Back in Germany

Sunday, September 30th

Yesterday evening I arrived back home, but the pending entries will follow soon.
Because of some internet connection problems and very long days it was hard to keep up, but the photos need to be uploaded, so just hang on.

Bye bye TGS

Sunday, September 23^rd

This day was reserved for TGS again, so there's not that much to tell here, we went there very early to be there at round about 10:00, we arrived at 10:15 at the messe, it was raining the whole day so I had my umbrella with, they borrowed some of the hostel.

After getting into the hall we started in hall 4, I wanted to show them Monster Hunter 4, but when we arrived at the booth at 10:20 there were no waiting tickets left until 5:00PM and the end of the messe, very dissapointing, even as presse there was no chance to try it, they said, for presse there is the Thursday and the Friday and I felt like being punched, he said something like: “Therefore the press day exists..., you can't play today.“ - Imagine you can't come earlier than Saturday because of appointments or whatever, you're just like an ordenary visitor, because of a missing business presentation area like there was one at Games Convention and is one at GamesCom. At the other booths it was the same, no chance to play or no allowence to take any photos of the screens and no possibility to save time being a press member, one had to get in line like all the others and when there were waiting tickets given to the visiters, then all of them were already out, so our only aim were the cosplayers.

The cosplayers have a good average quality, if these ones were „high rank“ cosplayers, then German elites are on the same level, but if there ones were “only“ average cosplayers, then their average level is higher than the German one. In the following pics some impressions of them, mostly Monster Hunter Cosplayers were my target. In Japan it's polite to tell them why you're taking this photos and what for and it's also polite to give them your business card after a shot and almost everyone has one's own cards and gives it to you.

The TGS ended at 5:00PM, so after the messe we went to Akiba, I showed them the Mandarake, K-Books, the Bookoff and the Yodobashi Akiba and ate Ramen at the Chabuton. Then we went back, my friends were very impressed by Akihabara.

TGS is over now and on Monday it's time for Akiba again for them to get all the things that were left.

My internet doesn't work, so this entry is so late

Saturday, September 22^nd

Before starting to talk about the 22^nd only one picture about today:

Mt. Fuji and the skyline of Tokyo.

I woke up at 1PM, talked to Hana an agent of the guest house about my friend Gerdi who was going to arrive today, I briefed them how to get to the station and the guesthouse, but he didn't react to the e-mail I wrote him some days ago. I was also interesting, wheather they would get they 2^nd flight in Moscow, they had only 1 hour to do the transfer check-in, so Hana and I were wondering if they were able to handle it, when they didn't arrive yet at 2PM. We've been waiting in the office and after waiting a while I left and went back into my room, when I reentered the house I saw them coming out of the building looking somehow confused, which entrance to use, if this one was wrong, it wasn't wrong, but before getting into the room a starting procedure must be done like signing the contract to stay there.

After that they refreshed themself and I told them that we will go for Shibuya because they at least seamed to be awake enought for a short trip.

We used the wrong exit at Shibuya and ended up at a crossing street, where we used a green light phase, which was only for bycicles, so we finally were in the middle of the road, our only chance was to walk back and just going around the JR station to find the right exit to go the Hachiko exit and the shopping area.

I showed them the Hachiko statue and next to this the huge street with the enourmous crowd of people everytime the lights turn green. I also wanted to prove the high price of the melons of 4200 Yen for one. After that I needed to explain and also show them the Bookoff and the Mandarake.

In the Mandarake Gerdi/Eiji found a DVD-box, which he wanted to reserve, because he didn't take enought money to Shibuya, we could help him with 2 other DVDs but not with these ones. I also had a strange moment when I went to the figure section, I noticed someone who looked German and also known to me, but I didn't know where I knew her from and I also couldn't imagine to meet someone else I know here in Mandarake, so we both looked at each other with the same confusing view and then she asked me if I once have been the host of a cosplay competition at Animuc, an anime and manga convention next to Munich I was, so she knew me, but I didn't remember her, she was one of participients, this was very funny, we talked about Tokyo, where she and her girlfriend have already been, and where they should go and which must-sees are left.

In the end we were hungry and went into a restaurant that served curry, very delicious, I had a mega portion, my tummy was almost empty. Then we went back to our hostel for relaxing and preparing for the next day, but before this I introduced Lawson to them. There were only less praparations to do, because the next day was TGS again, I knew how to get there, so they were able to relax from their flight.

Public day impressions and also many Cosplayer photos of the Tokyo Game Show will follow next, so stay tuned.

2nd Day of TGS or something else?

Friday, September 21^st

Now TGS again?...no, I saw everything, that I was interested in and also got press kits and the cosplayers don't come before Saturday (first public day), so I decided to relax this day, I played some Monster Hunter 3G yesterday evening and stayed up very long.

I woke up because of loud noises out of my room, I thought, the police cars only drove by, but when I stepped onto the balcony I noticed 10 agents there, 7 of the fire department and 3 or 4 police agents. I was wondering what was going on and also became a bit nervous, but after a while a just got off the building heading to Shinjuku for the second Kinokuniya and to just walk around the amusement part of Shinjuku and also the Yodobashi Shinjuku.

I had my map and took the south exit out of the station and was searching around but found the Yodobashi Camera after a while, but there was nothing of interest for me, so I asked for the game section, I had to get out of the building round the corner to the second part of the store with hobby and gaming stuff. I found something and then went out to fill my tummy at McDonald's with 2 cheeseburgers and 1 chicken tasty, which was really very tasty.

After that I went back to the station to orientate myself again to get to the Kinokuniya Main Store.

Close to the South exit of the JR station I noticed a Bookoff sign I down and asked someone about the Bookoff location who was giving paper towels with a small Bookoff coupon about 160 Yen, he didn't know where it was, even if there was a small map on the coupon, he couldn't help and asked someone else, still no solution, but then I managed to get there on my own.

It was somewhere near the northeastern exit of the JR station, I bought some old Super Famicom (SNES) game guides e.g. for The Legend of Zelda – a Link to the Past. Almost right next to it there was the Kinokuniya, I was out there after a while and went into the Manga/DVD/CD part of the store just behind the building and after that I headed back home playing some Monster Hunter and New Super Mario Bros 2 so I had a relaxing evening.

