久しぶり。

Confession: settling in a foreign country is a tad too time intensive to maintain a blog with any regularity. So, from this moment forth, no promises, 'kay?

Right.

Yes, it's true. I made it to my new home in Tsukuba, and things have been peachy. My six-day work week keeps me busy, but I've had plenty of time to get a few enjoyable experiences under my belt. Consider this entry my "greatest hits" of life in Japan (so far).

Within the first month, I had already accomplished my long-time dream of attending the Tokyo Game Show. It was hot. It was crowded. It was everything I wanted it to be. Very little planning (and a meager 1000 yen admission fee) went into this excursion. Therefore, navigating the various show rooms, each larger than a pro soccer field, reaped only a few games played and even less swag than could've been had with an ounce of foresight. Even so, it was wonderful. Engaged from all sides by larger-than-life LED screens breathing the hot breath of fresh new media was almost too much to handle. There's nothing quite like standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the smelliest otaku in the country to catch a glimpse of the newest offerings from Capcom, Square Enix, Namco Bandai, Level 5 - you name it (except for Nintendo, who is decidedly too cool for TGS). It may seem like a tall order for those of you who are sitting pretty over 6000 miles away, but I recommend TGS for all of the aforementioned reasons. Oh, by the way, the booth babes…shockingly unimpressive.

It's only fitting to follow a segment on an annual offering of geek elitism with a bit of the day-to-day awesomeness that this country offers, namely convenience stores. I honestly don't know how I could live without my "konbini" food. Onigiri, nikuman (and its magnificent variations), Calpis water, and royal milk tea are only a few of the magical things you can get from your local 7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart, Ministop, Circle K Sunkus, or Coco!, whichever is within walking distance (and there will be one, guaranteed). Clean, accessible, and open 24/7, these places absolutely redefine convenience. Think of every complaint you've had about a western gas station/convenience store combo. Now take the gas station and every complaint out of the equation. Pretty sweet, right? You'll be hard-pressed to find a gas station that has a store. These businesses are so well-maintained and operated, they don't need the built-in revenue stream that comes with having a gas station attached to a filthy, overpriced quick mart. And for the record, Sunkus has the best pizaman. Don't argue.

Here's where I'd love to tell you how much joy recycle shops bring me, but until I have a firm grasp on the Japanese language, I think I'd be selling them short. Recycle shops sell, you guessed it, used goods. With a variety of recycle shops specializing in household items, clothing, furniture, electronics, video games, comic books, action figures, collectibles, movies, and music, there is nary a thing you can't find second-hand. While this sounds amazing (and it mostly is), recycle shops are so common that sometimes you really have to search for a great deal on something. You may find some awesome t-shirt for 1% of its retail value, but hop over couple of aisles, and you'll probably pay 4000 yen for a DVD that retails for 4500. Not a steal. As far as electronic media goes, you really have to dig for a bargain. For example, I haven't found a used copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 for less than $45 USD. Lame. On the other hand, my PS3 copy of Final Fantasy XIII only cost about $15 USD, but only because Square Enix severely overestimated their projected sales and printed approximately 150,000,000 copies for a country with a population of 127,000,000. Don't let the numbers fool you - that was a joke. The largest areas of these shops are typically occupied by manga, which is precisely why I can't fully appreciate the true greatness of these stores. Not that I don't love manga, I just can't read Japanese well enough to really enjoy it yet. Depending on rarity and condition, single volumes of a series will run anywhere from 50 to 1000 yen (and occasionally more). I don't know about you, but those prices look good to me. Two bucks for an issue of One Piece? Yes, please.

I had planned on more gushing over various other things, but I'm kind of hungry and a little sleepy. Also, if I want to have anything else to write about, I better not blow it all on this post. I'm going to mosey on up to my neighborhood 7-Eleven and grabs me a snack. Later.