Lithiumstate

Day four started out slow; like most days here I suspect because unlike back at home there is no
obligation to get up early ! I was having breakfast in the lounge of my hotel; when I noticed several foreigners were remarks you
would typically make when going to Japan. Think, expensive drinks and the likes; yeah. Unless you do a nomihodai (2 hr all you can drink period) you’re stacking up incredible bills.
I started mingling in the conversation; trying to share some of the knowledge i’ve gained about Tokyo  and before long I partied up with them. Guided by their local friend, we walked trough Kabbabashi dori, a street where you can find an insane
amount of kitchenware, and those fake plastic food that restaurants use for display purposes.

The golden Kappa statue in Kappabashi dori

The street’s name is believed to come from either the kappa (raincoats) of nearby residents which were hang out to dry on the bridge, or from a merchant named Kihachi Kappaya who funded the project to build Shinhorikawa River for water management. However, due to the homophone with the popular mythical creature, Kappa, the group of shops along the street officially adopted kappa as its mascot. Images of the kappa appear on shops along the street and web pages.
Kappa (river child) alternately called Kawatar? (river boy) are legendary creatures, a type of water sprite found in Japanese folklore. In Shint? they are considered to be one of many suijin. Kappa are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers.
Their pranks range from the relatively innocent, such as loudly passing gas or looking up women’s  kimonos, to the more troublesome, such as stealing crops, kidnapping children. In fact, small children are one of the gluttonous kappa’s favorite meals, though they will eat adults as well. They feed on these victims by sucking out their shirikodama , a mythical ball inside the anus.
Even today, signs warning about kappa appear by bodies of water in some Japanese towns and villages.
Kappa are also said to be afraid of fire, and some villages hold fireworks festivals each year to scare the spirits away.

Seeing as we were all feeling hungry after walking trough Kappabashi-dori (it is quite long) we ended
up having Okonomiyaki nearby. Readers of my blog are no doubt familier with Okonomiyaki as I mention it frequently enough .
In some Okonomiyaki places in Japan, you are being served the dish as per usual.
But ! There are Okonomiyaki restaurants that let you create and cook your own Okonomiyaki.

Gigantic Okonomiyaki were made !

Monjayaki: It looks gross but it’s really tasty !

I don’t think that’s an idea that would slide really well in the west with the obvious “I’m paying to have dinner out and I’m actually going to have to make it myeslf too ? WTF !”  – Personally I don’t mind and it’s quite inexpensive (all you can eat for 10 Euro’s !)  but yeah; can totally see it not working in the west. Luckily, my new companions all hailing from St.Louis were open-minded to it all and it turned out  alot of fun ! Everybody was being very creative with the ingredients and luckily we didn’t end up torching the
place.  Making your own Okonomiyaki whilst in Japan ? Definite recommendation !

We followed up with the nearby Sensoji-shrine, which is a popular spot for both locals and tourists alike.
I saw some really cute souveniers on the market road leading up to the shirne; I might have to go
back and get something nice for a few friends. You know who you are ! And if you don’t . Uhmm. Shame on you !

The sumida river at night

Next up, Midori; the local friend of the tourist group i’ve been walking around with had a trip on the Sumida river on her itinary.It turned out to be quite a nice boat trip, it was already dark; something that happens very early  around these parts of the world these days (5PM) and kicking your feet back up whilst having a gentle breeze stroke your face was quite refreshing from a whole afternoon of walking. The boat took us to an area in Tokyo bay, and we set off to catch the Yurkamone line at the nearest station.
Yurikamone is an unmanned train that goes from Shimbashi to Odaiba; it’s really cool as the front
seat where the driver usually is offers a nice panaromic view of the front of the train; too bad some kid playing a DS was hogging the spot but ah well.

Odaiba

Odaiba is a man-made island smack in the middle of Tokyo bay; it is filled with malls, entertainment
areas, a sandy beach and replica’s of several famous things such as the statue of liberty and untill
very recently a full-scale sized RX-78 Gundam from the popular Japanese animation “Mobile suit Gundam”
There are a few large offices as well; most notably the NHk and Nikon , with the NHK building
offering a great observation deck to view Tokyo.
Plenty of locals visit Odaiba as a get away, to have fun or to go on nice dates as the atmosphere really lends to it.
Compared to the rest of Tokyo; Odaiba looks and feels like some sort of mirage, a mystery island
unlike the main land that could dissapear at a moment’s notice.  Joe, one of the tourists from
St.Louis and a professional photographer (Check out his portfolio here) seemed to have a split personality.
His other self; Luche libre came out demanding several pictures to be taken of him at several
humerous spots along Odaiba.  This to the locals delight’ and before long requests to wear the Luche Libre mask were pouring in.

