Tag: Japan
-
Japanese Konbini Snack Report 2015: Pt 2
With a brief followup on yesterday’s haul: the lobster flavored crisps were rubbish, and the Mt. Rainier coffee didn’t rot my teeth!
-
Off to Tokyo Again, Alone
Hanging out in one of the lounges at Changi while waiting for my flight to Tokyo. It’s been more than 2 years since I’ve been in Japan, and the Go Go Curry craving is getting a little unbearable.I haven’t been in the mood for this trip this past week; too many things on my mind at work and home. But a friend just told me how they would kill to switch places right now, traveling alone (well, for a few days until I’m joined by some friends), getting away from a nagging partner, responsibilities, etc. and I have to say, it woke me right up for this.
It’s super uncool to not have gone on a holiday alone before (I’m guessing being abroad to study doesn’t count), but yeah I’ve never done it. There’s always someone else to plan with, figure out transport with, make decisions and compromises with (or force into compromises most of the time -_-), so now I think I’m going to be a little lost. Wandering and just seeing what happens. Not really my nature!
26° Clear
T1 Link West, Changi, Singapore, Singapore -
Playing Yakuza 3, Six Years Late
I recently got a second-hand PS3 and have been buying up all the games I’d heard about for years but never had access to. Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain, The Last of Us, MGS4, etc.
Yakuza 3 & 4 weren’t on the list for some reason, but when used copies appeared at Qisahn.com, I had a quick look and decided I needed them. It’s kind of a no-brainier, both being set in a virtual open world Tokyo and all. I had a pretty great time running around in the virtual Akihabara of Akiba’s Trip 2 on the PS Vita.
So far, it’s an even more faithful recreation of the atmosphere, albeit without much in the way of atmospheric sounds. They’ve retained a lot of the real world brands and shopfronts, unlike most anime (see screenshot above), and every street feels like it was modeled on a real place. One opening bit takes place on a rooftop that reminded me of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, with a vast open view of the city by night below, never mind that the game recreated it with a large repeating texture; it felt right!
A couple of tweets so far:
(And there’s golf with a politician. Let’s not forget about the full-fledged golf simulator built in. I’m hoping for pachinko to show up at some point.)
-
Akihabara Park, Real vs. Virtual Photography
There’s this spot in Akihabara Park beside the designated smoking area, across from Yodobashi Camera’s rear exit, where I’ve taken the same photo twice; on the second occasion purely because it was a beautiful evening and I suddenly remembered taking the first photo and wanted to replicate it from memory without referring to my Flickr account. They turned out pretty close.
The other day while playing the game Akiba’s Trip on my PS Vita, I decided to visit the same spot to try and take it again with the in-game camera feature (the title is quite an accurate recreation of the gaming/anime/gadget town); again trying to find the same spot from memory.
The level of detail is surprising, and this is just for one building out of many. I even got the same corner of the little rain shelter peeking in from the left. Makes me feel like I should visit again sometime soon.
-
Tokyo Snack Stash #2
I’m eating yesterday’s Italian Curry cup noodle right now and I was right, it’s a mildly spicy tomato sauce with mystery meat and capsicum bits. But tasty enough to eat way too fast at 2am.
I really like that they realized people are gonna drink the soup from the cup and wrapped the whole thing in shrink-wrapping to keep it clean while on the shelves.
Anyway snack stash video #2 is up.
sangsara.net 