December

Well, I haven't written anything all month, so I guess I'll make a post.

Not a whole lot's been happening lately, although 3学期 has started, so I have more classes to deal with now.

A few weeks ago, I went to Mt. Tsukuba. I don't think I posted about it yet, but it was very pretty to go at the end of fall because the leaves looked great, especially with the view. You can probably see some pics of me on Facebook (like 5 people took the same one >.>). I got a lot of exercise there, since there were so many stairs, but I didn't climb the whole way up. Instead, I took a cable car.

Last weekend, I tried to go to the mall, which is at the first stop on the train, but, in a retarded gaijin moment, I jumped on the rapid, which has fewer stops. In other words, it skipped over the stop I needed, so instead, I decided to ride all the way to Akihabara, the district of Tokyo where they sell cheap electronics. I explored there a bit, but mostly got lost. Eventually I found the station again and decided to go to the mall after all, but my scooter ended up running out of battery and some random guy ended up giving me a lift home. The thing's been acting up here and there since then, which is kind of annoying, so I may have to find some place to take it in for repairs. We'll see what happens.

I'm gonna voluntarily try out 1st period (8:40) class tomorrow so I can finish my day at 9:55. WISH ME LUCK.

Thanksgiving

Been awhile. I haven't really done anything blog-worthy until today.

Japan doesn't really celebrate thanksgiving, unlike some of the other American holidays that are big here. Instead, a group of us went to a place called High Five Burger and just ate American-style! It was really good. I should mention that our New Yorker, Tom, spent 4000 yen (like $50ish) and ate a crazy amount of food. IIRC, nachos, a chili dog, a milkshake, triple burger, large fries, and onion rings. TRULY AMERICAN.

Afterwards, we went to iias (the mall I've mentioned in previous posts) and watched Moneyball. (American Brad Pitt movie). American movies are popular here, but America doesn't have much in terms of international movies, does it? Some people went out drinking, but I decided to come back, since I'm pretty tired. Also, I'm done with finals now, so I basically have nothing to do for awhile.

I'll post again if anything interesting happens.

One Piece~

Hey.

So lately, I've been more otakuish than usual. Been catching up on One Piece. It's literally EVERYWHEREEEEEEEEEE so it's a little hard to not want to get back into it. 711 has been doing a promotion, so TONSSSSS of merch is all over the place. Even DRINKS come with free stuff.

Been thinking of checking out more of Akihabara tomorrow, but seeing as how it's 4 am and I'm not even tired, I doubt it will happen. Thought about just buying a PS3, but they're around 30万円 and I'd need a TV too, so that's like 50,000 just to play video games again. Maybe I should buy some PS3 games here and take them back with me and buy a PS3 at home. They're region-free.

I still don't have a camera, so I've been using my phone. My Google account has a few new pics up, and I'll repost some here just because my posts have been barren lately.

Body wash exists, but the shampoo does not

I don't think I posted about my birthday party, but it was last monday and it was a lot of fun. The turnout was actually more Japanese than ryuugakusei, which seems to surprise my other Japanese friends. Anyway, I drank too much, but I had a great birthday. Thanks to all my friends who helped make it awesome, and thanks to the friends and family at home that sent me wishes from abroad. Also, I need new crutch tips...

Gonna do more shopping tomorrow if I can wake up in time. If I don't go to Tokyo, I'm at least getting off at the first station so I can go to the mall. ..Maybe I should study too.

If I haven't mentioned it in this blog yet, I just want it to be known that I have really, really amazing friends. I don't know if anyone actually follows this or even knows that it exists, but man, I'm having a great time here and I want to tell people about it. I've met some of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life and they continue to astound me with their overwhelming kindness every day. I only wish my dear BFF could enjoy herself as much as I am...

If I solo Tokyo tomorrow, I'm sure there will be post-worthy adventures then.

１１月１４日: No Tokyo, but I did go to iias (LARGEST MALL IN ALL OF KANTO, BITCHES) and bought more OP clothes at the same place I bought my sweet Ace Jacket. 7000 yen~. At least I'm filling out the point card?

10 minutes left of Halloween

Well, I figure I'll make a post about Halloween.

It's surprisingly big here in Japan. You wouldn't think so, but it is. There was probably a party every day last week. Today, people even went around campus in costume. TISA's Halloween party on campus had alcohol, food, and even shows put on by the juggling and dance clubs. Even the family restaurants are decked out in cheesy decor. The servers were wearing cat ears and pumpkins and shit. As far as I know, Trick or Treat does not exist, though.

Usually, by this time, I expect to freeze, but it's still 60-70 outside.... As of now, I've been in Japan for two whole months already. Crazy stuff.

Gas stations?

Yo.

Much like at OSU, I tend to enjoy going outside at night, whether it's to run errands or just to get fresh air. Tonight, I had to pick up a couple things, so I went to a hyaku en shop. It's finally actually getting a little chilly out BTW (but I was still fine with just a t-shirt before the sun went down).

Anyway, on the way to the closest grocery store, you'll pass a gas station. Funny thing I've noticed is that this is PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY GAS STATION IN ALL OF TSUKUBA. Probably a gross exaggeration, but it's the only one I've seen.

4月　UPDATE: Interestingly, the gas station has become self-service
 now. Huh.
In America, gas stations are everywhere. Also, attached to them is usually either a convenient store or restaurant of some kind. On the contrary, Japan's gas stations are for gas and various car servicing things. This is probably because convenient stores are literally everywhere and they don't need to be in gas stations too. I'm sure there are at least 10 711s on the same street, not to mention Lawson, Coco Store, and Family Mart. You can't go 2 meters without bumping into a konbini of some kind, but gas stations seem to be really rare by comparison. Interestingly, I can both pay my phone bill and take money out of my US account at 711.