Before parting with the friendly people from St.Louis; we offcourse had to close the evening with
some mandatory Karaoke. To my surprise, Midori found a nice karaoke place around the corner from the Keisei railway station
in Ueno; interestingly enough I didn’t know there was a Karaoke place in Ueno !
It’s not much a place where you’ll encounter alot of youths after all.
Singing the remainder of the evening away with hits from Cheap Trick, Toto, Micheal Jackson and

Beyonce was joyfull.
And no worries; didn’t embaress ourselves too much, for one. Karaoke is performed in seperate rooms that you hire with your party.
So it’s not like you’re singing in public in a big bar or anything. Tough I’m sure the locals would love to see tourists do that :-)

Amayako street in Ueno at night.

After a few last drinks in an Ueno bar close to our hotel we disbanded. The group from St.Louis heading to their next destination in Japan early the next morning whilst I geared up for a night out in Shibuya as there was an open mic evening at the Ruby room where several upcoming local artists were performing; no luckily open mic nights aren’t at the level of America’s next idol or whatever
crappy TV show. This was some really good music. From a solo acoustic guitar wielding individual that resembled Tom
Yorke (from Radiohead) to an all-girl rock band. It was a great way to end an otherwise incredible day in Tokyo !

It’s been several hours since I got back from Animecon 2009, held at the Theaterhotel in Almelo.
Despite how crappy i’m feeling right now (tired,exhausted, con withdrawl symptoms etc. etc.) i’m pleased to say that animecon 2009 was quite the success with it’s 1800 visitors and a very strong video and event programming that took me by surprise (20th century boys and Detroit Metal city, Skycrawlers amongst things) Not to mention the huge improvements to the gaming room for those that had their fill of anime and cosplay. Speaking of which, it seems that every year the percentage of cos/cross players are increasing which is also a pleasant sight to see that people can relax, indulge in their hobby and enjoy themselves.

Offcourse, being the camera obsessed guy that I am I just had to take pictures of all those beautifull cosplayers in between all the con had to offer which resulted in no less than 400 pictures
PHEW That’s going to take me some time to sort trough, so to all the cosplayers that I’ve snapped a picture from worry not, they will be here on the site in about 2-3 days from now so please come back then.
In the meantime don’t kill me onegaishimasu *bows*

Epic battle ! Final Fantasy VS The legend of Zelda

Lots of Soul Eater cosplay going on; good stuff.

The dealer room this year was also held at a new part of the hotel and it pleasantly quite large.
I haven’t been buying much anime related goodies for quite a while but I indulged myself on some things
i wanted to own in my collection such as the wonderfull slice of life show ” Beck ” and the high-octane Black Lagoon all the way to the classic Nadesico. This year there were two instances in which dealers had to leave due to them selling bootlegged merchandise I sincerely hope that nobody was unfortunate enough to buy bootlegs.

My animecon 2009 loot, sorry J-pop staff; i didn’t buy a Clara

Aside from all that, Animecon was also a place to meet up with old friends and acquantances so
big shouts out to Niels, Johan, Annemiek and Bas !
Well, it’s past midnight and i’ve ran out of vampire reppelant quite some time ago.
Time to head to the safe confinements of my bedroom before passing out. As stated before, pictures AND even video’s – yes we were allowed to tape the cosplay compo ! will be online in 2 to 3 days tops ! So check back !

“Koninginnendag” or “Queens day” in English originally is a national celebration recurring every year on the 30th of April that originally was meant to celebrate the birthday of queen Wilhelmina, but it applies to the current queen Beatrix as well. I suppose you can say that this is the Dutch version of the Japanese Hanami in some way that people will drop whatever they are doing in their busy lives on that day to go out on the streets, drink eat, celebrate, watch the many live open-air concerts and participate in events all over the nation.

We even have sakura like trees that blossom pink in this period before the pettles fall down, I never bothered to check up on them but i’d guess their some half-breed Sakura tree of some sorts.
Anyway. I spent my 2009 queensday in Amsterdam and had alot of fun.
Offcourse the usual, drinking beer, eating good food and seeing concerts -I especially liked that gothic-metal band at the Spui street !

It’s just too bad that when I got home i found out that there was a derranged man in Apeldoorn that was responsible for the deaths of several people; caused by ramming his car into a crowd at high-speed.
I’m not going to pass judgement on that or comment any further on that matter, it’s just a tragedy.