Looks like I'm only getting round to doing these once a month ToT. Will try to do the next one again within a week before this series gets renamed "A Month in Tokyo" ^^;
Today we look at everything that happened up to my arrival back in Tokyo after a week in Singapore for the most awesome Anime Festival Asia.
First photo - when one wants to change their mobile carrier, a fine needs to be paid to the current carrier. That's how they treat you after many years of loyalty. Folks who are thinking of switching to the iPhone carrier Softbank need not pay the fine as they will cover the cost for you. Does your mobile carrier threaten you with hefty fines to prevent you from switching?
Had the honor of being invited by the Japanese government to speak at the Cool Japan Conference on November 2nd. Photo coverage in the Japanese Government post.
Dinner with voice actress Shiori Mikami-chan.
My wife likes to tease guests by always ordering them some Shirako...
A visit to the BNN office - the publishers of "100 Masters of Bishojo Painting" . They were also looking for some freelance Japanese to French translators. Managed to find them somebody after tweeting the position. Often post job opportunities with Japanese companies on my Twitter so you may want to follow if you are interested.
To save time in Tokyo, you can download various train map apps from the iTunes store for your iDevice which more often than not includes train carriage exit data. Say you need to get off at Ikebukuro station at exit 5, the application will tell you which carriage you need to be on so you can move to the carriage position while waiting for the train to come.
Melonpan - 105 yen.
Overground cables means a high penetration rate of optic fiber Internets for folks in Japan - starting at about 10 USD per month. How much are you paying and for what speed? More info about the optic fiber cables in this post.
Got ourselves the ES_PRO Steadycam to help keep the camera steady. A sample of it in action below.
However we found that we didn't really need it for the type of shots we wanted and have hardly used it. Picked it up from Amazon for 35820 yen but will sell it to anybody who is willing to pick up from Meguro for 19000 yen.
Quite a few faves this month including the Nanoha Nendo puchi, figma Haruhi, figma Mikuru, figma King Kazma and figma Dead Master.
If you are looking for any of these then you may want to have a peeketh at one of the following trusted online retailers.
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english
http://hlj.com
http://archonia.com
http://hobbystock.jp
http://kidnemo.fm
http://jlist.com
Looks like figma Mirai is going to have a load of accessories to play with.
These are traditional Japanese muchies called Kamaboko . Its made of pulp fish and usually slightly salted. Tastes absolutely yummy. You may have already tried it in ramen and recognize it as looking like this.
Must go and see Space Battleship Yamato next week!
Meeting at Roppongi Hills. If you are meeting folks in Japan at Roppongi then just mention "The big spider" and most should know where it is.
Roppongi Hills has a cinema and is filled with snazzy shops n restaurants.
Launched a doll info site called Doll.fm which Saber talks about in this post.
Our trusty steed serves us well.
Some evening cake from Cozy Corner.
The Lumix GH2 is what we've been using to film Culture Japan of late. You can see some of it in action in the Shibuya Tour post.
Vividblaze and I have been working on the cover of my first attempt at producing music - "Mirai Mechanism" is Mirai-chan's theme song. Which jacket cover do you prefer?
Filming some Pachinko shenanigans for Culture Japan with the Amusement Girls in Ikebukuro. You can see some photos of the shoot in the Amusement Girls post.
Spoke at the "Cool Japan and Japanese Industries" seminar with some other gaijin folks who are doing their part to disseminate Japanese culture around the world.
A load of industry folks including Sunrise came along to do the business card thingy after the talk.
Located right in the middle of a business district are these Gacha machines. One thing I love about Japanese culture is that adults continue to enjoy and consume character goods while many folks outside of Japan stop consuming because they think its embarrassing - or rather their peers think its embarrassing.
If you enjoy something then don't feel ashamed to stop just because of what others think - because if you do stop then the only person who looses out is yourself.
Launched a new site in the Mirai Gaia platform for Ascii Media Works. Tokyo Kawaii Magazine is an iPhone magazine application that features Japanese Pop Culture. I also currently write for the magazine every month.
The old Skyliner has been replaced by the Skyliner Airport Express - 36 mins to the airport from Nippori. Have a lookie at the Tokyo Airport Train post to see the various means that one can take to and from Narita airport.
Saber climbs out of the luggage to breathe after a long flight. More photos in the Tokyo Arrival 2 post.
Some previous A Week in Tokyo posts below.