I also tracked the arrival of my friend Gerdi who will arrive the next day, so I could calculate how long I was able to sleep and also what to do the next day, when he won't be to exhausted.

You will see where we went, and when he arrived with his friend, Akiba, Shibuya, Shinjuku, or other parts of Tokyo, hang on and you will see.

TGS with some more information and impressions

Thursday, September 20^th

It's TGS time again, after the ceremony I used the press entry to get into hall 5. At the Makuhari Messe hall 1-8 is one hall, which devided in 3 parts, 1-2, 3-6 and 7-8, and also there is hall 9-11 with the international exhibitors. I went to Capcom first to try Monster Hunter 4, Capcom had a giant booth, with many titles, such as Devil May Cry, the new Ace Attorney, Lost Planet 3, Bio Hazard 6 (Resident Evil 6) and others, even some mobile software. The queue was instantly very long, so I asked if a privat presentation is possible or if one has to wait as a press member compared to the business members, there was no difference and I had to get in line. After a while they handed out tickets for playing. I chose the single player and got a ticket for 10:30AM to come back at this time. So I used the time to go to the information counter to ask for a press kit, I had to give them my business card and they handed over a DVD with press material. After that I got back to get in line for the 10:30AM trial but still had to wait 30 min. There were noz so many differences compared with the older parts of the serie in this demo, but as this is only a small view I guess many things will be added until March 2013. After my 15 min of playing I had the chance to take some photos of the MonHun Booth, but not play the multiplayer, therefore I had to get in line again, even as press.

The promoters were very impolite and almost tried to push me out of the area, even when I showed them my Capcom press sticker that allowes me to take photos of the area but not of the screens. They also had the huge new monster, which I guess will be the new flagship monster in their area, I only wanted to know which material it was made of, a promototer got his supervisor, maybe because they wanted me to back off, she told me in a very rude kind that I shall leave the gaming area because this was no place for english questions:“ No english here, go to the information, no english, no english!!“, combined with a made face, I was really wondering about this rude behavior and also the fact that almost nobody speaks english at an international gaming messe. When leaving the area I got a small MH4 bag, which couldn't change my mood about this rudeness,after that I didn't go to the information counter to ask for the material of the monster, they maybe would have been able to understand me but unable to answer this question. I was very dissapointed about the promoters but not about the game, because it seems like they were only hired to stop the time that nobody plays more than 15 min and to clean the displays, but not for answering questions of the release or any other content stuff.

Capcom was followed by Square Enix – the same procedure, getting press kit, walking around, no allowence to take pictures of the screens, no demos, only trailer, no english except for the info counter, so I was also a bit dissapointed by this booth, too. This procedure was the same with all the other big publishers, such as SEGA, BANDAI NAMCO, SONY and others, too. Detailed facts about the the games and the given press material will be shown later on this blog, because right now it would be too much, so I will present this stuff one by one,every with a single entry.

Only one strange story left; I went to Sony, starting procedure was done already, so I asked in english (big mistake I know), wheather there's someone of the God of War developers at the TGS. The promoter I asked only understood God of War and went with me to the gaming area and put me into a line leaving me there alone, he thought I wanted to play. I got to a selection counter, where I needed to choose the game to try, I asked again for someone of the Santa Monica Studio, and once again they only understood God of War and gave me a ticket to wait in a second queue only for this game – this works with all the other games, too. Before getting in line, I asked another guy, who sorts the people, he noticed: english question about game, so he said, follow me or something like that, so I followed him and was looking forward and hoping to meet someone of the GoW guys again since GamesCom, then he stopped, turned left and pointed to the Sony info counter and said some thing like: “english question here“, I was almost going crazy because this little boy drove me nuts, in the end I had to get in both lines again, then I finally arrived at the GoW area and also had someone in front of me who was able to speak english very good, but he had a bad message for me, no one of the God of War team was there, so I only could play the new God of War Ascension with some kinda 3D-glasses, which was very awesome, even if I already knew the demo from the GamesCom, it was a completely new experience, so again: good games (if playable), bad promoters (except for the one who finally understood me)

A short summary about the games and the messe overall for now:

My highlight was definitely Monster Hunter 4 for Nintendo 3DS, because I love the serie and this new part of it will continue the things that make a game to a MonHun game, so I guess they won't fail and my second highlight was God of War Acsension in 3D which also feels like the other games of the serie with some new spicy features.

An interesting project is Project X Zone from Bandai Namco, I can't describe the genre, but the game has a hero base of many other publishers such as Valkyria Chronicles from SEGA or MegaMan, Zero, Ryu and others from Capcom and so on, it looks good,and we will see, wheather it will come to Europe.

Many promoters don't speak english, so communication was tricky, and sometimes they deported me to the info counter so I wasn't their problem any more

That's all for now, detailed entries about the games will follow but I think not before I'm back in Germany again

Tokyo Game Show - The Beginning

Thursday, September 20^th

First Day of Tokyo Game Show – Yeah!!! I had to get up very early (6:30AM or so), because the starting ceremony was at 10:00AM, but the press tickets needed to be got before, so I used to be there at 8:30AM. The way was very long, about 1 and a half hour to get there from Higashi-Koganei. I needed to use the Chuo line until Tokyo and from there I used the Keiyo line to get to Kaihin Makuhari. The train was very full in Tokyo, but only because many of the other ones in this train wanted to go to the Disney Resort Tokyo, after the Maihama station the train was almost empty.

After my arrival at round about 8:40 AM there was a way of 10 min to get to the messe area, the press registration itself was done faster than I thought, so I had to wait, until the opening started.

It was hard to get a spot for taking photos, but I somehow managed to do this.

 

I hope you're interested in seeing something more of the TGS now, it will come after only a few hours of sleep, so just hang on.

Rainbow Bridge and very hot hours

Wednesday, September 19^th

Finally Odaiba was visited. To get there I had to use the Chuo Rapid Service Train for Tokyo until Shinjuku to change into the Yamanote line driven the southern direction to drive to Osaki. In Osaki the chosen line is the Rinkai line with Tokyo Teleport as the target station. When I was at the right track a train was standing there which had the color of the Saikyo line (dark green) but it didn't departe so I checked the train and also asked someone in the train, wheather this was the Rinkai line, it was – the Saikyo line ends at Osaki and becomes the Rinkai line to Shin-Kiba – so I took it.

