I lied. I do remember the sakes I tasted at the Sake Plaza, and I even have the tasting list provided by the Plaza to select from. The numbering initially follows the 1, 2, 3... pattern you'd expect, then gets into the katakana alphabet, then just goes random. Don't worry about the numbering scheme.
The format is:
Name
Type
Origin City
Alcohol level, NSD, bottle size
NSD is the Nihonshu-do "Sake Meter value", where "+" means dry and "-" means sweet". I the numbering normally goes -3 to +10, so the numbers bigger than 10 are probably typos (i.e. - "65" should be "6.5") but I may be wrong. Note that umeshu (plum wine) doesn't have an NSD value.
The notes in parentheses are from the Plaza staff. They also comment that selections 500 and 700 are favorites of westerners, and I and U are staff picks.
1) Yamamoto-honke Shinsei
Junmai Daiginjo
Kyoto
15%, +4, 720ml
2) Kuni-no-cho
Daiginjo
Osaka
16.5%, +5, 720ml
3) Kasumi-Hanabi
Futsu (NamaChozo)
Hyogo
16%, +2, 720ml
4) Tokuwaka-Kiwami
(not given)
Hyogo
25%, -2, 720ml
5) Hamafukutsuru-Nanatsu-ume
Junmai (Kimoto)
Hyogo
16%, +2, 720ml
6 Sensuke
Junmai Ginjo
Hyogo
15.8%, +/-0, 720ml
7) Ichi-kara Karakuchi (Dry)
Tokubetsu Junmai
Wakayama
15.7%, +8, 720ml
8) Mifuku-Jungin-gokujo
Junmai Daigingo
Shiga
10%, +/-0, 720ml
9) Yamato-no-kaori
Ginjo
Nara
15.6%, +4, 720ml
10) Miyosakae
Junmai
Shiga
16.5%, -2, 720ml
A) Yoshinogawa-Rokudan-Umeshu
Sake-umeshu
Niigata
11%, --, 500ml
I) Honkakujikomi-Umeshu
Sake-umeshu
Tochigi
11.5%, --, 500ml
U) Saika-Umeshu
Sake-umeshu
Wakayama
11%, --, 720ml
E) Ume-no-kaori
Shochu-umeshu
Yamaguchi
14%, --, 720ml
O) Hoshiya-mutenka-kokutou
Shochu-umeshu
Kagoshima
14%, --, 720ml
K) Zuisen-kotoku-umeshu
Awamori-umeshu
Okinawa
12%, --, 720ml
500) Ichinokura-komekomeshu
Junmai (sweet & sour)
Miyagi
6.5-7.5%, -65~-75, 500ml
700) Kamoizumi-komekomeshu
Junmai (sweet & sour)
Hiroshima
7%, -60, 500ml
25) Urakasumi
Junmai (tasty)
Miyagi
15-16%, +2, 300ml
35) Gin-no-mai
Junmai Daiginjo (fruity)
Tokyo
13.5%, +1, 720ml
45) Ginkara
Ginjo (fresh & dry)
Chiba
15%, +3, 720ml
50) Hanahato Kijoushu
Junmai (7 year sake, sweet)
Hiroshima
16-17%, -45, 300ml
---------------
My comments (in order tasted):
U - Heavy, sweet, cloying. Excellent umeshu.
3 - Light, a little citric, sharp, like water
9 - Very light, dry, almost minty, a dry earthy aftertaste, very interesting
I - Dry, light, unsweetened plum flavor, almost cranberry-like, really good with club soda(?)
2 - Sweet, light, very fruity, good
6 - Heavier, a little sour, almost ham-like, not bad
A - Very sweet, heavy, candy-like, plum juice, very drinkable
7 - The definition of sake, a little heavy, not fruity, rice-flavored, good
500 - Sweet, light, almost watered down, a little plum-like, fruity
K - Dark brown color, umeshu made using brown sugar, dry, lots of high notes but thin and not all that sweet
50 - Brownish color, similar to K, "a slam to the head with a hammer", harder flavors with obvious alcohol level, earthy brown sugar, weirdest of the group, almost berry-like on the tongue at first.
Like I mentioned in the previous entry, there wasn't a stinker in the bunch. This means that the above sakes were all good, but I did prefer some over the others. For those of you (echo echo echo) paying attention, you may have noticed that there are 11 drinks listed, but I only paid for 2 flights of 5. I don't know if it was because I got two flights or if it was my interest in finding breweries that offer tours to visit, but the staff gave me one extra cup for free. It was U, which is apparently the most popular drink for western visitors. I liked it a lot, but if I were to buy just one bottle of something, I'd either pick 7 (because it's good sake) or 50 (just because it's so weird).
As a side note, the two sake breweries in the Tokyo-Kanagawa area that offer tours to individual visitors are Ozawa and Ishikawa. I'm hoping to visit both soon, and will post web links and reviews when I get the chance.
As a side-side note, if you have any questions about the Japanese words above, most questions can be answered via wikipedia. But, if enough people (2, maybe 3...) ask politely enough, I can answer you here.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sampling Sake in Tokyo: The Sake Plaza and the Meishu Center
So there you are, sitting in your room, and your thoughts start drifting off to things Japanese. Sushi, beer, baseball, bad samurai dramas, like they sometimes do. And you realize that it’s pretty easy to get your hands on any of these things regardless of where your room is. Same holds true for that most Japanese of alcoholic forms - sake. But, the thought crosses your mind, “what’s the difference between good and bad sake?” “How can I tell?” “How can I sample a variety of sakes without having to go to an overpriced New York sake bar or having to buy one each of many different bottles?”
Fortunately, if your room is in Tokyo, there are two fast answers: The Sake Plaza, and Meishu Center.
(The wall of empty bottles can be seen at the back. The rack on the right next to the door, and the cooler to the left contain the featured sakes for sale)
The Sake Plaza used to be in a smaller building along the main drag in Ginza, but it relocated a few years ago to nearby Shimbashi to the offices of the Japan Sake Brewers Association. The Sake Plaza is on the first floor, and it consists of an airy, brightly-lit display area/store front. The display area has 800 (empty ;-( ) bottles on the walls, showing a variety of labels and bottling styles. They also have maps and brochures for breweries around the country, plus a couple of computers that you can use for looking up info for each brewery. They also sell some drinking supplies like cups and serving bottles, and a DVD showing the sake brewing process.
(Shop front from across the street.)
The storefront offers roughly 30 different brands of nihon-shu (Japanese sake), shou-chu (Japanese alcohol made from many kinds of things, like brown sugar or sweet potatoes) and ume-shu (plum wine) for sale. For 525 yen, you can sample any 5 of the featured sakes. The process is to take a sheet with the descriptions of the featured sakes, and on a second piece of paper write down the numbers of your choices. Hand the second sheet over to the clerk, and they’ll give you 5 little cups, holding about half an ounce of sake each. They offer sweet, dry, light and heavy sakes, and they can make recommendations if you ask nicely. They do have people on staff that can speak English if you need it.
(Models showing the sake brewing process, the computers, and the pamphlet display racks.)
The Metropolis article claims that you can visit the other floors, but when I went the guard claimed that floors 2 and 3 were open only to staff members and there was no mention of the library on the 4th floor. Also, the directions given in the article are wrong. You need to take a right at Nishi-Shimbashi Itchome, not a left.
Additionally, the Metropolis article says that only one pamphlet is in English. This is true. This is the "Glossary of Terms on Sake Bottle Labels", and you can download it from the National Research Institute of Brewing website. It's actually a very useful introduction to the world of sake.
The staff are incredibly helpful, and they went out of their way to call a few of the sake brewers in the Tokyo area for me to determine which ones offer tours to small groups (2 of them do). The others breweries only give tours to groups of 5, 10 or more. But, they still want reservations made in advance.
So, what did I sample? I don’t remember. There were 10 different sakes. All of them were good, and they included Nihon-shuu, Ume-shuu and Shou-chuu. Not a stinker in the bunch. And if I do need to get the name of a specific sake that I liked, I can always go back and sample everything all over again.
---
The Meishu Center is only one stop away from the Sake Plaza, on the JR Yamanote line, south at Hamamacho station. But, it’s a bit far to walk, especially after sampling 10 different sake. The easiest way to find the place is to take the S5 exit from the JR Hamamacho station, go down the steps and keep going straight about 10-20 feet. Take the first right, and walk to the end of the block to the first signal light, past Doutor and Pronto. Turn right again and look for the bright orange sign on the right, one block down.
(Metropolis article on the Meishu Center can be found here.)
(Meishu Center from across the street.)
Where the Sake Plaza is open, bright and airy, the Meishu Center is dark and cramped, like a friendly corner bar. It’s also the home of Bimi, a magazine dedicated to sake. Meishu’s walls are lined with refrigerated shelves holding well over 70 bottles of sake (with a couple of western wines). Each bottle has a label around the neck, giving information on the sake (type of sake, sweet or dry, rice used) and the per-cup price. Additionally, Meishu sells specialty salt, beer and small dishes of food to eat with the drinks (Japanese pickles, squid and pickled squid intestines). Most of the snack dishes are in the 200 yen range.
(One of the refrigerator cases can be seen inside the door, and if you squint really hard you can see the little tags on the bottles with the per-cup prices. Notice the rock in the lower left corner of the window display - that's salt. Probably the yellow type.)
The salts are definitely worth mentioning. These are mineral-rich blocks that sell for about 1800 yen ($18) for a couple of ounces. You use a special grater to grate some of the rock to create a fine powder of the consistency of powdered sugar. The yellow and pink salts taste just like salt but with interesting overtones. The black salt comes from an onsen (sulfur-rich hot water springs) and tastes exactly like scrambled eggs. Very weird. You can use the salts to flavor food, as well as just by themselves along with the sake.
