AFA 2009

23rd November 2009, Monday

Two straight days of waking up early standing all day long in a convention hall filled with rabid teenage anime loving critters ain't the best way to spend the weekend...Welcome to Anime Festival Asia 2009!

The event arrived in a crescendo of disgruntles for hiking their entrance so waywardly ($15 for a single day entry and $25 for the 2 days which was so many times higher than the $5 and $8 last year).

The exhibitors had to foot a high cost for 2 days rental which was why the usual suspects like Toys n Toys did not even bother showing.
As for our dear ol' La Tendo, the booth was exactly the same size as last year but was a stand-alone complex this time round as seen below:

Ready for action

Despite being embedded in the heart of the part they called the AKB (akiba) Town, there were few and far between competitors for the trade they were dabbling in.
Bandai hogged much of the space, ruled by the despotic Sheng Tai Toys who barred other retailers from selling Bandai products.
Bandai really went all out to display their up and coming as well as recently released gashapons, plastic models, children toys and what not; and together with Danny Choo's Tokyo Toy Show which featured GSC and Max Factory s' figurines, it was an attraction for local collectors especially those who had never been to an event like Wonder Festival.
Speaking of the famed otaku blogger, his presence was felt since day one as he saunteered the hall during the set-up.
Shedding his usual Storm Trooper suit, Danny was almost unrecognizable except for his horde of mindless fans.
KKnM like LT took 4 stall space and segregated into sections for their own products, COSPA collaboration and introducing a battle card game. As usual a beeline was formed on regular basis over at their side.
Passion Toys were in cahoots with their usual accomplice, Takashimya and had an ominous feel to it this year as people reported seeing a certain Stephan Sing from ODEX lobbying for their new venture in Dakimakura (Pillow case) with anime characters printed on it, they realized they can never bank on selling lackluster anime series to people no more.
There was one other figurine retailer by a sheer unknown name of "Robo Robo". Beside engaging in a price war for GSC's Saber Lily with La Tendo, their list of items looked to be of a private collection status.
Some booths just pique my curiosity in their involvement.
Our direct neighbour was Simply Fun who sell official DVDs of films brought in by Encore Films which usually dabbles in Japanese and Korean affairs. They had a bundle offer for the entire repertoire of Studio Ghibli productions but only Ponyo on the Cliff was in my wishlist for now.
There was also a OIO Frozen Yogurt booth just adjacent from us which would be the favorite snack bar during the two days except the yogurt making machine was constantly down for repair while the sales coordinator were donned in the worst outfit possible: a black & white (like Yin Yang) one piece dress which revealed too much of their elephant thighs.

Stephan Sing thought Domo-kun can help atone for his sins

Last year LT sold some printable chocolate and this year Tay-chan's friends came in full force and left many bewildered of their participation.
But at least they drew slightly more interest than Brother International who was there to sell printers while Singpost made their presence felt promoting some Oyako-TOFUman.
UCC Cafe had good response for their Evangelion cans while CTC Travels should garner enough interest for their affordable otaku pilgrimage trip to Japan.
But the biggest seller of them all was this stall which we nicknamed as the weaponry lair selling mock weapons in replica of those famous swords found in series like "Bleach" and "Fate/stay night" at as cheap as $30, no wonder the swords were going off the shelves like hot cakes.

Sales over at La Tendo had not be as brisk as last year but we were in awe of the turnout as we had expected to be much dwindled due to the exorbitant admission ticket but boy were we wrong.
I always knew that the event was set to attract anime lovers from the region but Vietnam and New Zealand were definitely the furthest my imagination could bear.
The wealthy Indonesians came with their wad of thousand dollar notes but no one in the retail scene was complaining.

There was a burgeoning corner for anime studios as Tatsunoko Pro and Project I.G as well as local producation company Storm Lion this time round.
Animax, the premier cable anime network in Asia had an impromptu dubbing studio to fulfill some amateur seiyuu dream of the fans.
The karaoke booth definitely got the crowd going but had hurt many eardrums over the course of two days.
However the biggest draw was not surprising to be "Moe Moe Kyun", the faux pas maid cafe the organizers cooked up and had suckers queuing all day long for a taste of their forbidden burgers...
The maids did not even bother to entertain random photo snaps from casual patrons.

