Leaving....
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Friday, December 25, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Day 26 LiSA
Woke up at 7, left by 730. At Makuhari at 9. Huge line for 930 goods. Lucky nothing sold our and was even able to get LiSAnta that I missed in Gifu.
At (croquette sandwich?) with delicious vanilla (custard?) drink and ramen.
Got in the wrong line even though I asked, but it got me to the front of the rear standing. Pillar in the way, but no big deal, center stage is still visible.
Setlist
Shirushi
Rising hope
Gift gift
Risky
Empty mermaid?
Rally go round?
Egotistic shoote...
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Day 24 Ghibli museum, Nakano Broadway
Ghibli museum was cool. Was fascinated how they animated real life objects. The short was Koro's Big Day Out. Cool kits in the gift shop.
Nakano Broadway was on the way home. Spent too much money on keychain and tiny figure...
Friday, December 18, 2015
Day 23 Hobby Round 14, Joypolis,Gundam, Shabu Shabu
Tokyo Big Sight. Sweet ass building.
Cool figures. None I wanted to buy. Initial D arcade game in a car, super hard. Huge Gundam statue was cool, and I don't even like Gundam.
Boys night out. Shabu shabu. Tiny bar. Then cute girl bar....
Day 22 shinyurigaoka, yomiuri land, yaki niku
Went to amusement park that was illuminated. Ate sushi from conveyor belt. 1.5 hrs of yaki niku and booze. Awesome....
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Day 21 nikko to tokyo
Saw some temple and shrine in nikko. Train to Asakusa for shopping, then Akiba for more shopping....
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Day 18 setagaya, shibuya
Went to Setagaya Boro-ichi (Fair) and ate a bunch. Then to Shibuya and Harajuku.
Met a friend in Harajuku....
Monday, December 14, 2015
Minor Annoying things about japan
1. Waiting for the pedestrian cross signal when there are no cars.
2. Bikes ride on the sidewalk or wherever is convenient for them.
3. Garbage is sorted into a tremendous amount of categories at your home. Public garbage cans are sparse.
4. All mail packages require you to be there to receive them. If you miss it you can schedule a time you're home for redelivery or pick them up at the post office.
5. All them damn coins, too many, similar sizes....
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Day 17 back to Tokyo
Finally back in Tokyo. Traveling around Japan was fun, easy with the JR Pass, but tiring. Need to be back at home base, aka the apartment in Asakusa.
Gotta start eating out at restaurants again, no more conbini food....
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Day 16 LiSA
LiSA tonight !!
Bought goods, 2 of Items Were sold out, SHOULD Have Been there Earlier, I HAD time. Maybe its for the better. Did not need tickets to the show, Which seems weird, but good to know.
Holy crap, amazing. Better than when I saw her in America. Small live house, or rock club. Not as close as I was in Boston, but could still see clearly. Being taller than everyone finally has an advantage. (I still hit my head on a daily basis...
Day 15 Gifu
Breakfast was more normal. Off to Gifu.
Tried to get scalped tickets for LiSA x cinema staff but couldn't. Met someone else who did. Damn....
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Day 14: half way through -ish maybe
Off to Himeji to see the castle and stay in a ryokan.
Castle was cool, free. Ryokan was weird, they didn't really speak any English, but managed. Room was nice, onsen was cool. Would do it if it was public though. No idea what I was eating....
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Day 13 afternoon in Nara
Tried Family Mart fried chicken. Holy crap was that good, way better than KFC. Soft and oily, yum. Need to try more hot conbini food.
Off to Nara, not much to see but went for the deer park. Deer roaming around, you can buy crackers to feed them, watch out because they will swarm, one kept headbutting me for food. Some old temples.
Food in Osaka. Kushikatsu and yakiniku....
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Day 12 day trip to kyoto
Bought some knives. Ate miso ramen. Middle schoolers asked for interview. Fushimi inari. Back to osaka for udon....
Day 11 off to osaka
Bullet train to osaka from tokyo, easier than expected. Went to Pokémon center, then food. Ate takoyaki again, better and less fishy. More raw inside. Gyoza. Okonomiyaki was delish, on top with that beef bowl. Won another senjougahara in ufo game. Damn me....
