Comiket is the worlds biggest anime convention. It is different from cons in the West though, because comiket was originally established as a market place for comics (hence the name Comic Market) as apposed to western cons which are more to celebrate the love for anime and manga. These days comiket held at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center, a huge building close to Odaiba, and around 500,000 people visit each day during the 3 day period in summer and winter.

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If you are into anime and are getting close to otaku level, you definitely know what Comiket is and why it is amazing. I have been into anime for around 5 years now and have traveled to Japan 4 times, but have yet to go to this holy event for all us otaku. This year was my first ever Comiket, and all I can say: “It was awesome! … but …”.

Before going into detail of what we did there, I would like to sum up my whole experience in one sentence: “You catch the first train to be able to catch the first train (monorail) to stand in line for the opportunity to stand in line for the corporate goods, and then to stand in line for the doujin”. So, my friends from UTS and I caught the first train at 5am from where we lived to Shimbashi Station where we caught the first (well technically second, we didn’t fit in the first, but they were 3 mins apart) monorail at 5:33am to the Big Sight Hall, then we were put in line which circled around 2 blocks and we waited till 9:30 until they let us move to a new spot where we waited till 10:00 to get into line to actually enter the west hall with the corporate booths. Once we were finally in, we split up so that we could all get the stuff we wanted. Some of us rushed for Type Moon, others for GoodSmile. I am really impressed at how well the Comiket staff handled all the lines and how they break lines up into blocks and send some outside. Getting goods was hard, because all corporate booths which sold popular items had lines which were around a 1000 people long. But we managed to get some stuff; yay!

Moving from the West Hall to the East Hall with all the doujinshi (fan made comics), we encountered a lot of cosplayers and less lines. Though as my comrades tell me, during day 3 of comiket the lines for doujinshi go outside the building and are much larger then the ones on day 1 for corporate; the guys want their “material”.

Unfortunately not all of us were able to get the stuff they wanted, and this just goes to prove how vicious otakus really are when it comes to the things they love. And thats the “but” I was talking about in the beginning, comiket being so insanely big makes the people line up for the stuff they want, but at the end of the day, they might just sell out before you even get to the stall.

At the end of the day we went to maid cafe to celebrate a successful day and we drank some champagne (courtesy of Noel).

My photos from Comiket and of the loot I managed to gather:

View album on Imgur

Tac’s photos of the cosplayers and the event in general:

View album on Imgur

The rest of my trip to Tokyo this year included seeing, touching, hugging, eating and buying Pikachus. Im serious, I did everything imaginable to those pikachus.

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On the 16th of August, after an exhausting day at Comiket, Amy and I visited the Pokemon the Movie XY Exhibition in Roppongi Hills where we could see the art for each movie and some notes by the directors. But the main reason for us going there was the Pikachu Cafe. Once again, in real Japanese fashion were faced with a queue, for 2 hours we waited for the chance to eat pikachus! And then we did! Pikachus are delicious, they taste like mango. Photos down below.

The 17th of August was the day for our trip to Yokohama. But it wasn’t for just travel purposes, it was to search for living breathing pikachus! (well they were some guys in pikachu costumes, but still alive). This event is to promote tourism in the area and has been a big success. Everyone wants to see the pikachu invasion. Even though we didn’t see almost any pikachus wander around the streets, we saw them dance the Obon dance, it was beautiful!

Also Yokohama at night is just gorgeous, the lights and the Ferris wheel all combined together in the port view is just something you need to see for yourself.

My photos from both days:

The city of Ibusuki is famous in Kyushu for its hot onsen and of course rejuvenating sand baths. To get a hands on (or butts on in this case) experience, we decided to make the Iwasaki Hotel our main holiday destination. The hotel itself is rather old, probably built in the 70s; the service is ok, nothing special; the food is mediocre and expensive; but the baths are perfect. It is hard to explain what I felt when lying on scorching hot sand (up to 55°C) while covered with hot (but not as hot) sand. Sweat was dripping down my face, my chest was tight and my butt was on fire (from lying on burning sand), but I felt relieved. Lying in this sand helped me relax and it probably has more healing effects on the body which I am not aware of, but it felt great overall.

There were also fireworks in our hotel and on the last day of our stay, after the typhoon passed, we were finally able to sunbathe. You can check out my photos right here:

Exams are over, semester is done, time to go outside and have fun in the beautiful weather, unless you have a typhoon coming (yes we are gonna get hit in the next few days). My parents are on the way to me now and we are going to start our fun summer vacation. Unlike previous years this holiday will be rather different. First the length: we are going to start traveling now and only finish on the 31st of August, so thats almost a month. And second is the location: I am living in Japan now!

So here are my plans:

• 6-8: Kagoshima
• 8-13: Ibusuki - Iwasaki Beach Resort
• 13-18: Tokyo (parents leave on the 15th) Comiket
• 21-26: Korea - Busan, Seoul
• 26-31: Osaka - Magical Mirai concert

To my Sydney people I wish good luck with your semester, to my Japanese friends I wish you to enjoy your holidays as much as I am. And to my internet friends, there are always games to play and anime to watch.

Angela Aki is very popular Japanese singer and composer, who also plays piano and the guitar, and who sings a lot about love, home, dreams, and life. She is only 36 and has been well knows ever since her debut in 2006 in the Budoukan Hall, making history there as the first artist to ever perform in the famous venue solo (with just her piano) — no backup singers, band or opening act. So far she has released 8 albums and has been preforming all over Japan. 