In the middle of the shop is a tall wooden table holding a bunch of sake cups. Here, you have two choices. You can either get a sample from one of the bottles at the per cup price (from 200 to 800 yen), or you can get a 3-cup sampler of 200 yen sake for 500 yen. When I was there, the operator poured the cups to near-overflowing, which was easily twice the amount you get per cup at the Sake Plaza. She asked me if I wanted to try specific labels, and when I replied that I had no preference, she immediately grabbed several bottles and started pouring. The selection seemed to be mostly nihon-shu; I didn’t notice any ume-shu and I can’t recognize shou-chu just from looking at the label. Again, I got two flights of nihon-shu; again, they were all good; and again, I got buzzed fast.
Sake Plaza (SP) and Meishu Center (MC) have two completely different approaches. SP is run by the Sake Brewers Association so it’s representative of the top brewers around the country and features plum and sweet potato wines as well as Japanese sake, but only 30 labels at a time. MC is more of a mom-and-pop magazine publisher that doubles as a liquor store, with 70 labels which are mostly nihon-shu sake. SP gives you a menu to select from, which you can read as you’re trying the sake and that you can take home with you. MC sets the bottles on the table in front of you to look at. SP gives you 5 small cups per flight for 525 yen. MC gives you 3 overflowing cups at 500 yen, or you can try the sakes at the per-cup prices. SP offers lots of information on breweries around the country, with internet access. MC has some fliers plus the Bimi magazine. SP mostly just sells the featured sakes, and some cups and serving bottles. MC also sells a couple western wines, beer, pickled squid intestines, and the pink, yellow and black salts. The main thing they have in common is that they’re both great places to discover through trial and error the sake that you like best.
Fortunately, if your room is in Tokyo, there are two fast answers: The Sake Plaza, and Meishu Center.
(The wall of empty bottles can be seen at the back. The rack on the right next to the door, and the cooler to the left contain the featured sakes for sale)
The Sake Plaza used to be in a smaller building along the main drag in Ginza, but it relocated a few years ago to nearby Shimbashi to the offices of the Japan Sake Brewers Association. The Sake Plaza is on the first floor, and it consists of an airy, brightly-lit display area/store front. The display area has 800 (empty ;-( ) bottles on the walls, showing a variety of labels and bottling styles. They also have maps and brochures for breweries around the country, plus a couple of computers that you can use for looking up info for each brewery. They also sell some drinking supplies like cups and serving bottles, and a DVD showing the sake brewing process.
(Shop front from across the street.)
The storefront offers roughly 30 different brands of nihon-shu (Japanese sake), shou-chu (Japanese alcohol made from many kinds of things, like brown sugar or sweet potatoes) and ume-shu (plum wine) for sale. For 525 yen, you can sample any 5 of the featured sakes. The process is to take a sheet with the descriptions of the featured sakes, and on a second piece of paper write down the numbers of your choices. Hand the second sheet over to the clerk, and they’ll give you 5 little cups, holding about half an ounce of sake each. They offer sweet, dry, light and heavy sakes, and they can make recommendations if you ask nicely. They do have people on staff that can speak English if you need it.
(Models showing the sake brewing process, the computers, and the pamphlet display racks.)
The Metropolis article claims that you can visit the other floors, but when I went the guard claimed that floors 2 and 3 were open only to staff members and there was no mention of the library on the 4th floor. Also, the directions given in the article are wrong. You need to take a right at Nishi-Shimbashi Itchome, not a left.
Additionally, the Metropolis article says that only one pamphlet is in English. This is true. This is the "Glossary of Terms on Sake Bottle Labels", and you can download it from the National Research Institute of Brewing website. It's actually a very useful introduction to the world of sake.
The staff are incredibly helpful, and they went out of their way to call a few of the sake brewers in the Tokyo area for me to determine which ones offer tours to small groups (2 of them do). The others breweries only give tours to groups of 5, 10 or more. But, they still want reservations made in advance.
So, what did I sample? I don’t remember. There were 10 different sakes. All of them were good, and they included Nihon-shuu, Ume-shuu and Shou-chuu. Not a stinker in the bunch. And if I do need to get the name of a specific sake that I liked, I can always go back and sample everything all over again.
---
The Meishu Center is only one stop away from the Sake Plaza, on the JR Yamanote line, south at Hamamacho station. But, it’s a bit far to walk, especially after sampling 10 different sake. The easiest way to find the place is to take the S5 exit from the JR Hamamacho station, go down the steps and keep going straight about 10-20 feet. Take the first right, and walk to the end of the block to the first signal light, past Doutor and Pronto. Turn right again and look for the bright orange sign on the right, one block down.
(Metropolis article on the Meishu Center can be found here.)
(Meishu Center from across the street.)
Where the Sake Plaza is open, bright and airy, the Meishu Center is dark and cramped, like a friendly corner bar. It’s also the home of Bimi, a magazine dedicated to sake. Meishu’s walls are lined with refrigerated shelves holding well over 70 bottles of sake (with a couple of western wines). Each bottle has a label around the neck, giving information on the sake (type of sake, sweet or dry, rice used) and the per-cup price. Additionally, Meishu sells specialty salt, beer and small dishes of food to eat with the drinks (Japanese pickles, squid and pickled squid intestines). Most of the snack dishes are in the 200 yen range.
(One of the refrigerator cases can be seen inside the door, and if you squint really hard you can see the little tags on the bottles with the per-cup prices. Notice the rock in the lower left corner of the window display - that's salt. Probably the yellow type.)
The salts are definitely worth mentioning. These are mineral-rich blocks that sell for about 1800 yen ($18) for a couple of ounces. You use a special grater to grate some of the rock to create a fine powder of the consistency of powdered sugar. The yellow and pink salts taste just like salt but with interesting overtones. The black salt comes from an onsen (sulfur-rich hot water springs) and tastes exactly like scrambled eggs. Very weird. You can use the salts to flavor food, as well as just by themselves along with the sake.
In the middle of the shop is a tall wooden table holding a bunch of sake cups. Here, you have two choices. You can either get a sample from one of the bottles at the per cup price (from 200 to 800 yen), or you can get a 3-cup sampler of 200 yen sake for 500 yen. When I was there, the operator poured the cups to near-overflowing, which was easily twice the amount you get per cup at the Sake Plaza. She asked me if I wanted to try specific labels, and when I replied that I had no preference, she immediately grabbed several bottles and started pouring. The selection seemed to be mostly nihon-shu; I didn’t notice any ume-shu and I can’t recognize shou-chu just from looking at the label. Again, I got two flights of nihon-shu; again, they were all good; and again, I got buzzed fast.
Sake Plaza (SP) and Meishu Center (MC) have two completely different approaches. SP is run by the Sake Brewers Association so it’s representative of the top brewers around the country and features plum and sweet potato wines as well as Japanese sake, but only 30 labels at a time. MC is more of a mom-and-pop magazine publisher that doubles as a liquor store, with 70 labels which are mostly nihon-shu sake. SP gives you a menu to select from, which you can read as you’re trying the sake and that you can take home with you. MC sets the bottles on the table in front of you to look at. SP gives you 5 small cups per flight for 525 yen. MC gives you 3 overflowing cups at 500 yen, or you can try the sakes at the per-cup prices. SP offers lots of information on breweries around the country, with internet access. MC has some fliers plus the Bimi magazine. SP mostly just sells the featured sakes, and some cups and serving bottles. MC also sells a couple western wines, beer, pickled squid intestines, and the pink, yellow and black salts. The main thing they have in common is that they’re both great places to discover through trial and error the sake that you like best.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Evangelion and Docomo, 2
Docomo and Yodabashi Camera decided to have a second live promo event to huck their Evangelion-branded cell phones. This time, the display was just a simple shell with a riser for a stage, and a flat screen display showing the Evangelion anime. But, the girls were still in the Eva uniforms (they didn't bother dressing up the guys).
The setting was again the display space next to Yodobashi Camera, in Akihabara, Tokyo.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Pokemon display at TAC
The Tokyo Anime Center's latest feature exhibit is for the new Pokemon movie. The display is nowhere near the level of that for Gundam or Cyborg 009, but it does still have some decent artwork to look at. It will run until August.
Monday, July 27, 2009
A nice place to take a break
On my third ride out to Takao City, after visiting the top of Mikoromo tower, I decided that I'd try heading a little farther into the hills in the hopes of being able to prove whether I could ride up to the top of Mount Takao. Unfortunately, the only route up that I know about is a small service road behind the ropeway station across the street from the trick art museum, and I didn't remember exactly where that service road came out through the maze of alleys to the main street.
So, after passing the trick art museum, I rode up the main street into the hills. There's no shoulder along this stretch of 20, and at a couple of places I had to pull over to let the cars and trucks pass me. Fortunately, there's major construction going on at one point where a new train tunnel is being bored into the hills, and traffic is blocked off for 5 minutes at a time because the street is one-lane wide there. Means that for 5 minutes, I've got the road to myself, then there's five minutes worth of traffic that's built up behind me that I have to stop and let by. Then again, by this time I've been on the road for 2.5 hours and I really need the rest periods. The hill's so steep that I'm on the lowest gear on the bike.
Finally, I crest yet another hill and it looks like I've reached the far side of the ridge. I'm ready to turn around and go back home, but I cruise down the hill a bit to see where it goes. Rounding a curve, I get a full view of Fuji. This makes the ride all worthwhile.
I don't know how long it's taken to get up here, but it's at least 20 minutes. The maps indicate that I've only gone 4 miles. A nearby hiking map shows a number of trails running through the hills here. A later look at Google maps indicates that I'm maybe only 2 miles short from reaching a lake that may be a dammed part of the river, so I'll try getting out here one more time to see f I can get to the lake.