At the Tokyo Teleport station I got off, I was wondering, when I arrived this station, because it was to quiet in there to hear it and the stations were only shown in japanese, but I was right and so everything was good. My first target was the Odaiba Aqua City a shopping mall, so the exit on the right had to be used. Within 5 or 10 min I arrived at the mall, passing the Fuji Television building.

The first shop I tried to visit was the e-Capcom store, I found it almost instantly, because it was at the same floor, that I entered. They had a diorama of all yet released Monster Hunter Figure Builder figures – there were all areas of MH3G shown. The shop was small but awesome, so many different Monster Hunter articles and also the decoration, they had an armor of Jinouga. This was a costume, that was used at the presentation of Monster Hunter Portable 3^rd, I asked so many things about the articles, which were offered in the e-Capcom web shop, that I felt a bit like bothering the 2 employes.



In the end of this I went out to the beach of Odaiba. Althought Odaiba is an artificial island the beach and the sea doesn't look that artificial, it just looked like a beach in the middle of a town, and that's what it is, but artificial, because they regrained landmass from the water. I made some beautiful pictures and wasn't even at the water itself. After walking around I reentered the mall again to look around any further and to eat something, there were some restaurants, e.g. Burger King and some other japanese restaurants, that didn't seem to be so delicious, so I decided for Subway... and met there 2 other German guys. This ended up in a smalltalk about made experiences. I notices that there almost only western stores so I went out to the beach.




Because the temperature was very hot, I could step into the water til my knies, it was really very refreshing. It looks like all the other people at the beach were wondering, why I went into the water, but I didn't care, it just felt pretty good. I went along the beach until I reached the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the Shibaura and Kaigan - very near to Hamamatsucho – with Odaiba, so I started to take a walk over the southern path of this bridge, which offers a good view of the Odaiba Kaihin Park, Aqua City Odaiba, the Fuji Television building and other.

When I finished this path (round about 1,5 km) I wanted to go to the Rainbow Promenade – I thought this would be shopping street – but went back to the bridge, because the northern and southern path of the bridge is this promenade. At the Capcom store I bought a small towel, which was very helpful some minutes later. In Japan almost everyone carries such a small towel (20x20cm), to use it when they're sweating or to cover their mouth, because of many different reasons.

When I started to walk back to Odaiba the sun down has already started, so I had to hurry, because I wanted to take some pictures of the beach. That means I had to “walk“ 1,5 km within 5-10 min, so I ran over the nothern path, as fast as possible, taking some short stops to take photos of the skyline with the Tokyo Tower in the background and also the new Skytower, which I think is higher than the Tokyo Tower. At every small stop I had to use my small towel. I didn't think about the weather and the temperature and just ran to take pictures, so I was sweating just a bit...

When I finally arrived at Odaiba again the sun was already gone, but I noticed that wouldn't have been a normal sun down at the beach, because there's no traditional horizon after the water but the skyline of Tokyo, so there was no need to hurry. After that I went back to the Aqua City mall, as there was no good food at the basement I went up to the upper floors, where I noticed a Red Lobster restaurant, where I ever wanted to eat a lobster, so I took one, because I was hungry and very interested in this taste, so even a price of 4.800 Yen was OK.It was worthy and tasted so delicious, can't describe it.

Now there was only one thing left on my list, the giant Gundam Statue near the Tokyo Teleport station. It was a bit tricky to find it, because I didn't imagine, that it was so close to the station, it's in front of a nother shopping mall, I took some photos and also made a funny video. It was already late right now so I went back to the station, because I had a long way to get back home.

Being back home again I was a little bit nervous, because it's only one night away until Tokyo Game Show. I had to get up very early so I went sleeping very early. I didn't have any problems doing this, because the day was very long and I was very tired. As my Nintendo 3DS counts every step, I had round about 20000 steps for this day, so I fell asleep after a short time.

What will come next, which games will be presented at the TGS, how nice and polite will the promoters will be and how good will their english be, You will see, in the next entry of “Is there really a need of speaking english at an international messe?“

A new episode of...

September 19^th 2012

Here it is, the new episode of: “Planning and not doing it, but therefore something completely different“, maybe this time I need another title, because I managed to go to Odaiba, Yeah, it was so awesome but I'm so exhausted for 3 days, that it's hard for me to right the articles just on time, but hopefully I'll have the time tomorrow after TGS to write at least 2 of the pending ones, but until that time I'll give you some pictures of Odaiba Rainbow Bridge and other Tokyo stuff for now, I hope you enjoy.

Tomorrow I'll write a bit more, I promise.

Planning and not doing it, but therefor something completely different

Tuesday, September 18^th

ODAIBA...Hurraaayiiooooo, well not. The weather kicked my something something, I woke up at 1:00PM so no Odaiba today, alternatives could have been Asakusa and the fish market, but for this one had to get up even earlier.

So I decided for... Tadadadadadadaaaaaa..AKIBA again.

I got up at 1:00PM and decided very spontaniously where to go. I chose the electric town exit of the JR station again. I went to AsoBit Hobby City to see, what else they got not just the MonHun stuff at the ground floor, a lot, many other floors with hobby stuff e.g. Gundam, Kamen Rider, miniature trains and military things like softairs and so on. I also used to go into the other two hobby shops, it's kinda hard differ this shops, because the name is shown in japanese and then the word hobby.

Then I went on to find the Rajio Kaikan and I somehow found it I guess, it seems that store locations change here very often, because the K-Books store, which should be in the Rajio Kaikan was somewhere else, where I've already been and the other shops, which were in the building moved next to the Sega Gigo store, confusing but I figured this out, when I saw the sign oy Yellow Submarine (Hobby Shop) and the life-sized Rei Ayanami and EVA-01-Prototype, both from the Anime/Manga Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I went in some other hobby shops, that were left on the list like Animate and Comic Toranoana (shop for doujinshis), just like 2 years ago, these 2 shops are not worthy to be visited, I also went to Kotobukiya again, the same reason like ABC. After that only one shop was left, that I remembered (need to remember the shop locations, because no map was in my pocket), it was a retro game shop, very small but created awesome memories of the 90s playing Super Mario on SNES or Secret of Mana, the shop also got wigs in the second floor, what I think was a bit weird, because it was so different than ol' Famicom/NES or Super Famicom/SNES, but OK, that seems to be normal here.