In addition to that, vending machines. If I haven't mentioned it yet, vending machines (自動販売機） are also everywhere. While in America, they are usually inside, most of the machines I see here are outdoors. Some even sell hot drinks. Unlike America, though, snack machines are super uncommon (if they even exist?) and I almost always exclusively see drink ones. Today, I stopped at the cheapest one I've ever seen (100 yen per can instead of 110, shityes). Also, I forgot this existed here, even though I have a picture of the stupid grape one.

Red Bull sucks here so I'll settle for this.

Did I mention I got a free rice cooker? It has changed my life. I also bought more utensils, so once I find out which brand of curry to buy, it's totally カレーライスの時間.

For now, furikake. Nothin like a hot bowl of rice when it's cold. Well, except for soup. Or noodles.

Lastly, there was a health examination today for all the exchange students. I had to pee into a paper cup before I went this morning and then fill this little bottle from said cup. It was disgusting. Also, apparently I have high blood pressure and need to go back again tomorrow. Fun. At least I get to practice my Japanese?

風邪

Well, I ended up catching a bit of a cold. Probably from all this changing weather.

Bought some Halls, which are the same as American Halls except grapefruits flavored and with anime girls on them.

Pretty low quality, but...

Actually, my keitai camera takes decent photos if I mess with the quality settings. But, the only way I know how to upload is by emailing my gmail account, and if I reduce to this quality, it makes it go from about 4 MB to 25kb, so it doesn't take any time to send.

It's actually kind of pointless to be able to zoom in this much

I should take/upload more pics to Google as it's been forever, but I've been busy/sick, so...

Anyway, I bought more medicine today. This stuff ran me 980円 and seems a bit like that Emergen-C stuff that you mix with drinks. If I understand correctly, you take it 30 minutes after eating. Unfortunately it is literally the worst tasting medicine I've ever had ever. Seems to be working though!

Paburon

Oh yea, by the way, for anyone who doesn't know, if you get sick in Japan, you're supposed to wear a mask. It's a cultural thing, but it also helps prevent sickness and germs from spreading, which is useful here because of all the tight spaces and close-quarter interactions. In addition, it flags you as a sick person. 

 Plus I just look cool. LOL.

It's getting colder out, but between the medicine and the healthy food (NATTO) I've been buying, I should get better soon, so no worries. ^^

これから気をつけます。

Hello blog.

I somehow made it through my roughest weekend yet. I'd like to say it made me stronger(mentally), but ironically I'm feeling incredibly weak(physically). I think I caught some kind of bug. Maybe it was the weather change. Or a combination of several factors.

If anyone really is reading this, I want to take this space to thank all of my real friends here. Especially those of you who've been supporting me so much lately. It's very, very much appreciated. I honestly can't thank you all enough...

I can't say I'm feeling better (mostly because I'm pretty ill), but at least I've learned a lot.

Speaking of learning, I haven't studied all weekend and midterms start tomorrow. I only have one on monday, so I can cram from 8:00-13:45. For now, I gotta sleep.

So yea...

Midterms are coming up. I should be studying, but I'm not.

Extremely lazy weekend. I'm just catching up on sleep, cooking, and watching TV (read: streaming American shows).

It's oddly warm here for October 15th. The sun went down but it's still 73 and very humid/rainy. Not very Fall-like compared to what I'm used to.

I'm just gonna eat some junk food and watch the office. Yep.

Also, my camera's incapacitated, so I'll either be posting pics from my keitai or nothing at all until I buy a new one...

Bored

The day between parties is always boring for some reason.

Lots of birthdays lately. Also, the school festival is this weekend. Yet another party tomorrow night. It'll be my second nomihoudai, but this one's cheaper and goes all night.

Probably won't end well. XD

I'll probably post info about the festival tomorrow. Maybe some pics, too.

Super!

I haven't posted any actual gaijin moments in awhile. Since it's the blog title, I should probably share more stories of the retarded things that have happened to me, right?

Lately, most of them have been related to grocery shopping. In Japan, convenience stores(コンビニ read: konbini) are very common, such as 711, Lawson, or CoCo Store. However, these places, while they really are convenient and sell all kinds of things, are generally more expensive than a grocery store. Supermarkets, called スーパー（suupaa, from English "super") are way cheaper, so lately I've been shopping there and trying to prepare my own food so I don't have to eat out every day. We don't have meal plans, but there is campus dining (and it's actually very good and fairly cheap). Sometimes, though, the shokudou is either too crowded or I don't have time/just want to make something quick at home.

There are various places to shop at Tsukuba Center, but because I don't really feel like bringing bags of groceries onto the bus, I've been going to a store called Kasumi. It's open 24 hours, so that's pretty nice. At night, things like sushi or tempura that don't keep have to go, so they mark down the prices by a ton. It's nice if you're hungry late at night and want a super cheap snack, but it's not exactly close to campus...

Anyway, since I can't really cook, I don't have much. Just a small frypan, one plate, a really small bowl, and wooden chopsticks. Can't do too much with that, so I've been frying eggs, mostly.

This brings us to my first moment of extreme retardedry. I assume most people know that in order to cook eggs on a range, you need to somehow grease your pan or the eggs will stick to it like hell. So, I thought, why don't I just pick up some oil for cheap? My first trip ended in utter failure, as I had just grabbed what looked like oil, but turned out to be some kind of vinegar-based salad dressing. It didn't work for what I had intended, but it's actually pretty good to put on eggs.

Later, I decided to try again, this time at the Coco Store in my dorm's community center. I was a bit more careful this time, actually looking at the bottles, but I still managed to screw up, and instead of oil I actually bought cooking sake. I guess I confused the character for 油 with 酒 somehow. I still splash it on random things (including eggs, LOL) so it wasn't an entire waste of money.

