dannychoo.com - Danny Choo : Anime, Figures, Idols, Gundam, Otaku and Events from Japan

A Week in Tokyo 20

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:51:00 +0900

Starting this week with a pic that I took at Kamakura last week. The young and the old.
Remember folks - don't let others drag you down by telling you "you don't have a chance" or "easier said than done" or "do what you must do - not what you want to do" - these folks are actually speaking about themselves and want you to be in the same position as them. Unless they can see the future, they have no way of judging you or your current position.
Ignore them and start your mission today before its too late.

But before the mission, its important to eat!
My sushi lunch set - 800 yen.

I'm sure its the same all over the world but restaurants get extremely packed at 12 noon. If you are going for lunch, go at 11:30 when they start serving to avoid the crowds.

You can go at 1:30 which will help avoid the crowds too but all the "meal of the day" will be gawn. The meal of the day is known as "Higawari"

Is your lunch break at a fixed time or can you go whenever you want?

Outside small police booths, you will see numbers like these. The numbers in black show how many were wounded in traffic accidents.
The numbers in red show how many died in a traffic accident. Dont know why they display this but not sure if it actually helps people to become more aware when crossing the road/out n about. Is there something similar to this in your region?

I really need to watch this bicycle park to see how people get their bikes out from deep inside.

Hana yori Dango fans may want to catch the new film that's out.

Potato and Tomato spaghetti - 880 yen.

Bunch of old Super Famicom games. Back in the days when I had a Super Famicom, I remember finishing most of the games I had - Castlevania, Axelay, Street Fighter etc etc.

These days however, I find that I hardly finish the games I buy. Still have not finished Resistance, Ninja Gaiden, DMC4, No More Heroes - all games which I love but don't play lately mainly due to lack of time.

And why is it that many games just have you running round in circles looking for objects or exits - that is so old!

What unfinished games have you played, why did you give up and what games should your fellow comrade waste no time on?

Never noticed this house before and yet its just around the block. Maybe those vines grew overnight.

Many house designs in Tokyo lack any form of imagination - a box with holes in it.

The most most yummy Keiko Kitagawa. See her in action below.

Whenever there is construction going on in Tokyo, there will always be workmen waving their mini light sabers as you walk by.

My kinda graffiti.

Whenever a new food place opens in Tokyo, there will be crowds of people flocking to check the taste. Will only be a matter of time to see if this new Tako Yaki (octopus balls) place survives.
If the taste and service is crap, they will be gone within a few months.

Bet you didn't know octopus had balls eh?

Not common knowledge but did you know Japan has Tescos ?
As you can see, they look *completely* different to what folks in the UK are used to seeing. Do you have Tesco in your region too?
Check the awesome Tesco Wars video below.

This weeks kids meal freebies at Mc Dees which includes iDog...

Pizza with half boiled egg on top with minestrone soup on the side - 770 yen.

Mince Beef Katsu lunch - 780 yen. Take note that whenever you have katsu, most place serves the cabbage for free meaning that you can ask for more at no extra charge.

Okonomi Yaki with Mikuru for starters.

Fresh hand made onigiri - rice with a filling of your choice wrapped in seaweed - about 260 yen each.

Sushi n Mikuru for dinner.

At the pharmacy getting toiletries.

Hmmm. I think I'll go for some Korean food today.

Bibimbap lunch - about 680 yen.

Looks like I'm going to stick with my thick orange AU phone until the 32GB thinner iPhone is out in a few months.

Filling up the car.

Discharge static electricity from your body before filling up by touching the red hand/black circle or you may go boom.

Cars in Japan must have regular checkups to be road worthy. The last one I had ended up costing 70,000 yen.

Biohazard pachinko. I'm personally not a fan of Bio Hazard but I liked the girl with the tight blue top many moons ago.
The thing I dont like about the series is that you always start of with a naff weapon ^^;

Burst Angel and some idols get the pachinko machine treatment.

The lovely Yui Aragaki. Check the weird blog widget on her blog in the left column ^^;
Half way through the vid below you van see her go on a date.

The Japanese are great at maintaining tradition and culture. These are Hanko which is a seal of a persons name. Instead of signing, they use a seal instead - a bit like the wax seals.

I probably should talk about these one day and its importance in living in Japan - you need them to buy a house, open a bank account etc.

