be. More interested about your search engine traffic or location your visitors are coming to you page from…customize your control panel and give priority to that information.
5. Frequent updates - New features, fixes and tweaks are released for Clicky constantly and that gives the feeling that the service is alive and constantly improving through feedback from users and the work of dedicated developers.
6. Feature Rich - Every feature available through other web analytic tools and much more are available through Clicky. Add in third party support for tools like feedburner, widgets, the ability to track your stats via RSS feed and you understand why I like this tool so much.
7. Addictive - An addictive web analytics tool? Yup you read right, I know I am a geek and all but after months of using Clicky and now have a good amount of data available I find myself with my Clicky control panel almost always open in a tab in my browser comparing the performance of my site against previous month, weeks or days, this is very useful now seeing that I was recently away on vacation and wanted to know how this affected the traffic to my geek repository (my blog for all the non-geeks reading this). There is also a feature dubbed “Spy” where you can see all the visitors to you site in real time. I remember when I hit the frontpage of digg for a few minutes with Anime Tome post how the spy window went crazy.
A lot of the persons who read my blog own blogs of their own. I challenge you all to at least try the 30 day trial and send me a message or leave a comment on this post telling me what you think. Decided to try it? Then please consider sighing up for it through my affiliate link by clicking here.
From Live in Japan Source
Folks who are not offended by stone eyes but do take offense at plastic eyes then purezu turn back nao.
But if you are like me and lurve plastic eyes then continue to feast your mince pies on this gorgeous Good Smile figure of Chu Chu Astram.
Simply gorgeous. The paintwork, sculpt perfectly captures the moe smexyness of Chu Chu.
By default, her top is so thin that her the pupil of her eyes show through so folks who work at Kindergartens may have difficulty in displaying this due to conservative parents.
Chu Chu comes with a big flexible bat that does its best (and fails) to cover her lower private parts.
You can find other reviews at moetotsugeki and Happy Soda - cant remember the other reviews at the moment but if you have a photo review then please do post a link in the comments to help your fellow comrade decide on a purchase.
The bat kinda gets in the way so I pose her without it ^^;
I would imagine that going for a poo in this outfit would be very convenient indeedee.
Hmmm, maybe that’s the real purpose of the bat - she uses the bats wings to wipe her bottom.
Any folks here who would like to be that bat?
One of these in the wallpaper pool.
And now for whats known as “Supponpon” [すっぽんぽん] photos which means “in birthday suit.”
OK, shes not completely in B’day suit because shes a bit shy.
The code for the nosebleed function still works but that requires a lot of manual work. I wanted to have new automated functionality up for today but was working on Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud instead.
We were going to have a bunch of physical servers but then discovered that it makes so much sense to run virtualized servers in the cloud. We can spawn instances of a new server within seconds to handle traffic.
Very nice pair of eyes indeed. Which brings me to the question of the day. Previously, Moeyo asked its readers how they display their figures - cast on or cast off.
Most users answered “cast on.”
The only figure I have casted off right now is Chu Chu and that’s because I was playing around with her just now - she was cast on before that.
My Char Rhouseman is fully dressed but my Nida Schuetlich and Rize are in battle damaged mode. My Melissa Seraphy is constantly in her pantsu ^^;
So hows about you? Your figures displayed casted on or off?
For folks who felt like seeing Nida’s real eyes.
Fauna gets bigger eyes.
Airi gets a share of the fun too.
Melissa and Chu Chu cuddle up - both by the illustrator Ozawa Akifumi.
Pedo bear in the background.
If you are looking to order then try looking on one of dannychoo.com’s trusted online partners.
Just in case you have been wondering about these partners - they are online stores who I have accepted to be sponsors. I get many offers from sponsors but only accept dealers that can be trusted (through research) and know that they don’t sell bootlegs.
Its not worth accepting sponsorship from dealers who are out there to rip off customers.
Caption that photo ^^;
By Danny Choo on 2008/07/03 20:39
From Live in Japan Source
If you fancy seeing some market life in Tokyo then there’s probably no place better than Ameyoko.
