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Year 2009

Entries 10 Total

Tokyo 2009: Akihabara Revisited + Marunouchi

Dec 31, ’09 8:39 AM

Akihabara

After getting visually overwhelmed earlier in the week, we made our first stop this morning a return to Akihabara. Overflowing with multi-story electronics superstores, anime/manga retailers, and nooks packed with games, it would be a nerd heaven even without an abundance of arcades, street food, and maid cafes.

Maid Cafe Crowd

There’s a definite advantage to trekking through the area during the daytime, as the neon glow from all of the stores combined with an abundance of people makes nighttime a bit challenging for those not native to the area. That said, there is something intangibly wonderful about the area after the sun sets.

IIDX Action

After flitting through a few stores, I settled back into the second and third floor of the Taito Station to get my mandatory music gaming out of the way. One round of Pop’n Music THE MOVIE, one round of DDR X, and one round of beatmania IIDX Sirius all passed by very quickly.

The third floor of Taito station is interesting as it seems to be mostly populated not by native Japanese, but by tourists from around the world. I suppose that after 10 years of DDR floating around the world, foreigners are most comfortable with these games, and are expecting some sort of show. (Fighting games are a floor higher; the “girly” music games like Pop’n and Taiko no Tatsujin are a floor below.)

A little bit more store browsing later, and we were on our way out of the area to head to Tokyo Station.

Under The Tokyo Station

Underneath Tokyo Station lies a maze of shops and restaurants, in addition to at least eight more train lines. It is frantically busy, especially on a day like today where much of the country seems to be traveling.

While wandering here, we found Katsugen in the “Kitchen Street” restaurant area, and we were ready to check another food off the list. I opted for the Katsuzen set lunch – red clam miso soup, rice, pickles, the mandatory pile of shredded cabbage with citrus yuzu dressing, and a healthy sized portion of katsu – and a mug of draft beer; Katie went for a different set that she had hoped contained crab croquettes but instead had katsu-fried oysters. (She did not complain.) It would be hard to call this anything other than my ideal Japanese meal.

Marunouchi

The day then turned a bit sour, as our planned shopping destination – the Pokemon Center – was not to be found where our guidebook indicated it would be. We beat up and down the back streets in the hopes that we just weren’t finding the entrance, but to no avail. After a while, the wind began to pick up, a headache began to set in, and we fled the area. (Later, research would prove that the store at that location closed in 2007; the new location is a few stations away. Will try again on Saturday.)

A little wandering around in Shinagawa allowed us to procure desserts and sweets for later tonight. Naps followed, as did a quiet sushi dinner at the proper hotel restaurant. While it may be fun to traipse to Roppongi to hole up in a bar and ring in the new year, or to push through the cold towards a temple for the midnight bell ringing, we are taking the remainder of New Year’s Eve in our hotel room, quietly enjoying the TV. Happy new years!

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Tokyo 2009: Harajuku + Ikebukuro

Dec 30, ’09 3:49 PM

Climbing The Shinagawa Stairs

Shinagawa Station

One of the things I am really enjoying about Tokyo is how intricate and lively the stations are. American mass transit systems tend to allow only for a newsstand at the major stations; London is slightly better with vending machines near the tracks. But Tokyo has shopping malls surrounding and inside the transit system. The Shinagawa station alone has bookstores, CD/DVD stores, and a whole dessert-focused food court (among other dining options) beyond the turnstiles.

Harajuku

A 20 minute train ride later brought us to Harajuku. While a Wednesday trip doesn’t provide the opportunity to gawk at dressed up teenagers (they tend to come out on Sunday), it did let us explore an area that seems to be a cross between (in NYC terms) Fifth Avenue and the East Village. The two main shopping streets run parallel to each other and both start at the station. Omotesando is the Fifth Avenue side – lots of international stores like Ralph Lauren, Gap, and Chanel. Kiddy Land 5F

Omotesando is also where you can find KIDDYLAND, a six store toy store that has been serving happiness since 1946. It’s a worthwhile stop, if for nothing else to see how much floor space various franchises take up. (Pokemon gets about 30 square feet on B1, while Peanuts/”Snoopy Town” gets an entire floor.) Katie Orders Hello Kitty Pastries

Outside of KIDDYLAND, a bakery turns out fresh baked Hello Kitty pastries with various fillings. A bag of 10 is about $4. Takeshita Dori

A few blocks north from Omotesando is Takeshita Dori, a pedestrian only shopping mecca. This is the Harajuku you may expect, with ridiculous clothes and accessories and throngs of people. There’s a number of restaurants as well, but most people seemed to be queued up for one of the many crepe stands that all smelled delicious. Ikebukuro

Our last major stop for the day was in Ikebukuro, a fairly commercial district where the train station is sandwiched in between two department stores: Seibu (apparently meaning “west area railway line”, located on the east side of the station) and Tobu (apparently meaning “east area railway line”, and naturally located on the west side of the station).

