Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 8, Part 2

From the Kyoto Imperial Palace we traveled to the Fushimi Inari-Taisha, the head Shinto shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. This was my first time to this particular place. It was serene and beautiful. The walkway lined by torii gates is amazing to see, as I'll try to illustrate with the pictures below.

Again, we spent an hour or two here before moving on to our last stop for the day. I always enjoy seeing historical, cultural sites such as these and I wish I could do them more justice with the pictures I was taking.

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 8, Part 1

Day 8 was our cultural tour of Kyoto, the old capital of Japan before it moved to Edo (Tokyo). We took a short trip from Osaka to Kyoto by train, and in the Kyoto JR station we took some shots of people bustling about. Even got some students to do a quick pose!

Our first stop was at the Kyoto Imperial Palace. A very beautiful and serene place to visit. One interesting note: no pictures are allowed to be taken inside of the palace itself. In fact, you cannot even sketch a drawing of the inside!

Outside, however, there is plenty to enjoy. From the craftsmanship that went in to constructing the palace and the various items surrounding the structure ...

... to the surrounding gardens.

It was amazing, and I haven't even talked about the sights we saw inside the palace itself. But unfortunately, after spending a couple of hours there we had to move on to our next location.

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 7

Today was a travel day. Two of our party, Greg and X, were leaving to go back to the States so we saw them off at the hotel lobby. The rest of us had packed up and were set to take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka where we would stay for the end of the tour.

The ride from Tokyo to Osaka took a couple of hours. Once we arrived, we made our way to our hotel and then Aka-san took us around the immediate area pointing out places of interest. We also took a trip through some of the more famous districts in Osaka like Dotonbori and Namba.

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 6, Part 3

Wow, Day 6 seemed to go on forever didn't it?! After finishing up with Dan and Haruna, X and I had to grab the JR rail and head over to Ikebukuro to meet the rest of our tour group. Aka-san had arranged a night of karaoke for us and some representatives of Girl Gamer.

We found the whole group at Big Echo, one of the various karaoke establishments found in Japan. There isn't too much to say; we drank a lot ...

... enjoyed the company of some beautiful women ...

... danced and sang (some of us, horribly so ;-p) ...

... and then one of us kind of passed out. The night was a blast and for the most part everyone had a great time.

The great thing about these karaoke bars is that you rent a room for your group so that you can enjoy privacy while you make fools of yourselves (as opposed to karaoke in front of a bunch of strangers at a bar like we have here). It's usually a flat rate per person, and you have the room for set amount of time but during that time you can order as much food and drink as you want.

It was a great way to end a night, and for two of our crew it was the perfect ending to their trip to Japan. Tomorrow, most of us would be taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka while X and Greg would travel back home.

Official Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Announcement Trailer

Two words. Fuck! Yes!

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 6, Part 2

We had a great time in Odaiba, but that was only about half of our free day. We still had two other things to do to finish out our day. And actually to finish out X's trip to Japan. He and another from our tour, Greg, were set to leave the very next day. Our first evening adventure was to meet a very good friend and his girlfriend (now fiancée!) for dinner at Tora Fugu, とらふぐ亭.

Now, X and I met our friend, Dan, and his girlfriend, Haruna, in Tamachi for dinner. X's only other goal for this trip was to try fugu, or pufferfish, and Aka-san really came through for us by finding a restaurant that specialized in serving this fish.

Aren't they just awesome?!

I have to commend Haruna for her patience with me that night. I pretty much had no information regarding the restaurant we were going to, since I couldn't print out the e-mail Aka-san sent me regarding the reservation and I couldn't print out the map on their website. I think I only had the name of the place, and I'm not even sure I copied that down correctly. So poor Haruna had to be the one to go to the koban, or police station, to get proper directions to the restaurant. I am sad to say I think Haruna was a least slightly perturbed at me, seeing as I was essentially useless and I was kind of the one that arranged everything. Regardless, we made it fine and were seated right away. All of us looked over the menu and Haruna and Dan suggested a meal that prepared the fugu in different ways.

First, for our drink we were given hot sake that contained fins of the fish.