I turn around and this time I'm hitting speeds that scare me. I use the brakes a lot. In 5 minutes I'm back at the bottom and not once was there a car behind me. That was cool, and I want to see if I can go down it again without using the brakes next time.
When I finally get back home to Noborito, it's been 6 hours since I'd left, and I'm completely spent. With only 2 miles left to go, I have to stop at a convenience store to buy cold water mixed in with a little grape juice because I'm really overheating. I need to start carrying more ice with me on these kinds of rides...
So, after passing the trick art museum, I rode up the main street into the hills. There's no shoulder along this stretch of 20, and at a couple of places I had to pull over to let the cars and trucks pass me. Fortunately, there's major construction going on at one point where a new train tunnel is being bored into the hills, and traffic is blocked off for 5 minutes at a time because the street is one-lane wide there. Means that for 5 minutes, I've got the road to myself, then there's five minutes worth of traffic that's built up behind me that I have to stop and let by. Then again, by this time I've been on the road for 2.5 hours and I really need the rest periods. The hill's so steep that I'm on the lowest gear on the bike.
Finally, I crest yet another hill and it looks like I've reached the far side of the ridge. I'm ready to turn around and go back home, but I cruise down the hill a bit to see where it goes. Rounding a curve, I get a full view of Fuji. This makes the ride all worthwhile.
I don't know how long it's taken to get up here, but it's at least 20 minutes. The maps indicate that I've only gone 4 miles. A nearby hiking map shows a number of trails running through the hills here. A later look at Google maps indicates that I'm maybe only 2 miles short from reaching a lake that may be a dammed part of the river, so I'll try getting out here one more time to see f I can get to the lake.
I turn around and this time I'm hitting speeds that scare me. I use the brakes a lot. In 5 minutes I'm back at the bottom and not once was there a car behind me. That was cool, and I want to see if I can go down it again without using the brakes next time.
When I finally get back home to Noborito, it's been 6 hours since I'd left, and I'm completely spent. With only 2 miles left to go, I have to stop at a convenience store to buy cold water mixed in with a little grape juice because I'm really overheating. I need to start carrying more ice with me on these kinds of rides...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Takao City, from Mikoromo Tower
Not the greatest photos in the world. My camera's showing its age, and it doesn't help that Tokyo's been overcast most days for the last few months. But, anyway, here we have the view of Takao City from the 10th floor of Mikoromo Tower. Tokyo can't be seen from this angle, and it's a bit too far to be visible (maybe 45 miles away), in any case.
However, the clump of buildings to the right and in the back is the next larger city of Hachioji.
However, the clump of buildings to the right and in the back is the next larger city of Hachioji.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Buddhist tower
I wrote back a while ago about seeing this one tower near the Takao train station during one of my longer bike rides, and needing to make a second trip to try to track down exactly where it was. Well, I needed a third trip in order to arrive early enough to have time to go inside.
This is Mikoromo Reidou (literally "Mikoromo Soul Tower"), essentially a burial memorial, with a 200 yen ($2) entrance fee. The top floor is dedicated to someone famous within the Buddhist community, and then the next floor down has memorials to another 4 people. There's a view port where you can look out over Takao, and then the lower floors have lockers containing the remains of local people that have elected to be interred here rather than at one of the other cemeteries. Most of the lockers are empty at the moment.
This is the memorial on the 11th floor. The elevator only runs up to floor 9 and you have to walk the stairs the rest of the way up. Inside the memorial is a torch with a fake flame.
Surrounding the memorial are various symbolic statues that seem to combine Indian and Greek aesthetics.
On the floor dedicated to the other 4 people, there are a couple of rest areas, and a place for Christians to pray.
(Example of the less expensive lockers. These encircle the entire floor.)
This is Mikoromo Reidou (literally "Mikoromo Soul Tower"), essentially a burial memorial, with a 200 yen ($2) entrance fee. The top floor is dedicated to someone famous within the Buddhist community, and then the next floor down has memorials to another 4 people. There's a view port where you can look out over Takao, and then the lower floors have lockers containing the remains of local people that have elected to be interred here rather than at one of the other cemeteries. Most of the lockers are empty at the moment.
This is the memorial on the 11th floor. The elevator only runs up to floor 9 and you have to walk the stairs the rest of the way up. Inside the memorial is a torch with a fake flame.
Surrounding the memorial are various symbolic statues that seem to combine Indian and Greek aesthetics.
On the floor dedicated to the other 4 people, there are a couple of rest areas, and a place for Christians to pray.
(Example of the less expensive lockers. These encircle the entire floor.)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Akiba Green Festival 2009: Fly Me to the Moon
As mentioned in the first post of this series, the Akiba Green Festival, 2009 (AGF09) month-long event consisted of 4 activities on the first weekend. One of those was "Fly me to the Moon", held in the event space on the 4th floor of the UDX building.
For the most part, the exhibit featured images taken by JAXA's (Japan's version of NASA) Kaguya/Selene satellite. Named after a famous princess from folklore, Kaguya was a low-altitude (100 km) satellite that orbited the moon, taking the highest definition images to-date as a way to develop a 3D map of its surface. One of booths at the exhibit showed some of the crater fly-bys in 3D (needing special polarized glasses). There were also free postcards given away at the front desk with some of the images.
Other booths included freeze-dried space food, moon globes, reproductions of the satellite and the launch rocket, and some commercial ventures trying to promote themselves (such as the 3D modeling printer).
One booth advertised an upcoming DVD for an animated 3D adventure to the moon, and there was a photo op to pose with Ultra Man and one of his many enemies. Nearby the photo op, there was a flat screen showing Ultra Man episodes.
Near the front desk was a mannequin space suit, and wandering around the event was an actor wearing a foam rubber space suit.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Akiba Green Festival 2009: hybrids
Starting back on July 18, Akiharaba launched it's "Green Festival 2009" month-long event, which runs until Aug. 23. There are 12 different scheduled events during this time, but most of them are only one or two days long, and some weekends have nothing going on at all. Only the "Electric Street Matsuri", in and around Radio Land runs every day, but it seems to be something involving specific shops and I don't any any details on that.
During the weekend of the 18th and 19th, there were 4 different activities taking place, plus live outdoor entertainment in the plaza in front of Tully's at the UDX building. Most of the live entertainment consisted of juggling acts and the like, which I didn't have time to watch during my breaks (I was too focused on the stamp rally), but the announcer was cute enough to warrant taking her photo.
The 4 activities consisted of "Fly me to the Moon", an eco car show, a flea market and an energy-saving appliances show. (Technically, Fly me ran that Saturday and Sunday, the flea market ran Sunday and Monday, and the other two ran Saturday to Monday). At the same time, the Akiba Tourist Information Center in the UDX building held the stamp rally. Fly me, the hybrid car show and the energy saver event each had a table with a numbered rubber stamp (1-3); if you took your AGF09 brochure to each table for the stamps and then brought it back to the information center, you'd get one chance to spin a small wooden wheel to make a little ball come out. Grand prize was a gift certificate for 10,000 yen ($100) to spend in Akihabara. Second prize was a 1,000 yen gift cert. The white ball gave you the booby prize of a small package of tissues, a couple of pieces of hard candy, some plant seeds and some post cards from the Fly me event. I got the stamps 3 times, and lost all three times. Now, I have lots of tissues and plant seeds.
The energy saver show consisted mostly of solar panels, energy converters, some games for children, and videos of animals in zoos. Nothing to take photos of, but they did have a refreshment stand selling smoothies and Hagen Daz ice cream. I bought an ice cream bar for 200 yen that tasted really good on that hot day. The event was in the basement of the Belle Salle building on Chuu-ou Dori.
The hybrid car show was in the open plaza at ground level of the same building. It consisted of being able to look at some hybrid and racing cars, plus a theater area. No idea what was shown on the screen - there was never anything running when I dropped by. At least, the cars were cool.
I'll write up the Fly me event tomorrow. The flea market just had a lot of used stuff that I didn't want to buy. It was also really windy on Sunday, and the clothes racks kept falling over.
There's nothing scheduled for the weekend of July 25. There's a water-related event in front of the Dai building on Aug. 1, and the "Akiba Clean Campaign" throughout the city the same day (apparently, it's a volunteer trash pickup). On Aug. 2, there's something that looks like a test or quiz hosted by some hi tech companies on the 6th floor of the FujiSoft building. On Aug. 7, there's a Hokkaido-related event. Aug. 9 and the 16th, there's an "eco boat ride" on the Kanda river, and an "eco walk" through Akihabara. The flea market reappears on Aug. 22 and 23. And finally, there's an "Eco Seminar" on the 4th floor of the UDX building on Aug. 22.
An unrelated free event, called the UDX Summer Festival, will run at the UDX from Aug. 6 to the 9th. There will be belly dancing, live music, food, juggling, magic, a beer garden and taiko drums. I'm hoping to catch part of the "Fresh Putchua" character show (looks like it's from a magical girls anime series) from 1 to 4 PM on the 9th.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Anime and Manga Food Tie-ins
(Evangelion can coffee, and other various cookies and snacks)
Akihabara is a great place to find different food, drink and snack tie-ins to various anime and manga. It's not because this is an "otaku heaven", but because there are several large chain stores all within walking distance of each other. Most of the big chains have the same products, and you can find locations in Ikebukuro, Nakano, Yokohama, Kawasaki and other major cities in Japan (interestingly, it looks like the big manga bookstore chain, Manga no Mori, doesn't have a store in Akihabara).
Not technically anime-related, I did decide to write about "Gear" here. This is Georgia Co.'s latest entry in the vending machine coffee market. Normally, vending machines only sell 6 ounce cans for 120 yen. This one's about 12 ounces for 150 yen. But, the bottle is the main selling point - it's "designed to be fun for driving" and it has "two grip positions" - around the neck and over the top. I had to buy this just for the bottle. The coffee itself is nothing special.