Food menu at Johnathan's.

BLT and Mikuru - 1,020 yen.

The Curry Fair at Johnathan's has started. Spicy food a part of your daily diet?

The new sigma lens is wonderful.

Buy two phones and get a Wii for free.

This weeks room. Got many figures months before they are released but cant show em until they are officially out - which is why the Mirai mark is there ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2008/07/23 11:03

Tokyo Photo Walk 2

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0900

This time we go for walkies around the Musashikoyama area which is home to the longest indoor shopping mall in Japan.

But we are not going to walk around the mall today and instead go catch some of the cool breeze on this warm evening. While we take the walk, I thought we'd chat about life stuff.

I ended my salary man days when I left Microsoft and ever since then I've lost track of all the public holidays. As also I work most Saturdays/Sundays, I don't distinguish between Weekends and Weekdays. Its a public holiday today and I didn't even know about it ^^;

So I mentioned before that one should try to seek something that they enjoy doing and make it into a living.

I also mentioned that I'm having loads of fun making a living out of what I enjoy and know best. I've also managed to make my hobby part of my work too where my clients are in the figure/anime industry.

But having loads of fun doesn't mean that its never going to be tough.

While we do have loads of clients, being in startup mode with Hector, my wife, me and a team of developers overseas means that we put in long hours.

As we are building our products from scratch, we face many technical challenges. We have pressure from clients who want their products yesterday and have to even turn down potential clients due to lack of resources. The list of obstacles/challenges continues.

But I can tell you from experience that hard work certainly pays off.

I recall the time when I was still at university - used to work most nights at a Japanese restaurant after class. Sometimes we would finish at midnight.
My wife used to ride her bike while I held onto the back wearing those roller blades - was about a 20 min ride home. I could not ride a bike back then.

After reaching home it was time for a shower and then time for Kanji and Hangul homework and prepare for the next day of classes.

The hard work paid off, I graduated with first class honors and made enough money to afford trips to Japan which were important for absorbing the culture and learning the language.

Without my language skills I probably would not have got into Japan Airlines with my crummy PC configuration skills alone. Without Japan Airlines I would not have got the job at Nature which got me to Japan. Wihtout Nature I would not have made it to Amazon etc etc.

If you feel that your schooling/work is tough but at the same time hate what you are studying or hate your current job then I advise to take time out to rethink your life plan as soon as you can. Life is too short to spend your life doing something that hurts you physically and mentally and its definitely too short to spend it doing something you dislike.

On the other hand, if you are going through tough times while doing something that you are passionate about and beleive in, then the rest just naturally follows and good things will happen to you. It sounds odd but I guess its the way the universe was put together.

Now for a message to those who are having a bumpy ride while doing something that they enjoy in life.

Obstacles will appear and "shit will hit the fan" but you should never get down or depressed about these events and instead look at them in a different way.

When shit hits the fan for me, I see it as a great opportunity to improve things - no matter how serious or somber the problem.
Can you imagine life if it was all plain sailing?

Seeing obstacles as a gift will help you stay focused on your goals and destinations. Think to yourself "Am I going to give up my dreams and get all depressed just because of this obstacle?"
Learn how to automatically answer "no" and immediately proceed to solving the problem.

Being depressed is by nature negative energy and does not solve anything - it will only bring you down more.

So I'm nearing the end of this post and just want to summarize what we talked about.

Life is short. No matter how young you think you are, you will be 6 foot under ground before you know it.

Also, never be under the assumption that you will live until you are old n gray. Unless you are best buddies with god, you do not have any guarantees that you wont die tomorrow. Dying is a reality whether its from old age or from natural disasters or from some crazy guy running around Akihabara stabbing people at random.

I'm under no illusion that I'm going to live until old age which is why I always live as if it was my last day. That does not mean I ignore the responsibilities I have though ^^

Make a point of exploring what you want to do with the rest of your life.
You may not find the answer straight away, but as long as you continue to search, the answer will come to you. And where do you start to look? Easy one - you know what you like and are passionate about - start there.

Explore communities where there is information or people who enjoy the same interests that you have. Dont wait for things to happen - make them happen.

Obstacles are gifts and we should be thankful each time that fate deals one to us - obstacles enable us to improve the way we are, improve our processes and improve our lives. We also feel good about dealing with obstacles too.