Then, we were all treated to fugu sashimi. Next, we received an appetizer of fried fugu which for some reason I don't have any pictures of. Actually, I think you can see some of the fried fugu in the background of the next picture.

A basket of broth was brought out to the middle of the table and the burners were turned on. As we were finishing our appetizer, a tray of freshly cut fugu was brought out with various vegetables. When the broth was brought to the correct temperature, we were instructed to cook the fish and vegetables similar to the way one would do so at shabu-shabu or Chinese hot pot.

Are we jigglin'?

X kissing fugu lips

Once most of the meal had been cooked, the staff brought in rice that we then dropped into the seasoned broth.

The entire meal was exquisite and we left full and happy. I cannot speak highly enough about the experience, and more than that I cannot speak highly enough regarding the company I had during dinner. Seeing Dan and Haruna again was a real treat and I can only hope they enjoyed the night as much as X and I did. Oh, there's some short video from dinner as well which you can see here.

Can there be any other ending picture?

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 6, Part 1

Day 6 was our free day. An entire day for all the tour participants to do whatever they wanted. Myself and X had a big day planned, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Aka-san to set everything up for us. We started out our day going to Odaiba with the intent to experience an onsen and to see the Sasuke-themed events in Muscle Park.

There are a lot of things to do and see in Odaiba. I've been a couple of times, but I have still not seen everything and I never get tired of going.

Our first stop was at the Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari. This was one of two goals that X had for the vacation in Japan, both of which we were going to achieve this day. Going to the onsen was an interesting, and fulfilling experience. This particular one in Odaiba is set up like its own theme park. Of course the main reason to go is to enjoy the hot springs baths, but the establishment is also advertised to have "a wide variety of restaurants, traditional amusements such as fortune-telling, quoits, blowgun darts, etc., and Japanese-style full-body and foot massages".

Inside the onsen, we first took off our shoes and stored them in small lockers right by the entrance way (this would be the first of three separate lockers we would use). Next to that area was the cashier, where we paid prior to using the onsen. Once we had paid, we were given a key for use with the lockers for your clothes and we were directed to the people who would hand us our robes (I actually think they provided us with yukatas) and then we entered the changing rooms. Here, we reached the second set of lockers that stored our clothing except for your undergarments. From that area, we walked through to the Hirokoji, or "main street", where most of the shops, restaurants and games are located. You walk through here to get to the hot springs.

Now, before y'all ask the onsen are not co-ed. There are separate springs for men and women. As you approach the onsen, you enter one last changing area with another set of lockers for your undergarments. After disrobing, you are able to enter. Before entering any of the springs you first go to an area filled with personal spaces where you can wash yourself clean. Only after cleaning yourself should you then go in to any of the hot springs. From what I can remember, there were at least six different baths I could get in to. One outdoor bath and the rest indoor. There was also a sauna and a massage room.

We stayed at the onsen for at least two hours, but since we had a busy day planned we eventually left (although I'm sure we would have rather spent more time there). Our next stop was Muscle Park so that we could try out the challenges themed from Ninja Warrior (or Sasuke as it is originally called).

There were four challenges that they had for people to try out. The Arm Bike, New Cliff Hanger, Salmon Ladder and the Arm Rings.

Out of all four events, I could only successfully complete one: the Arm Bike. I got close to finishing the Arm Rings, but my left hand betrayed me and slipped out when I was trying to make a long reach. Overall, the events were much more challenging than I expected but I would love to try them again. I'd also love to see how well some of my friends would do in these events. Oh well, next time ...

We did a few more things in Odaiba before heading back to our hotel. We had to change and get ready to meet some friends for dinner.

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 5

Our plans for Day 5 in Tokyo were relatively light. Since, well, all of us on the trip were gamers and Square-Enix fans, our intrepid leader Aka-san decided to take us through Shinjuku to the Square-Enix Show Case store.

Since it had been a while since Aka-san had last been to the store, we took our time wandering through Shinjuku as Aka-san got his bearings. This worked out well, as we could take in the sights of this particular district as we walked.

We made it to the Square-Enix Show Case store and we were let loose inside. There were lots of items, paraphernalia, character goods, etc. from all the different games and products that Square-Enix has worked on.