The Chuo Dori is very long, so I wanted to just walk on and see, what else to find there nothing big to tell about, so my next target was the Yodobashi Akiba to eat something and afterwards to play some Monster Hunter 3G finally with some other guys, which wasn't possible in Germany, because finding someone, who has also imported this game in my hometown is just a bit difficult.

I couldn't find a restaurant that both would have been able to offer tasty food and not being to expensive to fill my tummy, because only had 500Yen in cash in my purse... so I sat in front of the building using a preserved bench and played some Monhun on my own, trieing not to think about food – worked pretty well – but finding someone to play with was difficult, because since Dragon Quest Monsters 3DS was released, they're playing less Monster Hunter and more DQ, which is a great game, too. So I asked some of them and felt myself like some who asked for money - U play MonHun? - it felt like asking: U have some money? - Maybe I should have made a paper WILL GIVE MONSTER HUNTER AID/QUEST FOR MONEY/FOOD. After asking variously, I started to scan the peoples 3DS, those who use a Circle Pad Pro play MH3G, I found one, asked him, he accepted, although he canceled his own quest, what made me feel bad, but at this point there was no return, so we had a quest and finished it, he maybe only wanted to be polite playing with me, instead of rushing away in a rude way or telling me to back off, btw he left after this quest.

I was funny, I had a key quest cleared but now my tummy started to show up again.

A good way to fill it was to go right over the streetv to McDonald's – I went over but before going into MCD I recognized a Store called Hobby Off and I think u can guess what they offered – boiled cow heads with sliced cheese on it... - not really, but as the name already tells it, hobby stuff, figure and some other things. The shop was ok, but not that amazing. When entering I heard my tummy say: Nooooo, it was sooooo close..., but I left the store I think it maybe was: Yes, fill me fill me, but couldn't you maybe find something better than MCD?

After the first bite into 1 of my 3 cheeseburgers I was happy, not just because of my quiet and not any more roaring tummy, but also because of the taste, it seems like it's only pepper, they put on the meat, but it tastes so much better than in Germany, can't describe or understand it. After finishing my first burger I notices many guys sitting there without eating anything, they either had their mobile phones or.... a Nintendo 3DS in their hands and most of them had a peripheral item, the slide pad pro connected to their handhelds, they played Monster Hunter, so I got mine out before starting the next burger and this time no searching or asking was needed, I just opened up a quest and somebody joined in – AWESOME. I had about 5 quests there before leaving, I also saw someone well known, the polite guy, that already helped my sat there with his face to the window, luckily being concentrated on his game, so he couldn't notice me, I don't know would have been, if he noticed me, maybe he would have blamed himself, I don't know how japanese brains work like.

At round about 9:00PM I went back home, using the Soba Line until Mitaka, because at this hour the Chuo Line is always crowded and so I didn't need to change at Tokyo Central or Kanda, but at Mitaka, therefor I will have a higher chance for an almost empty train and a seat – had one I think.

In the hostel I prepared for the next day, because this time I was really wanting to get up early enough and go to Odaiba, the artificial island., so just hang on for the next episode of „Planning and not doing it, but therefor something completely different“ here on this blog.

Shinjuku, the next dejà-vu and other small parts of Tokyo

Monday, September 17^th

I've learned from yesterday, so I didn't get up that early, because I didn't want endanger not yet opened stores. I had some sleeping difficulties, also because of the hits by the moskitos or other insects, 3 at my left arm and hand and 1 per foot.

I started with buying a Suica card, a kinda prepaid card for driving with the JR railways and the Metro (subway), to prevent time problems at Sept. 29^th I asked someone, when the first train departs in the morning, they didn't know but thought the first would leave at 5:00AM.

I went to Kinshicho for a Bookoff but also wanted to see a bit more of the part than 2 years ago by using the Chuo line over Ochanumizu and then the Sobu line.

Again I asked for MonHun and Yotsuba, both found very fast, some can speak english better than others (although my english and its grammar has become some kinda rusty over the years).

The Bookoff was followed by a huge shopping centre, which wasn't worty to observe, so I went out after a short. Around the JR station there was nothing of interest, so I went on to Hamamatsucho, I had to go over Tokyo and from there by using the Yamanote Line. To go on with the dejà vus I was going to head to tthe Pokémon Center, I only wanted to take a short look and take some photos we didn't take the last time, but this day, there were more than 300 people – I asked one of the PC empoyes, but there was no event this day, so the amount of people was a bit less than half a German Pokémon Day and this every day, I was also allowed to film a bit inside, it was very crowded and I also had to wait half an hour to get in. There were also 2 special downloads, which are done every day until the end of October. It was somehow tricky to get all the information, what was going on there. After an hour I left the place and headed on to Shinjuku, which has 2 parts, the amusement part and the skyscraper district. Iwanted to go to the Metropolitan Government Office for a panorama view of Tokyo and for a Bookoff close to the JR station, but I decided not go there, because I will visit this building together with Gerhard next week, I was also confused, because I used the wrong exit, after more than an hour I finally orientated myself using a high shopping center to look out of the window and finding out where I am – this was my only chance, because there were no maps provided. The southern terace entrance was the needed JR exit, I found an Kinokunya, a huge book store, where I found the artbook of Valkyria Chronicles 3, which I was searching for months even before the vacation, this store also helped me last time to find an artbook, I was searching very long in and out of Japan. After this there was only the Bookoff, which wasn't really helpful and something to eat left, I went to Subway and ate an Chicken Teryaki, which tasted completely different from the German Version and it's not only the bread issue or the missing of bbq sauce, it just tasted wrong but not bad.

Now I felt shot because of the weather – it also started to rain – and the bad sleep showed their effect. I wanted to do some preparations for the next day, but I instantely fell asleep after getting back. I woke up 2 hours later, because of the weather and finally did my preparations for Odaiba and also did some research about the departure day at Sept. 29^th, only found a timetable of the N'EX which goes at 5:55 from Shinjuku to Narita arriving at round about 7:15, so I will have enough time to check-in and everything needed, when a train from Higashi-Koganei goes early as giving me the chance to get the wanted Narita Express.