Georgia seems to be in the running for "most new products out at one time". Here we have jelly coffee. This is coffee-flavored jello in a can. The directions tell you to shake it up really good before opening. If you don't, you better have a straw ready because you're going to be faced with a block of unmovable jello sitting in a can. It's an interesting concept, but I'd rather just buy a package of coffee jelly and eat it with a spoon, like normal.
Next we have the "Lucky Star Cornucopia Cakes". I first discovered the Lucky Star TV series a couple of months ago, and watched it non-stop on my MP3 player on the trains while commuting to work. I consider it to be a very funny send-up of anime, manga and video game fans. The main character is an incredibly down-to-earth fan girl whose favorite snack is a "cornucopia bread" with a chocolate cream filling. So, when I saw the Lucky Star cakes, I had to try them. They're more like slightly crunchy cookies with a paste center, and aren't in the proper conch shape. But they're still pretty tasty.
Here, we have "Akiba Nyan Nyan" (which translates to "Akihabara Meow Meow"). This is a banana creme-filled bread in the shape of a banana, created to promote Akihabara as a souvenir. It's not too bad. Not sure why it's being branded as a "cat girl product", though.
(Box for bean paste-filled mochi)
Lastly, we have some products that come from the Machiko Hasegawa Art Gallery, in Setagaya Ward, just west of Shibuya (not available in Akihabara). I wrote about the Hasegawa Art Gallery a few weeks back. Machiko was the creator of the famous "Sazae-san" series, and she was a big art collector. The gallery was her way of making her collection available to the public. In one corner of the gallery is a small gift shop that sells only Sazae-san-related products, including copies of the manga, snacks and toys.
(Rice crackers in character shapes)
(Small breads with chocolate and vanilla creme fillings)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Food delivery cart
Back in April, I wrote about bikes that had been modified to allow the home delivery of bowls of hot soup (ramen) to customers. Recently, I found an even more modern variant on this kind of vehicle for bringing food orders to your door.
Note that the driver keeps his helmet on the bottom shelf of the storage space when he makes the delivery of the food to the customer, and wears it only while driving the vehicle.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Suntory Brewery Tour
I've written briefly about my previous attempts to take the Suntory brewery tour. Let me recap. I first learned about the brewery from one of my students, who'd gone there after watching a horse race at the nearby JRA track in Fuchu. Since the track is just a few blocks from the Tamagawa river, at the far end of my normal 1 hour exercise route, I'd decided to try to find it. At first I got confused because the Suntory soft drinks bottling plant is on the other side of the river near the same bridge, and the bottling plant is what kept coming up on google maps.
Eventually I tried starting out from the race track and that got me to the brewery pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the first time I tried taking the tour, I was told that I couldn't drink beer if I had arrived there by bike. The second time, I parked my bike 1 mile away at the Kyodo no Mori park and walked in, only to be told that I needed a reservation. Fortunately, as I was looking at the little gift shop, two women walked in for the tour and I was allowed to join them (it's a minimum of 2 people per tour). But, they wanted my home phone number in case something went wrong, and not only didn't I remember my number, I'd left my cell phone at home to recharge the battery. No phone number or contact address, no tour. But, the receptionist was kind enough to give me a special brochure.
Third time's the charm. I called in advance, set the reservation for 3 PM on a Thursday, and was told to arrive at least 10 minutes early. At 2 PM, I set out by train for Fuchu Honmachi on the Nambu line, and got into the brewery at 2:40. The guards at the front gate had my name on a guest list and waved me in. It was hot out, so I was sweating all over the receptionist's desk in the main lobby as I filled out the form with my name, address and phone number. I was asked if I came by car or bike, I said 'no', and they gave me a laminated card with "3 PM" on it. There were 10 other people waiting in the lobby; one large group of 7 men, a second group of two men, and a woman. Just before 3 PM, we handed over our cards and rode the elevator up to the second floor gallery. Here, we watched a short film on the importance of water for beer, and 2 more groups, of about 15 women each, also joined us. Yet later we got another group of 3 guys.
Our tour guide was one of the young female receptionists, and she primarily focused on the making of Suntory's "The Premium Malt's", their upscale $2 per 12 ounce can of beer, comparing it to their regular "The Malt's" $1.90/can brand. Of course, the entire tour was in Japanese, and mostly consisted of just looking at idled equipment, or videos on TV screens. At one point, we got to eat a little of the toasted wheat used, and smell the differences in the hops used for the two different beers (a "bitter" hop and an "aromatic" hop; the difference between the two was very striking). At the end, we arrived at a large gathering room, where we could drink 12 ounce glasses of The Premium Malt's, or The Malt's, and snack on a small bag of salted nuts that was set out at the table. During part of the drinking session, the guide demonstrated the proper way to pour The Premium Malt's - start out pouring the beer from the can into the glass straight up, holding the can about 1-2 feet up from the glass. Stop when the foam reaches the top of the glass, wait until it recedes, and then hold the glass at a 45-degree angle and gently pour in the rest of the beer until the glass is full.
One guy was slamming the beers back, and when he rushed up for his fourth glass, the bartender asked if he wasn't getting too drunk too quickly. He said that he was ok, but he stopped at 4 glasses. I was pacing myself a little better, and got 3 glasses. The rest of the group ended up being restricted to 2 glasses because after 15 minutes or so we had to leave to make room for the next tour group. However, I did give to the bartender the special brochure I'd been given by the receptionist the last time I'd tried to take the tour, and in return was given a free 12-ounce Suntory beer glass as a present. Which was cool.
(My present)
Afterwards, I bought some smoked cheese, smoked bacon, smoked fish and a box of madelines from the store for $26 to take back home as "omiyage" (gifts for the people that couldn't travel along with me). And, then I returned to the train station, and home. The smoked bacon went over the best, followed by the smoked fish.
I want to mention that about 1 month ago, the Metropolis ran a small article on the Suntory tour. The article is not quite complete. The tour is two-person minimum, it's held on-the-hour, you can't drink the beer at the end if you came by car or bike (they do have free soft drinks for you, though), and they'll draw the line at between 3 and 4 drinks (not necessarily only 2). Also left out of the Metropolis article is that if you go to the Suntory website, you can print out a special page that gets you a free present at the end of the tour (probably the same beer glass that I got with my brochure).
It was a fun way to spend an hour, and the beer was good. Highly recommended. Call in advance to make a reservation, though (042-360-9591). And be sure to at least have your phone number and home address written down on you.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Suginami Animation Museum building front
I've written about the Suginami Animation Museum (SAM) several times, but I've never run photos of the museum before. In part this is because they don't allow photos of the inside of the museum area (for copyright reasons). But, I think pictures of the outside are ok. Especially since it's a shared-function building and the museum is just on the 3rd and 4th floors. That and the outside is part of "public space".
The directions to the museum from Ogikubo station are given in English on SAM's website. It's about a 15-20 minute walk if you don't want to take the bus. Basically, take the east exit and turn left at the koban (police box). Stay on the main street until you see the really big police station building on the far right side of a street intersection (after about 15 minutes). Turn left at this intersection and walk about 20-30 meters. There'll be a big temple grounds on the right and SAM on the left.
You'll know you're at the right place when you see the sign.
Here's a challenge - how many of the characters / titles can you recognize?
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Takao Trick Art Museum
I've taken to riding out to Takao from Noborito for my longer bike rides. It works out to about about 5 hours, round trip, including the invariable sightseeing that occurs along the way. This last time, I decided to try pushing myself a little farther along, so when I got to the Takao train station, I continued past it on 20 to see where it would go. Actually, I knew it would take me in the direction of the big hill itself, but I was a little surprised to find myself in front of the other train station at the foot of the ropeway that goes up the hill to the temple at the top.
I've been to trick art galleries before, and I'd seen this one from the train station the first time I came out here by train last fall. So, I didn't feel like going inside this time. But, the artwork on the outside was good enough that I wanted to take some photos of it.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Rampo House
Strange things happen when you're strange....
(Front of the house. Curator's shack is to the right from here.)
Back last Christmas, I requested some books by Edogawa Rampo, as a way to learn more about the local culture and literary history in order to discuss it with my English students. I reviewed the two books I received as Christmas presents ("Tales of Mystery and Imagination", and "The Black Lizard") as well as commenting on a movie that came out shortly after based on Rampo's detective character("K-20")
(Back of the house.)
Time passes, as time has a tendency to do from time to time, and I suddenly receive an e-mail from the curator at the Poe House and Museum, dedicated to Edgar Allen Poe. The Poe Bicentennial is coming up on October 9, and the curator had been in Japan recently. During his interview with a Japanese mystery magazine, he'd described how he was planning on having "eulogies" at Poe's "funeral" given by various famous writers that had been influenced by Poe, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Hemingway. The magazine editors asked if he was going to include Edogawa Rampo, who'd taken his name from the Japanese pronunciation of Edgar Allen Poe. The curator then decided to do a net search, and my name came up in the results.
(Display area at the back of the house.)
Surprisingly, there's not a lot of real information in Japanese on the net about Rampo's comments regarding Poe, much less anything in English. There is the "Rampo Reader", a collection of some of Rampo's literary commentaries, which came out in English in 2008, but I can't find a copy in Tokyo. According to the index, there's a comparison between Dickens and Poe in one chapter, but I don't know the full details.
(Map of the Rikkyu University grounds showing Rampo's house at the lower part.)
It seems that the house Rampo was born in, near Osaka, I guess, is dilapidated and collapsing. Fortunately, later on he did move to Tokyo and lived in a house that's on the grounds of the Rikkyo University about 1 kilometer west of the JR Ikebukuro station. The house can be visited by the public from 10:30-noon and 1-4 PM on Fridays, but you're only allowed to stand outside and look in. If the doors at the back are closed, go around to the little shed to the right at the front of the house and call out "sumimasen". One of the researchers will come out and open the doors for you to look through.
