Tokyo Game Show

Sept 26, 2009

The Tokyo Game Show is one of the premier gaming industry events in the world, which is not surprising seeing as many famous gaming companies are based in Japan - Sony Playstation, Nintendo, Sega, Konami etc.

It just happened to be on while I was in Tokyo, so I thought why not!

Getting to the event however was not one of my best efforts on the Tokyo transport system. Coming from Hatagaya, I had to catch a quick ride to Shinjuku, and then transfer trains to get out to Daiba. However, once getting on the train and knowing it was a ride of half an hour, I busied myself with some reading and completely forgot my transfer. I ended up most of the way to the other side of Tokyo, almost to Ueno, before I checked my location and realised what had happened. Crap.


So I hopped off the train and got immediately on one traveling back the way I'd come. Finally arriving back in Shinjuku (almost where I started), I headed out to Daiba once more. Luckily the ride out to Daiba is worth the ticket price on its own, as you take the monorail - the train travels on a loop around the harbour and then over the bridge. It's a great way to see the city.


I'd been to Tokyo Big Sight the year before so knew my way around, however I couldn't find the Game Show. Not wanting to waste time looking, I talked to a very helpful young lady sitting in the information booth, who luckily understood a little English. She quietly pointed out that the Tokyo Game Show was not being held at this venue, but at another one called Makuhari Messe which is way the heck out in Chiba. Holy shit, after all that - I'd gone to the wrong damn venue!


The lovely girl was very helpful though, and gave me explicit instructions on how to get there - drawing notes on my map. About an hour later I finally arrived, quite late ...

It was immediately apparent that I'd made it to an Otaku (geek) event, with the obligatory super-cute maids handing out promotional fliers outside the venue.

More promotional girls were drawing attention to the latest combat-type game, and here's a pic of some guy getting his pic taken with them.

It was a 15 minute walk from the station to where the show was being held, but finally I got inside. It looked like loads of interesting stuff was going on, the halls were packed with people, large video screens everywhere, and lots of people trying out the latest games. But of course it was all in Japanese and so actually taking part was difficult (and the queues were long in any case).


Luckily there were plenty of gorgeous promo girls around ...


But it wasn't just the paid promo girls posing for the cameras ... outside the building some cosplayers had setup camp too. These girls don't get paid, they just like having their photo taken.

Nikko

Sept 24, 2009

Nikko is a town to the north of Tokyo famed for its shrines, and makes a great day trip. I highly recommend adding this to any travel itinerary. Trains leave regularly from Asakusa, so its fairly easy to get there and takes about 1.5 hrs on the Tobu Line.

We purchased the World Heritage Pass (3600 Yen) from Asakusa station, which includes return train fare, all use of buses in Nikko, and entrance to the main shrines. This works out a bit cheaper than paying for everything separately, and also makes life easier. Note that you really need to set aside an entire day for this trip.

The train drops you off in the Nikko township, which is a small alpine village with a few shops and places to eat.


The shrines (Shinto) and temples (Buddhist) themselves are a small distance from the town, so we took the bus. This was a short comfortable ride up the hill. The bus dropped us off near an awesome dragon fountain ...


... and then we made a short walk to the first destination

Rinnoji Temple

The temple area here is beautiful ... up in the mountains, and not far below the clouds, the peaceful setting is what makes Nikko so special. The Rinnoji Temple of the Tendai sect was reputedly founded in 848.

Sanbutsu-do hall

In the main hall, the Sambutsu-do (Hall of the Three Buddhas, 1648), are gilded statues 26ft/ 8m high of Amida-nyorai, the Thousand-Handed Kannon and Bato -Kannon (this last with a horse's head on her forehead, symbolizing her role as the patroness of animals) and portraits of Abbots Tenkai (1536-1643) and Ryogen (912-985). This room is quite impressive, unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos inside. However before I saw the 'no photo' sign, I took the below photo which is looking into the hall from the entrance and from just behind the statues.

Inside the Hall of the Three Buddhas

Once leaving Sanbutsu-do, you immediately see the Sorin-to Tower. Sorin-to Tower was constructed by High Priest Tenkai in 1643. It is 13.2m high, and one thousand volumes of Buddhist Holy Scriptures are stored under this tower. There are 24 golden bells on the upper side of the tower, and under the bells, there are 3 hollyhock crests. The hollyhock is the family crest of Tokugawa.

We now found ourselves on a wide path, leading to the next destination ...

