Venus Fort - designed to resemble a 17th - 18th century European city, the place opened back in 1999 inside Palette Town and the original concept was that it was to be a theme park for ladies.
These days however, Venus Fort is filled with not only stuff for the ladies but also for Men and Hideyoshi's too.

Venus Fort is located in the Odaiba area and you can get there by getting off at the Tokyo Teleport station on the Rinkai line which you can get from JR Yamanote Osaki.
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Venus Fort has an artificial sky which changes to an evening tone as the night draws closer.

There are a load of restaurants, fashion retailers and an outlet mall too.

At the moment there is some sort of car exhibition going on - am presuming its to coincide with the Tokyo Motor Show.

The Chinese food over here is not really Chinese food as the taste is heavily adapted to local tastebuds. Not saying that it does not taste good (some of it is very good!) but its just different.
How does Chinese food taste like in your neck of the woods?

Venus Fort currently has a load of Christmas illuminations up. Many places around Japan will invest in illuminations to draw in the families and couples at this time of year.

Apart from the Kiddy Land in the background, there is not much for the otaku to be found here though ^^;

Many shopping facilities and train stations provide lockers for you to dump your stuff while you shop so that you dont need to lug heavy stuff around with you - most convenient.

All photos taken on the NEX-5N.

This is Palette Town where Venus Fort is located. This whole area including Venus Fort was due to be dismantled in 2010 because the lease for the land was up.
Back in 1990 after the bubble burst and economic depression set in, the government found it difficult to lease the land to anyone until they dropped the lease price of 1 square meter to about 840yen! The condition was that the land had to be returned 10 years later.

Mori Building and Sumitomo Bussan together leased the land at that price knowing that they would have to return it 10 years later and built Palette Town on it. But 10 years on, Palette Town turned out to be successful - but a contract is a contract and in 2010, the Tokyo governing body announced that Palettte Town was to be dismantled - the end result was that Mori Building and Toyota Motors teamed up and bought back the land.

Mori Building and Toyota have plans to build a convention hall and other facilities so the future for Venus Fort is uncertain - so if you are in town then you may want to pay a visit before its gone forever.

Heading back to the station.

Other places to visit in Japan listed up below.

Fresh out into the App Store is the Mirai Suenaga iPhone and iPad app MiraiClock3 - tis free so please do give it a whirl! The app has currently made it into the top 10 charts for free utilities on the app store ^o^

Just like Working Mirai, this is a clock application but this time round it features an interactive Mirai-chan. Have a look at the video below to see what's possible.

At the moment shoe does not do much apart from look at you but she does so in a very sweet way.

Depending on where you touch her, she may get angry like this.

Pinch to zoom and move Mirai about.

Turn upside down and...

The app is universal and works on your iPad too.

The quality on the iPad is much higher than the iPhone - not sure why actually ^^;

A battery indicator will change color as you run out of juice - indicator is turned off when you plug into power.

So cute!

Never feel ronery again as it feels like Mirai is right there with you.

And if you take a photo at the right time it looks like a yandere Mirai.

In the next version there will be different costumes for Mirai and she will speak too. She will tell the time and teach Japanese to us!

I think I asked before but what phone are you using? Gimme some time to work on the Android version - but priority for now is the iOS version due to my limited budget and resources.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

MiraiClock3 joins the growing line of Mirai goodies which include the Mirai figma figure and mousepad with built in WSS.

Folks who are watching the second season of Culture Japan will know that Mirai also appears each week on the show as my co-host. She is developed by Cybernoids who also worked on the Oreimo PSP game for Bandai.

When I first saw the Oreimo app I thought it was 3D and was flabbergasted when I discovered that it was created from a 2D illustration. In this case she is illustrated by DMYO-sensei.

Here you can see a load of nodes being mapped onto Mirai-chans eyes which control movement - her lower pair of eyes are also mapped and folks who watch Culture Japan Season 2 will notice that they bounce from time to time ^^;

Every part of Mirai's body can move and you can even see behind her plats.