(Inside the living room.)
I asked the researcher at the Rampo House about Rampo's comments about Poe and he didn't know of anything. So, overall I came up empty. But, I at least got to look inside Rampo's house, which looks nice, warm and cozy during the winter. Might be a bit stifling during the summer, prior to air conditioning, though. A wonderful place for coming up with new nightmares and ways to kill people. I'd be careful of the big chair in the back of the room if I were you.
(Owls directing you to Rampo House.)
(Close-up of the second display case area at the back of the house.)
(Front of the house. Curator's shack is to the right from here.)
Back last Christmas, I requested some books by Edogawa Rampo, as a way to learn more about the local culture and literary history in order to discuss it with my English students. I reviewed the two books I received as Christmas presents ("Tales of Mystery and Imagination", and "The Black Lizard") as well as commenting on a movie that came out shortly after based on Rampo's detective character("K-20")
(Back of the house.)
Time passes, as time has a tendency to do from time to time, and I suddenly receive an e-mail from the curator at the Poe House and Museum, dedicated to Edgar Allen Poe. The Poe Bicentennial is coming up on October 9, and the curator had been in Japan recently. During his interview with a Japanese mystery magazine, he'd described how he was planning on having "eulogies" at Poe's "funeral" given by various famous writers that had been influenced by Poe, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Hemingway. The magazine editors asked if he was going to include Edogawa Rampo, who'd taken his name from the Japanese pronunciation of Edgar Allen Poe. The curator then decided to do a net search, and my name came up in the results.
(Display area at the back of the house.)
Surprisingly, there's not a lot of real information in Japanese on the net about Rampo's comments regarding Poe, much less anything in English. There is the "Rampo Reader", a collection of some of Rampo's literary commentaries, which came out in English in 2008, but I can't find a copy in Tokyo. According to the index, there's a comparison between Dickens and Poe in one chapter, but I don't know the full details.
(Map of the Rikkyu University grounds showing Rampo's house at the lower part.)
It seems that the house Rampo was born in, near Osaka, I guess, is dilapidated and collapsing. Fortunately, later on he did move to Tokyo and lived in a house that's on the grounds of the Rikkyo University about 1 kilometer west of the JR Ikebukuro station. The house can be visited by the public from 10:30-noon and 1-4 PM on Fridays, but you're only allowed to stand outside and look in. If the doors at the back are closed, go around to the little shed to the right at the front of the house and call out "sumimasen". One of the researchers will come out and open the doors for you to look through.
(Inside the living room.)
I asked the researcher at the Rampo House about Rampo's comments about Poe and he didn't know of anything. So, overall I came up empty. But, I at least got to look inside Rampo's house, which looks nice, warm and cozy during the winter. Might be a bit stifling during the summer, prior to air conditioning, though. A wonderful place for coming up with new nightmares and ways to kill people. I'd be careful of the big chair in the back of the room if I were you.
(Owls directing you to Rampo House.)
(Close-up of the second display case area at the back of the house.)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Happy Anniversary to Me
I returned to Japan on July 15, 2008, after a long stay in the U.S., and I started the Three Steps Over Japan blog on July 17. So today marks my 1 year anniversary, and I guess this is a good time to recap.
TSOJ has over 370 blog posts, and the knol index page is getting a bit bulky, so I'm going to start up Page 2.
In the last couple of months, I started up 2 other blogs, making 3 total so far. TSOJ remains the main blog, where I record my thoughts, impressions and images of Japan, as well as anime- and manga-related stuff. Nihon-go Hunter is where I've moved my manga translations work and my Learning Japanese posts. Finally, I'm happy to announce Maid Runner - a review site of maid cafes and related shops in Akihabara and beyond.
Actually, while maid cafes are largely aimed at male customers, there is an equivalent for women, called the "butler cafe". There aren't as many bulter cafes and they're mostly located in Ikebukuro. But I do plan on mentioning them in Maid Runner when I get the chance. Right now, I'm only reviewing one cafe a week on Fridays (usually I visit one on Tuesday before work, and then post the review on the following Friday), and running maid-related commentary on Tuesdays.
What else...
I started working as an online English teacher at a business school in October, and I've been doing that 4 days a week. It's fun and I've met a lot of interesting people because of it. I bought my cross bike in December and I've been trying to ride it at least 1 hour three times a week, mostly along the Tamagawa river, but I have done a little city exploring during that time as well. I've lost a few pounds because of it, and had to buy a new belt. I've met a few interesting people along the trails, too.
I now have 2 photo albums, one on Photo Bucket and the other on Media Fire. I've taken close to 1000 photos during the last year, probably more than I've taken during the entire rest of my life, total. 3 of them have been run in the Japan Times newspaper, but you don't get paid for reader submissions.
I've visted various places around Tokyo, and gotten out to Takao-san a couple of times. Haven't been to Fuji-san this time, I need to do that soon. It's been 1 or 2 years since I was in Yokohama, Kawasaki, Kamakura or Enoshima, so I need to go back to those places as well. I love the Chinatown restaurants in Yokohama, and Enoshima/Kamakura has some nice beach front. I'd also love to get on a ferry and get out to one of the islands outside Tokyo Bay. But, given the chance, I'd be more likely to go back down to Gifu to look around for a few days.
I haven't been able to meet as many people in the anime and manga fields as I wanted to. I was able to meet Tori Miki (Frozen Food Agent) and talk with him for an hour. I also met the head of Ekura Animal studio, Honda-san, and visited his studio. Plus I've met with one of the heads of Suginami Animation Museum, and that led to my starting up a knol on the history of the anime industry. I did offer to volunteer at the museum, primarily to translate exhibit materials into English, but they turned me down for that.
My Japanese has gotten somewhat better. I haven't been back to the school since September, but I want to change that. I'm not studying actively right now, but I do still do my amateur manga translations, I'm constantly reading manga, and I occasionally watch TV anime on my MP3 player or listen to podcasts on the train. I guess that I prefer reading manga over the other stuff, though.
Plans for the following year:
Continue these blogs, and try to increase the visibility of Maid Runner to where I can get advertising on it from the cafes. Do more travelling. Continue to try to meet more people in the animation and manga industry. I'll keep working on the anime history research, manga translation and Learning Japanese entries. Build more Gakken kits - as long as they're for things I like. I want to visit some sake factories around Tokyo (I got to the Suntory brewery in Fuchu yesterday). Continue cycling when the weather is good, and get in at least one long trip (50+ miles) a month. At a minimum, ride my bike out past Takao to Fuji during a long holiday.
Oh yeah, the next Coffee Trade Fair will be in the Fall, so I have to hit that, too...
TSOJ has over 370 blog posts, and the knol index page is getting a bit bulky, so I'm going to start up Page 2.
In the last couple of months, I started up 2 other blogs, making 3 total so far. TSOJ remains the main blog, where I record my thoughts, impressions and images of Japan, as well as anime- and manga-related stuff. Nihon-go Hunter is where I've moved my manga translations work and my Learning Japanese posts. Finally, I'm happy to announce Maid Runner - a review site of maid cafes and related shops in Akihabara and beyond.
Actually, while maid cafes are largely aimed at male customers, there is an equivalent for women, called the "butler cafe". There aren't as many bulter cafes and they're mostly located in Ikebukuro. But I do plan on mentioning them in Maid Runner when I get the chance. Right now, I'm only reviewing one cafe a week on Fridays (usually I visit one on Tuesday before work, and then post the review on the following Friday), and running maid-related commentary on Tuesdays.
What else...
I started working as an online English teacher at a business school in October, and I've been doing that 4 days a week. It's fun and I've met a lot of interesting people because of it. I bought my cross bike in December and I've been trying to ride it at least 1 hour three times a week, mostly along the Tamagawa river, but I have done a little city exploring during that time as well. I've lost a few pounds because of it, and had to buy a new belt. I've met a few interesting people along the trails, too.
I now have 2 photo albums, one on Photo Bucket and the other on Media Fire. I've taken close to 1000 photos during the last year, probably more than I've taken during the entire rest of my life, total. 3 of them have been run in the Japan Times newspaper, but you don't get paid for reader submissions.
I've visted various places around Tokyo, and gotten out to Takao-san a couple of times. Haven't been to Fuji-san this time, I need to do that soon. It's been 1 or 2 years since I was in Yokohama, Kawasaki, Kamakura or Enoshima, so I need to go back to those places as well. I love the Chinatown restaurants in Yokohama, and Enoshima/Kamakura has some nice beach front. I'd also love to get on a ferry and get out to one of the islands outside Tokyo Bay. But, given the chance, I'd be more likely to go back down to Gifu to look around for a few days.
I haven't been able to meet as many people in the anime and manga fields as I wanted to. I was able to meet Tori Miki (Frozen Food Agent) and talk with him for an hour. I also met the head of Ekura Animal studio, Honda-san, and visited his studio. Plus I've met with one of the heads of Suginami Animation Museum, and that led to my starting up a knol on the history of the anime industry. I did offer to volunteer at the museum, primarily to translate exhibit materials into English, but they turned me down for that.
My Japanese has gotten somewhat better. I haven't been back to the school since September, but I want to change that. I'm not studying actively right now, but I do still do my amateur manga translations, I'm constantly reading manga, and I occasionally watch TV anime on my MP3 player or listen to podcasts on the train. I guess that I prefer reading manga over the other stuff, though.
Plans for the following year:
Continue these blogs, and try to increase the visibility of Maid Runner to where I can get advertising on it from the cafes. Do more travelling. Continue to try to meet more people in the animation and manga industry. I'll keep working on the anime history research, manga translation and Learning Japanese entries. Build more Gakken kits - as long as they're for things I like. I want to visit some sake factories around Tokyo (I got to the Suntory brewery in Fuchu yesterday). Continue cycling when the weather is good, and get in at least one long trip (50+ miles) a month. At a minimum, ride my bike out past Takao to Fuji during a long holiday.