Next will be Odaiba, so hurray for Odaiba and the eCapcom Shop there and also the Gundam, if it's still there.

3 Parts of Tokyo and a too heavy bag

Sunday – September 16^th 2012

After an exhausting and very long Saturday the day ended with Skype an 5 hours of sleep.

My plans for this day were Kichijoji with a Bookoff and the corry restaurant, whrer we ate 2 years ago. I got up that early, because I couldn't go on sleeping since 3 o'clock and also because I wanted to use as many hours of the day as possible.

Kichijoji is only 3 stations after Higashi-Koganei (Higashi Koganei – Musashi-Sakai – Mitaka – Kichijoji), so I was there very fast at round about 8:20AM, I remembered the Bookoff to be close to the JR station, so I went around the station, but couldn't find any Bookoff, the place it was before was different because it was without the wanted store – I was confused.

After that I started from scratch, going back to the JR station and the JR exit/entrance that leads to the famous shopping street and there I saw a sign with an arrow directing to the street, so I went in, but it was kinda weird there, because... the hole street was almost empty – 2 years ago it was very crowded, so I was wondering – and I got the clue almost instantly after I noticed the empty street – the shops opened at 10:00AM and at 8:35 or so there were all closed, the same with the Bookoff which I found very easily, they opened within the week at 9:00AM and on Sundays, well I guess u got it. So, it's more than 1 hour to go until any store opens, it was hot, my bag was heavy, my mood was down so quickly, that my day was almost over before it just began..., I noticed a Yodobashi store right next to the Bookoff, but that couldn't help a bit, at this part of the day, it also didn't change for the morning.

I had to waste,eto pass time and so I started to go for a walk – hard to imagine I was walking – I also found the shrine we saw the last time, the Capcom Plaza (Open at 10:00AM, too) and many other things, I also saw a German store Lind's Backwaren, then there was a 2^nd shrine with very loud insects, a ModeOff, seems to be a kinda Bookoff for clothing stuff.

After all that I ended up at Starbucks, taking a grande Caramel something something unknown name something something, I went up the stairs and took out my netbook to write some notes, but I was unable to get it going good, so I let it go, also the free Wifi, that should have been provided didn't work, so I had no chance to browse my wanted places at Kichijoji, so I was just relaxing with my 3DS getting all the met Miis into my Mii-Lobby and also thinking about the following day and about the mistake of taking my netbook, which had only one effect, getting my bag heavier...

It was finally 10:00AM, but I wasn't yet finished with my coffee, so I went out, because I didn't want to wast any more time. My first target was the Bookoff, it was right next to the Starbucks.

At this store I beat my old record of "tortured" bookoff workers, it needed 2 to find Monster Hunter Comics, she also had to use a kinda headset to communicate with others to find my searched stuff – 2 years ago in Kichijoji they asked for help over the speaker – in the end they found something right for me, but then there was my 2^nd request, I should have searched and asked the 1^st worker, because she understood enought english, to get what I was talking about, but another poor little guy went right into my asking arms: "I have to buy some Yotsuba mangas, please tell me, what it is about in general and for sure where it is..." - these 2 questions were followed by silence combined with eyes that starred at my mindless..., after this he just skipped the fact of asking in english and answered in japanese – I don't know, weather he knew what I wanted or understood anything or weather something of the eto, eto answer belonged to the question.

We ended up in a deadend, so he hushed away and got someone else, I had in mind, that the 1^st worker will come – me wrong – a smaller guy came, who looked somehow ill, but he didn't speak any english, neither – the only thing I got was eto, eto, when he was explaining some whatever, I had to stop myself etoing back – I also had told my laughter back – but both ran away searching for a third guy, he spoke english and could help me with the where, at this point, I didn't want to know anything more of the "WHAT", the ironic thing about this 10-15 min of no communication, the Yotsuba manga were just 1 meter away..., if I don't count the cashier, I only took the will of 5 workers, who cursed the bothering MonHun/Yotsuba guy and were glad, when he was finally gone.

I've also asked, if there are 2 stores in Kichijoji or if this one had moved – they moved.

Next I went to Yodobashi right next to the Bookoff, found something very soon, some Monster Hunter trophy heads – it was hard to describe, that I wanted a complete sealed box to ensure no figure doubled. Next was the Capcom Plaza – many arcades, winning games and also prize games.

The strangest thing was a prize winning game of Monster Hunter, doing a quest and winning the jackpot, if the quest is cleared, I don't know how tho do this, but somehow an elderly woman won the jackpot of 1600~ coins (maybe 1 coin~100Yen(?)).

There was also someone playing a Taiko drum game, he managed to get a combo of 511, I didn't notice any fault, so it seems to have been a perfect run...

When I went out, I was very sad about not finding the curry restaurant and about my empty tummy, but I hoped that I will find something tasty in Shibuya.

I started with the Hachiko statue, Hachiko was a dog, that came every day to the Shibuya station for his holder and even after the death of his holder he came there every day, so one exit/entrance of the JR station was named after that dog – also honored with a statue.

Shibuya is the part of Tokyo the boutiques and huge shopping areas like Shibuya 109, nothing for me, only girly something whatever stuff.

At the streets around the Shibuya 109 some people were jelling around transporting some kind of devine looking box. They had they same way I had, so I heard them a long time. After a while it started to rain, so I rushed under a bridge, but this bridge was also the finish of the festival contest transportation, where also another group in green has arrived. I asked them what event this was and they got me an english speaking man, who seemed to be exhausted because of carrieing that box.

It was a festival, that was for a Kami (Goddess) to go for sure the the rice(?) harvest will be good, at least that's all he could explain. When finished this Q and A I found myself somewhere I didn't know where I was, I ended up disorientated, because I used the wrong street, so going back to Hachiko. Then I went right and found the next Bookoff, but didn't find anything in there, so the Mandarake was my next aim, also nothing found. My shoulder started to hurt more and more and my tummy had a big black hole inside so I decided to walk into a interesting looking restaurant, there I got my Curry, which I wanted some hours ago, japanese curry is totally different to all the other curries.

The next part of Tokyo was the Yojogi Park, it needed to be this day, because every Sunday the Tokyo Rockabillies meet there, 2 years ago we couldn't find them, so hopefully it will work this year...it did, but not at the beginning, at first I went into the park to relax from the noisy city.