Finally, I found a jug of canola oil which I settled on because for some reason I still have no idea where to find butter in Kasumi. Yesterday, I bought what I thought was bacon to cook with the eggs, but despite the fact that it had a pig on it colored with the American flag AND the fact that it looked exactly like bacon, it was just some thinly sliced pork. It turned out pretty good anyway, and I used the grease to cook more eggs, but I'm kinda sad that it wasn't bacon. I want bacon...

Eventually, I'll probably pick up a saucepan or something to cook curry in. I also really, really want a rice cooker and obviously some more utensils and things. Every rice cooker I've seen is ungodly expensive, so if anyone finds a cheap one, let me know. I could save a lot of money on food...

Update

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to post to say that I'm still alive. I haven't written anything in awhile because nothing's been happening, really. Just class, grocery shopping, etc. By the way, if anyone knows of any really cheap/easy washoku recipes, I'd appreciate it. Frying eggs and dumplings all the time gets kind of old. LOL.

I guess I could write a little about my classes. Most of what I'm taking are Japanese courses and I've been placed in level 400, which is in the upper tier of the beginner level. Class is, of course, entirely in Japanese (even the grammar explanations). My class is also full of almost entirely Chinese students. Class itself consists of practicing drills (much like my JSL classmates are already used to) but we also do reading outloud, have quizzes to make sure we understand the grammar, and do small group activities. The teachers don't bother restricting what they say to words we already know and they speak as they normally would, so it's not as artificial feeling as OSU's classes. They're also a million times stricter on accent and pronunciation. In fact, it's pretty interesting to hear where the Chinese kids screw up compared to the Americans (read: Zoe and me).

I'm actually in a lower level of kanji because I'm terrible at it. It only meets once a week (like normal classes) so I just had it yesterday for the first time, but the way they teach kanji here is a million times better than what I'm used to. They're organized in ways that make sense and radicals are explained in much more detail. We did some reading practice and even a little radical matching minigame. Interestingly, how to write them (stroke order) was not shown at all. Both for kanji and my grammar classes, a lot of the work is done individually/at home.

I'm taking two other courses in what's called the JTP program. They're taken alongside normal Japanese students and taught in English. Linguistic Anthropology deals with a lot of linguistic topics and compares aspects of the Japanese language to English and other European languages. For someone learning Japanese, it's not only extremely interesting but also seems like something you can only learn in Japan. My other class meets on Fridays and we've only had one so far, which was just an intro day. I'll write more about that later.

We are ROCK-MEN!

Okay, so I may have mentioned that I bought a CD at TGS.

Yea, I bought a CD. Self-proclaimed 海賊王 BOUGHT something. A CD AT THAT. LITERALLY THE EASIEST THING TO FIND ON THE INTERNET.

So, if I was willing to pay 2100 yen for this, it must be pretty cool, right? For starters, just look at this cover art.

It's so awesome. FUCK.

Alright. I know most of you could care less about this, but those of you who know me from AIM (Blues is red; hell, the name itself is a pun/Rockman reference) have been aware for at least 12 years that I'm a big Rockman fan, so at the very least I'll try to do a little review of the SEVENTEEN TRACKS on this album for you. Of course, I'd also recommend this to anyone who enjoys good instrumental music, even if you're not sure what Rockman is. In my opinion, the series has some of the best music of any video game franchise ever, especially the old NES games. Also, Rockman is called Mega Man in the states, if you somehow didn't know that.

I'd also just like to add that this CD is released tomorrow and I've already had it for two days. That just makes me feel awesome.

Okay, onto the music itself. The tracks are composed by members of Capcom Sound Team. Most of Capcom's big name games are composed by various people under that name, which may be why I tend to enjoy Capcom music. It's usually not just one person. However, each track on the album is credited to a composer. There were 3 or 4 of them on the album, actually, but the inner cover only has biographies for two (who call themselves the Rockmen). Yasumasa Kitagawa and Masahiro Aoki.

The first track is actually an original. On an album of arrangements of old NES/SNES games, that's pretty cool. It's just a 1:30 technoy, English rap song introducing the album. I'm not gonna post the lyrics or anything, but I will say that it caught me off guard when I first popped in the CD. LOL.

Next up, the infamous "GAME START" track, originally from Rockman 1, but found in a ton of Rockman games, played when you select a stage. It's 0:24 long, but the first 13 seconds are like an intro to the song, with guitar and some electric organ. It reminds me of something you'd hear on a continue screen for a fighting  game. Obviously, the actual melody of the song comes in after that, but if you know the song itself (as anyone who has ever played a Rockman game would) you'd know that it's like 5 seconds long, so I think the intro was just there to pad the track a bit. Still, it's cool. I feel like it's sorta an extension to the original intro on the CD (track 1).

Third, my favorite track from my least favorite classic series game. Darkman's theme from Rockman 5. If you don't know much about Rockman games, basically, every game has 8 bosses, and once you beat them, you go to Wily's castle, which usually has 4 stages. In Rockman 4-6, there was another castle you'd go to before getting to Wily. In 5, specifically, it was Darkman's. Now, the reason I've decided to write this here is because it seems like a trend and/or requirement that the closer you get to the end of a Rockman game, the more badass the stage themes are. Even the novice composers on Youtube who do music for fangames keep this in mind. (http://www.youtube.com/my_subscriptions?feature=mhee&s=UuFStsd2mR5Vtsw1Y10_gDayy9XTZrt3LbSnH6CMgXQ)

BTW, I should add that the composers must have really liked this track too, because there are three different versions of the same song on the CD, Side-R, Side-D, and a Piano Ver.