Once we were done at the store, and had taken our mandatory group photo (pictured above with bonus attendee), we all broke off to do our own things for the rest of the day and night. Myself, Travis and X went off first to the Nakano Broadway. The Nakano Broadway is a huge, multi-level shopping center that has stores of all kinds and persuasions. We spent our time there getting gifts and souvenirs for people back home and then we returned back to our hotel.

That evening, the three of us took a stroll around the city and walked our way from the Shinagawa Prince Hotel towards the Tokyo Tower. We did not make it all the way to the tower, but instead opted to photograph the tower from various points along our walk. All of the pictures from this day can be seen here.

Testing Out a New Blogger Template

Found out about a new Blogger Template Designer from Blogger in Draft. Trying it out to see how I might be able to utilize it to personalize my blog a little bit more. So far, I like it but personally I would love it if I could upload my own background image as opposed to using the stock images that Blogger has available to you. I would guess that it is a copyright issue that Blogger doesn't want to get involved in, i.e., if they were to let their users upload whatever they wanted as backgrounds. Hopefully, something can be done to add that functionality. Other than that, there's a new "Pages" gadget that I have the ability to add, so that I could add separate pages to the blog. I could probably use it to separate content, maybe having a page for Travel, Games, Randomness, etc. Still not sure if I'll add it or not, but it is a thought.

If anyone is still reading this blog, I wouldn't mind some comments to see what you think of the new design and if you would be interested in seeing separate pages for things. This is still a work in progress, so advice/comments are appreciated.

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 4

This was the day I had been waiting for. This was the event that really spurred me to go back to Japan. I have had the great pleasure of attending the Tokyo International Anime Fair on my previous trip, but I grew up with a gaming controller in my hand (Atari 2600, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Apple IIGS, Playstation, Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox, PSP, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, various PC configurations) and the chance to go to the Tokyo Game Show was too great an opportunity to miss!

I cannot tell you how many people were there, but I know it was a lot. We arrived there around 9:00 am; the doors opened at 10:00 am; and after we split up to see all the show had to offer, we met back up at the end of the day around 4:00 pm. Six wonderful hours surrounded by games! You can see the full set of pictures here, and shown below are just a few of the sights from the show.

Intermixi TGS Tour - Day 3

I will start off by making a quick comment. In linking to my Flickr page, I've noticed an inconsistency in how I am numbering the days of this trip. That is because when I took pictures and posted them to Flickr, I didn't count any travel days. So I lost 3 days on my 10-day trip traveling between Narita and LA and when riding the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. So, when I say it's Day 3 on my blog but link to Day 2 on my Flickr, I'm not crazy. On with the tour!

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Ah, Akihabara. Day 3 say us scheduled for a half-day tour of Akihabara, an electronics/gaming/anime/etc. district in Tokyo. This guided tour would be a little different in that we would be lead off the main roads towards the back alleys where some of the older stores are and where people can find the better deals and harder to find items.

The tour started off with us going through a collection of electronics shops and up a stairwell, where a small shrine had been placed. If I remember the explanation our guide gave to us, I think the shrine was a small replica of one that used to exist in this district and was dedicated to Akiba. From there, we briefly went along the main road before turning off towards the back streets.

On the main street, you'll see people trying to hawk their goods or hand out flyers for restaurants, cafes, etc. Most of these cafes are themed, so you'll see people dressed as maids or in some other fantastic outfits.

Of course, once you move off the main streets you see a different side of Akihabara. Our guide showed us a bunch of older stores, from when this area was known as "Electric Town" and sold items such as radios, vacuum tubes, televisions, cameras ... pretty much all your general electronics. As we continued through the alleyways and back streets, we were treated to more and more specialty shops that sold anything and everything you might be interested in, especially if it was technology or electronics.

After we finished being led around the lesser-known areas of Akihabara, we were left to do our own exploring. Pretty much everyone left to shop; I was able lucky enough to find things that friends had asked me to look for, and since it was a few months before Christmas I was able to do some holiday shopping as well.

Overall, it was a full day even though it may not have sounded like it. Since I was more focused on shopping, I don't have many pictures from the area but you can check out what I have here.