One of the special guest for the event was professional cosplayer, Kaname.
He was invited here as a judge for the cosplay contest as well as an emotional experience-sharing session in his famous Cloud Strif outfit from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.
Kaname with his entourage dropby the stall on Saturday afternoon as his attention was snared by the sight of a Gurren Lagann Revoltech on the official poster, perhaps a scheme as he was donning in the Kamina setup.
At first no one recognised who he was until the commotion among the stall patrons who went trigger happy with their digital cameras.
It got Karen gaga too but she was forbidded from taking a picture with him but Lady Luck was shining on her as Kaname was to purchase the stipulate Revoltech which yours truly rummaged for him and in return of a small token of discount, Kaname obliged a personal picture with Karen.
She well Kaname-gaga from then on and stalked his whereabouts for the remainder of Sunday.
She was sore not to have a chance to replicate that fortuitous occurence with Kaname in his mesmerizing Cloud attire.
Well in the end it was a fruitful trip for her.

Kaname at La Tendo with yours truly at the background

The main draw of the event was the "Anisong Festival" which spanned both evening featuring Mizuki Ichiro (Aniki) and May'N from last year but were joined by the likes of Nagakawa Shoko (Shoko-tan) and Fukuyama Yoshiki from JAM Project.
I missed the entire second day concert as I had to attend Cheryl's wedding banquet but the fact that they barricaded the stage with thick black drapes, in order to block easy viewing like last year, it was not very accessible unless you pay a hundred odds bucks to be on the front rows or willing to join the long queue.
I did sneak in to catch a bit of Hatsune Miku from Vocaloid in action, anticipating a hologram like figure which Bryan claimed.
In the end, it was a wastage of our precious time when it was poor quality video footage but aptly a 15 minutes intermission between Shoko-tan when her horde of fandom took a piss and Aniki.
The Anisong warranted the high cost for the event and I am sure next year the organizers would make it even grander. If they actually bring in JAM project (including the entire band), I might think AFA 2010 will worth every penny.
Nice pictures of Anisong can be seen @ Danny Choo.

The aftermath of the event was the bunch of us carrying our worn out bodies for the remainder of the week.
Without the presence of Vincent and Miyano, it was not the same but it ain't too bad especially our usual poking fun of some absurd cosplayers including a really obese Squall Lionheart and a poor paper-mache Kamen Rider Decade Monster.
Bryan had good fun getting his "exclusives" but the biggest winner might be Karen.
The missus joined us for the second day and was enticed to stay and not heading for her seminar and definitely her point of catching up old time with the gang certainly was valid.
Seeing the cashier being overworked certainly warmed the hearts even for us the helpers and overall the success of AFA 2009 might had saw the organizers laughing to their banks despite Bryan's incessant loathing it certainly served as a platform for a much bigger money-bleeding machine in the last year of the decade.

A job well done

Photographs by Kaname-crazy Karen

Japanese word of the day:詐欺師(Swindler) I wonder if Bernie Madoff is the chairman of the organizing committee with his Ponzi scheme

No Point Being Petty over a few Dollars

17th August 2009, Monday

There was this kid who worked at La Tendo ages back (he was the first employee they ever had) whom I had little liking of.
As a brat in those days, he could get on one’s nerves for his petulant way of talking back to people and famous for his misdemeanor and was one of the least like person for myself.

I also wondered why I disliked him so much back then as speaking to him would have my blood boiling in some extent to JxMMy D and at times His Beautiness.

Once he had to concentrate in his tertiary studies and quitted his stint at La Tendo, the air seems a bit fresher at my regular haunt as I never envisioned crossing path with this bane of mine until last Saturday.

For some reason, he invited himself for a group dinner for the clique which had weeks in the making.
Vincent and Miyano s’ absences were felt but his presence was always to get my fuse shortened though the entire it was Tay-chan who clawed him relentlessly with swiping at his various little dining practices while coercing to do things he was unwilling to oblige.

After a truly filling meal filled with gluten-composed faux meat and meat analogues as well as the usual banter among the group, it was time to go and we foot the bill.

It came to me that the boy was residing around my neighborhood as well and was rather reluctant to send him home.
But my missus was much magnanimous than yours truly and helped him save a few pennies and dimes from taking public transport.