Day 10, shibuya,akiba
Ate curry in shibuya, very different but good. All sauce and egg. Did some shopping.
Then to akiba, ate some curry, more traditional but not quite. Chicken thigh katsu was good though....
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Day 9 Akiba, Steins;Gate Locations
Back in Akihabara. Visited May Queen Nyan-Nyan, Mai:lish irl. Less over the top than the touristy cafes. Like a normal place but with maids.
Some otaku too, they talked to me about anime. Maids were super cute. Their English was not too good but their attempts were super charming. Hamburg was like Salisbury steak. Saw some SG cosplayers, Okabe and Daru. Would go back.
Already visited coin lockers and UDX.
Beef bowl was amazing....
Day 8 i guess
Has it been 8 days or have I miscounted? Visited Ueno park, pretty, temples and shrine. And a zoo. Then to Rikugien Gardens. Trees light up at night.
Tried KFC. It was good, not really different. Very thin bread coating. Fries were not good....
Friday, December 4, 2015
Day 7: I might as well live here
Sweet breakfast again today. Man I missed sugar. I did not know when I booked the apartment that Asakusa was known for Japanese sweets. Headed to Akiba again because I love it.
I went to a maid cafe and it was awesome. It is calledhome, I went to the first floor. The maids were all super cute. They could tell I am otaku and talked to me in (broken) English. The food was okay. I ordered omurice , did not quite look like it SHOULD, but the...
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Day 6: Chichibu Festival
So many food stalls. I ate kurage and Takoyaki and
Zaku zaku and taiyaki and yakisoba and what I think was imagawayaki with a strange green filling. With warm sweet sake. Yum.
Girl kept staring at me until I smiled at her, then she came up to me to practice English.
And floats.
And.
Fireworks on way home that shook the trai...
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Day 4: Losing track of days
Tokyo DisneySea in the nighttime, so what to do during the day? AKIHABARA. Second time here, still not nearly enough. Amazing how many stores they can pack into these small spaces. Japanese really know how to utilize space efficiently. If you're into something nerdy or techy, there is literally nothing you can't find here. 90% of the things I order online can be found in this one small district, plus many more I never seen nor sought out.
Tired of walking. Ate a delicious crepe. Had Mos Burger, kurage sandwich. It was good, not great. Want to...
Monday, November 30, 2015
Day 3: Shinjuku
Headed to Shinjuku to see the Robot Restaurant show that evening. While waiting, hit up some arcades, visited Shin-Ōkubo, japan's Koreatown.
Kabukicho is part of Shinjuku, gets kinda sketchy (for Japan) at night, but that's where the robots are.
Robot show was totally bonkers. Too loud. Looked like it was cobbled together at times (though so many costumes, would like to meet who made them), but the performances were really good. Think of a live performance of an 80s Japanese B-movie cross JRPG, complete with lousy effects, cheesey dialogue,...
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Day 2: kaminarimon, sensoji, Akihabara
There was a fair (festival?) featuring food from Fukushima. Ate a whole bunch. Visited the temple, drew for luck. Highschool girls interviewed gaijin for school. Headed to Akihabara. Ran into hobby shop right outside train station. Of course had to buy stuff, I'd be broke if I lived near one, all the paints and supplies for any kit or model in one place. Proceeded up and down many stores. Animate. Sofmap. Gamed in Taito and Sega arcade. UFO machines are addicting, they know what they're doing. Not enough time, need to go back.
Tried calpis, was...
Saturday, November 28, 2015
First meal in Japan
So I had planned to eat at BK while here in Japan because I heard it's different. I didn't now it be my first bite of food after stepping off the plane, but it turned out it was literally right outside the subway exit where I was supposed to meet with up with my apartment renter and I had some time to kill, so... It was good, actually it tasted really good after traveling for so long to get here. The differences: I can't recall what Whoppers taste like in America because its been so long, but it definitely wasn't smothered in this much ketchup...