Oh yeah, the next Coffee Trade Fair will be in the Fall, so I have to hit that, too...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Stone Cold
I came across this sculpture on my way to Takao from Noborito. It's in the rough vicinity of Hachioji. The bridge has other sculptures at the 3 other corners, but they're not as interesting as this one. It's weird, because this is not a major street, or a very big bridge. But it's got some of the more elaborate artwork in the area.
In the U.S., it would have taken maybe two weeks for this statue to be vandalized, and maybe 20 minutes before someone started calling the newspapers to complain about it.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Kappa Sake
Building sign for Kappa Sake. A kappa is a creature that lives in ponds and rivers, and can be rather mischievous. They have a depression in the top of their heads that holds water and if the water pours out, they faint or even die. Interestingly, it's not common to see a fat kappa. Must be all that sake...
Monday, July 13, 2009
Ponyo by the Cliff DVD promo
Yodobashi Camera decided to use the space in the tunnel next to the Akihabara JR train station to set up a display promoting the new Ponyo by the Cliff DVD (music available on the 6th floor). There wasn't the kind of photo op for children like there had been with Pokemon and Keroro Gunso, but they were giving away free fans, and the children really seemed to like that.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Bike recycler
I wrote some months ago about having been cycling along the Tamagawa river and passing a few people on bikes carrying piles of soda and coffee cans to the recycling plant. These aren't the greatest shots of such an activity, and the piles of cans aren't as tall as some I've seen, but this is a representative set of shots, anyway.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
When ya gotta go...
Sometimes, things just aren't as intuitive as you'd think they'd be. That's when you need the signs out there informing people of stuff like this.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Cosmode
Cosmode is a cosplay supplies company, and they apparently decided to sponsor an event at the UDX a couple of weekends ago. I could see the spill over from the UDX from the window of my office building.
It cost money to get inside ($8-$20), and I think it was only open to advance registrations, so I didn't bother trying to get into the event space. At the back of the building there were signs all over the place saying "no cameras", and in among the signs were professional photographers shooting what looked like professional cosplay models. Go figure. I've been to cosplay events before (mainly Comiket) so I didn't knock myself out trying to take photos this time.
Initially, the weather wasn't too bad, but later in the afternoon it started raining heavily and everyone escaped into the building to continue with the event.
(Stormtrooper from Star Wars)
(The guys in the red baseball outfits are from the new "Rookies" movie.)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Aircon
I just thought that this was an interesting shot. Air conditioners sitting on the landings at the back of an office building on Yasukuni Dori (Yasukuni Street) in Tokyo.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Dragonball Kai Chicken
Back to the short, single-photo posts...
Lawson's banner ad for spicy chicken, promoted by Dragonball Kai. I don't know which is more disturbing - that this was an approved Dragonball tie-in, or that the chicken has gone Super Saiyajin.
Lawson's banner ad for spicy chicken, promoted by Dragonball Kai. I don't know which is more disturbing - that this was an approved Dragonball tie-in, or that the chicken has gone Super Saiyajin.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Along Yasukuni Dori, Tokyo
(Communications relay tower)
Yasukuni Dori (Yasukuni Street) runs just north of Shinjuku train station, east through central Tokyo, to Ochanomizu and beyond towards Chiba. It actually parallels the Sobu and Chuu-ou train lines. My regular commute on the Chuu-ou line takes me from Shinjuku through Ochanomizu, and after changing to the Sobu, on to Akihabara. I've visited the end point stations many times, and have seen many parts of the city to the north and south along the Yamanote train line, but I'd never walked along Yasukuni Dori through central Tokyo before.
(Steps leading up to Yet Another Temple)
Finally, a few weeks ago, I found myself in Shinjuku after doing some shopping and with a few hours to kill before needing to go back home. So I decided to take the opportunity to make the walk. I didn't push myself hard this time, so the 4-5 mile trip ended up taking about 2 hours.
(The Ministry of Defense has its offices in the middle of the city, on the north side of the street)
Around Shinjuku, the street is lined on both sides with department stores, restaurants, and various other shops. After about a mile, it turns into featureless office buildings . Then, just outside Ochanomizu, it encounters part of Music Instrument Street and the shops and restaurants start showing up again. There's a dental school next to the Ochanomizu train station, and the monument to the old Confucian school next to that.
(Example shops)
(Ad for Action magazine and Crayon Shin-chan)
(Fishing on the "river". The Chuu-ou and Sobu line train station can be seen on the other side of the river.)
Most of the bigger rivers running through Tokyo are just stagnant ponds; concrete-lined ditches with no water flow. One such river runs between Yasukuni Dori and the Chuu-ou/Sobu train line. At one point on the river, someone set up a service allowing people to fish for (what I assume are) farm-raised fish thrown into an area enclosed by mesh wiring. This is as close as many Tokyo fishermen get to actual fishing.
For the most part, there's not a lot worth paying attention to in this section of the city, and it's really just something that you pass through to get from point A to point B. However, I should mention that when you get close to Ochanomizu, you pass by Tokyo Dome and the amusement park there. If I ever go back to the Dome itself for a ball game or something, I'll take photos of it.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Takao City revisited - The Tower o'Mystery
Back in May I wrote about a cycling trip out to Takao, and I had a photo of a strange brown-ish tower on the other side of the train station.
A few weeks later, I decided to take another trip out to Takao, and this time I set a little time aside to try to visit this tower. Amazingly, for something so big that it dominates the city, it's really hard to get to. There are a lot of little windy roads when you get to the hills, and not a lot of signs pointing the right way.
Eventually, after my third try, I went up the left side of the high school (instead of the right side) and I found the entrance to the grounds of a (I think) Buddhist temple. It's peaceful, removed from traffic, and with no other visitors. One building held the offices for the place, and the tower was at the far end of the reflecting pool, facing the back of the high school a few blocks away.
The main entrance is at the back side of the tower, and it costs 200 yen to go inside and ride the elevator to the top. I was pretty grimy and sweat-covered by that point so I decided to put off going in until next time. But, Takao makes for a pretty good destination for 5-hour rides, so I'll definitely be back out here again at some point this Summer.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
In and Around Akiba
Normally, I've kind of grouped photos together into themes, and if I only had one photo of a specific topic or type, then I'd make a really short blog entry featuring just that one shot and a couple of lines of text. But, I'm kind of building up a backlog of photos, so I decided to put a bunch of them together into one entry this time. Here they are. The only connecting thread is that they were all taken in Akihabara.
First, we have the building reflections. There are a lot of glass buildings in Tokyo, but the conditions have to be just right to get a good shot of one set of buildings reflected off another. I like it when this kind of thing happens.
A few blocks away, in a warren of smaller, older buildings, there's a bar that had western beer signs on the outer wall.
Back on Chuu-ou Dori, a block south of the reflecting building, there's a pachinko parlor in the first floor of the Donkey building (the full name is Donkioti, which sounds like "Don Quixote", but it's always rendered into English as the "Donkey Building"). First, we have the cut-out board that you can pose behind. The text says "Let's have fun together!" (kind of).
Then we have the Evangelion stickers designed to be placed on coin lockers, here on the lockers in front of the pachinko parlor. I like the effect of this one; kind of looks like he's actually in the locker.
Another couple of blocks farther south on Chuu-ou Dori, we have the Sega video game parlor, with the UFO Catcher machines on the first floor. In the U.S., they're called "crane arm machines".
I'm not really sure which character this is, but it's a bigger version of the ones found in the UFO Catchers. I think it's "Rirakkuma" (Lilac Bear(?)).
Moving east to the other side of the JR train station (and closer to the beer signs) there's a small shop on the street corner that sells roasted chestnuts, named "Amaguri-taro". "-taro" is a suffix common on many boy's names (Rintaro, Momotaro) and can be treated as just meaning "boy". "Ama" comes from "amai", meaning sweet, and "guri" is a form of "kuri", meaning chestnut. All together, in English it's the rather unfortunate "sweet chestnuts boy".
Finally, back in the little warren of shops, we have the Skatt Byggnad Building. Generally, advertisers and building owners use English names because they look exotic. But, there's nothing that says that the name HAS to be English. Then again, I have NO idea what language this would be. I'm a little disappointed that the owners copped out and only converted the first part into katakana Japanese (skattsu biru = skatts building). I'd like to know how they'd handle the pronunciation of "byggnad".
First, we have the building reflections. There are a lot of glass buildings in Tokyo, but the conditions have to be just right to get a good shot of one set of buildings reflected off another. I like it when this kind of thing happens.
A few blocks away, in a warren of smaller, older buildings, there's a bar that had western beer signs on the outer wall.
Back on Chuu-ou Dori, a block south of the reflecting building, there's a pachinko parlor in the first floor of the Donkey building (the full name is Donkioti, which sounds like "Don Quixote", but it's always rendered into English as the "Donkey Building"). First, we have the cut-out board that you can pose behind. The text says "Let's have fun together!" (kind of).
Then we have the Evangelion stickers designed to be placed on coin lockers, here on the lockers in front of the pachinko parlor. I like the effect of this one; kind of looks like he's actually in the locker.
Another couple of blocks farther south on Chuu-ou Dori, we have the Sega video game parlor, with the UFO Catcher machines on the first floor. In the U.S., they're called "crane arm machines".
I'm not really sure which character this is, but it's a bigger version of the ones found in the UFO Catchers. I think it's "Rirakkuma" (Lilac Bear(?)).