Then it came to my mind that we had split the bill without into consideration of his share.
Of course one would argue on his defense that he is still schooling without any earning capacity and the fraction per head of the bill was pretty hefty, so it would be kind of all of us to pay on his behalf.
But what had he warrant for the free meal? It was neither his birthday nor did we invited him over for the meal which we would have it just fine by ourselves.

I nearly wanted to blow the whole situation up with the rest of the gang till I felt what my mom mentioned was correct.
The perception of the rest on me would be a petty fellow who pick on a little boy without any source of income.
So it was not worth it be labeled so unglamorously because of a few dollars difference as everyone seems fine over it.

Anyway during the course of the dinner, we had the usual X’mas party group selection and gift exchange secret partner.
Then came to the agenda of the venue to host the party and Ferris looked pretty reluctant this time round to be the host which left me befuddled with his adverse reaction.
But the idea of going for a trip or even a cruise was brought on the table which got everyone pretty excited over it.
The idea began to take form when Karen and EK had been brainstorming on what is the best possible option if every single one of us agreed to go for it for this afternoon.
Let’s stay tuned what would be the outcome in the forthcoming weeks or months.

Had a walk around the Singapore Toys, Games and Comic Convention for this year and felt they surely had taken the effort to expand the space allowing human traffic to flow more regularly as it had been a scourge of last year’s edition.
Since our time there was much decimated due to Ferris’ late arrival to pick us up, we just walked briskly around the exhibition which had pretty much nothing that caught our eyes.
Caught up with TW who had been obediently manning his booth of his company/school and looked like he had pretty much hated the idea of soliciting for students over weekend on such a convention.
There is still the Anime Festival of Asia (AFA) latter this year to contemplate with.

Starhub had been enticing sports lover (more like football loving viewers) with the availability of Football Channel, Star Sports and the other channels in the package on the Preview Channel since the start of this month,
It really was a strategy to lure many who either had been deterred by the $25 fee per month or unknown of the allure of watching Barclay’s Premier League live every weekend, back to signing on to the plan.
I was adamant to be moved by it but I wouldn’t mind watching it for free was the starting weekend of the BPL filled my Saturday and Sunday evenings as Arsenal looked like a real deal with an unexpected 6-1 mauling of Everton at Goodison Park.
Man Utd also started with a win at home to Birmingham but was not overly impressed, then again it is just one game.
Not surprisingly, the German Bundesliga proved to be a much better source of entertainment over their English counterpart.

Japanese word of the day: 小さい~chi-sa-i~(Petty) I am a bigger person than that...or am I?

Anime Festival Asia 2008

25th November 2008, Tuesday

2 words to describe the recently concluded Anime Festival Asia...Resounding Success.

Although it was scoffed by a Kotobukiya representative housed at the booth of their official distributor here as "inadequate at best" but seriously it would be utterly folly to think of an anime & related hobby event to be held in our pucchi island of Singapore can remotely stand shoulder to shoulder to the most shabbily-organized one in Japan.
We are no Wonder Festival and we knew it...but if the Japanese companies could see the potential of this market (perhaps they had already realized) and we had the appetite for more in this region, AFA could be a benchmark event for otakus for the near future.

The event started for me and the clique perhaps one or 2 days prior when on Thursday I heeded the call of EK to the store for some packing in the evening. But with the sheer amount of goods accumulated over the past 4 years from the 2 store incarnations, the 2 hours I was there didn't really helped much.
The following day, the likes of Tay-chan and Vincent meticulously shipped the army of carton boxes down to Suntec convention hall and with the likes of Bryan and Karen going to to set things up which was an ordeal task within that 12m by 12m exhibition booth.

The event will be initiated by 10 am but there was a snake-like queue stretching the entire width of the halls on the level 4 as anxious fans tried to get their hand on some exclusives (which didn't work out to be an exclusive...just pre-launch products that's all).
As we did some last minute setting up including some of us had to cosplay as Shinsengumi members which I had a kick out of till it was a bit less breezy in the convention hall as well as Vincent briefing us on our roles.