Track 3 is Side-R, which I'm guessing stands for rock, because it's clearly a heavy rock version. It goes right into the melody, leading with some synth, but as soon as the guitar kicks in, it explodes with badassness. I've always really liked this song (even though I could care less for most of 5's music), but this is clearly the best version I've ever heard. Even though some synth starts it out, once the guitar comes in, it dominates for the rest of the song, pushing the synth to the background. I'm particularly fond of any guitar-heavy arranges, so I can't complain. At around halfway through the 2:40 song, the guitar diverges from the melody a bit, which I always enjoy. You can still hear the organ playing it, but whoever's playing that guitar is having some fun in the meantime. XD After playing the main melody again, the song ends. Considering this is arranged background music from an old Nintendo game, it's not surprising that the songs are super short, but the team did their best to both lengthen and make them sound as badass as possible.

I like the word badass. Shut up. >.>

Track 4. This is an arrangement of Cutman's theme from the very first Rockman game, which is always one of the most remixed songs. Nobody really likes the rest of the first game's music, it seems. Unlike the last track, this one seems to focus on synth and has a lot of bass, with the guitar taking the background this time. For whatever reason no one ever wants to make a guitar-heavy Cutman remix. Or maybe I have heard one, but I just can't remember. Anyway, it's only 1:46, but it's not bad. Not one of my favorites, though.

Track 5 is something I did not expect, mostly because I didn't even read the track list. I was under the impression that this was an album of songs from the original/Classic/NES Rockman series, but there are actually songs from Rockman X too! Rockman X music actually had more of a rock (LOLOOL) feel to it than the classic series, but I liked the music just as much, if not even more (at least for the first three games, the ones on the SNES.)

Anyway, track 5 is the opening stage from RMX. Unlike the classic series (except for 7 and 8), you wouldn't just jump straight to a stage select screen when you started, and instead there'd be an intro stage. IMO, these always had great music, because they'd be the first track you'd hear in the game. The first X game was no exception. As for the arrangement itself... It's 2:20 long, but the first 40 seconds or so are an intro that barely sounds like the song, so it took me awhile to recognize what was playing. It begins by building up with some pretty awesome bass guitar and some epic-sounding strings. The track has sort of this bulky, heavy feel to it. I really just want to use the word epic to describe it, but it's not quite as badass as some of the other tracks. It picks up the speed once the guitar starts playing the main melody of the song, but the strings are pretty present all throughout, so there's still that level of epicness.

I know, I'm shit at writing reviews. Most people probably have no idea how to distinguish epic from badass. (If you're reading this and you're Japanese, sorry for my terribly confusing English!) In all honesty, you should really just listen to the album to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. If you're in Tsukuba and actually have a genuine interest (read: you actually read this far into my post), I'm willing to lend you the CD. Also, I'm sure it'll be on Youtube soon if it's not already.

Now for Track 6! This is the opening stage to Rockman X2, which I always liked even more than the first game's. It opens with some seriously heavy drums, which I have to say sound pretty awesome with my little amp and my Sennheiser HD280s. There's a lot of heavy guitar and drums and a good mix of synth and organ in there as well. This song is quite a bit longer than the others, clocking in at 4:05, which actually makes it the longest song on the whole album. It has a more high-energy feel to it than the previous track. After a minute, the song kinda forgets about the melody and just starts rocking out for another minute. Compared to the other songs, this one is a pretty loose arrangement. What I mean is, it's not so focused on sticking to the original melody that it's based off of. I guess that's why it's so long. I really, really enjoy melody and melodic rock is one of my most favorite genres ever in the world, but at the same time, I love it when songs don't just loop the same melody and then end. You can really get the feeling that the musicians were enjoying the shit out of themselves here and that kind of thing makes me happy, too.

Track 7 keeps with the same theme, moving onto Rockman X3. This time, it isn't an intro stage, but actually a song played during the stage, Zero's theme. Even if you don't know X3, you will know this song if you have played Marvel vs Capcom 3. The song opens with some pretty sweet arpeggios (I think that's what they're called. Honestly I dunno anything about music. I JUST LISTEN TO IT, OKAY?). There's some heavy guitar backing, but the lead instrument in this song is actually an electric organ! It really surprised me, because most X3 Zero mixes I've heard (except for the weird sax one on the PS1 version) like to focus on the guitar, sticking to the style of the original song. While that was what I expected and honestly prefer, I understand that you can't just make an album where everything is just guitarified. I do really like this arrangement though. The organ sounds kind of subdued to me, but maybe that's just because I'm used to how amazing Uematsu and Sakuraba sound when they play it. Somewhere around 0:40 of this 2:46 song there is a bitchin guitar solo, so it's not without that or anything. They actually need it, because the melody of this song is literally only like the same 10 seconds repeating over and over. I say that, but somehow, it seriously is a badass ten seconds. You should also note that this music IS. MY. CHILDHOOD.

Track 8 returns to Rockman X1 for Armored Armadillo's theme (or Armor Armarge as it says on the CD). If you've never heard the old 1993 CD Rockman X Arrange by Alph Lyra, I really suggest you check out their arrangement too, because it's amazing. Been my favorite track on that album for years (It's called Get Through the Dark). Compared to that version, this one seems faster and more rock-oriented. Primarily, it's all guitar, whereas the other version focused a lot on the beat and had some saxes. The guitar has a really different sound from the Alph Lyra one, too. I'd link to a youtube of that, but honestly I don't want to ruin it with how shitty Youtube music quality is. Anyway, both versions of the song are really great and I can't tell you which one I like better. The Alph Lyra one is longer because it's a little slower and takes more liberties, but the We Are Rockman version is much speedier. It reminds me of like...a Guilty Gear version of the theme. In fact, seeing as how Tohru Iwao has done Rockman arranges before, it would not surprise me if he was playing guitar here. LOL! I adore this new version, but I've had the other one for years (since I was like 13) so I'm partial to that as well. IT'S TOO HARD TO CHOOSE.

