take the last train to clarksville.... uh, I mean, Takayama

We are about to head over to Takayama but wanted to leave you with this shout out first..

we're gonna walk down to electric avenue (well we took the train and it's a bunch of avenues not just one)

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NOTE: at the end of this posting will be a link to the full web album of all the pics we took at the market (yes, still with witty captions) here's how it went down though and some choice pics to enjoy!
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Well, our trip down to Akihabara, the electriconics market distric (or Electric Town) of Tokyo was not what we expected. First, you can see Marc here in what appears to be a night time setting but no, it's just that the stalls are so closely packed together and have plywood thrown above them to form a total enclosure for the avenues so you can shop in the rain even

anita spots something she wants - no, she neeeeds; well, wait, no, what is that? no clue, it's like a 10 year old radio shack down here! so far we only see stalls with electronics parts; wires, transistors, wiring casings, magnets, tv casings, etc.

wait! vanity check. i see 7 me's:

we do manage to find a video arcade in here somewhere however and find something pretty cool. it's a video game that's controlled with playing cards. the guy just slides his actual cards around on the console surface (those aren't pics of cards on a second screen, they're real paper cards) to different areas to control the game! a coupla standard console buttons are also used but still, no clue how it worked - video camera? RFID? cool:

next, we learn to order lunch from ticket machines. that's a neat idea. there is literally no money or change in the shop since it's all inside the machine. you place your order by buying a ticket of what you want (we needed help to match the symbols to the actual food) and get a ticket that you hand to the chef.

ok, after lunch we start to find some more tech. this stuff is more than 10 years old now, but there's tons of it. where the heck are the futuristic mind control video game devices? hmmn, not here:

if only we could buy all this up and bring it back to sell on ebay - that's really about all that can be done with it. i mean it's cool and all but we want to see what's new! OK, finally we find one store that has some newer stuff in it. It's just one store, but it's a full block square and 7 stories tall! Yodobashi Akiba

now we're talkin

they have everything in here from the latest Sony TV's (apparently my new model isn't obsolete yet - yay) crazy amounts of cameras, and all kinds of games too. weird games

and even found a whole wall of Jenga games

super jenga, uno jenga, black jenga, eco-jenga - weird.


anyway, here's the full album to all that we found and saw that day, enjoy:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marcbdg/AkihabaraElectricTown?authkey=ZjF8bioPCyM#

it's a small world after all

so there we were taking a break in a small area just outside the akihabara area when Marc runs into my pal from SF.


Ben Chin! Too funny, such a small world after all.....

ginza shopping mishap

Blob has been caught a couple of times shoplifting... not on purpose but because in several of the stores we have been to there is this policy that although the store is 7 stories high, you must pay for your purchases on the floor you found them at. I got caught and after they stopped laughing at me they told me where I needed to pay.

This particular store had a pet store on the top floor. We went to check it out and Marc found a puppy he wants... Don't be surprised if it comes home with us!

baum chicka baum baum

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NOTE: full album of the day's events included at the bottom of this posting
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Alright, we found some of the best baum this place has to offer. After the fish market we strolled on to the Ginza district to find a citibank and hit up the shopping area. We had an entertaining walk and at one point I was <--this close--> to meeting a japanese rock star... or perhaps he was an actor. Still not sure, here is our almost picture together:



We continued on to Ginza and after a almost helpful police officer or meter maid (couldnt tell the difference) escorted us in the general area of citibank we were able to find it. We saw a big department store (think Nordstroms on crack) across the street and decided to check it out. It hadnt opened yet and there was a small line forming.




Not knowing what the line was for we of course joined it and made friends with a nice lady from Gifu. We waited in the line for about 15 minutes and it grew to be pretty long... Finally the doors opened up and it turns out we were at a baum shop!!!!

Here is Marc trying to order us some baum:



...and...





And the rest of the silliness from the day can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marcbdg/GinzaTrip?authkey=4HW3Puijs0M#5259397849496540562

Tsukiji Fish Market - Attempt 2

We made it to the fish market on our 2nd attempt (2nd attempts seem to be our theme these days). We enjoyed delicious fish, and a very dessert....

ninjas have to eat too ya know!...

Ninjas Sleep Here...

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NOTE: at the end of this posting will be a link to the full web album of all the pics we took at the hostel (with witty captions) since again, we took too many photos, here's a rough outline and some choice pics though, enjoy!
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after making it through the transit system and finding our way around the streets we happen upon the lair:

anita enters stealth mode:

and after locating our cubbies,

a game of peekaboo ensues:


we then take some private time to relax and enjoy our own spaces

a well earned dinner of gyoza, shrimp and udon followed. you can't see it in this pic, but there are a coupla glimples in the album linked at the bottom of the owner/waitress who beat down her son in the restaurant for continuing to squirt her with a water pistol - it was kinda crazy.

on our way back from dinner we tried to check out a pachinco parlor but it was waaaay too noisy, confusing and smoky to give up it's secrets this night - we'll definitely try again though.

ok, sleepy time for someone

oh hey, here's something of note about japan in general, it seems as though the streets and public spaces are very clean but there are not many public receptacles for putting trash in - i guess people just bring it back to their private bins. well they seem pretty mindful of recycling, but they seem to enjoy burning things even more - as can be inferred from the relative size of the "burnable" bin to the recycling one!

the following day or so (we were at the ninja hostel for 3 days) more silliness ensued. here are a couple action shots - more in the album at the end.



oh and apparently martito found a little friend - katsu bear!


here's a link to the full album and all our silliness:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marcbdg/NinjaHostel?authkey=2iSJSxgDqpI#

travelling to tokyo proper

OK, gameshow down, let's get to Tokyo now and find our hostel there. Oh, by the way, we're staying at the Khaosan Tokyo Ninja hostel - that's right, ninjas. We just need to find it (ninjas are stealthy you know, so they may have hidden this place). Anita looks confident though

oh, and we share a new experience, actually being able to see above everyone's head in a train car! wow, who knew the end of a train car could be so visible to us shorties. we could even hold on to those above the head straps with our mouths if we wanted to. well, probably not, but this is our version of how things went down!