La Tendo Booth

For the first day I was positioned as a marshaller of the perimeter as the crowd gushed in like flood or ants to sugar as the crew was badly swamped for almost the entire day, i.e. really good business.
But then with such obscene prices offer, this kind of turn out was expected no less.
It's hard to discipline myself to fixate my focus on the interchanging flow of customers and standing around for like 3-4 hours straight is no mean task.

I tried to wander around the exhibition hall but simply you could had comb the area within 10 minutes or so...
Many other blogs would give you the low down of who's on show from the despised (ODEX) to the scalpers (Vincent's Toys) to market spoilers (Passion) to my gaming haunt (Gamescore) to Foo's current employers to the studio that gave us our worst 20 minutes of our lives "Limit Cycle" to anime merchandise extraordinaire KKnM to TW's former employers...seriously it's who's who in the local otaku scene...think some tokusatsu fans might miss Mr Ng...

Didn't expect to spend in this event and turned out I really didn't fork out a single cent here though I was nearly succumbing to buying that Pullip doll the missus had her eyes on and was selling as good price from local distributor Magma Heritage. But space was a luxury which eluded us and I had always find Pullip dolls kind of creepy, so it's a hundred bucks or so saved.

Our immediate neighbour was Encore Films who were responsible to bring in some cool Japanese movie flicks which Japanophiles like myself would applaud to.
They had promised to bring in Studio Ghibli's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" on New Year's Day but it was the Detroit Metal City live action movie that recieved a lot of buzz for those who are into that dark comedy.

DMC next year?

Adjacent to us is a DLE Inc. who seems to be responsible for the infectious flash animation gatheirng storm in Japan, "秘密結社 鷹の爪(The Eagle's Talon)".
Basically the booth just have 2 LCD Tvs buzzing their productions with some related merchandises which were not for sale...
We felt it might just take them 5 minutes to clear the booth when the event ends.

As La Tendo found some long lost customers of the past (who unanimously felt Kallang was now humanly accessible) and attracted new ones, the few of us found familiar faces in the crowd.
Cheryl was here with her Gundam Plamo enthusiast hubby, Raymond was first spotted.
Then Foo came with Michelle and the former was quite delighted to reacquinted with DD who had came with some members of the Kagoshima club to help Vincent out.
Finally TW who coerced his wife-to-be to the event, acting all fanboyish when he was able to get the signature of Morimoto Koji, Animation Director of Studio 4 C who gave us Genius Party.
He was also the same sucker who was swindled $84 on a petty T shirt just to earn his right for an autograph.

The main attraction for me on Saturday was the performance of vintage anison, Mizuki Ichirou or we affectionately known as "Aniki (Big Brother)".
Aniki was very dedicated to the event appearing on both days, even kick starting with the opening theme of Mazinger Z to initiate the event; on Sunday assuming the role of the judge of the Cosplay competition.
However it was her repertoire of classic anime and tokusatsu themes that got me buzzing...
I haven't watch all those old anime series he had sang but I sure had heard them well enough through the games I played.
Theme sof Mazinger Z and Combattler V just cause an emotional explosion inside of me.
I would say those who spent $78 for the VIP seating made a good choice and the crowd was a good spirits to honour Aniki's top-brass performance.
With the encore interlude, think he sang a total of 13 songs and made effort to complete the signature session for those who spent for the concert, with a touch of customisation.
Some were requesting him to bring along JAM Project which he was the initiator and he meekly agreed...let's keep our fingers crossed.
For me, AFA was so enthralling because Aniki at his grand old age made his appearance!

ANIKI!!

On Sunday morning there was much less crowd as expected but business still seemed pretty brisk.
I decided to man behind the attraction table which was hogged by Chan and Karen the day before; and sure beat becoming a perimeter marshaller.
However the endless standing to entertain the enquiries and making sales was still tiring and lactate building to our limbs can be excruciating.
La Tendo ensured we were constantly fed and meal IC, Bryan was up to his task to deliver the food from Suntec City itself.
A string of unexpected patrons to this event which one required to pay for entrance include some elderly, a patient on drip and even monks and nuns who bought Buddha statute trading figures from us. The passion for this hobby surely span people of all walks of life.

