I Suck at Video Games

Every year, I produce a Best Of list for the albums of the year, and every year I have to talk about how I make my selections. In a year where the Fleet Foxes are appearing near the top of everyone’s list, I think I should emphasize my criteria. I chose albums based on what I not only liked to listen to during the past year, but what I’m really likely to continue listening to. I think the Fleet Foxes album is excellent; it’s very pretty. But for something to really touch me, I have to know I am going to keep on singing, dancing or playing my drums along with the album for some time to come.

This is always the longest thing I write every year. Comments of “tl;dr” will not be appreciated.

I also do this thing where I don’t choose my favorite album of the year until two years later. Maybe I haven’t heard it yet! I don’t have time to buy pirate every album that comes out during a year. So look for bonus content at the end, where I select my favorite album of 2006. The 2008 albums–11 of them–are listed in alphabetical order by artist.

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Daily Show style for sure …

As reported previously, I went to a book launch party for a book called Arcade Mania, which is subtitled “The Turbo-Charged World of Japan’s Game Centers.” I’ve finished this book, and then used what I learned inside to go look around the game centers of Tokyo. I’m going to follow the format of the book, and report on my experiences with these games as a gonzo-style review of sorts of the book. As the book is sorted by game type, I’ll be sorting by the exact same format. Inside, we’ll find details on:

1. Crane Games
2. Sticker-Picture Machines
3. Rhythm Games
4. Shooting Games
5. Fighting Games
6. Games of Chance
7. Dedicated Cabinets
8. Retro Games
9. Card-Based Games

Warning: there is a lot of gaming content within. I suggest reading it anyway, even if you’re not interested, because there is also a lot of Japan content within. Now join me as I game in Japan!

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Hi all of you readers back in the states, and welcome to any International visitors!

Joel gave me a great idea. He said I should write a mailbag column where I answer people’s questions about Japan. This is a great idea. Now I just need some darned questions. Comment them below, please, and I will answer them in a future post.

Here’s some questions I’ve already received:

Gordon from Oakland asks, “How can the streets be so clean when it’s impossible to find a trash can?” That’s a great question, Gordon! I have absolutely no idea. There’s no litter, yet if I have something to throw away, I need to carry it around with me for an hour until I find a place to toss it. That’s the trick, apparently. Japanese people simply cart their trash around with them until they have an opportunity to throw it away.

Gordon from Oakland asks, “How crazy are the vending machines anyway?” Not really that crazy, Gordon, at least not that I’ve seen. There are certainly a lot of them, both for drinks and cigarettes, and the number of brands and varieties of water-based drinks and coffee drinks is staggering. Also, some of the machines have both hot and cold drinks, which is really neat. My favorite thing to buy out of a vending machine is plain old bottled water. Got to keep myself hydrated with all of the walking I’ve been doing.

OK, now let’s get some questions from someone other than Gordon!

Today I went to the Tokyo National Museum, which was a very nice museum, but I was pretty bored pretty quickly. The coolest stuff in there was the Kofun burial sculptures. When I get my camera hooked up to my Mac, I may add a photo if one came out. They keep it awfully dark in the museum, and no flash photography is allowed, natch.

I’m at the Apple Store in Ginza right now, and I am using a Japanese keyboard. What this means is that a lot of the punctuation is in the wrong place, if I type an incorrect key I switch the keyboard to Japanese, and worst of all, the space bar is REALLY tiny. It makes it difficult to type. So that’s going to be the whole post.

Finding Jingu Stadium, where the Tokyo Yakult Swallows were playing the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, was easy enough. I just got off of the train station and followed the row of food vendors toward the bright lights in the distance. I still had no clue how to go about getting tickets, but I was about to get a great deal of help.

“Are you going to the Swallows game?” asked a British child who could clearly see I was seeming a bit confused. I replied that I was, and he and his brother told me — both decked out in their full Swallows gear — that they were also going. I asked about tickets. They said I could sit close up, but the cheapest seats are the Swallows Free Seating. Free tickets! Nice.

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I really wanted to see Sumo, so I ended up paying an agency an extra $25 on top of the ticket price ($35) to get the tickets. I had tickets in the second-to-last row. Sophranes, from Cypress, really wanted to see Sumo, so he left the hostel at 7:30, walked to the Sumo venue (about 15 minutes from this hostel), paid $21, and sat in the last row. Oh well. I was even up when he left!

The bouts start with the lowest class of rikishi, and work their way upwards. When the first group is going, there is hardly anyone there. 300-400 tops. So they let us go down to the very very front. We sat only a few feet away, and boy are these guys huge! You think I’m huge?