(A quick aside: there are ads practically everywhere for Seibu’s WE LOVE BARGAIN sale, and the TV commercial has aired so much I may start impulsively buying Kumi Koda’s music. The ad is damn cute.)

We took lunch at a Korean buffet on the 3F of Tobu Spice2, which required a lot of gesturing and sumimasen-ing. On the other hand, it was cheap and tasty. If nothing else, I am appreciative for the patience of the Japanese for those of us who know next to no Japanese. Sunshine 60 Dori

We then crossed back through the train station to the east side, and made our way to Sunshine 60 Dori – another pedestrian mall shopping strip. We unfortunately didn’t find anything terribly unusual, so we beat our way back to the train and returned to Shinagawa.

For dinner, we opted for the set menu Mizu no Uta, a few blocks from the hotel. Sitting at the counter, we were treated to some of the best tuna I’ve ever tasted – perhaps too much of it. We started to run out of steam around the time we were grilling our own thin strips of tuna, and when a fried rice course came out immediately after, it became a struggle. Still – great food, and I can now cross the “sushi/sashimi” off my Tokyo food checklist. Now I just need to find a proper bowl of ramen and some tonkatsu.

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Tokyo 2009: Cat Room Chamamo

Dec 30, ’09 6:27 AM

While we’re away, we’re lucky enough to have friends in our building looking after poor ol’ Buttons. But after glancing at a picture of him being kept company, we pouted just a little. It’s hard being on the other side of the world from a beloved pet.

But we must not forget: this is Tokyo, where there is a solution to nearly any problem. So when serendipity struck in Harajuku in the form of a perfectly placed advertisement, we knew what we had to do.

Cat Room Chamamo

On the fifth floor of a nondescript building half a block south of the (closing) flagship Gap store sits Cat Room Chamamo. It is a cat café, providing visitors a chance to play with any/all of the nine resident cats for a nominal fee. Drinks and light snacks are also available.

There are prerequisites and rules, of course – mandatory hand washing and sanitizing, no picking up the cats, no outside food, etc. But you do get your choice of complimentary cat toys to use to attract the attention of the cats.

Cat Room Chamamo

Leaning Out The Window

Nap With A View

Play Time

Is it a silly way to pass the time? Sure. But I love the idea that if you are away from home, unable to own a pet, or otherwise animal deprived, there’s a place you can go that directly solves that problem.

Katie and Miruku

Count us as fans. A few more pictures are up on Flickr.

(For people with other tastes in pets, you can rent a dog at Odaiba’s Puppy The World, or have a stop at popular bunny cafe Usagi To Cafe in Nagoya.)

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Toyko 2009: Engrossed

Dec 29, ’09 6:54 PM

Girl

One extra photo from Shibuya that I particularly liked.

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Tokyo 2009: Shibuya + Akihabara

Dec 29, ’09 6:21 PM

Hachiko Crossing

Shibuya seemed like a good district to start our trip in. Easily accessible via the JR Yamanote Line, home to a few specific destinations, it is energetic without being completely overwhelming.

Hachiko Crossing, iconic sight of Japan that it is, is not very intimidating at 10:30 AM. We proceeded across and walked up Center Gai, a pedestrian area lined with restaurants, clothing shops, bars, and towering pachislot arcades.

Center Gai

Our first major shopping destination was Tokyu Hands, the “Creative Life Store” which holds just about everything in its seven stories. There was a certain bemusement that many things that I’ve seen at AC Gears in the East Village could be found here, often for much cheaper. An hour later, we walked away with a truly mixed bag of merchandise, including a very tasty iPhone case.

Guhroovy Signage

GUHROOVY is a hardcore techno record shop tucked away on an isolated third story in Udagawacho. Run by DJ CHUCKY, the store is somewhat notorious in the IIDX/Bemani community for being a key resource for albums featuring popular artists from the series. It is less than 200 square feet in total, but for techno junkies, it is blissful.

This was the only business that I had gone so far as to print out directions for and to seek out, and seeing as I may not be back in the neighborhood beyond this day, I did not let the opportunity slip away from me.

Fun fact for the Bemani faithful: the store has, with no explanation or price tag, a copy of Beatmania US on top of one of the shelves.