Never give up. We give up due to obstacles. Even worse, we give up due to unseen obstacles that we beleive to be there - otherwise known as "fear."

"I have no hope of living and working in Japan because of blah."
Figure out ways of overcoming that "blah" (obstacle) instead of letting it stop you.

If you have something you are passionate about, work out how to overcome any obstacles and remain focused - good things will happen through your efforts. Its the way the universe was built.

On the other hand if you are a "I want to learn Japanese but I don't have time" then maybe you are not passionate enough about learning Japanese (for example) because if you were passionate then you would simply make the time.

Look at what you feel is important to you in life and prioritize - make the time to do the stuff thats important before its too late.

Would like to hear about whether you have given up on something due to an obstacle. Hopefully we can talk about it to help each other out.

By Danny Choo on 2008/07/21 10:50

Kamakura

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:51:00 +0900

Been living in Japan for many moons now but was my first time to take walkies around Kamakura.

Kamakura is located about 50km South West of Tokyo in the Kanagawa prefecture.
The Kamakura area is a popular tourist spot for foreigners and Japanese alike and is popular for the large number of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines - some built 1200 years ago.
A full list of temples and shrines at the end of the Wikipedia entry.

We decide to go by car and pack in our bicycles.

Clear roads on the way there with a bit O traffic on the way back.

Arrive at Kamakura an hour and a half later. Bikes are unfolded and then its off to the first location. Folks can also renta-bike for a few hundred yen per day.

One of my first memories of Japan was the rail crossing. I remember saying to a bunch of my Japanese friends by a crossing one day - "you are so lucky to live in Japan!"
They would laugh each time at that remark.

First we spend a few hours at Hasedera Temple. The story is as follows.

The Origins of Kamakura’s Hasedera Temple According to legend, in 721 AD the pious monk Tokudo Shonin discovered a large camphor tree in the mountain forests near the village of Hase in the Nara region. He realized the trunk of the tree was so large that it provided enough material for carving two statues of the eleven-headed Kannon.

The statue he commissioned to be carved from the lower part of the truck was enshrined in Hasedera Temple near Nara; the statue from the upper half (actually the larger of the two) was thrown into the sea with a prayer that it would reappear to save the people.

Fifteen years later in 736 on the night of June 18, it washed ashore at Nagai Beach on the Miura Peninsula not far from Kamakura, sending out rays of light as it did. The statue was then brought to Kamakura and a temple was constructed to honor it.

Since time immemorial, Hasedera Temple has been known as the 4th station among the 33 holy places in the Kanto area.

Photos of the Kannon were forbidden so I didn't get any. Small pic at the Hasedera Temple site.

If you want to get away from the hustle n bustle of Tokyo for a day then Kamakura is a good choice.

The cutest O-jizou sama that I've seen. My knowledge of O-jizou sama is limited but I do know that they are guardians of children.

And Hasedera temple has many many O-jizou sama.

This is Kannon-do Hall which houses the statue of Hase Kannon.

A view of the seaside town can be seen from Hasedera.

Today there seemed to be a school trip. The interesting thing about Japanese school trips is that the students have to wear their uniform. Dont know the exact reason but presuming its easier for the teachers to keep tabs on the students and prevent outsiders from mingling into their coach or something.

Haruhi and Dango - both delicious.

The coolest spot in the temple is by these trees. Listening to the rustle while drinking some Japanese tea is priceless.

Closeup of the seaside town.

After listening to your feedback, I decided to buy the 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS Sigma lens. All the photos in this article are taken with the 18-200mm.

This shot is taken at 200mm.

Taken from the same spot with the same lens at 18mm. This lens is incredible!

Zooming in at 200mm again. Goodbye to changing lens all the time.

More O-jizou sama. Not sure exactly why but you will find many O-jizou sama dressed in red bibs. I guess its something to do with them being guardians of children?

The lens enables me to get a 200mm shot at a distance of about 45cm.

Going round to see one's deceased is called "O-haka mairi." In most cases, the grave stone is washed and scrubbed. These are buckets and brushes for that purpose.

A load of Koi or Common Carp know when you are nearby and gather around you expecting some grub.

I keep forgetting what these are called - you write a wish on them and hang them up.
The sweetest one was by a child who wrote "I hope my fish never die."