Anyway, there is a lot of ceremony for a very short bout. Some of them last a few seconds tops. In the second level, called Juryo, the guy who won beat his opponent in about 2 seconds. He just stepped backwards and tossed the guy down. This was one of the times the fans laughed. Laughed! I must say that this was the most surprising thing about this event: the fans did not act like I expected. They basically cheer for the popular wrestlers, but it seems no one is even paying attention most of the time.

The funniest part of the entire event was the awards ceremony. Hakuho, the champion, is given some awards. It starts with the Emperor’s Cup, which is gigantic. Then there’s another trophy. And another. And a proclamation. And more trophies. Then there was a giant hookah. Then there was a statue of a cow on a pedastal. A huge line-up of Japanese men in dark suits were presenting these trophies. Then a representative from Toyota gave him a truck to take home all of his trophies! (No, not really.)

I keep thinking I’ll blog during my downtime. But where is it?

So before I run off to another action-packed day, let me just show you this amazing video I took yesterday in Nikko.

The first thing people always tell me about Japan is that “it’s so expensive!” This comes normally from people who have never been here, and now I know why. Japan is as cheap as any American city! In fact, I think it may be cheaper than San Francisco if you want to do it on the cheap. The minimum price on the train is $1.30, not $1.50. A plate of chicken katsu with curry and rice runs less than $4, and a yummy bowl of ramen with pork and veggies starts at around $3. If you were someone who was used to fancy restaurants and 4-star hotels, you’d probably find these things expensive, but the basics are quite reasonable. One liter of Evian? $1.79.

Of course even my own research showed that sushi would be very expensive. Wrong! I’ve had two sushi meals already. Both cost me less than $9! Amazing! Now, let’s go bit-by-bit through my first evening and first full day here.

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I’m at the Khaosan Tokyo Ninja, which is my hostel for the next week. I’m tired but it looks like I may go to a quick dinner anyway. Need to adjust my schedule.

I’ve had some “holy crap I’m in Japan” moments, but nothing too exciting yet. More later when I have more to say.

From September 25-October 13, or thereabouts, www.isuckatvideogames.com will become my Japanese tourist blog. Why put that stuff here? Because I can. And because video games and Japan go hand and hand. And because I am going to the Tokyo Game Show as part of my trip. And because I’m sure to go to Akihabara and buy too much video game crap. Well, see? There are lots of legitimate reasons!
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My trip outline has been completed, and it looks something like this:

Tokyo: Sept 26-Oct 2
Kytoto: Oct 3-7
Osaka: Oct 8
Tokyo: Oct 9-13

There are some big events in there. Let me tell you about the highlights are likely to be!

Sept 28: Sumo! I have two tickets to the final day of September’s Grand Sumo Tournament. I will get to see the crowning of the Yokozuna! I hope a Japanese guy can become one. The two current dudes are Mongolians!

Sept 29: Studio Ghibli Museum! This is so awesome. They say “you can do the whole thing in two hours.” I plan to be there for at least six. I’ll likely murder the gift shop. This is the most dangerous place in Japan for my wallet. I may stay till closing, depending upon how long it would take me to get to …

Sept 29: Judas Priest, Live at Budokan! Seeing a classic metal show at Budokan is kinda cliche and kinda awesome, and also really cliche and really awesome.

You’ll notice that there is a LOT of time in between now and the next big event. This will be taken up by trips to Nikko (to see monkeys and lakes), Kamakura (to see the giant Buddha), Nara (temples) and who knows what else? Japan is a big place, and I am a big guy, and we’ve got to get some big fun together. Kyoto will probably be somewhat more relaxing. I am staying in a smallish guesthouse there, and the host apparently makes meals for the people staying there. I hope that’s true; I could save some money to spend on crap (or presents for the likes of you.)

Oct 8: The Umeda Sky Building! There is a building in Osaka that looks to be one of the coolest anywhere in the world. There is a giant garden observatory on the roof overlooking the entire region. In order to get up to it, you need to go up this escalator that just floats above multiple stories. I can’t wait. Pictures to come!

Oct 11-12: Tokyo Game Show! The biggest video game show anywhere, this will be attended by tens of thousands of crazed Japanese video game fans. Many of them will be cosplaying, many of them will probably scare me, and all of them will entertain me to no end. I hear it’s nearly impossible to actually play any of the desired games during a visit to the show, but the point is the spectacle and the energy, and I have no doubt I will love it.

Other highlights will be riding the shinkansen–the bullet train, seeing the crazy kids in their crazy outfits in Shibuya, seeing the shops of the Ginza strip, shopping for electronics in Akihabara, getting confused by the trains and subways, and meeting interesting international travelers in the assortment of hostels I’ll be staying in.

That’s the basics. I’ll be blogging here when I can, as well as posting pictures on my Flickr account. I’d love suggestions or must-sees, so please send them along!