Another demographic group who made their presence felt were the cosplayers.
From the usual Shounen Jump clans (Naruto, Bleach, D.Gray-man, Prince of Tennis) to some recent favorites (such as Code Geass and Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn) to some of the most quirky (a stocky fellow in perhaps Pucchi Eva Rei plugsuit getup as well as a really amatuer Kamen Rider) to some well dedicated one like the Gundam Exia from "00" and the 一撃殺虫!! Hoi Hoi San; there were also an increasing number of Gothic Lolitas (virtually very young girls) in this event...and seriously such clothing ain't cheap wonder where they gather their funds from.

Caught the cosplay competition with my buddy TW in the afternoon and was hoping to spectacle on the crème de la crème of the cosplayers on show.
In the end most were simply below par and were performing skits which don't really make sense or plain gibberish. The final entrant of a Tifa from FFVII Advent Children also single-handedly drove much of the crowd away.
We were more into the Ultraman Zoffy group who made effort to make small buildings as if you are actually watching the tokusatsu show.
The kaiju dersevingly won the individual award while that poor Knightmare Frame mecha from Code Geass were falling apart since the beginning drew the sympathy of Aniki who award him his special award.

Zoffy versus the White Ape kaiju

The main attraction for many was surely May'n's concert in the evening.
After a rather decent performance by a local J rock cover band who did numbers from Nightmare, Asian Kungfu Generation, L'Arc and Luna Sea, the rabid fanboys' prayers were answered when the petit singer made her appearance.
By this junction the entire floor before the stage were filled to the brim, at least twice as much who came to catch Aniki the night before.
We caught a glimpse from our booth and noticed many didn't heed the warning of the organizers for don't take photographs or videos of the performance.
While the likes of Chan, Ferris and Bryan who had been big Macross Frontier fans were largely captivated to see the singer behind Sheryl Nome in action live, I was unfazed by this Horipro singer who became an overnight sensation with decent Oricon chart showing.
She did tried her best with decent dance moves & crowd interaction (including some simple English she might have memorized for days) but her singing left alot to be desired especially the high pitch vocals which amplified to an intolerable state.
She left the stage briskly after just 6 songs with no encore whatsoever, and promptly proceeded to the signing ceremony which many complained about been replica on white cardboards...
It surely world's apart from Aniki...well things don't always equate as it does.

With seconds ticking till the end of the event, we made a final surge to reduce the amount of goods needed to bring back to Kallang.
Despite some shelves are emptying and hot commodities are sold off easily with replendishment over the course of the 2 days, we were still hoping to move some of those items which were stuck since ages back.
Vincent started to draw attention of the departing crowd by slashing the price of some figurines to level unheard of...
While La Tendo had gathered a reputation of being overprice or profit-hungry (which is not is subjective from time to time), many just couldn't resist the amazing price on offer.
It paid dividends as the ending minutes saw another surge in sales but still some items are destined to be left in the cold.

As the patrons were ushered out of the convention hall, we started packing (while DLE were long gone with their 2 seconds of squaring up).
Transport of items were limited to Vincent's measly van and I joined a few who left behind to bring everything back to the shop.
All in all, it was a great experience for all of us and something perhaps to look forward to in 2009...

The tired crew

Japanese word of the day: 痛むこと (Aching) That's what my thighs are telling me at the end of the 2 days event

Windfall or Major Loss?

14th October 2008, Tuesday

Had a ball of a day with the La Tendo gang on Saturday...
It began with another badminton session at the Nexus in Toa Payoh when for the inaugural time, the combination of myself and the missus actually convincingly beat a rather lackluster pair of Ferris and Tay-chan (the former looked like he hasn't slept for days as usual).
However Ferris was well and alive when searching for the trailer for the upcoming 20th Century Fox production of the Dragonball movie on his iPhone which the rest unaminously agreed that it scarred them soundly as it did to me.
Went back in the afternoon to pack for the next day's clearance sale at CSC then left for Coronation Plaza at Bukit Timah Road for another birthday celebration..this time it's the christened duo of Miyano and Tay-chan.

