Rain and Mail

Yesterday it rained off and on though out the day and when it wasn't raining it was very humid. That said I really didn't do anything or go anywhere, however while my wife was cleaning she had found some old sparklers and fireworks so later that night we went out side and lit them up. It was okay but I remember it being a lot more fun as a kid.

Then today I got something in the mail. I like to find my games in stores rather than buying them online, its more of a thrill that way. Anyway, a few days ago I was looking on eBay for current prices of some games to see what games I might want to pick up if I happen to come across them, for reselling purposes. Other games I wanted I just wanted to double check the labels to see what they looked like and what colors or designs I should be looking for etc. I did a search for a game by the name of Hagane, this game came out in the USA but was only sold at Blockbuster and it was a late SNES release so its very rare and goes for about $300 to $1000 depending on condition and completeness. While the Japanese version was not as rare it was still relatively rare and will go for about $75 to $200 again depending on condition and completeness. While looking I came across a listing that had just been posted and the buy now price was $35, I don't know if this was an error or a shop getting rid of its inventory but it was a really low price (and the game is good too, hard but good). Other listings for the SFC version right beside it where double the price on top of that the game was in like new condition. So I purchased it and had it sent to me here in Japan (my first delivery) the guy packed it really well and I put some pictures of the packing job on the side here. It looks great and I am excited to give it a try in my new Super Famicom.

Also included in the packaging was a bonus Naruto Card Game card, I dont play the game but a cool throw in none the less.

A long day

So yesterday my wife and I went into the city we split up and did our own things for awhile then later we met up to have dinner with some friends. As fair warning the first half of this post is going to be mostly video game and arcade centered so if that's not your thing jump down to the "Later that night" section. But before I get started I just wanted to mention this quickly, in the morning I went for a walk and came across this cleaners (some people will know why this is funny):

The name reads: Crystal Cleaner

So as I said we went into the city together, my wife had a appointment to go to so I had some free time. First I went to a few arcades but being Saturday they were pretty busy so I didn't play anything. I love how the arcades here are alive with people not like back home where if you happen to find an arcade its completely dead or maybe there are one or two people there. Below are a few shots of what its like inside and a quick video walk though of another arcade (sorry blogger kills the resolution and it was already a little out of focus at times but hopefully you get the idea)

 After spending some time at the arcades I made my way over to Mandrake. This store has everything you could want if your into both new and old video games, toys or comics. The only down side is they know what they have so the prices are pretty high, still if you go there its like going back in time. The shelf's have new sealed (or like new and resealed) game for almost every system you can think of. The toys and comics are the same way. You can find some deals on loose items but for the most part the prices are what they were back when they were released $40 to $60 a game. They had some good stuff Radiant Silver gun (SS) $200, Sin and Punishment (N64) $21, the gold Punch Out famicom cart (only 10,000 of these were made) and a NEO GEO AES system $200 (and some good games ranging in price from $40 to $200 per cart). Check out the pictures:

The only other thing to mention was that this place was really busy both men and women were shopping and looking around in all the section there were actually more girls then men in both the comic and toy sections. It was about time to meet up with my wife so I made my way to the agreed upon location.

 Later that night:

I met up with my wife and we headed over to a restaurant where we were meeting a few friends for dinner. It was one of these all you can eat all you can drink places for 3 hours so we were eating a lot and ordering a lot of drinks. There was a phone in the room and anytime we wanted something we just picked it up and barked orders into it, it was kind of funny actually. I felt bad for the person that was sitting next to the phone getting all the requests from drunk people all at the same time as anytime someone would ask for something 5 other orders would get shouted out as well. It was a fun time and one of our friends got drunk early on and started making origami out of the chopstick paper (so they were crazy small)

 After our time had expired we headed out, some people left but the rest of us went to "2nd party" and found another bar/restaurant. This second place was interesting it was set up (I'm told) to give the feel of a 1980's bar scene. Small tight spaces with a lot of stuff on the walls and old time music the table we got was really interesting it was though some saloon doors and there was a small bar (which I sat behind). The waitress came in and took are drink order and then came back with a jar of snacks, your party gets 3 chance to grab as much as they can with one hand. Its kinda like back home with free peanuts, they are salty snacks and I think the idea is to keep you thirsty but then later we also got free soup and free ice cream so I don't know. After that we all left and when home. 

Garden and the Zoo

Today my wife and I went to the zoo but first we went to the botanical garden that is attached to the zoo. I don't have too much to say about the garden it was nice and there were some plants and stuff, it was nice but in the end it was just flowers. I was able to get a cool picture of this massive leaf.

After we had gone though the garden we made our way to the zoo and the real reason we had gone. It was neat but a lot of the animals were sleeping, it was kind of hot so most of them we in the shade passed out. Some highlights are below, they had some nice areas for the animals as far as viewing goes but others were not so great. A lot of the monkeys and the giraffe were only visible though chain link fences which made it hard to see and get pictures of.

After we left we walked back home and on the way we passed a beer vending machine I don't think we would ever have one of these back home. There is a sign on it that says you have to be a certain age to buy it but there is no real way to enforce it, kind of like old cigarette machines we had in the past (oh and they have those too).




Finally we stopped at a convince store where I saw this: