R&R

Although its quite rare to see a rude or racist Japanese person, they exist, and if you try its not hard to find one.  By rude I usually mean anti-social behaviour which we see quite often in Canada and America.  By no means should it be strange, but in Japan, where everyone is usually polite, with the exception of no one ever holding open doors for some reason, its quite strange to see rudeness.  The earliest sign of rudeness i’ve seen is silence.  When you’re an asian, and you don’t know Japanese too well you tend to get the silent treatment, especially if you try to speak Japanese.  This happen when I bought my turtle, and I can’t help but feel there’s a bit of racism behind it, especially when they look at me with those eyes.  There are no other customers around in your shop, so what the heck, I’m giving you business, not stealing yer jobs.  Another small shop I went to a guy openly talked about how certain Asian’s are bad and how others are better.  And that Vietnam was a good country because they fought the Americans hard like the Japanese did, except he forgot the fact that Vietnam won.

Rudeness isn’t exclusive to foreigners.  I’ve seen this guy run out of a convenient shop to yell at parking enforcement agents.  The agents don’t bother to challenge the guy with the black Mercedes probably fearing retribution.  They run off quickly as the guy shouts slurs and angry words at them.  Another time was in Tokyo where a guy basically told a shopping staff not to talk to his daughter because they were promoting something or another.  It seems like an everyday thing in Canada, but here its just kinda odd to see.

Wonders of Wonfest

Another year, another Wonfest.  Being my first time at Wonfest, I learned that photography is an important skill.   More so for Wonfest than for Comiket.  After a few hours of waiting outside in the Summer heat, people were allowed into the massive building, that almost resembled the size of Comiket on the inside.  There were 3 buildings, with 3 sub areas, all connected with outdoor corridors for cos-players and photographers. My friend made his way to the industry area, where companies like Good Smile Company were promoting their Madoka line and their humongous display of all the Nendroids, figmas, statues, and objects ever conceived.  Also present was a BMW, most likely the spare from the GT300.

I decided to check out the smaller circles first, as they had the most limited supplies and aspiring industrialists in the making.  The rear buildings of 7-9 had a lot fewer people compared to the industry line, and popularity was determined by how many photographers were trying to snap up your original work.  Searching through much smaller crowds with help from a friend, we managed to find an advertised Hatsune Miku mini statue, which was just beautiful.  I managed to secure the last one, getting a “ganbatte” from a girl dressed as Hatsune Miku.  It was between another person and I, and that person gave up, to allow me to pick up this beautiful little model.

There were other great Miku figures, and tonnes of Madoka figures and accessories up for sale.  What surprised me the most were the circles that were reselling the stuff you could find in stores or from the industry circles.  However, some had incredibly rare things, all over priced of course.  The other original work figures that had little to do with anime or manga were also quite nice.  A lot of fine sculptures weren’t just anime, but just animals, objects or religious.

There’s a lot more interaction between sellers and buyers here because its less crowded than Comiket.  My friend have a nice conversation about models, and booth babes can pose for you when you ask.  There’s rarely a line up that takes an entire day or even an hour, except for the initial line up.  The washroom’s weren’t croweded, and the food stands had reasonable food and lines, and were scattered where the shutter circles would be at Comiket.

I also picked up a Nyanko bottle cap sitter, from a Natsume Yuujinchou industry circle.  The most noticeable difference from Comiket was that the industry circles would have events and broadcasts.  Some people seemed to have just come to sit in front of the Sega booth for hours just to hear the voice of famous seiyuus, like Azunya and Kirino’s Seiyuu.  They didn’t interest me as much however, as say the Hatsune Miku BMW and toy display.

After lunch outside the station and a break, we went to rest, before heading out to a Maid Izakaya and the best Karaoke place in Akihabara! The next day we had lunch at Maid Cure cafe and I also managed to pick up paint for my Hatsune Miku BMW.

Wonderfest

Another year, another Wonfest.  Being my first time at Wonfest, I learned that photography is an important skill.   More so for Wonfest than for Comiket.  After a few hours of waiting outside in the Summer heat, people were allowed into the massive building, that almost resembled the size of Comiket on the inside.  There were 3 buildings, with 3 sub areas, all connected with outdoor corridors for cos-players and photographers. My friend made his way to the industry area, where companies like Good Smile Company were promoting their Madoka line and their humongous display of all the Nendroids, figmas, statues, and objects ever conceived.  Also present was a BMW, most likely the spare from the GT300.