We arrived right on time but the likes of EK decided to drop in as late as we did for the missus' birthday dinner...
Slightly famished, Vincent (who else would you suspect otherwise) would politely beckon the waitress to serve the course.
We had a truly hearty time savoring the sumptous vegetarian affair this restaurant had been famous to produce which can be vividly indicated by the probability of the joint been loaded by famished diners each time we patronised it.
We finished off with the walnut carrot cake Bryan had volunteered to buy which was straight up my alley with cinnamon and all...if only there was raisin as well and I could just devour the entire cake by myself.
We did a re-selection of our secret gift partner as Chan had lost Karen's partner's name but in the end the latter didn't make it for the dinner once again but she did chosen hers in the morning.
After an unlikely bout which see 3 of us picking our own names (scary in fact..I was one of them), we finally stuck with the name for us to work our brain cells for till 24th December.
We then listened about Miyano's dismeanour with her Sims and Zoo Tycoon when she can't cheat for the former while trying hard to be rooted to infidelity in the game throughout while rearing a unicorn (with for a while got me choke to whatever I was eating at that moment when she mentioned "unicorn") in the latter.
We sent Chan and Bryan back and I would meet the 2 within hours at CSC on Sunday.

They were abnout 3/.4 through with the setting up when I arrived but there was no buzz at our table whatsoever even when I was emptying my share of sales items.
Business was bleak till 12 and I was dejected when this time last week the duo were already barely had enough time to breath.
I then decided to let fate takes it course while starting to hook up my NDS for my Final Fantasy 4 adventure while the missus frowned over my negative approach to it all.
Ferris came and lent a small space on the table for a pair of Valkyries he had customised from that awful looking Macross Archive series, hoping sell at $25 each.
This is also the set the others were dying to get off their hand a day after they bought it amid their unwillingless (since they had pre-ordered).
Bryan managed to sell his to an unknowing customer last week and Chan managed to do so this time with that usual gleeful grin illuminating from his face from the end of the transaction.
Business did managed to pick up just after 1 or 2 as our strategic location once show.
I managed to sell a couple of old trading figures I had been hoping to get off my collection since the very first time I set up booth with Chan.
The strategy of clumping all the loose figurines into the $2 box for Bryan and the gashapon sets in the $10 box from Chan worked splendidly as it was much more alluring to rummage through the mess to perhaps find some sort of "treasure" rather than seeing the items nicely displayed on the table...After the Singaporean spirit persist with the inclination for shopping center sales phenomenon.
With Chan's help, I managed to sell a recently acquired Alter Saber from "Fate/hollow ataraxia" figurine at a nice fraction of the price I paid.
There was a middle-aged lady who spent quite a sum at our table, with all 3 of us benefiting from her massive haul; but I was also the only one giving her discounts up to $7.
A scrawny bemustached guy with his younger brother kept hassling me to cut the price of my Revoltech Alter Saber which was already a steal at $15; pointing out how paint had scraped off from the sword handle or how unsightly the manufacturer error was for a joint (as if I was to blame).
But being so malevolent that afternoon with the notion to clear whatever I can since I will only be there for 2 weeks, I gave him $3 discount.
Another sales of a gashapon set I had spent like $30 over for just for one of the figurine but only sold at $20 when I should had jacked up the price by $5 if I knew there was another variant of the figurine I want in it making it an almost complete set...bummer.
The ultimate steal was this group of suspected Taiwanese who had their eyes on the Bleach Characters collection (like many before them but were put off by the price) at the stroke of us closing the stall for the day.
After some consideration and knowing there was not much time to ponder, they decided to clear it all from me at the price I quoted $180 for 19 figurines surely is a steal considering Part 1 could easily cost them almost half that price.
They were so infatuated with Bleach they also went for a complete Vol. 2 of the Daizen series which I let go at the cut-throat offer of $20 (cost me twice that previously).
But once again their bargaining tactic from multiple sources worked and I cut $10 off that price since they had made the single most extravagant purchase we have for our history at CSC.
Then the rotund sister even made off a nice Hitsugaya figure with his Bankai ice dragon from Vol. 3 Daizen as a gift which I was reluctant to let go but they knew I was easy meat and wouldn't take no as an answer.
So by the end of the day, staring at the wad of cash in my pocket,surely it had been a fulfilling day of sales much exceeding what I had anticipated but at the same time when I realize how much loss I had made with those incredible low price, I couldn't help but felt a tinge of regret at the same time...