Ameyoko is a 400 meter long market that stretches between JR Okachimachi and Ueno station on the Yamanote line.
“Ameyoko” [アメ横[あめよこ]] is short for the full name of the market which is “Ameya Yokocho” [アメヤ横丁[あめやよこちょう]]
Many moons ago, American soldiers used to come here to sell their bits n pieces to make a few yen on the side.
One of the origins of the name “Ameya” is said to come from “AMEricans” and “YA” meaning “shop” = American shop.
Another explanation of the original meaning of “Ameya” is said to come from many shops in the market that sold sweets. “Ame” meaning “sweets” and “ya” meaning shop.
Ameyoko has many places to fill ones stomach at reasonable prices.
Many fresh fruits…
Dried foods n sweets…
Grandad not for sale…
Fresh seafood.
A hawker stall in Japan is known as a “Yatai” [屋台[やたい]] - basically a cart where food is cooked in the open air. Yatai are commonly found in markets like Ameyoko and at festivals like the ones I showed you before in Azabujyuban.
I wish Yatai were more popular in Tokyo as it would be very convenient grabbing a bite to eat.
I love to eat out at Hawker stalls and am looking forward to making my next trip to Malaysia and Singapore again soon. Will stuff myself full of Popiah, Kuay Tiao noodles, Hokkien noodles, Loh bak, Siew Yook rice and Hainan chicken rice. Although the last time I went was a few years ago - not sure if hawker stalls are still around or not.
Are open air food stalls popular in your region?
Compared to 30 years ago, the amount of shops selling fresh seafood has declined to be replaced by shops selling sporting goods. Have no idea why the transition was seafood to sporting goods ^^;
You can also pick up a load of cheap T-shirts.
Keep your eye on the roads that lead off the main Ameyoko market as they lead into buildings filled with smaller shops.
Leather goods and clothing.
One thing that you wont find in Ameyoko are fake brands and opensource DVDs - unless you know the right people to ask. Fake brands and opensource goods readily available in your region?
More fresh seafoods.
Seafood anyone?
More seafood.
This girl wants you to eat her balls.
The balls are filled with anything that you want - a light/medium snack to have between meals.
Yep we have kebabs too.
How about picking up some Katsuo as a present for your nephew - 500 yen each.
See food.
There are shops underneath Ameyoko in the Ameyoko Chika Building where one can buy a load of oriental food stuffs.
Its like another dimension under here - you are walking and then all of a sudden the smells, language and lighting change - you are in China.
Apart from the Chinese stores here, there are a few stores in Ikebukuro and Shinjuku that sell Chinese food stuffs too.
There are many stalls that sell snacks n fruits so you may want to plan to go there on an empty stomach.
The Japanese traditionally don’t sit outside restaurants to eat but Ameyoko has a few places with tables n chairs outside.
If you see somebody clapping outside a shop, its not because they think you dress well but because its a traditional way to attract customers.
Eating out in the open air popular in your region too?
More fresh fruits.
Many of my gaijin comrades have made it over to Ameyoko - is/was on your visit list?
At the other end of the market at Ueno station.
Are there markets that you can recommend to your fellow comrade who is visiting your region?
By Danny Choo on 2008/07/02 20:44
From Live in Japan Source
For a while, in exchange for an increase in oil imports, the Japanese dropped all visa restrictions.I probably never would have been aware that so many of the Middle Eastern looking people in Roppongi were Iranians (I can spot the other largest group, Turks, as I still speak enough Turkish from when I lived there […]
From Live in Japan Source
Sven shot these photos and sent them to me, and I assumed immediately that they were from his recent trip out into the countryside. I was wrong.After all the fuss we’ve made lately about vending machines dispensing Smart Cars, to our PingMag Vending Machine Extravaganza, it’s actually a bit shocking to see something so basic […]
From Live in Japan Source
There has always been a lot of hype surrounding the eccentricities of the Japanese people but I believe that eccentric is as eccentric does. In the differences between the West and the East, we can learn a lot of things – even in the most mundane of things. Take for example how different […]
From Live in Japan Source