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Platinum Watch #61: Life is Strange (PS4)
PSN Level: 29 - 28%
Life is Strange was a 5 part episodic game that started coming out earlier this year in January and now almost 10 months later it has ended. Unlike I usually do with the Telltale episodic games, I marathon through all 5 episodes after they came out in about 2 days, and I loved it.
I was sold on this game when they described it as living the life of a teenage girl who get time manipulation powers. Then it fell by the wayside...
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Platinum Watch #60: Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)
PSN Level: 29 - 14%
This has to be my favorite Telltale game they ever made, including the old school point-and-click games like Monkey Island. It is by far the best of their new, visual-novel / choose-your-own-adventure games.
I played the past borderlands games, but never really paid attention to the story, more just the setting. And the setting is cool. I would much rather expand on this universe via a Telltale game (TTG) than a core Gearbox...
Platinum Watch #59: Uncharted Drake's Fortune Remastered (PS4)
I am a huge fan of the Uncharted series for PS3. I am super pumped for the fourth iteration on PS4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was my first platinum trophy. It's also my 59th.
So this remaster puts Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 on 1 disc for PS4 labeled The Nathan Drake Collection. The game is the same as it was ~8 years ago. The trophy list is largely the same, with minor tweaks. For some reason, many of the kill trophies were made more difficult,...
Monday, September 7, 2015
STEINS;GATE Visual Novel vs Anime
After playing through Steins;Gate on PlayStation 3, I couldn't get enough so I started re-watching the anime with English dub. I just finished episode 12 and these are my thoughts so far. After spending ~35 hours listening to the Japanese cast, I learned to prefer them over the English cast. The English cast is still really good, especially Okabe and Daru, but I vastly prefer the Japanese voices of Mayuri and Kurisu. Hearing the Asuna's voice come...
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Platinum Watch #58: Steins;Gate (PS3)
PSN Level 28 - 84%
Since I played Virtues Last Reward for PS Vita a couple of years ago, I have been immensely jealous of the slew of visual novels on consoles in Japan. When one comes to the US on a PlayStation console, I buy it. I was doubly excited when Steins;Gate was announced, having seen the anime and attempting to play the PC fan translated version (didn't enjoy playing on the PC).
The anime was one of my favorites. I "marathoned"...
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Platinum Watch #57: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
PSN Level 28 - 38%
A couple years ago, I platinumed Ni No Kuni. I ended up loving all 85 hours I spent with that game. It was the first RPG I completed in probably a decade, since Pokemon Crystal. I tried picking up other RPGs (both Japanese i.e. Final Fantasy VII and western i.e. Fallout 3) during that decade, but they never appealed to me. But I picked them back up after Ni No Kuni, and slowly I am liking them more and more.
My first...
Sunday, June 14, 2015
COMPLETE: Lisa Statue Work-in-Progress (WIP)
Scroll down for updates...
Published: 4/21/2015
In my post about my dislike of Crayola air dry clay, I have photos of a statue work in process.
Inspiration was from the concert Tee from LiSA at Anime Boston.
Coming home from a trip to Boston, I felt really inspired by LiSA to pursue creative outlets. I think its fair to say I am obsessed with anime statues, but how could I get a LiSA statue?? I'll make one! Never having...
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
DIY Monitor Backlight
After I installed LEDs in my my latest GK, I had a bunch of left over parts, so I measured out 4 strips, soldered them together, and wired it to a switch mounted to the front of the monitor. After an hour or 2, it was secured to my monitor via the built-in adhesive backing. Simple but fun, and I got to practice my soldering....
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Kuroyukihime Death by Embracing Garage Kit Completed
Project Page: e2046
My Gallery
This was a fun build, especially coming off off the previous Asuna kit. I had to put off working on my LiSA statue because I wanted to get this done by the end of the month, and it turned out to be my quickest build. At first it looked daunting because the kit consisted of about 60 pieces, but the simple color scheme made it easy and enjoyable. Painting mistakes were very forgiving being it was mostly robot parts and...
