Vacationing in Japan

[Daniel]

I see KOR. What's on that set?

Are you finding it difficult to make your way around due to the language barrier?

[Heibi]

It's the KOR TV series DVD Box set. Nope, I understand Japanese better than I speak it. I'm far from fluent though. I find that, at times, the magical thing called Yen and Visa/Mastercard breaks all barriers(when buying your merchandise). I understand most of what the cashiers are saying - "Just a moment please", "Thank you very much", "That'll be ?#$?@ Yen"(and then they turn the didgital readout to you.), "Welcome to our store". I can ask questions in Japanese when I can't find something. The hard part, in manga shops in particular, is figuring out how they arrange their stock. Will it be via author or company that produces it. The order in whichever style is used will usually be "alphabetical". So know your A, I, U, E, Os, Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko's, etc... Most DVD shops order them in alphabetical order and by type of show, i.e. Anime, Live Action. CDs are arranged in type of music - J-Pop, Rock, Jazz, etc...

Oh, and if you meant finding our way around, a lot of the signs have English on them. For finding specific sites I can ask the hotel for directions if needed.

[Heibi]

The final shopping day. We had nearly everything we were looking for so it was an easy day. We went to Akihabara and did a slow easy circuit of the shops. We bought a few things.

[Heibi]

Here are some daytime pictures of Akihabara.

[Daniel]

Ah, that was the final shopping day, was it? What's up next? I'm loving the pictures, thanks!

[Daniel]

Jeez. Hope you guys are doing alright.

[Heibi]

We departed Japan with no problems. When we were going to depart Dallas for Wichita we got caught on the ground taxing for takeoff in a nasty thunderstorm. We had golf ball sized hail hitting the plain and torrential rain and wind. Dallas itself was hit by tornadoes. We had to taxi back and get off the plain so it could be inspected for damage. And so did every other plane in Dallas. They cancelled 90% of the flights. Luckily they found us a plane and we made it back 6 hours late to Wichita.

[Heibi]

Almost asking someone why they went to a movie when in a short while they could rent the movie and watch it at home. I guess the perspective of living the life(being married to someone in the industry) and being a fan outside the industry can be different. I'll try to explain...

To find stuff that is not available online and to just get away from home and have fun. Not sure if this is true for most American Otaku or Americans in general, but to be able to do it ourselves is more enjoyable than online shopping(the hunt). The older DVDs I bought are out of print. And sometimes - many times - when using Amazon JP for example, they don't ship out of Japan. And many of the items we find personally on our trips are items that we may never see in a normal day of surfing for new products. Or when we do find them they are marked up in price quite a bit. Many of the anime DVDs we find of older shows will never be released over here - Zillion, for example, had a whole 6 episodes in English only released here.

We also sight see, not to mention trying to schedule our trips to coincide with events like Comiket and Wonder Festival. Plus we get to do things we almost never get to do in America, like riding trains everywhere. Places like Wichita don't have mass transport that can deliver you right to the heart of where you want to be. We also do the standard tourist stuff like going the palace, visiting shrines, temples, and other tourist trap locations.

I've actually been able to visit two anime studios and meet the directors of those studios. My friend "Chris", who is from Japan introduced me and a friend on one of our trips to Mr Abe, the director of Studio A-Spot(link - http://members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/a-spot/index.htm). We were able to tour his small studio and interact with his artists who were working on Detective Boy Conan stuff. I was given a ton of sketches that were used to make cells on shows long finished. Then he took us to a bar where we drank and ate - great time. The second time we met him he took us to another studio run by his kouhai - AIC. They were working Monkey Turn at the time. We were able to observe the new method of rendering animation cells that was just coming into its prime - computer CG. Then he took us to a bar.

The real reason behind any trip like this is to have a good time. When I was in the Air Force it got me away from the ringing phones, work and deployments for a short moment.

Next year I have to girls from our club who want to come along. They've never been out of the country. I get to play tour guide and have fun at the same time.

[Heibi]

None taken. This time was more of a hunting for anime trip. But we always mix in some time to view the sights.

Speaking of Book-Off - we found several of the the out of print DVDs in those shops.

[Heibi]

That would be great. Get Greg to join us too. The girls are over 21 so they can go drinking legally if we end up hitting a place that serves alcohol - as if a restaurant in Japan didn't . We'll try and plan around any vacations you all have over there and maybe try to hit a convention at the same time. I should hire myself out as an Otaku tour guide.