We then started to backtrack, finding that a doll shop that Katie had seen earlier – Doneunyo – was now open. Katie has been collecting Japanese dolls for few years; an opportunity to go to an official Blythe dealer was not one she could resist. (Junie Moon, her go-to destination, had closed for the holiday week.) She walked away very happy. We stopped into a few SEGA World arcades, where I learned that Katie has a crippling addiction to UFO Catcher machines. I also got a big round of applause, a bow, and a picture taken from two Japanese girls who were astounded to see someone foreign play Taiko no Tatsujin well.

After a quick lunch, we returned to the Shibuya train station, but not before stopping at RanKing RanQueen. Time Out Tokyo describes it as “an intriguing insight into the mind of the Japanese consumer”. All products are categorized and ranked by popularity – so for example, you can buy the most popular bath product, the Bloodtype Bath.

After sundown, we headed to Akihabara. No pictures were taken; had I brought the camera, I probably couldn’t have fit into 90% of the stores we visited.

Akihabara is truly a nerd paradise – stores selling electronics, games, and manga as far as the eye can see. It’s also overwhelming in the crowded dark; after two hours, the jetlagged and fatigue set in and we were forced to retreat. We plan to return later in the week.

I did manage to find Super Potato, famed gaming mecca, and it is as awesome as I had hoped. No purchases yet, although I may return to buy the Takeshi’s Challenge strategy guide.

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Tokyo 2009: Grappling With Technology

Dec 28, ’09 3:56 PM

iPhone

The horror stories are well known about what happens when you travel internationally with an iPhone and leave “Data Roaming” on. So both of our iPhones have been ratcheted down – data roaming off, email checking set to manual (just in case), etc. We’re bridging the in-room internet into wifi so we can still use our phones while we’re in the hotel.

But two odd iPhone things have come up during the trip that are worth mentioning:

Turns out you must have 3G turned on to get a cell phone signal while in Tokyo, even with data roaming off. I tend to keep it off, usually out of battery concerns, but also due to this whole international traveling thing. (If the data does have to go on, at least that way I’ll be rate limited.) But there’s seemingly no GPRS signal, so as soon as I turned 3G back on, I got full signal from NTT DoCoMo.

It gets weirder: despite the settings being the same across the board on both phones, Katie’s iPhone is not able to get a cell signal. The Carrier/Network Selection menu is displaying, it sees DoCoMo and SoftBank, but selecting either throws a “Network Lost” error message. This is baffling and, admittedly, troubling. Only thing I could find as a troubleshooting tip was running a Network Reset, which has done nothing. (If anyone knows a fix for this, I’d love to hear it.)

Skype

Skype works like a charm on Katie’s laptop, but I really wish the app better defined the preferences. I had to turn off “Use Skype Access”, which is about as nebulously defined as you can get, before it would connect.

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Tokyo 2009: Getting There

Dec 28, ’09 1:46 PM

Farewell, Newark

A few jetlag-induced thoughts/observations about getting from New Jersey to Shinigawa.

Ticket counters at Newark International Airport don’t open until around 4:30 AM. As someone who is habitually early to any air travel, it was hard to reconcile that we had gotten up exceedingly early only to have to sit and wait out about an hour until they opened.

Keeping in mind that this was an outbound flight, not an inbound flight – there were no noticeable additional TSA measures or screenings. Getting through security at Newark was trouble free, perhaps even more so than a few flights I’ve taken domestically this year. We’ll see how this goes on the return trip, where we do a quick up-and-down flight from Toronto back to Newark.

We flew Air Canada for both legs of this trip, one from Newark to Vancouver (~6 hours), and then Vancouver to Tokyo (~11 hours). This wasn’t a choice we consciously made (we played Expedia Roulette for booking the trip), but it is one we’ll make in the future. Air Canada’s planes are comfortable, their crews are pleasant, their in-flight entertainment more than acceptable, and their food edible. Hopefully the remaining two flights back will continue to bear this out.

Speaking of in-flight entertainment: really enjoyed The Informant. Glad I didn’t have to pay for A Serious Man. Rewatching Inglorious Bastards reminded me that my Japanese is going to be akin to Brad Pitt’s Italian. And how have I not been watching Better Off Ted? Also discovered that someone at Air Canada considers the Fresh Prince a mystery.

Vancouver International

Vancouver International feels more like a mall than an airport, and gave me some of that empty creeping feeling that I got when I flew out of San Diego a few years ago. Way too big for the number of people there at the time.

While flying into Haneda Airport would have been preferable given the proximity to our hotel, most flights come into Narita, about 40km outside of Tokyo. While the process to get through the airport was lengthy, it was happily multi-lingual and pleasant. Japan’s customs office, like everywhere else, has a cartoon mascot dog named Custom-Kun, but I only saw him once.

