December 29th
As we were getting ready to leave her apartment, we noticed on the TV news that the Shinkansen had massive lines of people waiting to get on it and discovered that we could be waiting up to hours to board one of the famed bullet trains. Though, in usual Hiromi and James fashion; we turned up the later than most people. Subsequently, we weren't able to get a Shinkansen all the way to Akita. We needed to connect to an express train about halfway. Thankfully, this meant we only had a 5 minute wait for the train.
I really enjoyed the train trip. It was really comfortable. (Hiromi scared me at first claiming we would most likely have to stand, but luckily, she was wrong.) From the inside, the Shinkansen doesn't appear to be quite as fast as it actually is - current Shinkansens go up to 300 km/h. After a bit of research (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen), I was intrigued to discover that the new Maglevs (Magnetic Levitation trains) will go up to 581 km/h!
We bought bento meals, snacks and beer. As has been the case on most of our trips, she played her DS and I read my book. It was so fascinating watching the scenery change from a cold metropolis to a frozen countryside.
Between trains, we stopped off at a little restaurant in the station where they played appauling American country music.
When we arrived finally in Akita, Hiromi's friend Kumi picked us up and took us to Kumi's parents' house in Yurihonjo (Hiromi's hometown). We spent the night drinking and eating with Hiromi's friends.
I remember someone telling me that I would be freezing my ass off trying to get to sleep and I found that very hard to believe
December 30th
That morning we met Kumi's brother. Hiromi explained that I love searching for old video games and he offered to take us on a tour of all the video game stores in Akita (capital city, Honjo and Yurihonjo over two days.
So first, he took us to drop our suitcases off at Hiromi's parents house. Then we went to a local video game store. It was there we started our quest.
Afterward, we ate ramen at a local ramen joint. He then took us on a tour visiting many different outlets of the second-hand store chain called Manga Souko (http://www.mangasouko.com/index.html) - which basically means Comic Warehouse. These places are amazing - there is nothing like them in Tokyo. They basically contain tens-of-thousands of video games, DVDs, mangas and all of the other usual otaku stuff like models and stuff.
I honestly couldn't believe my eyes....walls and walls (and walls) of thousands of games. All of the games I had ever been searching for were there (and most with multiple copies!) Often, at times over the next two days, I would deem a game or piece of hardware too expensive and then find a cheaper copy in another store.
I was basically looking for Super Famicom games with special chips or hardware and Famicom copies of my favourite games. I spent ALOT of money buying all of these gems.
I must point out that I finally found a copy of Hebereke for the Famicom and it cost me 6000 yen! Hiromi finally found a copy of Breath of Fire IV for the PS1. I also found the first two Ninja Ryuukenden (Ninja Gaiden) games.
-- I honestly can't remember clearly where I bought each of all the games, but I do intend to list all of the games and hardware that I bought in a future post. --
That night, we went to a vintage western-style restaurant and then proceeded home.
It was my first night in Hiromi's parents house and it was really quite intriguing. Having previously only visited modern apartments in Tokyo, this was the first time I had really been inside a proper traditional Japanese house (Japanese houses are passed down through generations and this one had been passed down through at least a couple). Although Kumi's parents house was traditional, it didn't quite seem as "Japanese" as Hiromi's parents.
I don't think I've really talked about this kind of thing on here before but, before I came to Japan; I got this image in my head from TV shows such as animes, dramas and movies of what certain aspects of Japanese life is like.
When I started with NOVA, I only experienced some of this:
People - They're generally extremely polite, but can be VERY two-faced. Particuarly the businessmen. (Oh, sorry. Salarymen - the word for a boring office job that earns a lot of money)
Domestic Trains - They're overcrowded and they suck ass. Though the stereotype of perverts has been strongly outlawed.
Apartments - They're usually small and way too intimate unless you live with other people. (However I learnt recently with my new apartment that you just gotta find the right one)
Restaurants - Generally, if you go to an Izakaya, rooms are mostly sunken, the people who serve you wear yukatas, the food is in small portions and everything's made of wood.
Cities - They're huge and extremely busy. Visit somewhere like Shibuya and you'll know exactly what I mean.
But, like I always stress, Eikaiwas are "English Bubbles" and you are always hindered from experiencing a true Japanese life.
After I started working in the public education system, I found the real Japan:
Schools - They'll never change. Seriously, everything you've seen in animes and dramas - that's how it is. They all look and sound the same. Everything. There is too much to go into here.
Work - Meeting after meeting after meeting. These people love talking and they talk for a REALLY LONG TIME!!! Also, there are so many formal customs that accompany working in a Japanese company.
Houses (not Apartments) - So, this is what I come back to after my little tangent. Again, like schools, it's everything you see on TV. Tatami mats and sliding doors everywhere. People usually sleep on the floor (I guess beds are personal preference?!). A room is set-aside specifically for the little shrine they use to pray to their ancestors.