Angela Aki is also a very unique performer for Japan as she is not fully Japanese. Her mother was American and father Japanese, but she was born and brought up in Tokushima, Japan. But nevertheless Japan loves her.

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So on the 20th of July (last week), Amy and I went to her concert here in Kagoshima. It is one of her last concerts as she is planning to take a break from preforming and go to America to study music so she can write even better songs in the future. The concert was very nice and Angela even had a small talk-show segment where she told us about her past, about her grandmother and mother, and her days in school.

Great concert, would go again!

Apple just released a new ad showing their MacBook lineup. But not like other tech companies, they did not focus on the tech specs, or trying to explain how why their computer is superior to the competition, no. They just showed up how people, most likely young people, decorate their laptops with decals (vinyls, stickers). Simple message: our laptop is hip, our laptop is popular with teenagers and students, cause they can be creative.

And thats exactly why I love Apple.

A lot of things a very different in Japan compared to the West, such as their manners, the convenience of everything around you and of course the superb customer service. So when I decided to get a haircut, my first haircut in Japan, I was pleasantly surprised with the service. They sat me down and asked me what kind of cut I wanted while showing me a magazine with various mens cuts which I could chose from. Then once I decided to go with short (like some guy named Kenta in the photo of the magazine) they sat me down on this chair that automatically lowers and rises (adjusts) to the hair washing sink. So he started cutting my hair, very carefully and diligently as my hair is really thick and he didn’t want to hurt me. We spent the whole 40 minutes chatting about me and why I am in Kagoshima, with he complimenting me multiple times on my level of Japanese.

So after he finished, the barber pressed a button on the chair which made it spin 180° and stop in front of the mirror. Then the back of the chair started slowly descending so that my head would fit perfectly into the hair wash sink. The guy washed my hair, dried it, combed it and even showed me what the back of my neck looks like with a angled mirror. Then he took me to the door, opened it and bowed to me, while saying that I should come again.

This place also has discounts for foreigners, so the normal 3500¥ became 860¥! Such a great deal and great quality. Would recommend.

The world is innovating, you can see signs of new futuristic technology everywhere. From smartphones and tablets to self driving cars and climate control cities. This thing you see is also a small glimpse of the future, the future of Russian transport, more specifically trams. It is called project АТОМ and this tram is designed to be a new standard for all trams in Russia within the next 3 years. This project caught my eye, when someone on reddit linked to this guys livejornal blog where he explains how this home made (90% of parts made in Russia) is a breakthrough in Russian transport systems and when it gets implemented it will change the way people use trams in big cities not only in Russia, but also all over the world.

The design of the tram both outside and inside is black, with grey and brown seats inside and linoleum flooring. In all honesty I like the design, but not a big fan of the color, I think they should make it a bit brighter as black is rather frightening, especially at night. The tram reminds me of something from Robocop or Judge Dredd.

What do you think, should this sleek, black coated futuristic apparatus be put into mass manufacturing and set on the streets, or should they re-think their design?

The internet loves cats. Cat videos are like the backbone of all life on the internet. And you have probably seen a lot of cat videos in the past, but I doubt you have seen anything as cute as this. Cat SYNCH!

As the spring season of 2014 comes to a close, I would like to take some time and write about one of the (I would like to say best, but I can’t) coolest anime of the season - Mekakucity Actors. Usually anime is based on manga, light novels, games, or is original story, but not Mekakucity (it was but not entirely), this anime was based of a series of Voclaloid songs called Kagerou Project (SPOILERS for the series, watch at own risk) made by Jin and posted on NicoNicoDouga. Though the original songs were adapted into a series of light novels and a manga, the story of the anime, same as the LN and mange took a turn in its own direction in places, showing of things that you could not see in the other media.

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A simple explanation of the plot with no spoilers: Basically there is a group of people who have special powers, which are activated using their eyes. Through a series of events they get to meet each other and form the Mekakushi Dan. During their interactions they learn more and more about their pasts and how they got the powers, like connecting pieces of a puzzle, they all learn of the true nature of the world and what they need to do in order to survive. The story itself resembles that of Durarara in a way that there are a lot of characters all with their own backstory, and their fates are all connected. While watching users will feel confused as the episodes constantly shift from plot driven to backstory oriented. Let me just say that if the first season of Haruhi in broadcast order was confusing, then this will be a rather similar experience. But without these mysteries the series would not have been as enjoyable as it was.

So far I have been praising the plot, and the songs. The original vocaloid songs are just beautiful. They are very well made using Miku and IA as the main singers, with stunning art and backgrounds. So to all you Vocaloid fans out there, this is a must. Continuing on to the anime, the anime was made by Shaft, as you know them for Bakemonogatari and Madoka, so you would expect them to do a good job. And to be honest, for the most part they did. They were cought between finishing NiseKoi from last season and Hanamonogatari for this season, which they delayed, so its understandable that making Mekakucity was hard on them. The animation did drop quality a few time, and at some points the flow of the episode felt either really slow or very rushed. In all honesty I think the anime adaptation was not that good. It gave insight into the story of Kagerou Project and definitely proved to be entertaining, especially with all the unanswered questions. But I do feel like Shaft could have done a better job at adapting this amazing series, especially since they had so much material to work with! The characters weren’t that good either, they had barely any development (well depends on the character) and so many things were taken for granted.

That said, I would definitely recommend this anime to people who like a mystery and enjoy stories which can not be fully answered. The anime should spike your interest to read the manga and light novels, or at least listen to the songs.

The anime I will give a 7/10 as it had its good points too.

The story though, and the overall series (songs, manga, light novels, anime, merch) definitely gets a 10.