Ye Olde Japan Thread

[nintendodork]

Wow, so he's been there for over a month

[manuel]

How do you get a month? 

He said his trip would take 3 weeks.
1 week for each country visited.
The first week in Japan ended yesterday.

[nintendodork]

Ooooh, I thought you said he came to Japan on the 10th..and then I thought you meant January..
Then I realized it's the 11th in Japan

[JC]

Here are my pics of "Famicom" in Japan. While there were video game stores just about everywhere I went, either they had nothing I wanted (since I own most of the common stuff) or the stuff I wanted was too expensive. I left Japan without a single Famicom cart. I didn't take pics of Famicom stuff in Korea 'cause there really wasn't any. I didn't take a pic of the cart stand I found in a Taiwanese market because a sign over the stand said "No Photo."

This is Akihabara. My friend and I learned very quickly that the Japanese (and Koreans, somewhat) don't open their stores early. Most places, like Akihabara have nightlife scenes. We found a donut place open, ate a bit and left, coming back later that day:



Akihabara -- and other places -- have huge five- or six-storied arcades. You can see the Taito arcade in the pic below. Adults and kids loved 'em. They were crazy about their comics, too. It came off as a little strange seeing gray-haired dudes reading them, but whatever:



If you're unfamiliar with Akihabara or don't have much time, you won't find much. There's only one retro game store I saw on the main strip. The others were in back alleys and streets, kinda like this:



Here's a bit of the nightlife. Pachinko was the popular game and you could hear the bells and whistles (and smell the smoke) when the doors of a Pachinko place slid open:



Crane machines are just about everywhere and people popped a lot of money into them:



Here's inside one of the massive arcades. It was fun hearing all the button-pounding and sound effects:





Here's what the Famicom stuff looks like in some stores, including Super Potato. The behind-the-glass stuff was the coolest, of course:













Here's a pic of a FamicomBox without the original controllers. It's rigged for free play. I played a bit of SMB and so did my friend:





And finally, here's my friend playing Tetris in manuel's guesthouse. manuel's really good at Rockman, and I suck at it. So, we spent a few hours playing Arkanoid II and Tetris:



As for the rest of the trip: manuel's cool and his grandpa's pad is amazing; Miyajima -- while tourist-friendly -- is the place to go to see the beautiful, spiritual side of Japan; a lot of Japanese speak English but are very, very shy about it; you place your order for cooked meals using vending machines at some restaurants; and you'll never see more people than the ones who cross that huge pedestrian intersection in Toyko's Shibuya fashion district.

I spent 7 days in Japan and could've easily spent 14. There's a lot to do; everything's accessible. I know now, though, that I could never live there -- there's too much cultural preservation, in behaviors/mannerism, that were great for a tourist but could be a downer for a resident trying to assimilate. So, I've scrapped wanting to teach English in Japan. Taiwan, however...

[nintendodork]

WOW
In Super Potato..I saw Gold Punch-Out among other gold carts..how much were they?

Also, did you see any G&Ws in Super Potato?

[manuel]

Nice photos. 

And indirectly JC solved the riddle. He has his friend in the photo, so you know know who JC is when you look at my photos.


I'm happy that you liked Japan as a tourist. But living here is totally different.
But it's not as "bad" as you may think. Japanese are very friendly to English teachers. Most of those don't adapt to Japanese manners at all, too. Foreigners aren't expected to do so.

I'd like to hear more about Taiwan, too.

[nintendodork]

I believed JC at one point when he said you just took photos of random people
But now at least I know what he looks like
And even though the mystery is solved... "Where's JC" is still waiting to be published

[manuel]

I tried to produce that, but Paint Shop Pro crashed twice when I tried. Maybe I used the wrong Waldo photo (I found a nice very big one on the net, but my pc had problems with it .   
Maybe I'll look for another one.

[JC]

I saw Gold Punch-Out among other gold carts..how much were they? Also, did you see any G&Ws in Super Potato?

Most of the prices tacked on an extra 10-20% over Japan auction prices, it seemed. Somehow these stores survive, so they must not be expensive for some people. I didn't see any G&W's, but I wasn't looking. Most of the stores also didn't have much FDS stock.

Most of those don't adapt to Japanese manners at all, too. Foreigners aren't expected to do so.

The problem might not necessarily be an inability to assimilate personally -- I think I could in time -- but the problem would be how uncomfortable I'd feel about it. Those preserved behaviors and mannerisms themselves seem too restricting and very different from the United States, where we accept and tolerate more than I think the Japanese do. Being an American, I guess I just prefer a more bombastic, blunt culture. But that's my impression from only 7 days in Japan.

I'd like to hear more about Taiwan, too.

Korea sucked -- it smelled bad, it looked bad and the spoken language was a little ugly to listen to (no offense, I hope). The written language was more beautiful than Japanese and Chinese, imo. The Koreans were very loose about their culture -- very Americanized, so much so that they had Christianity everywhere and drunks college students and businessmen stumbling about the area I stayed in.

So, I found Taiwan to be a happy medium, not as uptight as Japan and not as loose as Korea. Taiwan had just enough of a unique culture to make it interesting for someone wanting a cultural experience, but had enough of American culture to make it comfortable. For instance, everyday the culture surprised me in some way, whether it was the $70k parking spot my friend's parents' had to buy for their car or the millions of scooters shooting around the streets -- small and compact, since there are few parking spaces; or, it was the foods, eating some of the weirdest stuff I've ever seen, including the 1,000-year-old egg or watching people drink snake blood.

Taiwan was green and its structures looked a little gritty, so a mix of beautiful and real at the same time. Japan was too beautiful and Korea was too real. (Big question: Why is "real" the opposite of "beautiful"?) I enjoyed Taiwan's mix, because it reminded me of America, where you have very beautiful areas and dumpy ones near each other. For instance, Taiwan's east coast towns were rundown and seemed somewhat vacant, but just steps from the towns were the mountains and forests, waterfalls and monkeys. The west coast was sprawling metropolis. In Japan, most everything seemed closed and quiet, even some of the marketplaces; in Taiwan, most everything seemed bustling and lively.

[shoggoth80]

Hmmm....
I have heard of Super Potato, can't remember where though. The pics looked awesome. That looks a lot like a bit of a gamer haven.
I think that working as a translator/tour guide of any kind is pretty sweet.

I'll have to read through the thread more thoroughly. While I have no designs to travel to Japan any time in the near future, I DO like to travel, though haven't for many years... I miss the experience dearly. Japan would be a neat place to hit at least ONCE in my lifetime.

[son_ov_hades]

The trip sounds awesome. I too am looking into teaching English abroad, but not until I graduate from college. My top three choices are Germany, Israel, and Japan with Chile coming in distant fourth.

[Drakon]

I'm wondering how many of the people who go around saying "japan rocks!" have actually been to japan...

[nintendodork]

I don't think they're saying they've actually been to Japan...they're just saying it rocks

[JC]

Er, I think that's his point -- how can they know it rocks if they've never been there? I've been there...it doesn't rock, but it doesn't suck. A happy medium.

[Drakon]

Er, I think that's his point -- how can they know it rocks if they've never been there? I've been there...it doesn't rock, but it doesn't suck. A happy medium.

correct.  It sounds a bit dumb to say something rocks when you've never experienced it.  Me personally I'm a bit frightened by japan.  But I do agree some pretty sweet games and cartoons come out of there.