I had to stop almost every 50 meter, because it was so hot, I had to carrie so much and I was sweating all over, I was looking forward to the cleaning procedure in front of the temple to meet the Gods, so I cleaned myself and went in, at the entrance I also bought 3 new charms, because they lose their powers after 1 year – one for luck, victory and against evil – as two years ago, I saw a marriage again, once again a dejà vu, even if I didn't notice a black cat.

When I got out, I didn't go to the Takeshita-Dori, which is famous for their special mode style, but it doesn't meet my interest, it's kinda gothic or visual kei style.

As the last time I noticed loud music near to the entrance of the park but not at the bridge, the last time we went wrong and couldn't find the source of the sound, but this year I accomplished this mission finding a second blue bridge, where there was a place right next to it, and there I saw them dancing, the Tokyo Rock & Rollers or Rockabillies, after their dancing I asked one of them what, why and when they are doing what they are doing. They like the music of the 50s, especially Elvis and so on, they meet every Sunday afternoon and dance and talk and just enjoy hanging out together – I think that's a short summary of what they're doing.

After a long day I finally went home, asked at the JR station in Higashi-Koganei, how to get a Suica Card, so I needn't always look how much I have to pay to get back, when the maps are not in english, and also bought some food and something to drink and tried to start sleeping, it worked, but I woke up at 1:00AM or so and then I was unable to sleep again instantly, because of the hot weather in and outside of my room, so I used Skype and contacted good old Germany.

That's for Sunday... and Monday morning, after sleeping it will go on with Shinjuku.

September 15th 2012 – Take Two - Decisions were made

September 15th 2012 – Take Two

I've arrived at Higashi Koganei at almost 11:00AM, the station changed a bit, but not that much, so you just take the northern exit go straight onward until you pass a school on the right side, and violá, you've arrived your destination Guest House Rose 21.

After signing the contract and heading to my room the first thing I had to do was to change my clothes, because it's 30°C an I'm sweating a lot.

After that my decisions were finished, I'll go to Akiba – I took the Chuo Line (orange) directing to Tokyo central, and in Tokyo I switched over to the Yamanote Line, which had some problems, so it had a small delay. I asked someone behind me, what's going on and moved my arms like I don't understand, because the JR workers were only jelling in japanese – The woman behind tried to tell me what was wrong, but in japanese, too, so I said: „English or German only“ - now she told me with her arms, that she doesn't understand and I again asked: What's the problem about the train? - ...and she said YES – seems like she only understood PROBLEM and though: Problem?...Yes, Problem! Communication is difficult – they try to understand you or to help you but somewhen you only see question tags above their heads, reacting with: I see, I see or eto, what means as much as well and is only useful to fill the gaps between their thoughts.

So I arrived at Akiba, and if my brain didn't understand, that I'm in Japan, especially Tokyo, my hole mind and body got the clou in that moment, when I left the train.

Akihabara is also called Electric City and it's a Mecca for Gamers, Otakus, PC junkies and others, so I'm perfectly right.

My plan was to leave the JR station an search for Raijo Keikan, a huge store for avery kind of figure, so I guess Monster Hunter, too, but I couldn't find it, I also asked a woman in a maid.dress, who described it totally different, than 2 other persons I've asked, too, so I just started walking and watching.

When I reached Chuo-Dori, that's the main street in Akiba, I turned left twice, crossed a small Sega Store an then I got to ABC, Asobit City, which, as the internet said, was closed 2 years ago, this store was famous for offering a lot of Monster Hunter stuff and now they are reopened, so I went in.

I instantly found the MH section, they had many figures , plush dolls, key chains and other stuff, that is not really necessary, a rubber with a MH emblem, OK, someone could say MonHun Figures are not needed, either, ...but this person may be right.

I was looking for a Rathalos Armor figure from revoltech, which was said to be released in September, so I asked for it, I tried my best to pronounce it as japanese as possible, in Katakana or Hiragana its pronounced like Monsuta Hanta – after some tries he understood, what I said, maybe he only understood the word revoltech, which I added, but we will never know. He went to the MH section and showed me a figure of the monster (Rathalos in Europe – Lioleuus in Japan), which I already found myself, but now we both had a new problem, how explain MonHun Armor Figure from Revoltech, when the only filtered words he got were MonHun and Revoltech..., we made, don't ask how, i guess with hands and fingers..., but he said, they don't have it.

But it was no complete failure, because he gave me a map of Akiba and drew a line to a shop, that might have, but this shop will come later. So I went out with my new and my old map and started over to search Raijo Kaikan again – while stepping out of the store, there was a car on the street, which just made loud music promoting a pachinko store, AKB 48 I think, that was weird, but I was not really wondering, because in Akiba something like counts as usual or common.

I walked on, and couldn't find the store, I was searching for, I walked up and down the street, where it should have been multiple times, but still was unable to see or find it, so I just went on.

Then there were 2 stores with HOBBY on their sign and figures in the window, so *hush*, and I was in.

On 4 or 5 floors each of this stores had an enormous amount of tiny, small, middle and even big figures of each and every serie, MonHun included, I was stunned a bit, but not as much as Gerhard will be, when he comes here in a week and I'll show him – he will need to take many deep breaths and maybe some helpings to get up, because this will knock him down, especially the Kamen Rider/Masked Rider figures for prices round about 105-800 Yen will make his eyes shine.

Sure I bought some monsters, too, and sure I also bothered these guyes with the hunter figure,... and they said sold out..., released in Mid-Sept. And already sold out, couldn't believe this, but there was not much time to think over, I had to went on, my next aim was Mandarake, a world famous store for almost everything about Anime, Manga, Games and so on, I think, I also visited 2 shops when crossing them on my way to Mandarake.

I arrived, it was huge, a building with 8 floors, so I went in without wasting any time.

I try to sum up the floors from top to buttom: 8 Figures, 7 Sentai and Robot Figures, 6 Games / CDs & DVDs, 5 Doujinshi, 4 XXX stuff 3 ? 2 Cosplay and 1 entrance and ??-section.

On every floor they had an air condition, really very needy, because, when you used the stairs outside, the warm air outside was just like a wall punching you right in your face.

