Today, we decided to go North to where i'm going school and also check out some games while we're at it. On the way we came across another stray cat:
and a weird little catepillar creature:
On this particular staircase, they were quite a bit of them too. I figured that since all the trees were sheared of their leaves, these guys didn't have anywhere to hang out. :/
We took the bus to the school's area, which ended up costing about $2. That's a little pricey for a leisurely trip to where i'll be living. It doesn't sound like it'll be that cheap to come back downtown and hang out like i've been doing :/
We exited the bus and went into a used game store entitled Tom Sawyer:
This place was a gold mine. They had the Genshiken Box set, which looks exactly the same as the ameircan one, Special Edition Akira, Shoot Fighter Tekken on Ps2, a cheap copy of Rakubiki Jiten for $38, some other kanji learning game which i might be able to actually utilize, a Famicon Gameboy Advance SP, a Final Fantasy XII Ps2, and Saturn Games!!: Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Panzer Dragoon Saga for $10 (the US version goes for $250+ on ebay), Burner Rangers for $8 (US copy goes for $80 online), Panzer Dragoon 1 for $3, Saturn Policenauts (not the special edition though), Lunar 1, Earthworm Jim 2, Xmen v. Street Fighter, a Nadesico game, Christmas NiGHTS, and Saturn Bomberman (which can do 10 players versus). No radiant silvergun.... :/
They also had a real copy of Capcom v. SNK 2, that Ps2 Game where you can defeat people with icey stares (i'll probably pick that one up before i leave), Rez for $10, Intelligence Qube for cheap, that Martial Beat game w/ controllers, original Bust a move, Xcom: UFO Defense for $5 (US version is $65+ on ebay), Innocent Life on PSP, Iron Maiden 2, Boys Love Scramble (which is an all male dating sim), a Pop 'n Music home controller, and... exactly what i was looking for: DDR Extra Mix.
Whoo hoo.. already a few days into my 3 month stay and i found one of the few classic games i had been searching for. Darlene introduced me to this mix a while ago, but when i tried to find it on my own, it was $60 here, or $65 there. I couldn't find it for cheap and eventually it just faded away into obscurity. Now, it is mine and i can scratch it off the list. There are now two more games (that come to mind) that i must find before i return to the states: Radiant Silvergun on the Saturn, and DDR Party Collection on Ps2. I'm kinda surprised i haven't come across DDR Party Collection yet.. I've come across every Ps2 DDR on this trip but that one. :/
Other games i'll definately buy when they are released are Pokemon Diamond and Phoenix Wright 2. maybe the new Castlevania, too.
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ANYWAYS.. we continued down the road further to check out the school.
The school was built on the top of this mountain that overlooks several communities. It's look like the top of the mountain was just cut off, and then the school was built. At the base of the mountain, lies a little community nestled between the moutain, and the main Nagasaki road. The road has several fast food places and a pretty big electronics store as well. Behind the school's mountain is another larger community where my dorm is.
Also at the base of the moutain is the girl's dormatory. The walk up the hill was rather trecherous, but a nice exercise. Unfortunately, the school was closed today due to a national holiday so we didn't get to meet anyone other than the front gate guard. The school is rather... devoid of trees considering all the beautiful places i've been this trip.
The school is pretty far away from the heart of Nagasaki. In fact, five states that it actually should be considered located in the closer town, Togitsu. From one side of the school, you can see Omura in the distance, which is where five works as an english teacher. Like.. past all the water. That prominent city of that photo is Togistu. Here's the cute little neighbor between the Nagasaki road and the school's mountain:
We decided to head back toward Nagasaki and hit the arcade.. though, this green bug wanted to come with. Five and I decided to start playing Quest of D. It was actually a bit cheaper to start playing the game. The starter deck was $5, but it came with an ID card. Though, it was $2 per play :/
Look at this guy's collection of cards:
You get ONE card each time you play.. unless he bought all those cards from somewhere, this guy has put more money into Quest of D than I probably have into DDR.
I went over to the vending machine and bought my starter deck: A poison dagger, a potion, a skeleton mage, and a map... that's good right? I actually ended up purchasing the LAST starter deck from the machine, so five was fresh out of luck. The arcade was a bit busy though, and with all this Quest of D experts around, i didn't really want to look like a dumbass trying to figure out the game. So, we decided to come back later sometime..
Before we left, we played some more DDR. Simple songs, and then we ended on Paranoia Survivor.. We formed a decent crowd behind us and five overheard one of the guy's saying that i was pretty impressive ^_^. ahahahaha.
We hopped aboard a Street Car and went back to the shopping arcade in downtown Nagasaki to check around for a cell phone. I was a little hungry, so five recommended this Takoyaki place on the corner. I ordered some takomeshi:
Which is Tako (Octopus) mixed/cooked into rice. It was quite delicious ^_^. The octopus formed perfectly with the rice. I need to figure out how to make this stuff. It's probably done by mixing it all together before you cook the rice.
Since we were in the shopping arcade, five took me to the anime store, which was a little dissapointing. They did have Honey & Clover and Evangelion capsule machines out front along with a School Rumble Pleasure File (O_o), the Advent Children Ring, a little keychain thingy for all the Evangelion angels, and some Kimi ga Nozumo Eien packaged with that coma girl's book. I wonder if they released that book separately...
five also showed me the last used electronic store that he knew of.. it had plenty of used console systems, even two different versions of the Panasonic 3DO, a Para Para controller for $17, a DDR Pad for the dreamcast, an old Beatmania controller, Omega Boost, DDR Disney Rave for $26 (US version goes for $150+ on ebay), a VHS copy of Princess Mononoke, some Laserdisc sof Evangelion, Castle of Cagliostro on laserdisc too, and a moderate porno section with some Bible Black. The only saturn games that had was different versions of Virtual Fighter :/
At this point, we decided to figure out something for dinner and head back.. I found some more Mountain Dew at the dollar store and the nearby theater was playing Tales of Earthsea.
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Today, we seemed to come across quite a bit of foreignors. Some of them look like anime geeks here to study aboard, much like our posse.
In the grocery store, there was a girl looking through the fruit who looked a bit foreign. It was tough to tell. When she looked up, her blue eyes caught a glimpse of me, so that was a pretty big tip. Rather than ignore her like foreignors have done to me thus far, i smiled and nodded hello. Then she asked me, "ã?¢ã?¡ã?ªã?«é?£ã§ã?ã?ã??" (are you american?). Damn.. her japanese was pretty damn fluent. I nodded and said Yes, and we talked a little bit. Her english really wasn't all that great. She asked what we were up to in Nagasaki and so forth.
Apparently she works for Mitsubishi nearby over in the shipping yard. I forgot to ask where she was from, but i'd have to guess Russia... Five was actually able to talk to her easier in japanese, than english. crazy...