Track 9. OMFG TRACK 9. By FAR my favorite on the whole thing. Actually, I think I heard a brief sample of this track a few weeks before I left for Japan and immediately decided I would buy the CD upon arriving. You can imagine how excited I was when I realized TGS was selling it.

My screen name on AIM/generic Internet username/persona whathaveyou has been Blues for 13 years or so now. There are several people who only know me by that name. Blues is a Rockman character (see the red guy on the album up there) who is known as Protoman in the states. My AIM screenname, Blues is red, confuses anyone who can't get the pun.

That being said, Track 9 happens to be the ending to Rockman 3, Blues' debut game. This song also doubles as his theme, which is usually just the first 5 notes of the song that he plays on his whistle whenever he makes an appearance, but this song is nearly 4 minutes. Of course, my favorite character from one of my favorite games also has one of my favorite themes! This particular arrangement is seriously the best one I've ever heard. It also differs from the rest of the CD in that it's primarily ACOUSTIC GUITAR. I mentioned earlier how I love melodic rock, but just as well, I thoroughly enjoy the fuck out of anything with acoustic guitar in it. I seriously love this song so much it's hard for me to describe. I really just need to force it on someone and scream "YOU WILL LISTEN TO THIS SONG AND ENJOY IT OR I WILL HATE YOU FOREVER."

Anyway, the song opens straight into the melody, beginning with nothing but the acoustic guitar, playing Blues' theme by itself (not the part that's technically classified as the full ending song). Then, it plays it again, going slightly higher up on the scale, while an organ comes in for backup. UYGWDGYBYEIG IT SOUNDS SO GOOD. *ahem* At 0:26, the rest of the song starts, and some drums pop in. It's very chill/relaxing sounding. I seriously can't even explain how much I enjoy this track. At around 1:27, a smooth-jazzy electric guitar joins in with the acoustic and they both play the melody. I thought this was a great touch. Then, at 2:03, the rock guitar goes for a solo. It's just like "HEY BITCH, IN CASE YOU DIDN'T ALREADY LOVE THIS SONG, HERE YOU FUCKIN GO!" After the solo, the rock guitar actually takes over! It's really kind of a unique arrangement and I can tell you right now that I'm never going to hear a better version of this particular song. Most of the other remixes I've heard like to try to add words to it, but it was always really awkward to me. The song closes with the last few notes played by the acoustic guitar again.

Track 10 is another version of Darkman's theme that I mentioned back in my description of track 3. It's a piano version, so there's nothing by a solo piano. It's very slow, pretty chill and relaxing, only 1:17, and composed by someone named Azusa Kato, who's not pictured/bio'd on the album. Honestly it has nothing on track 3 at all, but I guess it's nice to vary up the style of the album a bit. I just dunno why it was the same song.

Track 11 is the boss theme from Rockman 6. Lots of bass and synth again here, with a fair amount of guitar as well. There's a part around 1:32 that really sounds like the Roller Coaster stage from DKC2. The song is pretty techno-sounding with random guitar solos thrown it. Not one of my favs, though.

Track 12 is Rockman 3's stage select music, AKA my favorite stage select song. These songs are also really super short, so this remix takes a ton of liberties. It's very technoy, with almost no guitar at all. Not my style, again, but I don't dislike it. If I didn't already love the original song it'd probably be a different story.

Track 13 is the third and final take on Darkman's theme. This one is called Side-D. It's...weird. Really weird, actually. The melody is all kinda distorted, there's heavy bass... It sounds really different from the original theme. It's kinda cool, but by this point I was like "Seriously, stop remixing this song already." Track 3 still wins.

Track 14 is the second-most remixed Rockman song of all time, just behind Rockman 2 Wily 2: Flashman's theme. I've heard a TON of different versions of this song in my life, but this one was still pretty cool. There's sorta a funk guitar thing going on, the strings are back, the main synth is really distorted, the bass is heavy as hell. I'm not really sure how else to describe it, but they were probably aware of how overdone this song was (which I bet is why they didn't touch Wily 2), so they did their best to make this one as unique as they could. I do enjoy it, but I don't think Flashman can ever blow me outta the water.

Track 15, only two left to go! I've already been writing this for like an hour. LOL. This one surprised me. It's the ending to Rockman 5, actually one of the better ending songs. It's one of those songs that, even if you're not too familiar with it (or even if you've never heard it) you're like "Dude, this sounds like a credits theme." Guess what. IT IS.

The song has some punchy bass and is very very synth heavy. It has kinda this light happy feel to it. Somehow it reminds me of the music you'd find in a Korean MMO, like RO or something. It's kinda long too, 3:46.

Track 16 is Rockman 2 Title, better known as Rockman's official theme! This song is also really, really, really overdone (Rockman 2 is hailed by most people as the best game in the series. Pretty sure that applies to the music too). This is another synthy guitarless track, but it's cool because it's really the only song on the CD to have some chiptuny squarewave stuff. It has a lot of divergence from the melody, and even the melody itself is kinda on a different scale, so it only sorta sounds like the song from the game. Very loose arrangement, but I think in this case that makes this overremixed song sound very fresh and fun. I think this was also a great choice to close out the album.