At the back of the temple are meter high tunnels which opens out to these caves.

Take a candle and place it in front of the god who represent different fortunes such as health, wealth, luck etc. I chose health.

In Japan, Kitty-chan is a Buddha.

In Japan, Snitch is a Buddha.

Now we are at Kotoku-in - a Buddhist temple home to the Daibutsu or "Great Buddha."

I estimated about 40% of visitors that I saw were foreigners. Have you visited Kamakura on your last trip to Japan?

Some facts about the Great Buhdda below from Wikipedia.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amitābha Buddha in the Kōtoku-in Temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

It is believed that the statue was originally cast in 1252, following an idea by the priest Joko, who also collected donations to build it. The sculptors were One-Goroemon and Tanji-Hisatomo.

The statue is approximately 13.35m tall and weighs approximately 93 tons. The statue is hollow, and visitors can view the interior for a mere 20 Yen a person.

The Great Buddha was originally housed in a temple, but this was washed away by a tsunami in 1498.
Since then the statue has stood in the open air. Repairs were carried out in 1960-1961, when the neck was strengthened and measures were taken to protect it from earthquakes.

Paid 20 yen to go inside and al I heard from the other visitors inside was "sore dake?" (pronounced "soray darkay") meaning "is that all?!"

I know its only 20 yen but there is nothing to see on the inside - just hollow bronze!

Zooming in at 200mm.

While religion does not play a major role in everyday life, the Japanese do carry out religious rituals at birth, weddings, funerals, laying foundations for a building and at shrines or temples whenever they visit one.

At Kamakura, you will see folks lighting up incense, washing their hands at the entrance of the temple and making the throw-coin-clap-once prayer.
Do you practice any form of religion?

I guess you would need a couple of days to fully explore Kamakura.

Then its off to the beach to catch the tunes of the sea n sand.

This is Yuigahama beach. The further away to the west from Tokyo you go, the whiter/cleaner the beach gets.
Are beaches clean or dirty in your region or does it depend on where you go?

Took a dip in the water the last time I went and decided then that it would be my last time ^^;
The water is muddy and full of jelly fish.

The standard beach rules.

Popular beach for windsurfers.

We brought our beach mat along and both of us fell asleep ^^;

Lifeguards who are willing to take a bullet for you.

Comrades on the beach.

"If you feel an earthquake then be alert. Barriers are 4 meters above sea level."

When there are quakes in Japan, warnings are issued on TV which you may have seen pop up while watching anime or Jdorama. They also let you know whether a tsunami is going to occur after.

A tsunami is a series of waves that happens when a large body of water is displaced - volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can cause a tsunami.
Some pics of tsunami damage in Hokkaido here.

And a quick closeup of the new 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS lens.
My first lens with an optical stabilizer which seems to do a great job.
Its quite heavy compared to my other lenses and weighs 610g.

Retail price is 79,000 yen but I got it for 53,994 yen from Fuji Camera.

The lens is about 13cm at 18mm and extends to about 19cm at 200mm and makes loads of whirring motor noises ^^.

By Danny Choo on 2008/07/14 19:03

iPhone Japan

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:20:00 +0900

The iPhone 3G went on sale today at the Softbank flagship store in Omotesando/Harajuku.
Many of my comrades have been out there waiting since 4PM and I just had to go along to egg them on.

Saw the queues from the train extending from the store towards Shibuya!
Decided to go and see how far the queue stretched.

Folks who live in Tokyo may recognize this as the road that leads to Shibuya.
More pics of queue (including some funny ones) at Kirainet.

The queue goes on forever. I didn't go for the opening but Akihabara News did and you can see their coverage here.

And ever. That's Roy in shorts - another Japan blogger who is currently on hiatus.

Some of the queue was for today - and some of it for tomorrow.
Is the iPhone 3 G out in your region today? Will you be lining up for one?

These folks barely made it for today's batch of phones.

View from the bridge at Harajuku.

At Omotesando where the queue continues.

A load of media folks still in the area.

Meeting up with some (pedo?) bear comrades.

These folks will get their phones probably within the next hour.

Inside the Softbank store - full O media folks.

