Game Center CX

One of my favorite shows to watch in Japan is Game Center CX. It features famous Japanese comedian Shinya Arino. He basically plays difficult old video games and tries to finish them in one sitting, sometimes playing for 12 to 15 hours.

It’s a very entertaining show. It’s funny to see Arino suffering playing these incredibly difficult games. Sometimes they purposely choose an impossible game for him to play. He always tries his hardest to get the good ending for the viewers, but sometimes he has to give up. Some other segments on the show are visits to game stores and nostalgic arcades. The show is basically retro game heaven. It’s also very easy to understand even if you know very little Japanese, which makes it perfect for me. There has been some rumours that the show may getting a North American release, completely translated. I’ve posted some of one of the episodes. You can see the rest on Youtube if you double click on the video.

You can also get a lot more information about the show at the Crunk Games website.

Cool Sheets

I got these cool bed sheets at Village Vanguard yesterday. They’re vintage 60’s style printed sheets.

It came with the pillow case, a zippered futon cover and a zippered comforter cover. The best part was the whole set was only 2079 yen, which is just over $20 Canadian. An incredible deal! The print is really cute.

I especially like the leopard. I originally only bought one set, but Yurie liked them so much I had to go back and buy another today. It was the last set, so she was lucky.

Circus Chablie

This post is mostly for Jeff. I spotted this at Super Potato yesterday before I went to work.

It’s Circus Charlie (aka Circus Chablie, since the r looks like a b on the title screen) the NES circus game in beautiful condition in it’s original box. Jeff and I spent many hours playing this on his Chinese knock off NES. Mastering jumping lions through flaming hoops. What I did find shocking when I saw this was…

The price 3129 yen, which is over $30 Canadian! Ouch! I guess Japanese people are really nostalgic about Circus Charlie.

Finally!

After almost a week and a half of non-stop rain, the clouds finally broke and the sun came out today. The rainy season was supposed to happen in June but never came. I suspect Mother Nature got her revenge in August. Well I was so excited to see the sun, I decided to get my lonely bike out of it’s hiding place and take a ride around Kakuda. One stop that I did was Daiyama park.

They had a giant octopus play set there. Also they had an incredibly long roller slide.

I couldn’t even fit the whole thing into a picture. It’s like a conveyor belt for moving children. The space center is also at the park. I took a picture of one of the cute signs they had.

I wanted to go and see the space center, but it happened to be closed today. I also took a picture of the Kakuda rocket up close.

It’s really huge up close. Like five stories tall. It was nice to finally get out of the house, thanks sun!

P.S. I added some links about Sendai, Kakuda and MIyagi prefecture on the sidebar just below my favourite sites. All of the sites are in English.

Star of the Giants

I bought this super huge 1000 page comic book of “Star of the Giants”. It’s one of the most famous comics in Japanese, starting the popular trend in sports manga back in the 1960’s. It has influenced every sports manga since then. The story is about Hyuma Hoshi and his struggle to become a professional baseball player. His father devises all kinds of torturous methods of improving his baseball game. One of them is hitting flaming baseballs at him to improve his dodging and catching technique. This is not a serious manga about baseball, it’s almost a fantasy version. The ridiculousness hits incredible highs. You can see some of it in the clips below, including the dangerous jumping spin base slide. Enjoy!

Super Famicom

I borrowed a Super Famicom from my brother-in-law today. I find the look of the system a lot nicer than it’s North American brother the Super NES. It’s rounder and more sleek. Plus the buttons are color coded to make it easier to tell the difference between them. The only software he had for it was Fatal Fury Special.

It’s in super good condition. The box is still really nice and the instruction book and all of the inserts are still in there. The cartridge still has the plastic bag around it! The box cover artwork is awesome. Later today I went out hunting for some more Super Famicom goodness around Kakuda. These are what I found.

The legendary classic Super Street Fighter 2. This is easily one of the best games ever. It’s the version that has Cammy and Fei Long. I got it for 480 yen (which is under $5 Canadian).

Samurai Spirits is the Japanese name for Samurai Shodown. Another fighting game classic. I couldn’t believe they were selling this for only 180 yen! What a steal for such an amazing game. Some one at GEO must be crazy with their pricing.

This is the Japanese version of Donkey Kong Country, creatively named Super Donkey Kong. Also a really good platforming game. I got it at the recycle shop for only 105 yen! All and all a very good day for hunting.

Hidden Temple

No, we’re not taking Indiana Jones hidden temples, but there is a semi hidden temple in Sendai. At the end of this small alley lies a temple.

It almost as if it had been there forever and the building were built around it. Completely surrounding it, and leaving only a thin alley way to get to it. Shops line either side of the alley, making it even harder to notice.

Here’s what it looks like close up. I wonder how it got in here, and who made the decision to tuck it away. It’s kind of interesting.

Umaibo

These are Umaibo, a snack beloved by children all over Japan. It’s made from puffed corn, kind of like one giant cheezie. They are really cheap, only 10 yen (10 cents), and come in all different kinds of flavors. The two above are salami and gyutan (which is cow tongue a sendai specialty. Other flavors are shirmp with mayo, teriyaki, wasabi (Japanese horse radish), natto (fermented soybean), spicy cod roe, chocolate, and caramel. I especially like the picture on the cow tongue umaibo.

Umaibo cat is dressed as Date Masamune, the founder of Sendai, and the cow is sticking his tongue out. How appropriate!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Earlier in the week I talked about Fist of the North Star. After doing that I wanted to feature my favorite manga, which is also a very manly series with lots of fighting. It’s called JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (or Jojo no Kimyō na Bōken in Japanese). The interesting coincidence is that Hirohiko Araki, the artist of this series is from Sendai. In fact some locations of the manga have been based on actual neighborhood in Sendai. The series has been running for a very long time, since 1987, and has over 94 books. It’s also spawned many video games and also some animation.

The series is about different generations of the Joestar family running from the 1800’s to the near future. It features lots of fantastical powers and fights. Different types of story lines that have been in the manga are horror, adventure, mafia, prison drama, world traveling, and even a cross country race across America.It also has a lot of strange things that happen in this manga. Impossible poses, characters getting severely hurt and then they are fine on the next page, strange uses of English, vampires, psychic powers, very strange fashions, and a little bit of Indiana Jones. Add all of this to intelligent and entertaining writing, and you have a super cool comic. I just love it!

Autumn Pringles

One thing that I’ve learned during the time I have been in Japan is that Pringles are seasonal. Recent summer selection of salsa and keema curry , are slowly disappearing to make way for more autumn flavours. The latest is Smoked Salami.

I have to say it’s quite delicious. I’m not sure what it has to do with the fall, but it does have pretty red leaves all over the can.