Track 17 is sort of a bonus track, done by someone else named Reo Uratani. It stands out because it's the only song on the whole CD to be from DASH/Legends! Not gonna lie, I'm not familiar with most of its music, but did know this song because it's Rockman's theme in Tatsunoko vs Capcom! This song is also the only one aside from my favorite to adopt an acoustic style, so I really like it a lot. The name of the track is "Flutter vs Gazel Shaft." It's 3:30 (actually one of the longer ones). Great mix of upbeat acoustic guitar, piano, and of course that sexy electric organ. Definitely the song I was least familiar with, it's actually one of my favorites on the whole album.

Overall, We Are Rock-Men! is a seriously great, varied album that I'm really happy I actually decided to buy with my own money. In the past, Capcom has put out some arrange discs that I would have been very upset had I paid for them, but this one does not disappoint. If you're a fan of Rockman or just of game music in general (even if you just sorta like instrumentals), I really want you to check out this CD. I don't think you'll regret it. I know I didn't.

新宿

Like I said in my last post, TGS wasn't the only thing I did yesterday.

Originally, we planned to meet up with several people at the show, but for whatever reason that didn't happen. I mainly just did my own thing until 4 or so when we finally decided to leave. Outside, a couple friends who had intended to meet us were there waiting. Apparently they weren't allowed entry when they arrived so they waited for us to come out.

Since they had come all that way, we decided to check out more of Tokyo. Right after we left TGS, near the station was some guy doing tricks. He was fun.

We decided on Shinjuku, so after another JR ride, we arrived and started looking around.

Most of these I took while being pushed around in a wheelchair, so they suck, but Tokyo does look really sweet at night.

It was probably around 6 or 7 by this time and we were all starving so we started searching for somewhere to eat (and drink. LOL). Finally, we found a restaurant/bar where everything was only 270 yen.

Right outside the restaurant, though, was some sort of procession. I don't know what it was exactly or whether it was related to the holiday today, but a large group of men were carrying a mini shrine through the street. My knowledge on things like this is pretty limited, but I know that in Shinto, there are spirits known as
kami that reside in everything. In other words, there was a god in the shrine that the people were escorting somewhere. I was busy taking video and didn't realize I was kind of in their way, so this guy made me move. Afterwards, he gave me his headband, which I wore for the rest of the night.

After this fun stuff, we went inside and waited a million years for Andrea to get his bibimbap. LOL. I got like 3 drinks, some yakitori, and a dessert because everything was so cheap.

Oh yea, free edamame too.

Afterwards, we looked for an actual bar and couldn't find one for awhile. Shinjuku has quite a few buildings. Everything looks the same to me and I'm not really good at knowing where I am, especially when I'm tired, dehydrated, and full of alcohol. We ran around a lot, exploring the city, even meeting some random people on the street and exchanging facebooks. People seemed really friendly and more than a few helped guide us around, even though some parts of Shinjuku seemed a little sketch. In other words, homeless and trash. In fact, it was the first time I'd ever seen public liter in Japan. It was actually too depressing and gross to take a picture of. LOL.

Finally, we found a place. I only had one drink in there (because we had had some more drinks from 711 on the street earlier) but we must have been there for at least 3 or 4 hours, just chatting and whatnot. Probably around 2 or 3 am, we were all pretty tired, but we obviously couldn't go home because that involves a few train rides, and the last train stopped hours ago.

That being said, we had to find a place to stay. Fortunately, in Japan, there are manga/internet cafes everywhere. In these places, you pay to spend a certain number of hours there. Once you pay the fee, you have access to your own private cubicle, a library of magazines and comics, your own computer, and free drinks from the vending machines. I think there was a shower as well. I guess you can think of it as a really, really cheap hotel. However, like I said, you literally just have a little box to yourself with a shitty excuse for a pillow. If there were blankets, I didn't get one, but I at least had my own space. The other three people all shared one. I don't even know how they managed that when there isn't even room for one person to stretch out.

After 3, maybe 4 hours of shitty sleep, we all got up. Andrea and I were in pretty bad shape, but the others seemed okay. Unfortunately, the cafe was not only extremely narrow, there were also stairs everywhere. Getting to the bathroom involved me having to go down several flights of stairs and somehow gimp my way there without any crutches or anything. I was similarly overexerted when I had to climb a billion stairs to leave. Overexertion while hungover is the worst idea. Combine that with the random sewage smell that was right outside and you can imagine what happened next.

Two trains and one bus later and I was finally back home. I was pretty much a zombie until then, repeatedly passing out in transit, but when I was finally able to shower, nap, and eat, I felt so much better. If you're already dehydrated from a day at a hot-as-balls convention, don't drink alcohol. Especially if you don't have enough water to drink with it.

TGS

Well, I'm back from Tokyo (again) and fully recovered after a crazy night~ Longest long weekend ever. Today is 敬老の日, or Respect for the Aged Day, so there is no class.

This weekend, I attended Tokyo Game Show 2011! For anyone who doesn't know, this is a giant gaming convention in Tokyo, sorta like E3 in the states. You can play games that haven't come out yet, buy merchandise, see previews for new games, interviews with important people, etc.

My Saturday started at 5:45 AM. First, I went with Justin and Jess to Tsukuba Center via bus, which came around 6:20. The One Step Buses weren't running until 8, so we had to lift my wheelchair onto a normal bus. Once we reached Tsukuba Center, as usual, it was just riding on the Tx train to Akihabara. I took a video this time, which is on FB, so if you're curious what the inside of a train looks like or want to see the view from the window, feel free to watch it.

Anyway, from Akiba, we hopped onto the JR and eventually got to where TGS was in another 45 mins or so. I think it was like 9:30-10 am by the time we got there. If you didn't know, JR = Japan Railway, which is a system of metros around Japan. Tokyo is huge, so to get from one part to another, you have to get on various lines. I never know where I'm going so I just follow people.