Moving east to the other side of the JR train station (and closer to the beer signs) there's a small shop on the street corner that sells roasted chestnuts, named "Amaguri-taro". "-taro" is a suffix common on many boy's names (Rintaro, Momotaro) and can be treated as just meaning "boy". "Ama" comes from "amai", meaning sweet, and "guri" is a form of "kuri", meaning chestnut. All together, in English it's the rather unfortunate "sweet chestnuts boy".
Finally, back in the little warren of shops, we have the Skatt Byggnad Building. Generally, advertisers and building owners use English names because they look exotic. But, there's nothing that says that the name HAS to be English. Then again, I have NO idea what language this would be. I'm a little disappointed that the owners copped out and only converted the first part into katakana Japanese (skattsu biru = skatts building). I'd like to know how they'd handle the pronunciation of "byggnad".
Saturday, July 4, 2009
June edition of the "related articles in the media"
Here's the batch of articles to show up in the media from June, regarding anime, manga and related stuff.
Japan Times
Animation Studios Seek rural inspiration
Is a national 'Manga Museum' at last set to get off the ground?
New university library puts focus on the fans
Scholars worldwide react to plan
'Cute ambassadors' Japan's pop culture
Anime Conventions Still Set Trends
Agency moves on 'Manga Cafe'
--------------------------
Metropolis
Band of Sisters (article on Fudanjuku, a group that I blogged about way back last Fall).
Studio Ghibli review
Japan's Lay Jury system in TV drama and manga
Idol Worship
O is for Otaku
-----------------------------
Other
Charady no jookuna mainichi (Charady's Joke a Day)
(A different 3 minute joke anime every day. Only runs under Internet Explorer. And it's really funny!)
Japan Times
Animation Studios Seek rural inspiration
Is a national 'Manga Museum' at last set to get off the ground?
New university library puts focus on the fans
Scholars worldwide react to plan
'Cute ambassadors' Japan's pop culture
Anime Conventions Still Set Trends
Agency moves on 'Manga Cafe'
--------------------------
Metropolis
Band of Sisters (article on Fudanjuku, a group that I blogged about way back last Fall).
Studio Ghibli review
Japan's Lay Jury system in TV drama and manga
Idol Worship
O is for Otaku
-----------------------------
Other
Charady no jookuna mainichi (Charady's Joke a Day)
(A different 3 minute joke anime every day. Only runs under Internet Explorer. And it's really funny!)
Friday, July 3, 2009
Manga Reviews: Bleach and Naruto
Time to make more enemies.
Bleach, by Tite Kubo, Grade: B
Bleach drives me up the wall. The artwork is good, the character designs are solid and don't look like anyone else's, the backgrounds are detailed, the shinagami world is imaginative and well thought-out, and the action sequences are very dynamic. What's not to like?
Answer - the perennial use of "oh, you didn't really defeat me; I was just playing along with you. Let me show you my REAL power/attack/next secret move/etc". Just when it looks like someone is down for the count, or cornered with no way out, they either pull yet another rabbit out of the hat, or come up with yet another unbelievable power up. Case in point, Ichigo's getting a hole blasted through his chest, getting to the edge of death, and then standing up stronger and more indestructible than ever. All of the thrill is gone. There's no drama if the hero is going to get a shot of "godlike power" every other volume. The only uncertainty is in how long Kubo is going to milk a specific battle before getting bored and going on to the next one. People used to complain that Dragon Ball Z was "draggin' on", yet DB ended after only 35 volumes and Bleach is already up to 38 with nothing major to show for it.
There probably isn't a manga fan on the net that isn't at least familiar with Bleach's story, so there's not much point to getting into any level of detail here. Ichigo's the guy that gets into fights because he stands out with his naturally orange hair. He's got a soft side, wanting to protect those weaker than him. He accidentally gets pulled into the world of the shinagami, which in this case are tasked with granting the souls of the dead a final repose, and turns out to be stronger than most of the shinagami. But all is not well in the afterworld, and the intrigue and backstabbing taking place there draws Ichigo further into their conflicts. Basically, this is a "fight of the week" manga, and the fights always end with Ichigo and friends winning, eventually.
Summary: A well-drawn, well-planned fight fantasy of the week manga that is a lot more popular than it should be (probably because of Shonen Jump magazine's major publicity engine behind it). I read it only because I like the character designs. Recommended to everyone with too much free time on their hands.
Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto, Grade: B-
Well, if I didn't alienate you with my Bleach review, I probably will here. Naruto is kind of like caffeinated sodas - they're sickly sweet and aimed at children that don't understand the flavors of more adult beverages, like teas and coffees. Naruto has a huge fan base, showing the popularity of the title. Yes, it is well drawn, the action sequences are good, and the character designs look unique. It's just that I just can't stand the main character. Naruto brags about being powerful, strong, and how he'll be the next hokage (ninja village leader). Then he gets his butt handed to him by an entire string of people that are older, wiser and better than him. Insert standard "godlike power up" here. Oh, gee, surprise, surprise, Naruto wins after all. And does Naruto learn from all of this? Nope. Insert next super-tough bad guy, rinse and repeat.
Story: Outcast child living in a ninja village vows to become the next villager leader. The fox-demon his father had sealed inside him promises to destroy the world first, contributing to his being outcast. Rival ninja clans work to kill each other off and it's up to Naruto to stop the cycle of hate. Can he do it before the author burns out and tells his editors to stop calling him all the time for the next chapter?
I'm not big on ninja stories to begin with. I like the way Lone Wolf and Cub set up the Yagyu clan as primarily a spy network, focused on stealth and small hit-and-run techniques. "Naruto's" reliance on magic, fantasy and "chakra" (energy) puts this series more into the realm of Harry Potter than anything else. I skipped about half the series just to see if it was getting anywhere near the end. I'm currently reading it out of morbid curiosity, but if things drag on too much longer, I may stop reading it again.
Summary: A dynamic, highly-detailed fantasy fight of the week manga that is a lot more popular than it should be (probably because it draws so much from Dragon Ball). Recommended to anyone that likes Bleach and One Piece.
Bleach, by Tite Kubo, Grade: B
Bleach drives me up the wall. The artwork is good, the character designs are solid and don't look like anyone else's, the backgrounds are detailed, the shinagami world is imaginative and well thought-out, and the action sequences are very dynamic. What's not to like?
Answer - the perennial use of "oh, you didn't really defeat me; I was just playing along with you. Let me show you my REAL power/attack/next secret move/etc". Just when it looks like someone is down for the count, or cornered with no way out, they either pull yet another rabbit out of the hat, or come up with yet another unbelievable power up. Case in point, Ichigo's getting a hole blasted through his chest, getting to the edge of death, and then standing up stronger and more indestructible than ever. All of the thrill is gone. There's no drama if the hero is going to get a shot of "godlike power" every other volume. The only uncertainty is in how long Kubo is going to milk a specific battle before getting bored and going on to the next one. People used to complain that Dragon Ball Z was "draggin' on", yet DB ended after only 35 volumes and Bleach is already up to 38 with nothing major to show for it.
There probably isn't a manga fan on the net that isn't at least familiar with Bleach's story, so there's not much point to getting into any level of detail here. Ichigo's the guy that gets into fights because he stands out with his naturally orange hair. He's got a soft side, wanting to protect those weaker than him. He accidentally gets pulled into the world of the shinagami, which in this case are tasked with granting the souls of the dead a final repose, and turns out to be stronger than most of the shinagami. But all is not well in the afterworld, and the intrigue and backstabbing taking place there draws Ichigo further into their conflicts. Basically, this is a "fight of the week" manga, and the fights always end with Ichigo and friends winning, eventually.
Summary: A well-drawn, well-planned fight fantasy of the week manga that is a lot more popular than it should be (probably because of Shonen Jump magazine's major publicity engine behind it). I read it only because I like the character designs. Recommended to everyone with too much free time on their hands.
Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto, Grade: B-
Well, if I didn't alienate you with my Bleach review, I probably will here. Naruto is kind of like caffeinated sodas - they're sickly sweet and aimed at children that don't understand the flavors of more adult beverages, like teas and coffees. Naruto has a huge fan base, showing the popularity of the title. Yes, it is well drawn, the action sequences are good, and the character designs look unique. It's just that I just can't stand the main character. Naruto brags about being powerful, strong, and how he'll be the next hokage (ninja village leader). Then he gets his butt handed to him by an entire string of people that are older, wiser and better than him. Insert standard "godlike power up" here. Oh, gee, surprise, surprise, Naruto wins after all. And does Naruto learn from all of this? Nope. Insert next super-tough bad guy, rinse and repeat.
Story: Outcast child living in a ninja village vows to become the next villager leader. The fox-demon his father had sealed inside him promises to destroy the world first, contributing to his being outcast. Rival ninja clans work to kill each other off and it's up to Naruto to stop the cycle of hate. Can he do it before the author burns out and tells his editors to stop calling him all the time for the next chapter?
I'm not big on ninja stories to begin with. I like the way Lone Wolf and Cub set up the Yagyu clan as primarily a spy network, focused on stealth and small hit-and-run techniques. "Naruto's" reliance on magic, fantasy and "chakra" (energy) puts this series more into the realm of Harry Potter than anything else. I skipped about half the series just to see if it was getting anywhere near the end. I'm currently reading it out of morbid curiosity, but if things drag on too much longer, I may stop reading it again.
Summary: A dynamic, highly-detailed fantasy fight of the week manga that is a lot more popular than it should be (probably because it draws so much from Dragon Ball). Recommended to anyone that likes Bleach and One Piece.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Min-kuru
The Japanese love "cute" things, which explains the fascination with "Hello Kitty". And they'll personify just about everything. Here, we have the logo for the bus line in Akihabara.
I've never have thought that buses could be cute.