Japanese word of the day:販売(Sales) After the great showing, I literally left with a handful to sell this week...

Can't Go Stabbing People like That!

11th June 2008, Wednesday

On Sunday, a delusional soul decided to appease his own inner anger or anguish by driving his truck at 70 kph into the busy barricaded street of Akihabara, knocked down 2 pedestrians before embarking on his slashing tour of duty...killing 7 and injuring several others
More of this earth-shattering news from Danny Choo....

My beloved Japan had been pretty proud of their low crime-rate but in recent months there had been rising cases of public stabbing/slashing or just plain violence.
Now we might have to fear for safety the next time we are heading to Japan or Tokyo to be more specific...
Even in broad daylight with thousands of people roaming the street, it takes just one mad man to spoil the whole harmonious on-goings...

When such incidences occurred, the culprit would usually be placed under the "mentally unstable" or "highly stressed by the modern society"; but there just aren't any solution to prevent such sociopaths to commit such heinous acts especially on Sunday when the serial stabber, Tomohiro Kato targeted my fellow otakus in the central of their main hideout; as if it was a personal crusade or something.

In this time and age, it horrifies me that in general Japanese public, otakus or people closely related to thier culture should be typecast as low-life beings and frequent target-boards when something went awry...

I wonder how Akihabara would recover from this horrendous act of violence and how the otherwise-passive otaku -dom would react to it. They had went on strike before but this could meant a much deeper plead of justice.
My condolences went out to the victims and do hope Kato received the most justified punishment; felt even death penalty a let-off for that bastard...

I supposed I will still patronise Akihabara in the future and do hope they tighten the security to curb any repeat of such unwanted history...

On a lighter side of things, Netherlands crushed Italy in their 1st round of Group C match of Euro 2008.
I caught the clippet of the highlights and it seemed like the Italian defense was unable to cope with the lightning fast counter attack of the Dutch with the likes of Gio Van Bronckhorst, Wes Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt looking very impressive in their attacking prowess.
It was still a frightening but fuzzy (for me) prospect that we can still look forward to fit again Arjen Robben, Rob Van Pierse and Klas-Jan Huntelaar against France and Romania next.
The 2006 World Cup champions meanwhile despite in dire straits, should bounced from that defeat with the quality they possessed. If only the likes of Del Piero and Cassano and combined sublimely with Luca Toni up front and the defense shored up a bit.

The Iberian duo of Portugal and Spain showed their class in the recently-concluded 1st round of affairs and together with Holland and Germany look like the genuinely-form teams...But the landscape could change in the next 2 games...so stay tuned...

Japanese word of the day: 刺すこと (Stabbing) Although I am immersed being Niko Bellic in GTA4, I would never possess the audacity of stabbing people on the streets

True Otaku Experience

27th February 2008, Wednesday

The first afterthought of the trip was that it seems longer than it was supposed to be...
The trip itself was fueled by an itinerary which offers much flexibility and no mad rush from point to point...
We stayed the entire day exploring Akihabara on the first day while Sunday was just Wonder Festival and Odaiba-bound, so without much exploring Tokyo by JR trains or subways, the days seemed slightly longer....

When you have a crew like ourselves on board, it was no surprise that the trip was to be otaku-orientated....

Without the missus, I was given the liberty to explore Akihabara in depth and with the fact that we are living at Washington Hotel Akihabara, a stone throw away from the train station, it makes the exploring much easier...
However for a figure maniac like myself and Chan, there were only that few usual suspects we hounded for some of the few figures we could not get in our shores...
We had the time to actually compare prices between shops for the best deal and went back the same evening to grab it...Didn't indulged too much in Akiba though for the figurines...