And now for a story. Shortly after arriving at the site of TGS, Jess and her friend from her school that we met earlier vanished, which kinda sucked because she had the paper I needed for my 50% discount... Anyway, from there, Justin and I had to find where to buy the tickets. This turned into a crazy endeavor because 6 different people told us six different things. I also should point out that this is in Japan and NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH, which means I have to ask about everything in Japanese. It's funny, because Justin is a 5th generation Japanese from Hawaii who's too far removed to know any Japanese, but since he LOOKS Japanese, everyone always thinks that he's just a Japanese guy. Even when I'm clearly speaking to them, they will look him in the eye when talking, despite the fact that he doesn't understand.

I think it took us at LEAST an hour to buy our tickets. Finally, a guy ended up taking us to where the tickets were... or at least most of the way. He actually collected money from us to buy them himself and we didn't need to wait in the line, so that was cool. Almost made up for the other shit...

If you're asking why there are no pictures of games, it's because you're not allowed. I got yelled at (in broken English for once)

Anyway, at TGS, aside from just trying to look around (as you can see, there were a lot of people) I played Soul Calibur V and the new Dragon Ball game called Ultimate Blast. Had to wait in line for both, but they were fun. With DB, I played the computer, though (At least I won?). SC felt a lot like 4, but I was also lame and used an old character. Some minor things I noticed were the fact that you can throw crouching people now with down + throw and some weird glowy attack I didn't know how to do. I kicked the guy's ass during Round 1 because he was playing a new character, and in the second round I lost with 1 health left (FUCKKKKKK). He beat me the third one, so after that we had to give the next person in line a turn. DB plays a little like Raging Blast, except there are actually quite a few differences. You can only use melee or ki attacks from certain distances now. Also, supers (bigger ki blasts) can be countered in different ways like in the old Butouden games or Final Bout. Even for some of the lamer attacks, the effects look really cool now, though. Trunks' Finish Buster, for example, is always just a big mass of ki that he throws from above his head, but they made it like drag along the ground and tear shit up. Also, at the end of most combos, you either input triangle or square to do this rock paper scissors deal. If you win you can follow up the combo in various ways. It's actually a lot more fun and less stale than Raging Blast 2 was. There are also a bunch of key moments from the series that have been reanimated for the game. Looks like how Kai should have looked.

Also, in the same area, there was an interesting looking Saint Seiya beat up em game. The OP game by Gambarion was there as well, right next to the DB line, but I'll play that when it comes out next month. Looks way improved over the first, but probably not still as good as JUS.

There was a P4 Ultimate stand, but I didn't see the game (or even any video) which depressed me greatly. The Bandai Namco area was showing this Tales game that was like a crossover beat em up deal. I wanna say it was called Tales of Twin Blade. (forgive me, I haven't had time to check twitter or read any game news in over a month). Anyway, it looked so good. So does Xillia.

Aside from games, I also bought a ton of merchandise, including a CD for the first time in my adult life. 2100 yen for a CD full of really, really good Rockman remixes. Anyone who knows me knows that I've always really loved Megaman music. I think it's really cool having an actual CD for once. Plus, it makes a good souvenir. The cover art is great and the music is even better (anyone from AIM will remember the Blues icon I had for awhile; that was from this album). I didn't even look at the track list before I bought it, so I was surprised to find some X series music (and even that song from DASH/Legends that was used in Tatsunoko vs Capcom!) ACOUSTIC VERSION OF THE ROCKMAN 3 ENDING. FUCK. If you're curious, you can look up a track list for We Are Rock-men! (CPCA-10248). I just realized that I don't think this album actually comes out for another 3 days, so now I feel even more awesome. Holy shit.

Most of the other stuff I bought is like nerdy Tales phone straps and stuff, but you can see that on Google Plus.

That's pretty much it for TGS, but not it for my night. I have more to write about, but for now I need food or something. More soon.

What a story, Mark

So I have some Gaijin Moments to share. Both of them happened today, actually.

As we were waiting for the bus, randomly, a car pulls up to the bus stop and a fat old guy gets out. The first thing he asks me is if I know Japanese, so I said I knew a little. The guy wanted to know where the Coco Store (the campus konbini) was. Now, even at OSU, I've had severe problems giving people directions IN ENGLISH. This is mostly because I only know how to walk places on campus, not how to get there in a car. The rear side of the store was behind where we were, so I told him that. Keep in mind this entire conversation is in my really nervous broken retarded Japanese. The guy is then like "Well, can I get there in a car?" which made me even more nervous because I really didn't know if he could. I kinda just directed him to a parking lot, so hopefully he was able to get to the place.

Later, at the station, I was going to the mall with some friends. It's only one stop away, so the ticket only cost 160円, but for some reason the top button on the computer wasn't working, so I hit the button on the bottom, which was the same price. Unfortunately, after we got the ticket and tried to go through the station once we arrived, the gate kept rejecting me. The guy at the station told me to be careful like a million times and said a bunch of other stuff that I really wasn't following at all. I'm just assuming I bought the wrong ticket. LOL

Been awhile

With Tokyo, Round 2 coming up tomorrow. I thought I'd make another post.

Lately, I've been going to class, trying to decide on which ones to take, as our registration isn't official until the 30th. I think I mostly have it set, but I may move up a level of Japanese, because J300 is crazy boring.

I'll tell you a little more about Tsukuba's campus. Tsukuba was built in the 70s, and in a lot of ways, that shows. Unlike most schools, they haven't done a whole lot to keep it shiny and new (especially in the dorms). I mean, there are a lot of auto doors, vending machines, etc, but in some ways it just feels old and dirty. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't really bother me. At least it lacks that whole "OMFG WE BETTER POUR 7 MILLION INTO THE FLATSCREENS IN THE MAIN LIBRARY THAT DO NOTHING BUT SHOW MAPS SO THAT INCOMING STUDENTS WILL CHOOSE OUR SCHOOL" bit that I always hated about OSU. The library is actually pretty impressive, but it makes sense for a research school. The cafeteria food is mostly really good and cheap, even though we don't have a meal plan. I'm getting more used to using coins, but I still think that a card would simplify things so much. As an American, that's something I seem to get made fun of for. LOL.