Waiting For The Bus At Haneda

At the recommendation of practically every guidebook under the sun, we took the Airport Limousine Bus to get to the hotel. 3,000¥ per person sure beats a potential 300,000¥ taxi ride. The bus experience is pleasant and somewhat bi-lingual; only problem was that after being on an airplane for 17 hours, the seats felt a bit cramped.

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Tokyo 2009: Prelude

Dec 26, ’09 9:45 PM

Quarter to ten. Which means if I go to sleep now, I’ll get about five hours of sleep before my alarm jolts me back awake. Better make this quick.

Tomorrow at 7AM begins our long awaited trip to Tokyo. The trip out will push us so far through space and time that we will not land until 5:30 PM Monday, local time. The trip back on January 3rd will equally distort reality, taking an effective eighty-eight minutes after time zone changes.

Regarding the previously promised Project Moon Language: thanks to Rosetta Stone’s goofy DRM and our series of hardware failures, in combination with my brilliant plan to take six eCornell courses during the same span of time, and you get me knowing next to zero Japanese. I have been assured this will not be the end of the world.

Obviously, this is an exciting time to fly internationally. As someone who wearily adheres to whatever the TSA Rule Of The Day is, I look forward to seeing what sort of hoops I will have to jump through both coming and going.

Finally, expect an absurd number of photos, a reasonable number of blog posts, and a less-than-average number of Twitter messages. Adjust/monetize feeds accordingly. See you all from the other side of the world, soon.

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Steam Holiday Sale 2009 Recommendations

Dec 22, ’09 10:23 PM

Photo by Damon D'Amato

Once a year, Valve drops the bomb that is the Steam Holiday Sale.

Traditionally, it doesn’t start until after Christmas, but with increased competition in the digital download arena, they decided to throw the switch early this year. With so much on sale, it may be difficult to reconcile the reviews with what’s on sale. Never fear – I’ve taken a stroll through my Steam account and bring you this set of recommendations. This isn’t meant to replace my inevitable “Games of 2009″ post, but a lot of the games here will be there.

Some caveats/notes before I start:

  1. Prices may change at any time during the sale, which runs through January 3rd. There are some daily specials on the front page, so do take a look there. As I write this, Grand Theft Auto 4 is $7.50, which is nearly a no-brainer – but this guide is largely limited to the regular sale prices.

  2. Recommendations are largely based on game quality/enjoyment, but consideration has also been given to how much of a discount each title is at. 2009 titles are certainly favored as well. This isn’t to neglect some good older titles that are only mildly on sale – there’s only so much I can focus on. For a true quantitative look at how much love I’ve given each game, check my Steam Community games page. (This is also a fantastic way to become disgusted with me very quickly.)

  3. Steam does require Windows, so if you’re OS X only, this may be the time to put the effort in to a Boot Camp install or some virtualization. Remember that buying things for a Steam account keeps them in your account for perpetuity, so pre-loading an account for your inevitable Windows gaming future isn’t a waste of money.