An updated view of Akihabara which was the haunt of the trip

Meanwhile WCCF was on the top of all priorities for Vincent and perhaps to some extent his partner in crime, Reedy. With Yuu-kun who join us since the first day since arriving from his hometown Kagoshima back to Tokyo where he is in the midst of acquiring his lawyer bar, the trio had a merry time visiting the Gigo Sega Game Center just a good 100 steps from the hotel to build their cyber soccer team, pitting their wits and skills against their Japanese counterparts over the course of the 4 days when we were there.
They also had a side quest on hand...card hunting.
As the probability of getting an excellent golden legend card from the card dispenser after every game seems rather bleak, money is always able to buy you the best player like in the real world.
Akihabara was littered with shops willing to buy back quality WCCF cards from gamers and sell to the open market for a hike price with the likes of a MVP Zinedine Zidane going at as much as 30,000 yen or so.
They started out scouring for good deal at Liberty, the store specialized in 2nd hand hobby goods where I always had fun hauling for figuriines of a good deal which progressed to a well-secluded shop in the middle of nowhere where they were willing to dish out good 2000 yen each for a lucky dip for rare cards...
Vincent was ecstatic when he got his hands on the Legendary pair of Shearer & Bergkamp.. They even went the extent to pay close to 10K for a Ronaldinho MVP card which the experienced online seller Reedy said that they could resell it for 2 to 3 times that price on ebay...what astute selling strategy which seldom sees him wrong over the years.

The rest of us too had our hands on some of the games as well as UFO catcher in Gigo where Chan poured 100 yen coins time and again for a couple of Yamashita Shunya style Kasumi from the fighting game "Dead or Alive" but eventually got them after multiple attempts.
We also signed up as the Federation army or Zeon guerrillas and slugged it out in "MS Gundam Senjou no Kizuna" as we were excited about hitting the battle pod and trying to see whether we are good MS pilots with the caliber of Amuro or Char.
I was with V & Reedy as the Zeon Zafts and we won our 2 games and Yuu, Chan & Ferris also tasted victory as Federation GMs.
However the motion sickness in the pod was a bit too much to take and we decided one trial was enough for the day and the trip itself....

Wining & dining was also on the agenda as we wanted to let Mrs Ferris, Lisa to sample as much authentic Japanese cuisine as possible...
From the Mr Donut selection at the very beginning till the fish cake sticks we had on the Skyliner train to Narita airport, I wonder how much we had spent to just appeasing our digestive systems which are over worked by the way...
We had yakiniku the first evening at Yodobashi Camera followed by 2 nights of izakaya, I think we clocked a good 14,000 yen on so for dinners over the 3 days (the last evening our hospitable host, Tsurudome-san treated us unagi-don to commemorate a great Wonder Festival)
The lack of fiber was also evident while Chan just couldn't stop drinking his favorite yogurt drink on daily basis...

MISTER ~~~ DONUT!!!

Speaking of my room mate, Chan had the habit of falling asleep when you least suspected it.. Perhaps the daily routine took a toll on his body but I was envious how easily he was engaged into the sleeping mode...
Our stay at APA hotel in Kiba wasn't as luxurious as Harumi the year before but was at least bigger than the Washingtons...
They served breakfast in the morning which saved us abit of money for dining but the food could be a wee bit better as Chan proclaimed...
The location wasn't too good as well as we had to take cab to and fro from the final station along the Yurikamome line which will deliver us to Tokyo Big Sight where the Wonder Festival was held.

The Wonder Festival sees another surge in volume of visitors but it was fun just scurrying to buy the exclusives before those suckers who were braving the cold outside for hours could get their hands on it first...

The gang preparing a long day at the Wonder Festival

Speaking of cold, it was indeed much more chilly as compared to the year before...
However the chill started to bite our bones when we got to the bay area in Odaiba over the weekend but it happens that strong gales were affecting parts of Japan, hindering flights and railways, so which was why we were nearly blown away at Kiba by the chilly winter wind....
It was still really cold when we hit Suidobashi station where we wanted to visit the JUMP shop across Tokyo Dome.
This was the only place I had never been to for the trip and sure was quite an interesting place with a leisure park, featuring a roller coaster ride which spans the facade of the shopping center, Laqua which looks like a ship.

Tokyo Dome Hotel, Jump Shop and Laqua

All in all it was a great time for all of us with extravagant spending and feasting and let's hope poor Lisa was able to salvage whatever intermission found in the otaku-themed trip perhaps the Disneysea adventure with her spouse...Even then the Fab 4 still managed to find time to spend tens of thousands at the Disney Resort store just outside....

Will bring the missus and perhaps our offspring to stay here in the future

Japanese word of the day: 満足(Satisfaction) Hope onto the Otake Japan railway...Satisfaction guaranteed!