Tsukuba is pretty big. So big that almost everyone on campus owns a bike. It's not even just a Japanese stereotype; literally everyone has one because the campus is so huge. During class time, campus turns into like...a steel forest of parked bikes. Bikes are seriously everywhere. It's kinda a problem for me, as Ol Scooty's rabbit speed is roughly equal to that of a brisk walk, so I can't even begin to keep up. The hills also aren't kind to the battery. A trip to and from Tsukuba Center is enough to put me out of commission. I bought a bus pass though, so there's that. It'll pay for itself.

I went to quite a few classes this week, but it's looking like I may just stay in two of them (aside from Japanese and Kanji). As exchange student, I only need 10 periods per week, and with the Japanese courses, that already gives me 6, so two two period classes would put me up to ten. Not like I need the credit, so I'm just taking what sounds fun. ^^

I've been meeting too many people to keep track of, literally. They usually remember me and I have no idea what their names are. I feel pretty bad about that, but I'm terrible with names and faces. It's great to have so many friends already though. With the way this campus is set up, it's impossible not to run into AT LEAST one person you know, but you'll likely run into most of your friends whether you're trying to or not on any given day.

I've been buying things for my dorm, too. Finally got curtains and a fridge. I'm actually killing time until 10 so I can hit up kasumi and get cheap stuff to put in said fridge. Planning on learning to cook some simple stuff to save money here and there.

I need to try and find more things to do, even though I'm already crazy busy. I'll be starting my tutoring job soon and I'm already in the Japanese conversation circle, but I wanna branch out to meet more 日本人. For the most part, I hang out with the other international students, some of whom can really only communicate effectively with Japanese, others not knowing any at all. It was kinda fun playing translator the other day at the sushi place, even though my Japanese is far inferior to a lot of people I know. I also had to give a random guy directions today. I think I helped him, but I still felt retarded...

Oh yea, so there was a huge earthquake the other day! First one I actually felt since I've been here! My friend and I were spazzing but it was funny because none of the Japanese people even cared. Between stuff like that and all the pictures I take (mostly of stupid shit) sometimes I really just feel like an idiot tourist.

Anyway, this is really the first night to myself I've had in ages, which explains the blogging. I'm usually super busy all the time, but I'll do my best to keep writing so you guys know how I'm doing! Plan tomorrow is to go to Tokyo Game Show (AKA E3 OF JAPAN), so that should be fun!

UNTIL NEXT TIME.

Tokyo, Round 1

Yesterday, I hit up Tokyo for the first time with the Ichinoya group! All in all, it was a pretty good experience.

We left at around 8:30-9:00. After busing to the Tsukuba Center, it took around 45 minutes to get to Akihabara via Tx (Tsukuba Express train). For those that don't know, Akihabara is a part of Tokyo famous for cheap electronics. It's also pretty appealing if you're into anime or games as that kind of stuff is everywhere. In the morning, we only checked out Yodobashi, which is a large store right outside the station, The primary reason we went is so some people could get phones, but I already had mine. I mainly just wanted to see how I'd fare getting around Tokyo. It wasn't too bad in my manual chair, but the ever-awesome Mike Cole helped me out quite a bit too.

I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but it's crazy in there. Biggest electronic shop I've ever seen/been in. Shortly after arriving, we went to eat at a Chinese place, but I wanna check out the sushi place up there as well.

My pictures usually suck, but you should be happy I'm remembering/caring to take them. LOL.

After lunch, we had plans to meet with people in Shibuya, so we headed there via the JR. It took maybe 30 minutes on that train.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachiko

Shibuya is famous for the story of this dog.

I mostly take pictures when I'm bored/waiting and they're usually bad/not really intentional.

Shibuya was full of tall buildings and masses of people. Pretty sure all of Tokyo is like that.

Anyway, Mike needed his phone, so off we went to Softbank. But since Tokyo IS FUCKIN HUGE, we had no idea where to go. Mike ended up having to ask a police officer for directions, which was an awesome moment right out of a CC. When we got to Softbank, we found that they were out of prepaid phones. Also, the people who were supposed to meet us in Shibuya had apparently asked about us when they were there before, but we never ran into them for the rest of the day. We got directions to another Softbank, where I chilled for a couple hours with Olya and Jason. The others ran off somewhere. I took some pics there to kill time, but I already posted them elsewhere. I mean, how interesting is a phone store? Oh, they did have charging stations, so random people would come in, plug their dead phones in, and leave. That was interesting.

With the phone stuff dealt with, we decided to walk to Harajuku. The streets are lined with shops and super full of people all the time. Supposedly, the crepes are amazing, but despite the 20 minutes we spent admiring them, we decided to get other food instead (WHICH I REGRET WITH ALL MY HEART). There were also some interesting characters there, but I didn't take any pics. I really need to go back and spend money there, though.

After Harajuku, we returned to Akihabara and decided to meet my fellow Buckeye/Gilman Scholar Hannah, who's studying at ICU this year. We hung out there for a bit before leaving, but I feel like there's never enough time to do everything you wanna do there. Random Japanese people loved the Goomba shirt though.

I plan on going back to Tokyo more than a few times. Maybe I'll even take my scooter next time. It was a pretty good trip, though. I have a lot of really cool friends and I feel like this year is gonna be really fun!