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Platinum Watch: #56 MotorStorm RC (PS3)
So I downloaded MotorStorm RC for the PS3 today. I remember really liking it on Vita, even platinum it on the handheld. It was $2.00, basically 80% off, so why not play it again. Turns out, through no means of syncing saves or anything, all the trophies popped. In short, I accidentally bought my 56th Platinum trophy (unlike when I did it for DC Universe online for PS4, that was completely intentional).
P.S. I had to re-download my Vita MotorStorm...
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Platinum Watch #55: Driveclub
After many hours (2.5 months), I finally got my platinum trophy in Driveclub thanks to the season pass and all the DLC they've continued to release post-launch. I am so glad I didn't grind to achieve any of the long term trophies because I had the DLC. It took some waiting for new content each month, but I like it the game too much to tarnish my time with it.
Here's hoping the studio behind the game, Evolution (makers of MotorStorm), survive...
Asuna KOB Outfit Garage Kit COMPLETED
Product Page: e2046
My Gallery
My third and latest garage kit (GK) is Asuna from Sword Art Online in her equipment from the guild Knights of the Blood in Aincrad. I love Asuna but this GK was a royal pain.
First off, white is the most unforgiving color. It takes many coats of paint to feel really white. I am a messy painter so it is really hard to keep it pristinely white. Cross contamination from my hands was a big issue. Also, many...
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Lisa Anime Boston 2015
Friday April 3rd 2015, LiSA had a concert performance at Anime Boston.
Friday April 3rd 2015 was one of the best times I've had in a long, long time.
Thanks to YouTube and Sword Art Online, I have been aware of LiSA for a while. When I found out she was coming to perform in America, a few hours from home, I had a trip planned within the week. And it couldn't have come at a better time. For the past few months, my mood has been in a bit of a funk....
White Crayola Air Dry Clay
Do not buy this clay. Do not use this clay.
I wanted to make a figure I could paint, but I've never sculpted before. I watched literally a couple of videos and decided to give it a shot. I am not an artistic person by any means. The best I could do is sloppily replicate something I've seen. Having little confidence in creating something from nothing, I decided to not buy Super Sculpey, a clay that needs to dry in the oven, possibly in layers...
Friday, March 13, 2015
Senjyogahara Hitagi Garage Kit COMPLETED
Product Page: e2046
My Gallery
My second GK(garage kit) build is Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari. She was the first character to introduce the concept of tsundere to me. I am super happy with it. I think the colors are spot on, they're even better in person. This kit has over 50 pieces, a huge jump over my first model. I am especially proud of how the floor turned out, totally worth doing it twice. The kit actually came with a different configuration,...
Platinum Watch: #54 Apotheon
Apotheon is the 54th game I got 100% of the trophies in. If you think that is a lot, I've been earning trophies on PlayStation system since they were introduced in 2008 with Super Stardust HD. If you don't think it's that many, I only earn the platinum in games I really enjoy.
I ended up really liking this game, though in the beginning I was doubtful. When I heard it had Metroidvania elements, I winced. I generally like 2D games where there...
Kashiwazaki Sena Garage Kit COMPLETED
Product Page: e2046
My gallery
This was my first garage kit build. Overall I am very happy with this kit. The was virtually nothing wrong with the kit when it arrived such as broken pieces or bubbles in the resin. A common complaint of e2046 is the over sanding of seam lines, but those complain might be old or too picky because there was a bit, but it wasn't a big deal.
I believe this is my first 1/7 scale figure because it is by far the biggest...
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Hitachi 115005 Rotary Tool Accessory Kit, 200-Piece
I purchased this kit for some sanding bits for the cheap rotary tool I bought. Has more than enough for some mild use making garage kit models. Does not include cutting or drilling bits but I have small drill bits from an old hand drill.
Product Page : Hitachi 115005 Rotary Tool Accessory Kit, 200-Piec...
SE - Rotary Tool - Cordless, Rechargeable, Variable Speed
Although it is for pet care, this rotary tool is perfect for soft resin found in garage kit models and it even has variable speed. All for under $9!
Product Page : SE - Rotary Tool - Cordless, Rechargeable, Variable Sp...
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