Nikko Toshogu Shrine

Nikko Toshogu was built in 1617 as a shrine and mausoleum to deify Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543-1616), founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868). This is one of the most visually impressive shrines I've seen in Japan.

A Toshogu is any shrine or mausoleum dedicated to Ieyasu Tokugawa, so this is, specifically, the Nikko Toshogu.



Nikko Toshogu is famous for the ornate carvings that splendidly decorate the entire buildings both inside and outside and from end to end. In particular, the imposing Youmeimon tower gateway is famous for its lavish decorations that include over 300 dazzling carvings of mythical beasts, such as dragons, giraffes, and lions, and Chinese sages.

But its not just the Youmeimon that's carved... there is spectacular carving everywhere.

Apparently, you can also enter one of the temples and supposedly hear a dragon. Given that said dragon is probably a furtive monk under the floorboards, that the queue was long, and the guide speaking in Japanese - I opted to give it a miss and head to the next destination ...

Nikko Futarasan Shrine

Nikko Futarasan Shrine was founded in 782 by Shodo Shonin, the Buddhist monk who introduced Buddhism to Nikko. The shrine takes its name from Mount Nantai, which is also called Futarasan. While not as visually ornate as Nikko Toshogu, Futarasan benefits from its location amongst the trees, lending it an appropriately mystical atmosphere.




By this point we needed to head back to Tokyo before the last train, so caught the bus back to Nikko. There was standing room only, and my advice for this downhill trip is 'hang on'. The driver knows the road intimately it would seem, and hence no reason to dawdle!

Fukuoka

Fukuoka is a city located near the top of the island of Kyushu, with a population of approx 5 million. Due to a balls-up on my part, we ended up staying in the city of Kitakyushu, which is 20 mins away by bullet train - luckily we had a JR pass so the trip each way was free. Kitakyushu was a nice place to stay, especially as our hotel was right opposite the station.

Fukuoka at night

The hotel we stayed in, the Blue Wave Inn Kokura, was probably the nicest place we stayed in Japan. Very modern and clean, and great value for money being also one of the cheapest places we stayed. Stylish rooms too.

Anyway, Mami wanted to visit a Shrine in a place called Daizafu, which was about a half hour train ride away. So that was our first stop ...

Its about a 5 minute walk from the station to the Shrine, and you get there via the street above, adorned with the usual souvenir shops and food outlets. I wanted to wander around a little, so instead of turning left for the Tenmangu Shrine, I turned right and had a nosey ... and came across the Komyozenji Temple. This temple is known for its traditional gardens.

There was not much else to see in this direction, so I headed back to the Daizafu Tenmangu Shrine. It was "Seniors Day" in Japan, a public holiday to show respect for the aged - and so the Shrine was quite busy.

The Shrine complex had a small garden attached, with Koi in pools etc. There was also an area where you could watch free performances. I watched a trained monkey jump through hoops and strike cute poses.

Mami had another Shrine on her agenda for the afternoon, but I wanted to see something different. So while she did her Shrine thing, I took the opportunity to explore the Fukuoka city centre on foot. First on the agenda was the ACROS complex, an environmentally-friendly terraced building almost completely covered in plants.

Right next to the ACROS complex was a park - there were many stalls with a wide variety of foods to try, but it was the loud music emanating from a corner of the park that attracted me. Naturally I headed towards it and came across an Asian Dance festival being held on two stages. The sound system would put most concert venues to shame - it was pumping!

Every time I'm in Japan I feel like I lucked in because some major event or another just happened to be on while I was there. I've come to realise its not really luck - it's just that there's always interesting stuff going on!

This was a free festival, and there were dozens of troupes performing energetic routines, all in beautiful multi-coloured costumes.

After spending hours in the sun watching the Dance routines, I headed to another item on my itinerary - the Fukuoka Mandarake store. It was about 15 mins walk away. This was 5 stories crammed full of toys, comics, and collectible figures. They had a great selection here, and I found it to be better than the Shibuya store in Tokyo which is just a single floor.

After browsing all the crazy figurines but not buying anything, I headed back to the city centre to meet up with Mami again.

Fukuoka prides itself on being a cultural hub in Asia, perhaps due to its proximity to Korea. The city had a relaxed and creative vibe. I wish we'd had more time to stay there, as there was so much more to see. It'll definitely be a longer visit next time.

Note: You can actually catch a ferry across to Korea from Fukuoka, which I didn't realise until we got there. That will have to wait till the next trip too.