Met a load of IT folks. Gadget events are great for networking ^^;

Could not imagine lining up over night for an iPhone. The longest I ever lined up for something in Japan was for one of the Harry Potter movies many years ago - three hours.

While booking theater tickets online was normal outside of Japan, folks over here had to go to the cinema and just line up. Whats the longest you have ever waited in line and what for?

Being interviewed by Kyung Lah of CNN.

Met up with a comrade from Next House Properties.

Taking a break from trooping outside the Softbank store.

This is the begginning of the queue - the sign says "today's processing is FINISHED."

White iPhone get?!

Going over a live broadcast to be made in a few mins.

Kyung Lah goes on first and then I go on after.

All of a sudden, a swarm of school girls appear.

Captions for this photo being collected in this news item.

When the iPhone launch was announced in Japan, the media started to bash the iPhone immediately saying that it wouldn't sell at all. Many English language Japan bloggers posted "surveys" on how most Japanese don't want an iPhone.

The queues today prove that the Japanese do indeed want iPhones. And its not just the queues here but all over Tokyo.

The makers believe that they know what Japanese consumers want - which is everything. This is the reason why Japanese phones are thick and stuffed with TV's, 7 mega pixel cameras, games, electric money etc etc. They all look the same and have mingy keyboards.

The Japanese want something simple and easy to use.

Would you rather have a Japanese phone stuffed with "everything" or an iPhone?
Some Japanese Phones for you to look at.

Another cosplayer on the scene - dressed as a guard.

I still owe you the guitar/rock trooper video but decided to shoot another one - this time to "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn & John.

Met up with some comrades at Gizmodo Japan.

This is Ichiru who waited since 6PM yesterday - he got his iPhone at about 10AM. His post up at Gizmodo.

A lady plays around with her new toy.

More "Yong Folks" in front of the store.

Very warm today! I has headache from the heat at the moment ^^;

Grabbing some liquids before going to my next appointment.

"Are you that dancing Stormtrooper in Tokyo?"
UPDATE: Video footage of the queues below.

Folks who subscribe to CNN can see me "dancing" on CNN Asia or at their website here.
UPDATE: Thanks to Koshiko for extracting the file! Low res YouTube version below.

By Danny Choo on 2008/07/11 15:32

Tokyo Photo Walk 1

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:00:00 +0900

Starting a new series called "Tokyo Photo Walk" where I bring you pics from various walks around Tokyo on taken through the digital SLR.

When I first got my EOS Kiss Digital N, I used to carry it around everywhere.
After a while however, it became a pain to carry around all the lenses, dust blowers and wot not which is why I stopped bringing it around - especially on overseas trips.

Been much inspired by Hector to pick the hobby back up and have been learning a lot about photography lately.

These pics where taken in the Nishikoyama area.

Used a tripod this time (this one) to enable me to get these shots.
Camera was set to TV and most of these shots had a 15 second exposure. ISO was set to about 200 with auto white balance.

I still need to do more homework before I can set the camera to be completely manual.

Was thinking of buying a new SLR but decided to invest the money in a new lens instead - probably this one.

A new SLR would get me live preview, bigger/brighter LCD, self cleaning and ability to take 2 zillion frames per second and at a higher resolution - all features which are definitely nice to have but would rather spend the 100,000 yen on a new lens.

I do hear that digital SLR's have a life span of X number of shutter counts - is that true? @.@

At the moment I have a EF-S10-22mm F3.5-4.5 USM super wide angle lens which cost 67,877 yen and a EF-S60mm F2.8 macro USM lens which cost 42,463 yen.

This means that I have both extremes but nothing in between ^^;

Reader conershots (I think he's still a reader ^^;) does some fantastic night photography which you may want to check out too.

Do you dabble in SLR shenanigans? If so, What camera/lens combination would you recommend to your fellow comrade who is thinking of taking up photography. I know that the first timer can be daunted by the amount of different lenses and camera brands.

Through these Tokyo photo walks, I want to bring you more of an idea of what life is like in Tokyo in addition to the Week in Tokyo series and will be taking pics of (in particular) bits of town that you would be walking around if you lived here - and not just the touristy places.

Not sure if these would make good wallpapers but stuck a few in the wallpaper pool anyway - will remove them after a while.

That's it for this week - until the next photo walk from somewhere in Tokyo.

By Danny Choo on 2008/07/08 20:12