A Positive Blur

For shame, I have not been posting as much as I should be in recent times, but the past couple of weeks have rushed by so quickly, it's been hard to keep track of everything that's been going on. It seems like whenever I'm not studying, I'm at either going braindead watching drivel on the internet or attending a nomihodai/karaoke fest. So here's a brief rundown of some of the highlights that pop into my brain:

Nintendo World 2006
Baptiste and I travelled to the Nintendo World 2006 event at Intex Osaka to join the masses for their first taste of Wii (the first and last pun on the console's name I'm going to make). Hundreds had turned up, from all age ranges and usually with a DS in hand, queuing for hours to get their hands on the new machine for just a few minutes. Apart from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3 hour queues and closed off by the time we got there), biggest attraction was Wii Sports, with most of the show floor taken up by the various minigames included in the package. I opted for WarioWare: Smooth Moves (ingenious), Super Mario Galaxy (return to form) and Sonic and the Secret Rings (fun but weightless), and our patience was rewarded. A lot of fun for Nintendo fanboys such as ourselves. Of course, now it's out in the US and only days from its Japanese and European release, writing about my experience feels somewhat redundant. Still, when I'll have a chance to play one properly again is uncertain.

Children of Men
I'm probably going to give this a more in-depth review on RoryView, but this is the first time I've been to the kinoplex since my arrival in Japan. Usually, it's 1800 yen a cinema ticket, but we have a ticket shop at Doshisha for discount concert/film/theatre tickets, as well as for flights and train journeys. So I got 500 yen off. The Kyoto Movix multiplex is pretty massive, and doesn't really reveal it's size from the exterior alone, as it's part of the covered arcades that run through Shijo. I got a little thrill using the escalators - at first I thought they didn't work, but as I approached, they powered up and started automatically! Wow!
After a little short animation, and trailers for that Kevin Costner - Ashton Kutcher sea rescue film and Casio Royale (in which Bond spells BOOBIES on a calculator to synth music), onto the main feature, Tomorrow World (as it is known in Japan - which makes more sense when you see the film, but still a rather generic silly replacement). And it is perhaps the best film I've seen this year. Truly excellent stuff, and well worth catching on a big screen for a more involving experience. As I said, proper review soon.

Arashiyama
The whole of Kyoto seemed to descend on Arashiyama in western Kyoto (that's the west of Kyoto, not a district home to cowboys and gunslingers) in the last weekend of November to catch the kouyou (autumnal leaves) before Jacobian Frosties and his Winter Minions strip the branches bare. The weather was a blessing and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Stunning reds, oranges and yellows throughout the area, especially in Tenru-ji, which I had visited in the summer back in 2004, but looked amazing this time round. We spent hours walking about, snapping piccies like billy-o. We then ventured into the bamboo groves for a decidedly different but just as impressive natural spectacle. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning - shame it only happens once a year.

Meeting Ayaka
Ayaka, who lived down the road from Flat 1, Whitfield St, with Hiroko, was back from Egypt (again), so I went to meet her at Shin-Osaka after her flight had arrived. Realising there was sod all to do in the local area, we headed to Kyoto to have a walk around the station area. We did a bit of shopping (got my dear mama a birthday present), spotted a few items I would purchase a couple of days later (a coat now that it is chillier, some ace Christmas cards and a cheap little Resident Evil 4 toy) and then we decided to take a peak at Kyoto Station's giant Christmas tree. As we went up the escalator, we were ushered onwards by...well, ushers, and realised we'd unwittedly walked into an open-air concert called 'Cool Beat in Kyoto' celebrating 15 years of a local radio station. We stuck around for a few songs from a lady and her drum accompanied by a Jerry Sadowitz lookalike on guitar. It culminated in an interesting singalong version of Close To You which took a good few minutes to get an iota of enthusiasm from the shivering crowd. We then decamped to a nearby Starbucks for hot chocolate and chit-chat before Ayaka left for Nagoya and I went back to Mukaijima.

Pool
As part of Doshisha's anniversary celebrations we had three extra days off, so myself, Baptiste, Aleksi, Dominik, Brett and Nic were in the mood for bowling on a rainy Monday afternoon. After my second lunch of the day, we headed to the bowling centre (via a couple of games of Mario Kart GP Arcade), but it was a bit too expensive. Instead, we settled on a few hours of pool, in which we all proved to each other we're all a bit rotten when it comes to hitting the balls, let alone potting them. Still, it was fun enough, and while we didn't get round to the darts tournament (I wanted it to be like Shenmue again), we will always have our time in the photo booth. It was a seated one this time round, but from the demo pics, it really looks as if it were designed for two petite Japanese girls and not large, strapping foreign folk such as ourselves. We crushed ourselves into the frame for several snaps, but when it finished, an error message appeared and we had to seek assistance from a member of staff - it looked like we broke the machine. However, it was only a minor technical hitch, but it meant that the machine had automatically selected our pics for us while we had been dilly-dallying. We added a few 'cosmetic' touches and out came our glorious pics. Our tomfoolery is now forever with the ages. We were then given a free chance each on a UFO Catcher game (those claw grabbing machines). Seriously, if you pay to play any of these you are an absolute tool. A real muppet. Probably with a nagging girlfriend, pleading that you spend £1 a go trying to get that A Nightmare Before Christmas/Winnie the Pooh/Lilo & Stitch pillow that's deliberately unreachable and/or stapled down to the bottom of the toy chamber. Toy Story is full of lies. No surprises, we didn't win anything.

Doshisha Eve
The main Imadegawa campus had been transformed into a mini music festival site as part of the 131st anniversary of Doshisha's founding. The big tree at the west entrance had been converted into a lit up Christmas tree, countless stalls peddling their food goods to every passer-by screamed for attention (I only gave into the fried ice-cream), classrooms were taken over by the university's many societies (though I didn't venture indoors) and two music stages vied for our attention. Rock was on the agenda for most of the acts, of wildly varying quality and stage presence. Best of the night was probably a nu-metal covers band, and while I didn't know any of the tracks (Parn recognised a couple), they put on a good show and had matching boiler suits (always a plus to see a band in uniform).

And now for a double bill of bizarre english. First from my old frying pan. Having developed a strange metallic taste in my mouth over the past months, I thought the cheap cooking utensils might have had something to do with it, but research suggests otherwise. Nevertheless, I bought a new frying pan with the base inscription "I will enjoy a delicious meal by new kitchen goods" repeated over and over in a circle, creating a strange hypnotic effect. However, my previous pan will always hold a special place in my heart for this winning blurb, accompanied by a kettle and a cup of tea with a lemon slice perched on the rim:

Roses
Practical cooking!
Tool collection to make you the best chef your dear one.

And finally, how could I let this delicious chocolate pass by without a purchase:


Now, it is supposed to be pronounced A-SE, and is apparently Italian for 'board' or 'plank' which still doesn't make it sound very appetising, but probably refers to the shape rather than the taste. And it is actually pretty tasty, as you'd expect from Morinaga. We spent a good portion of a lunch time asking each other if we wanted a piece my Asse, and so on and so forth. It seems toilet humour rules supreme - from Wii to Asse, eh? DAMN IT! Another pun on Wii! Ah well...

Pictures from some of these escapades can be seen on my Flickr page and Baptiste's own photo galleries.