Back from Japan

Yeah, my plan for frequent updates from the Land of the Rising Sun didn't quite happen as planned, but at least pictures will be forthcoming.

I wanted to talk a little bit about my observations while on my visit.

1. Nintendo has taken over the country. During my last trip to Tokyo, the Sony flag was held high everywhere you went. The first thing you saw in every store was the PS2, the second thing you saw was the PSP... and then if you went upstairs or whatever, you saw everything else. This time, a mere two years later, Nintendo utterly dominates the ground floor of every gaming store, the DS mostly, but the Wii is lingering behind isle two as well. That's not to say that the Japanese don't get excited about other platforms. Armored Core: For Answer --a early nominee for worst title of 2008-- came out while i was there and seemed to get a decent amount of interest from the locals, and they seemed quite stoked about Monster Hunter Portable 2 G's pending release. But all of the massive ads in the world don't make up for the lack of floor space in local stores. In fact, I think there was a marked lack of advertising for Nintendo products... but I'm thinking that they simply didn't need it.

2. PC gaming in Japan is 4/6 porn, 1/6 imported American games (including a massive and beautiful Neverwinter Nights Boxed set that put to shame anything I've ever seen in the States), and 1/6th non-porn Japanese games. The American and NP Japanese games are hidden waaaaay in the back, behind piles and piles of boxes featuring animated ladies in various states of undress being assaulted by plant life. You may be wondering, "you're an adventurous, forward thinking fellow, did you purchase any of this peculiar merchandise?" The answer there is no, and it's not because I had a sudden bout of self consciousness either, it's because these little boxes of fun were running anywhere between 7000 to 10000 Yen ($70-$100) a piece. which is well outside of my "haha, look what ridiculous thing i bought" range.

3. I really, really, like Shaka Shaka Chicken. Probably the best chicken product I've ever had at McDonald's. I smell a hit!

4. The Japanese really, really, like fatty meats. from the Lamb skewers to the pork soba, the meat in japan was almost universally fatty. I started to think it was simply a matter of taste when i tried to get the chicken breast at Moss Burger (clearly on the english menu) only to find out that they had actually discontinued it in favor of a similar product (which was not on the english menu). Assuming chicken was chicken, i went ahead and ordered it, only to find out that it was actually the greasiest, fattiest, nastiest chicken thigh I've ever sunk my teeth into. On second thought, maybe Shaka Shaka Chicken is doomed to failure.