After that I visited a store very close to this one, K-Books, which should have also been in the Raijo Kaikan building, which I gave up find at this day. They had an average product line, many articles were the same as in the other shops before, so I also asked these guys about the hunter figure.

After being a bit confused they handed me over their iPad, so I could search on the internet and show them this figure they were estonished, but also told me, they don't have it, and I should ask for it in the shop, where I was already told to search for it.

Then there was a cosplay section, where I couldn't resist to ask, which material they use for armors and wheather they know or have wonderflex (a thermoplast, used to make armor parts for theater or cosplay).

They didn't get what I asked them so, the took their computer, typed in their question for me and used the google translater, „what do want“ - after that I wrote down WONDERFLEX on a paper, but they've never about, so it will stay a riddle, how japanese cosplayer get their wonderflex or what they use instead,... until TGS, because at TGS there will at least 1 or 2..hundred of them, who I can ask..., and I guess they can also tell me instantly where to get a hunter figure.

After that I finally went to they store many people on my way had told me about, it was really easy to find, Chuo Dori, CLUB SEGA main store go straight, an there it is, KOTOBUKIYA, I almost immediately saw every kind of MonHun figure, and also the hunter figure I was searching for, in front of this store, there was a promotion for new MonHun material, e.g. this figures, they seemed to be released at this day.

I asked for a discount, if I take 2, a blue and a red one, no discount possible, but a prize game, which was explained in japanese, I had to hold myself back not say eto, eto, I see, I see...

So I bought this figures, got a small calendar card, which was also my prize game card – I now had to scratch a small circle, then there was a sign..., which I didn't understand, but then theyv jelled, yey, you win – I only understood WIN and got a glas thing with an engraved MonHun emblem, doesn't look bad. Directly after that I should go to the walking acts, who I guess were sweating so much, to take a photo, I got my photo on my cam and got a MH bag in addition, so this was awesome, even if I didn't see anything else of this shop but the MH figures and stuff, but next week on Monday, I guess, I will be there again.

From this store I went to Labi, a shop for electronic stuff, and also with bothering guyes who were screaming NEW IPHONE5, NEW IPHONE5..., in the shop they had nothing of my interest, so I was out there very quickly. At this time I started noticing my tummy, asking for food, but there were still 2 stores before I got to Yodobashi Akiba, so my tummy could and also had to wait.

On my way to the Boofoff I slipped into a store that looked from outside as a normal store for figures and anime and manga stuff, but when I got in, I noticed some weird things tentacle plastics and millions of oils and gels and other fetish crap so I went out faster than anyone can say: WTF, what kinda weird crap is this?“

Then there was the Bookoff, I love these stores, peowned articles in a very great status, some of them seem to be new just like never been touched or used before. This time, I was really very friendly, not asking for too many things, only for a guide book of Valkyria Chronicles 3, at least I can't remember any more questions than that. They had one, so I bought it together with the game.

Only 1 shop left before going to Yodobashi Akiba and serving my empty tummy – last food was the breakfast at the aircraft, so I was kinda hungry – Shosen Book Tower, an awesome shop with 8 floors of books – I went in and asked for Minna no ni hongo, a japanese teaching book, found on floor 3, then I went to the 8^th floor, where game guides and artbooks were...I took a lot, Dragon's Dogma Concept Artbook, The Legend of Zelda History of Hyrule Artbook and DragonQuest Monster Encyclopedia...

Shosen finished, so there was only one thing left between me and my filled tummy, the Yodobashi Akiba Store itself – I just went in, bought some stuff and then, I used the elevator to get to the food court – I saw a restaurant that offered different ramen, but I couldn't get to know the incredients just by looking at the picture of the card, then someone from inside came to me, turned the card, and violà, an english description of the ramen, he also said something to me, which I didn't understand.

2 guys were waiting outside of this restaurant for their 2-person-table and wanted to help me – before the guy from inside made the card flip, I asked the 2 boys which ramen has which incredients – they used their iPhone and translated for my, what the waiter said and showed me, an offer to already come in, but I haven't yet decided, what to take, and in the end, I didn't choose any of them, didn't seem to be my taste, pork bone flavour, Sezhuan (I guess wrong spelled), salt ramen and some other, so I thanked everybody and went on until I found the ramen restaurant, we have visited 2 years ago – I took Shoyu ramen with double topping, because I was very hungry and a beer, even if I don't really drink beer, but I just wanted to try japanese beer. I couldn't describe the taste, but it seems like japanese people understand as much about beer as I do...almost nothing.

I couldn't completely finish the ramen because it was so much, but also so tasty – great – don'tz regret anything.

After getting out of Yodobashi Akiba I noticed I group of people in front of the building sitting and playing on their Nintendo 3DS, mostly DragonQuest 3DS and Monster Hunter 3G – I had a deja-vu, 2 years maybe most likely the same crowd was playing Dragon Quest Monster Joker 2 on the Nintendo DS - so I just went to one of these guys asking: Hey, how are they hanging.... - no I didn't, I just asked about these gaming „events“, weather these ones are organized, or weather they just come along and play together – Seems like he didn't understand what I said, but I guess it is like that, maybe next Monday I'll roll the dice again, whome to ask and interupting from his quest, and maybe I'll be lucky and get an english understanding and speaking guy.

7 or 8:00PM, at least it was already dark, but still as warm as the hole day, I said to myself, that this was successful and went back to Higashi-Koganei, taking Soba until Mitaka and then the Chuo line.

Doing the way back, I fell asleep multiple times for some secs in the JR, while sleeping my body moved a bit left and right, so I bumped into other passenger (I was sitting), I apoligized, and when I woke up the 3^rd time the woman that was sitting next to me on my left side had moved 2 seats on, because I bumped into her..., at this moment I had to stay awake, it worked, even if it was not easy.

After my arrival I bought some things at the grocerie store right next to the JR station, 3 rice ball with a blue sticker, which, as i remembered, was tuna, and also something to drink for the next day.

When I arrived at the hostel I just prepared myself for bed and went asleep.

That's it for my first day in Tokyo, Akiba and especially the wheather is heavy.