The Games

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity ($10 -> $7.50) – besides being the Best Named Game Of 2009, it’s also a slyly addictive base jumping game. You’ll curse and scream and pray that you don’t break every bone in your body as you bounce off of buildings and try to nail the landing. Altitude ($10 -> $7.50) – this has been my obsession over the last week. Easy drop-in/drop-out network dogfighting, with classes (like TF2!) and perks (like COD!) and a vibrant community. Added bonus: buy this, create your account, and it’s portable to any platform, including OS X and the web version. Batman: Arkham Asylum ($50 -> $33.50) – the best superhero game in years. Everyone remains shocked that a mostly unknown studio turned out something this beautiful. Haunting, full of things to explore, and possibly the best 3D Metroidvania title I’ve ever played. (Of course, if you can drop another $20, you can get every Eidos game on Steam including Batman.) Borderlands ($50 -> $33.50) – the best role playing/first person hybrid since Deus Ex, perhaps. Certainly with four player co-op, it’s hard to argue. If you have a bunch of friends, buy the four pack to knock the price to ~$25 a copy. Braid ($10 -> $2.50) – lavished with so much artsy praise, Jonathan Blow’s puzzle-platformer is hard to have not at least seen once, even if it was in Soulja Boy’s video review. Not much replay value, but that first run-through doesn’t disappoint. GRID ($30 -> $15) – I’ve never gotten into the DIRT series, because I’m not particularly interested in off-road racing. GRID keeps you on the pavement, looks gorgeous, and handles fantastically, even if you’re not using a racing wheel. Indigo Prophecy ($10 -> $3.40) – are you all a-quiver over Heavy Rain? Try Quantic Dream’s well regarded (although bizarrely scripted) predecessor. The opening scene in the diner alone is worth $4 of entertainment, so the value proposition is high. (Also, the only game I’ve ever played with a mental health bar where if you are too socially inept, your status goes to “SUICIDAL”. Really.) King’s Bounty Gold Edition ($45 -> $30) – I haven’t played Armored Princess yet, but I really enjoyed The Legend as a fairly open strategy RPG. Somewhere between a character driven RPG and a turn based war game. King’s Quest Collection ($20 -> $5) – I cut my gaming teeth as a kid on Sierra’s stuff. I still associate the smell of invisible ink with failure, because inevitably I had to turn to hint books. Here, you can get all seven classic adventure games for less than a buck a game. WELCOME TO MY HUMBLE ABODE. (Space Quest Collection is also $5, if you’re more the Roger Wilco type.) Left 4 Dead 2 ($50 -> $37.50) – there was a lot of debate whether this really qualifies as a sequel, and not just an add-on pack. Having clocked about 17 hours on it – it’s a sequel. And it’s really good. Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast ($10 -> $2.50) – okay, the network play is completely busted at this point, as Sega pulled down the servers ages ago. Still – it’s Outrun. And it’s as fun as you remember. Plants vs. Zombies ($10 -> $7.50) – I was incredulous when I heard Popcap was making a zombie game. I was even more incredulous when it included adorable cartoon plants. Still, it works. Who am I to doubt Popcap? Best tower defense game this year. Red Faction Guerrilla ($40 -> $20) – Volition really nailed the potential joy of a sandbox game where you are focused on destroying buildings. After the hell that was the Saint’s Row 2 PC version, I was hesitant, but this is solid. Street Fighter IV ($40 -> $30) – yeah yeah yeah, Super Street Fighter IV will be out sometime next year. But you can play this one now, and it’s still the gold standard for fighters this year. Torchlight ($20 -> $10) – a very competent Diablo clone. No multiplayer, but a solid experience with some nice touches. Trackmania United Forever Star Edition ($40 -> $20) – Nadeo’s long-running casual racing series may be one of the biggest secrets to US gamers, especially since it hasn’t gotten any significant love on consoles. With addictive gameplay, simple controls, and a mammoth community providing content for it, it’s a good pickup for anyone who likes arcade racing. Trine ($20 -> $8) – very pretty but hard to describe. Is it a action game? Sure. Fantasy environments? Check. Robust physics puzzles? Indeed. Definitely worth the $8. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut ($40 -> $13.60) – before everyone started going crazy over Dragon Age, everyone was nuts for The Witcher. It’s a deep, lengthy RPG that is sure to suck up lots of your time. World Of Goo ($20 -> $5) – this game has had so much praise heaped upon it that I nearly didn’t list it as some sort of anti-hype backlash. But it really is a wonderful little puzzler, and should not be ignored in the off chance you don’t already have it.

Budget-Minded Recommendations

Keeping in mind that people may want to budget themselves, here are some general recommendations for how to flex standard currency denominations. (Be aware that I cannot read your mind about what you might already own.)

$10 isn’t much to work with at all, but it will get you Outrun 2006, World of Goo, and Braid. Nothing terribly deep, but consistent thrills all around.

$20 says “I’m willing to give up a pizza for entertainment”. I can admire that. Between Trine and Torchlight, you’re looking at about 20-30 hours of gaming.

$50 says “I’m ready to commit to this whole PC gaming thing”. The perfect $50 four pack is AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, Altitude, The Witcher, and Red Faction Guerilla. Alternately, grab the Eidos Collector Pack and get two excellent games, a handful of very good games, and assorted other detritus.

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Matt Haughey on Twittering During Tragedy

Dec 18, ’09 3:39 PM

Frequently, when I start discussing Twitter with people who don’t use the service, I receive responses ranging from “I don’t know what I’d use it for” to “The world doesn’t need to know what I had for breakfast”.

Matt Haughey has just posted about twittering during tragedy, as he recently underwent treatment for a brain tumor. This closing paragraph stuck out to me:

Twitter is a great tool for personal broadcast to a vast set of friends and family and it’s quickly turning into a new default communication medium for the online world. It can certainly be distracting in the face of day-to-day cubicle work, but in this specific case it [...] was actually helpful at alerting friends to the accident and later informing them of the tragedy, and mirrors my own use of the service in a vaguely similar situation.

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