December 31st
Our quest for the Holy Grail continues. Kumi's brother took us to the biggest Manga Souko of them all - the one in Akita City. My eyes almost popped out of my head this place was so big! That day, I spotted systems I never believed I would see in the flesh! Stuff like the NeoGeo CDZ (not to be confused with the NeoGeo-CD), TurboDuo, PC-FX, Sega Mark-III and an assortment of strange 1st generation systems likening to that of the Intellivision and ColecoVision.
I don't think I really bought alot at this place since we'd already raided the other stores.
I did however, buy a Dreamcast that day (which is still to be used).
We also visited a Hard Off. I know what you're saying "So what, there's plenty of Hard Offs everywhere", but this one was MASSIVE! And we found some bargain hardware there. I finally caved in to buying Super Mario Collection (Super Mario All-Stars) when I saw the price (I think it was only like 800 yen as compared to 3500 yen). We picked up this weird little PS1 memory card that had switch on it, so it acted like two memory cards (100 yen!). The best part of all, was I picked up a Sony A/V switch box with four inputs and three outputs (500 yen!).
Being New Years Eve, we later visited a couple of bars. I think this was the first New Years that I passed out before everyone else. I think it was a combination of being trained to wake up early and drinking excessive amounts. I am proud to say that I at least made it past the countdown.
January 1st
This day brought another surprise due to previous expectations as we got on an old-style Japanese train. It was so reminiscent of the trains you see in animes like A Spirited Away.
This took us to Honjo where we met Hiromi's friend Masumi, her husband Nagato and their kids Nana and Yu. We went bowling and had a lot of fun. Masumi and her husband are really good!
I remember being in the car, talking to Nana and Yu and they were shaking up bottles and telling me they had beer. For a little while, I believed them and was a little shocked. But, of course, it turns out that I'm easily fooled and Oolong Tea looks like beer when shaken up.
Since I had finished the first Harry Potter book, I wanted to pick up a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. So, after bowling, we found a bookstore that stocks English books.
That night, we joined a group of Hiromi's friends including Kumi and her brother at an Izakaya and had dinner.
January 2nd and 3rd
The next two days were quite lazy days and I'm unable to distinguish them from eachother. I do remember Hiromi pulling out all of her old video game consoles which included a Famicom, Famicom Disk System, Super Famicom, PC Engine and old relic called a CassetteVision.
I decided that we would take the Famicom with us and proceeded to take it apart and clean it so we could play the games without any problems.
In order to do so properly, I needed some window cleaner (I remembered this method from when I cleaned out my NES in Australia) and we picked some up when we went to the local supermarket to pick up food for the dinner that Hiromi's mum was gonna make.
Speaking of which, every breakast, (sometimes lunch) and dinner were all delicious traditional Japanese meals.
I remember going through many of the games not knowing what most of them were. I was quite surprised when I discovered that the Famicom Disk System's power adapter wasn't a pack-in and that using 6 D batteries was standard!
On one of these nights, we joined Kumi's brother at a local bar down the street.
January 4th
This day was quite a treat. Hiromi's mum and dad took us to an onsen and a museum.
The onsen was like no other I'd been to. It was right next to a frozen lake, so the outside section was really comfortable - a nice hot onsen out in the freezing cold. Everyone was staring at me though - Hiromi told me this was because we were in the middle of a tiny village and foreigners are EXTREMELY RARE in areas such as that.
The museum was fairly interesting aswell. I saw many antiques from long-gone days.
That night, Hiromi dragged me around to all of the different bars reminiscent of her younger days before she moved to Tokyo. It was pretty interesting.
January 5th
The next morning, Hiromi's dad offered for us to watch movies on his Laserdisc player. I was over the moon! We moved all of the old TV equipment into the guest bedroom and I set everything up. The whole TV setup was so expensive and I was really intrigued to see a BS (Broadcast Satellite) Signal Booster. I still need to learn about the BS - all I know is that it provides at least two extra channels to the regular UHF/VHF set.
After everything was all setup, we chose from his massive collection. I decided to watch Indiana Jones and The Raider of the Lost Ark.
After which, Hiromi's dad took us to the station and we went to Honjo and met up with Masumi's family again.
We had dinner and drinks at their house and I played Mario Party 8 on the Wii with Yu. After Yu went to sleep, we spent the night talking. We also signed Masumi up to Facebook.
Having missed out on the Internet for about a week, I downloaded the latest No-Name Show from PWInsiderElite.com and fell asleep listening to it. It felt very strange listening to it Akita for some reason.
January 6th
This was our final day in the Akita prefecture and guess how we spent it? LOL We went back to one of the Manga Soukos! I considered buying some Famicom Disk System games, but considering the stories I've heard about a) The drive belt wearing out and not being replacable anymore and b) The disks being notorious for magnetically wiping themselves over time, I decided against it. (I can always use an emulator)
That night, we caught a bus from Akita to Sendai and then the Shinkansen from Sendai to Tokyo. I think we must have gotten home at about 1AM after catching another train and a taxi.
That covers my winter holiday. More of the catch-up to come later in the week, I've written a ton today...