And, while I'm on the topic of "cute", Yodobashi Camera, located 100 feet from the bus stop, has also come out with a new character to join up with it's female maid (visible in the background to the right). This is "Yo-kun" (I made up the name myself), the Akihabara butler.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Review: Kit #24
Yes, kit 24 is finally out! I hate real time. ;-(
I've been buying the Gakken Otona no Kagaku kits "after the fact". That is, they come out, I learn about them, and when I go to the store, they're already there on the shelves. In fact, there's still 5 kits that I don't have, and they're all back issues (well, yeah, obviously), so I can buy them whenever I want. But, I learned about the microcomputer kit from the wire recorder book at just about the time the wire recorder came out, so I've been anticipating this one for 3 months. I was going to the local bookstore every day for the last week, just in the hopes that it might come out before the official publication date of June 30. No such luck. But, two days ago was June 30, and there it was on the shelf. I didn't even break my stride in getting from the door to the register.
GMC-4, kit #24, 2500 yen
The "GMC-4" is Gakken's latest release in the "Adult Science" mook line. The model number means "Gakken Microcomputer, 4 bit". As a kit, there's almost nothing to it. 4 parts and 6 screws. The speaker is pre-wired to the circuit board, and assembly consists of screwing the speaker and board to the base plate, then attaching the plastic keypad to the circuit board with the double-sided plastic insulator. That's it. 5 minutes, tops. Oh yeah, the kit runs on 3 AA batteries, so you have to put the batteries in, too... Physically, the finished kit is about 2" x 5" x 3/4" - about the size of a PSP.
The key switches are the resistive type, triggering when you press the plastic "key". There's a plastic separator with little cutout holes where the "keys" go, and when you press a "key" your finger pushes the cover plastic down onto the conductive lines of the circuit board through the cutout hole and the circuit sees this as a closed switch. The point of all this is that the cutout holes are a bit small, so the switches aren't as easy to press as I'd like. It may be better to use an exacto knife to enlarge the holes a little bit to make the keypad more responsive (or maybe just add an external keypad).
This kit is great! I love it. It's a 4-bit microcomputer with a hex keypad, 4 control switches (A SET, INCR, RUN and RESET), a 7-segment LED, 7 regular LEDs, speaker, a hard reset switch, and an on-off switch. There are 7 pre-stored games, plus code in the mook for 10 other programs. There are 15 machine instructions, plus 16 "extended codes" that use the "E" code to allow for 2-byte instructions (E0, E1, E2, etc.) So, the instruction set is fairly straightforward, but you can still do some sophisticated manipulation of the LEDs and speaker. There's enough memory to hold a 64-byte program, and 16 bytes are set aside for data space.
The pre-loaded games include a "piano", a reflex game, and so on. The code in the book includes a 15-second counter and a rock-paper-scissors game. It looks like the GMC-4 is based on Gakken's FX-150 micro kit. The website has a link to the FX-Maicon's (R-165) user manual, and a lot of the programs in it are the same as for the GMC-4.
Code entry is very straightforward. Press RESET to zero the address counter, then press the desired hex key, followed by INCR. Press RESET-1-RUN to execute. To review your code, just press RESET and then INCR to increment through it. To play a pre-loaded game, press RESET, the code for the game (i.e. - '9' for the piano) and then RUN.
The pre-loaded games are:
9 - Piano
A - Music player
B - Tone repeat game
C - Whack-a-mole
D - Tennis
E - Timer
F - Morse code generator (described only in the FX-150 manual)
The other programs are:
15-second counter
LED flasher
Another LED flasher
LED sign
Pulse width modulator
LED game
Another Music Player
Scissors-Paper-Stone
Sequence Music Game
Gun fighter game
The mook is a little different this time, in that all of the articles are subject-related. Previous mooks included unrelated articles on WW II history, how to make your own beer, making a light bulb, and so on, plus articles related to the kit's subject. For kit #24, the articles include the history of computers, photos of older micro- and home-computers and video game consoles, an explanation of how chips are made and how they work, the process behind designing the GMC-4, and then the instruction set. The photos are all high-quality color, and it's a kick seeing pictures of machines that I used to own (including the old Altair 8800 box. Man, that takes me back.)
The kit is a bit clunky for program entry and there's no static data storage, meaning that you lose your program when you power it off. So, it's probably not going to get a lot of use once the novelty wears off. But still, for $25 it's a great value. Plus, the mook shows details for modding the premium wind-up tea carrying doll to turn it into a motorized robot with the GMC-4 as a controller, plus how to mod the GMC-4 to control up to three SX-150 synthesizers through their external input jacks.
Personally, I'm planning on adding a jack to plug in my headphones, plus a volume control (the speaker is too loud to play the games when everyone else is sleeping). I may also look at using the GMC-4 to control my synth keyboard setup.
The instruction set is going to take a little time to translate, and it's a bit on the long side, so I'll probably create a knol for it. Suffice it to say that that's going to be written up later. But, in summary, this is a fun little kit for anyone wanting to play with a simple hex-entry computer. Don't expect much of a challenge assembling it - it's all about the programs you end up writing for it.
FYI - Kit #25 is going to be another 35mm reflex film camera, due out in October (probably September 30).
I've been buying the Gakken Otona no Kagaku kits "after the fact". That is, they come out, I learn about them, and when I go to the store, they're already there on the shelves. In fact, there's still 5 kits that I don't have, and they're all back issues (well, yeah, obviously), so I can buy them whenever I want. But, I learned about the microcomputer kit from the wire recorder book at just about the time the wire recorder came out, so I've been anticipating this one for 3 months. I was going to the local bookstore every day for the last week, just in the hopes that it might come out before the official publication date of June 30. No such luck. But, two days ago was June 30, and there it was on the shelf. I didn't even break my stride in getting from the door to the register.
GMC-4, kit #24, 2500 yen
The "GMC-4" is Gakken's latest release in the "Adult Science" mook line. The model number means "Gakken Microcomputer, 4 bit". As a kit, there's almost nothing to it. 4 parts and 6 screws. The speaker is pre-wired to the circuit board, and assembly consists of screwing the speaker and board to the base plate, then attaching the plastic keypad to the circuit board with the double-sided plastic insulator. That's it. 5 minutes, tops. Oh yeah, the kit runs on 3 AA batteries, so you have to put the batteries in, too... Physically, the finished kit is about 2" x 5" x 3/4" - about the size of a PSP.
The key switches are the resistive type, triggering when you press the plastic "key". There's a plastic separator with little cutout holes where the "keys" go, and when you press a "key" your finger pushes the cover plastic down onto the conductive lines of the circuit board through the cutout hole and the circuit sees this as a closed switch. The point of all this is that the cutout holes are a bit small, so the switches aren't as easy to press as I'd like. It may be better to use an exacto knife to enlarge the holes a little bit to make the keypad more responsive (or maybe just add an external keypad).
This kit is great! I love it. It's a 4-bit microcomputer with a hex keypad, 4 control switches (A SET, INCR, RUN and RESET), a 7-segment LED, 7 regular LEDs, speaker, a hard reset switch, and an on-off switch. There are 7 pre-stored games, plus code in the mook for 10 other programs. There are 15 machine instructions, plus 16 "extended codes" that use the "E" code to allow for 2-byte instructions (E0, E1, E2, etc.) So, the instruction set is fairly straightforward, but you can still do some sophisticated manipulation of the LEDs and speaker. There's enough memory to hold a 64-byte program, and 16 bytes are set aside for data space.
The pre-loaded games include a "piano", a reflex game, and so on. The code in the book includes a 15-second counter and a rock-paper-scissors game. It looks like the GMC-4 is based on Gakken's FX-150 micro kit. The website has a link to the FX-Maicon's (R-165) user manual, and a lot of the programs in it are the same as for the GMC-4.
Code entry is very straightforward. Press RESET to zero the address counter, then press the desired hex key, followed by INCR. Press RESET-1-RUN to execute. To review your code, just press RESET and then INCR to increment through it. To play a pre-loaded game, press RESET, the code for the game (i.e. - '9' for the piano) and then RUN.
The pre-loaded games are:
9 - Piano
A - Music player
B - Tone repeat game
C - Whack-a-mole
D - Tennis
E - Timer
F - Morse code generator (described only in the FX-150 manual)
The other programs are:
15-second counter
LED flasher
Another LED flasher
LED sign
Pulse width modulator
LED game
Another Music Player
Scissors-Paper-Stone
Sequence Music Game
Gun fighter game
The mook is a little different this time, in that all of the articles are subject-related. Previous mooks included unrelated articles on WW II history, how to make your own beer, making a light bulb, and so on, plus articles related to the kit's subject. For kit #24, the articles include the history of computers, photos of older micro- and home-computers and video game consoles, an explanation of how chips are made and how they work, the process behind designing the GMC-4, and then the instruction set. The photos are all high-quality color, and it's a kick seeing pictures of machines that I used to own (including the old Altair 8800 box. Man, that takes me back.)
The kit is a bit clunky for program entry and there's no static data storage, meaning that you lose your program when you power it off. So, it's probably not going to get a lot of use once the novelty wears off. But still, for $25 it's a great value. Plus, the mook shows details for modding the premium wind-up tea carrying doll to turn it into a motorized robot with the GMC-4 as a controller, plus how to mod the GMC-4 to control up to three SX-150 synthesizers through their external input jacks.
Personally, I'm planning on adding a jack to plug in my headphones, plus a volume control (the speaker is too loud to play the games when everyone else is sleeping). I may also look at using the GMC-4 to control my synth keyboard setup.
The instruction set is going to take a little time to translate, and it's a bit on the long side, so I'll probably create a knol for it. Suffice it to say that that's going to be written up later. But, in summary, this is a fun little kit for anyone wanting to play with a simple hex-entry computer. Don't expect much of a challenge assembling it - it's all about the programs you end up writing for it.
FYI - Kit #25 is going to be another 35mm reflex film camera, due out in October (probably September 30).
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