I decided to check out the smaller circles first, as they had the most limited supplies and aspiring industrialists in the making.  The rear buildings of 7-9 had a lot fewer people compared to the industry line, and popularity was determined by how many photographers were trying to snap up your original work.  Searching through much smaller crowds with help from a friend, we managed to find an advertised Hatsune Miku mini statue, which was just beautiful.  I managed to secure the last one, getting a “ganbatte” from a girl dressed as Hatsune Miku.  It was between another person and I, and that person gave up, to allow me to pick up this beautiful little model.

There were other great Miku figures, and tonnes of Madoka figures and accessories up for sale.  What surprised me the most were the circles that were reselling the stuff you could find in stores or from the industry circles.  However, some had incredibly rare things, all over priced of course.  The other original work figures that had little to do with anime or manga were also quite nice.  A lot of fine sculptures weren’t just anime, but just animals, objects or religious.

There’s a lot more interaction between sellers and buyers here because its less crowded than Comiket.  My friend have a nice conversation about models, and booth babes can pose for you when you ask.  There’s rarely a line up that takes an entire day or even an hour, except for the initial line up.  The washroom’s weren’t croweded, and the food stands had reasonable food and lines, and were scattered where the shutter circles would be at Comiket.

I also picked up a Nyanko bottle cap sitter, from a Natsume Yuujinchou industry circle.  The most noticeable difference from Comiket was that the industry circles would have events and broadcasts.  Some people seemed to have just come to sit in front of the Sega booth for hours just to hear the voice of famous seiyuus, like Azunya and Kirino’s Seiyuu.  They didn’t interest me as much however, as say the Hatsune Miku BMW and toy display.

After lunch outside the station and a break, we went to rest, before heading out to a Maid Izakaya and the best Karaoke place in Akihabara! The next day we had lunch at Cure Maid cafe and I also managed to pick up paint for my Hatsune Miku BMW.

Wonfest Catalogue Get

I’ve gotten a hold of the WonFest catalogue, which also acts as a ticket to get in to Wonfest!  Now lets hope I don’t forget to bring it or else I’ll be shelling out another 2000 yen!

Free Nendoroid App

Feel like having your own collection of Nendoroids?  How about all of them?  What’s the catch?  You only have to battle enemies in the form of Tower Defence, with the power of Saber and some weird little Nendoroid figures.  Then, when you win you earn coins, which you can use to purchase Nendoroids from the in game gashapon machine.  The collection, unfortunately, is only available on your Apple device, until you drop big bucks picking up the real stuff (which arebeautiful).  However, do not fret!  The app doesn’t just come with games, but galleries and descriptions of your favourite Nendroids, and if you have internet, you get updates on news from Good Smile Company!  If you have a camera, you can take 3D pictures with the Nendoroids.  So pick up the app on the Apple Store, what could you lose?

Link to Japanese Apple Store

Ongoing Hatsune Miku BMW Z3

After two days and many hours of grease, mistakes, and more grease, I’ve gotten to the point where I need new supplies to continue on.  I need to pick up the electronics that the car didn’t come with in order to fasten them to the rest of the car.  It’s been an enlightening experience, and in some ways it feels like working on a real car.  Except for the fact that real cars aren’t screwed on by a hundred fasteners, but a thousand or so fasteners.   After I finish the electronics, its onwards to the body!

Ika Musume @ Ministop

Ministop has a Ika Musume Season 2 promotion going on right now!  If you buy two or more Ika Musume S2 supported item, you get a free fan!  A lot of items are already gone, and the fans are going too!  Better hurry because it actually started 2 days ago! Run in fear Ika-chan, the chips taste like Curry Squid from the bottom of the sea!

Moving

In 42 days.

It has arrived. BMW z3. Miku.

So begins my journey down the spiralling path of expensive models… However, $150 wasn’t too expensive!

 

Cheering Japan On!

Good Smile Company has a little request, and the support deadline is in an hour!  I learned a little late, but cracked open the box as soon as I found out. Good Smile Company wants a picture of Miku, and a word of support for Japan! Yes, My Hatsune Miku Nendroid has arrived.  My first Nendroid.  It is posing with her bigger Gift Miku!  Not the best shot or best pose, but I didn’t have a lot of time!  

 

She comes with a total of four faces, but I’ve decided to use the default one.  She also comes with a leek, a pair of pon pons and a flag accessory.  The flag also has a musical note add on.  For something so small it is certainly well built, and extremely detailed, especially compared to the puchi Nendroids.  I know understand why Nendroids are so popular and regret holding out this long!  I jumped on this one was because a friend was in the middle of ordering  one and he told me 1000 yen of the proceeds go to charity to support Japan and for 3000 yen, I couldn’t say no!

 

Good Smile Company Blog