After making it to our first transfer station we need some breakfast and a good cup of coffee. Beckers (sometimes called Becks) we find our new coffee love in Japan, strong, consistent and not Starbucks - which we could really find here if we wanted to.

we also found some croissants, OJ and eggs, a familiar breakfast.

So, we make it to the main Tokyo station not our final stop, but 1 transfer and 2 stations to go for the hostel. Wow, now this is amazing, it's like being inside of an anthill; split levels, people mover walkways, tons and tons of people all moving every which way

we actually had a 15 minute walk within the station to get from the line we arrived on to the transfer line we needed - that's probably close to a mile we walked inside of the station - that should give you a sense of how large this was.

here's our last transfer train leaving us behind at our final destination for the day, now we just have to find those ninjas and the cubby holes they sleep in!

Tokyo Gameshow 2008 - we made it!

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NOTE: at the end of this posting will be a link to the full web album of all the pics we took (with witty captions) at the gameshow, since there are way too many to include in a blog posting. what follows is a rough outline of our day and some choice photos, enjoy!
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so, i'll spare you the transportation details and we'll skip to the meat, so we found our way to the gameshow, yasa!
and found a giant robot that looks suspiciously like anita waiting for us outside:

We bought tickets from what appeared to be a scalper just outside the show, but he was selling them for what appeared to be face value and we got them for "a solid" (1,000 yen - or $10 usd). after getting inside through the mad amounts of people and getting a lay of the land - oooh, look, Street Fighter IV and a cute floating blue blobby guy

we got in line to try out a game, Raving Rabbids TV Party, with those cute crazy bunny things. This was a relatively short line with only about a 15 minute wait to play and Anita has the original version of Raving Rabbids and wobla loves it. This one was special. we got to do some neat new moves like 'brush the teeth', 'spray the deodorant', 'shave the chin' and what you see here known as 'swab the ears':

there were of course lots of people dressed up (here's just a few, more in the web album):




and we spotted some type of ninja game - but of course. so marc gets in there and decides to try his hand at some ninja skill - like jumping over tigers - to win some unknown prize; anita is quick with that shutter!

the unknown prize turned out to be a scavenger hunt map to perform a couple of feats all around the gameshow to ultimately win what looked like a demo cd or somesuch. the instructions were all in japanese of course and the show floor was way to crowded to actually try to do all of that in one day, so we moved on.

So, the games, there were soooooo many games, too many to blog about but you'll see a lot of em in the web album. Here are some we got a glimpse of: Metal Gear Online, Spacedriver Grid, Judgment, Basara Battle Heroes, Biohazard 5 - really wanted to get in to check this one out, it looked so cool but the line was over 75 minutes just to get inside a shrouded tent to even see gameplay outside of the trailer

Mirror's Edge, Halo Wars

and tons of others we didn't recognize or couldn't tell what they were because of the japanese titles. there were also huge sections for handheld games and mobile games, even a 'test library' set up to feel like a private library where you could sit and try out some mobile and handheld games. again, lines too long to really get into it. Marc did find a cutout of a cat without a line tho, so he jumped in
we end this posting with a tribute to the saddest lonliest man at the gameshow. apparently no one wanted to play his game and anita and marc weren't about to look uncool in japan either!

thanks for waiting, here's the album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marcbdg/TokyoGameShow2008?authkey=UPLutBcHMtU#5257351568986062146

so much media!

just so you know, we're working on the photos and video of when we actually made it to the gameshow, the fish market, akihabara (the electronics market) and all engrish, food finds and cubby holes in between.

matane for now!...
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Greentea baum cake

We have been trying to capture our fearless leader Marc in his attempts to eat his way through Japan. I'm happy to share with you his episode #4 : `green tea got nothin on me` :

part 1



part 2

Reason #412 I Wish I Was A Man

So the step in the picture is really deceiving as ordinarily every toilet I have encountered there is no step. But really, dude, this is seriously a pain in the ass to have to deal with when your feet are raw like sushi from walking and carrying your bag all day, to then get to this. Marc said he is working on a diagram for me on the most efficient way to use this thing... stay tuned.

We must really love this blog

...or else why on earth would we be entering posts into it at 515am local time? Jet lag... nah. Its because we woke up early to go to the Tsukiji fish market!

We were about to head out of the hostel when I saw this on the bulletin board. Ahh, looks like directions to the market! It is, yes! Oh, also the schedule... we dont need that, we know its open...

Except it wasnt. Turns out this is the only Monday for the entire month that the fish market is closed... Guess I know what we are doing tomorrow at 430am.

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

the home stretch of the longest day. part 4.

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NOTE:
This is a continuation of part 3 from the morning we tried to get to the gameshow the first time
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it was a beautiful night and we were seriously tired and meandered back through the winding street now with all the shops closed.

we were seriously losing steam and need a refresher - lucky for us there are vending machines on just about every street. marc opts for a new mystery drink:

oh, tastes just like sprite.

and, if the foreshadowing in part 2 of this story wasn't clear enough, yup had to stop by McD's for the sacred McRib on the way back to console our sore feet and the and the insatiable anita. back in the hotel room with the spoils of our long, long, really sore and tired feet kinda day had to get some Sapporo too of course!

the end (of the day).