September 15^th is over now, and tommorrow it will be time for Kichijoji, Shibuya and Harajuku (+Yojogi Park)

Arrival at Narita and guesses for the afternoon

Saturday, 15^th September

After a long flight with almost no sleep (approx. 2 h) at 7:45AM I've finally arrived at Narita Airport Terminal 1, after that everything went very fast, so I didn't take any pictures – it's looks like any other airport, too – while waiting in the immigration queue, I was there for only round about 30 min., 5 to find my queue and walk over to and 5 min. per line (so, how many lines were there?) and 1 min for the talk to the agent – had my form already filled while being over Russia -so there was only my luggage to find and take. But first things first, when I got out of the aircraft I almost imidiately took of my hoody, because of the warm and wet wheather, even if it doesn't rain – old memories came back, when we got into the JR train to Tokyo wearing a shirt, a pullover and a jacket, kinda sweaty, as you can imagine.

The customs declaration was also very quickly done, because I was duty free (not me, but my stuff).

I went out with a car for my bags and ended up in the railway area, being confused a lot – Keisei Line, Keisei Bus, Shinkansen, JR local, JR East, N'EX (Narita Express) – I headed over to a big JR, remembering that 2 years ago we used JR Keisei Line to Tokyo and from there with Chuo Line to Higashi Koganei, but when I asked a JR assistant, she said, the JR to Tokyo needs 1:50 h to Tokyo and then another half an hour to Shinjuku for 2.000 Yen (20€) and the Narita Express to Shinjuku wolud cost 3.110, so I took this one, leaving at 9:15AM.

Before the passengers were allowed to enter the train, some workers cleaned every seat and turned it, so nobody had to go by N'EX backwards. Some seconds before the train arrived I bought lemonade for 150YEN, This time I didn't hush my decision like 2 years ago – I had picked something that looked like green tea, but when I drank it, I found out it was kinda sesame tea – so it was very hard for me to stop my laughter, when I saw a man (could have been German, too) picking up exactly the same drink twice for him and someone with him, I sadly missed their reaction, but I can imagine: "Hey buddy, bought us some traditional japanese green tea, looks tasty, let's give it try...iuuuuhhh, was the hack is this, it's oil or something to spice food with, but NOTHING to drink.."

My reaction 2 years ago was very close to this imagination.

But now, after all these events, I'm sitting in the Narita Express to Shinjuku, and I don't regret it, there are only reserved seats, you have only 2 stops – Tokyo and Shinjuku – and you can use the time for writing articles for your blog or playing video games – by the way, I had already 3 Streetpass Meets, everyone of them is playing Monster Hunter 3G – the N'EX is just like an ICE, but better.

After Tokyo Central Station the train will split up into 2 trains, one going on to Ofune and one to Shinjuku, because of your reserved seat, if you bought the right ones, you can't become confused, wheather being in the right or wrong car.

Right now, I guess I'll be at the guesthouse at 12:00, so I'm thinking about switching my planes to get to Shibuya today and tomorrow to Akiba (Akihabara) and Yoyogi, but well, we'll see.

I looked at my netbook and noticed 3:12AM, but that's my time in Germany, so it's 10:13AM, and I will stop at Tokyo in just a sec – they are perfectly right in time, 60 min said til Tokyo Central, and it's 10:15 – the German DB should duplicate such schedules – that's what I call perfect time management.

SOOOO, my lemonade is nearly empty and in a bit more than 15 min. I'll arrive at Shinjuku, I guess I'll just flip a coin, what to do, later this day, You can start guessing, too – what will happen in the next episode, did our travel hero find the strenght to decide what to do, or did he just say, gnaah, whatever, both tastes the same – We will see, next time at "My Journey through the World"..of Games and more.

The Beginning of my new Journey to Tokyo and TGS

Friday, 14th September 2012 - start of the vacation to Tokyo to visit the Tokyo Game Show and also to buy a lot of crappy game merchandise

0:54AM woke up – bathroom – back to bed again

1:32AM woke up – bathroom – back to bed again

3:34AM woke up – bathroom, having a cold directly before the vacation is bothering – back to bed..

4:00AM got up – bathroom – kitchen, not really hungry, but I had to make rolls for the day, drank my carrot juice and dashed to the tram, which was planned to leave at 4:54, I got it, but it was very close, because I left the flat at 4:50, so this run was kinda breathtaking.

I arrived at Leipzig mainstation at 5:10, so there was enought time to walk into the bookstore and wasting some time,while just walking around.

5:49AM – the train left the station heading to Frankfurt international ariport, between Leipzig and Naumburg the train stopped, because of some, let's say "problems", so we had a temporarily delay of 20 min, I had enought time, because my plane was going to take of at 1:50PM, but the train was able to minimize the delay to 3 min (9:52AM arrival)

I arrived at terminal 1 and checked in myself very quickly – older and even other passengers of my age had big problems (I was done in 2 min) – so I could get into the queue for dropping ones baggage. I dropped it after half an hour and ensured myself by asking the personal, wheather 2 x 23 kg for my baggage was correkt, when I will leave 2 weeks later, it was - i guess – half past 10 and I had my ticket and my camera bag together with my hand bag.

Now it's 12:37PM, my ticket and baggage stuff is already finished, the same with the security check, where my bag needed some extra attention – I knew it – all my cables (thought, I put them into the big gab), my 2 3DS, my PSP, everything needed to be seen separately, but also this was done in under 10 minutes.

Now it's 12:43 and only some minutes away from bording, starting at 1:05PM.

Last calls will be made right after this, so Narita can come.

Lucky me the strike of the Lufthansa guys is over for now, they will take a break until Mid-October, so my flight back is safe, too.

I feel like we are more often this way of being lucky, 2 years the ash cloud almost ruined our vacation, and this year the LH guys where close to it, as 2 years ago, these problems cleared out 1 week before our departure.

Bording time started, and people started making a crowd, looking a bit confused, which rows shall start and so on, but than a system started and they all ran in, me, too, 76 B, that's the middle seat on the left side in this A380, it feels very tight, but well I have to live with it, I took my Wii bag out of my travel bag, I should have kept it up, because there's no real space for long legs, especielly on the middle seat, but HEY!! there are only 7 hours left until Tokyo...-.-

The meals were served 1 hour after taking of, summed up, it was chicken and beef, I took the beef, it was very fatty, not really delicious, but I was hungry, so it kept in.

I've allready watched Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp, it was not bad, but now I'll, at least, try to get some sleep.