Even the arms can bend like so.

I just love this smile!

The way Mirai-chan is rigged enables her to tilt her head left n right, up n down too.

Soon, we will be able to see Mirai turn so that you can even see her back! More details on how she was made and what software used etc soon.

Look forward to seeing more of the Live2D Mirai in action but in the meantime - download the app for free!

Download MiraiClock3 (free!)

And there is more!
Cybernoids have also just released a free app called Shizuku Talk which is also free from the app store - this is a more complete version where you can hear Shizuku-chan talk.

I think I mentioned it before but whenever I walk into an Indian restaurant, I always get a flashback of my childhood as I spent most of it in an Indian home. But the past is past and Indian food tastes great no matter what ^o^
Today's dinner set costs 1,500 yen per person and this is what each of us gets - a plate filled with goodies.

Today we are having dindins in our local hood - the Musashikoyama Palm shopping arcade. Spice Cafe 87 opened recently and we've already been there a few times. To get there just get off at Musashikoyama [武蔵小山] station and walk down Palm.
[gmap=35.617718, 139.706655]

In most curry places, one can find pickles on the table - I think this is a Japanese way of eating curry (?) as these pickles can also be found in places serving Katsu Curry. Now I cant eat curry without pickles ^^;

I heard somewhere that the Naan served in Japan has been standardized to be the longest in the world - not sure where I heard that but it could be true after comparing image searches at google.

Japanese Naan.
Non Japanese Naan.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

I love my Naan with a load of butter but if you dont ask then you usually only get just a wee bit of butter spread on.

I love this - Papad [パパドゥ].

Dessert is served up on the same plate.

In most Indian restaurants over here, you can order extra servings of Naan for no extra cost.

Just like Chinese food, Indian food has also been adapted for local tastebuds - still tastes great though! Hows the Indian food in your neck of the woods and how often if it part of your diet?

The PS Vita (PlayStation Vita) is out next Saturday on the 17th December and Sony have been ramping up their advertising campaigns on TV, billboards and they have also set up these Play Caravans here n there too. This one spotted in Shibuya the other day.

Not that many titles on the day of release but the few that catch my eye are Blazblue Continuum shift extend, Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 and Ridge Racer.

And here are some of the commercials running on TV.

The PS Vita will play PSP games too. Folks who have physical UMD discs can get a UMD Passport which will enable folks to buy the download version for a heavily discounted price. Save data can be also transferred via the PS3 or computer.

I know that many folks try to avoid the first generation models due to bugs and flaws - I remember that the PSP originally came with the ability to eject discs unintentionally ^^; I got the first gen PS3 and never had problems with it though.

Was surprised to see that Amazon are still taking orders for the Vita and will ship this weekend.

There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

And time for some nostalgia - the folks camping out in Shinjuku back in 2006 waiting to get their hands on a PS3 - who are hoping that people infront of the queue will die from the cold or get eaten by another starving camper. Full set of photos in the PS3 Tokyo Launch photo article.

Vending machines in Japan are awesome - just like this one in Shibuya which sells bananas. And as we all know - you can do a cheap Cyclops cosplay with a single banana.

These bananas are up for grabs for 130 yen each from Dole who have their own X-Men counterpart - Dole Man.

Bananas are not only nutritious, they can be loads of fun too - with two bananas, you can do a Cyclops vs Cyclops battle. Mr Kam Lau plays Dark Cyclops while I'm Cyclops Blanche.

Photo of a netted golf practice ground discovered in yet another uncharted evening after-dinner walk.

Golf is a popular and yet expensive sport to play in Japan - I'm guessing that its due to popular demand that one has to pay a bladder and a spleen to get membership to a golf club. Folks here are so keen on the sport that you often see them practicing in public.

Meiji Golf is a site dedicated to the buying and selling of golf club memberships. They list a price of 47,000,000 yen (about 602,973 USD ) to be a member of the Koganei Country golf club.

Folks who have just laughed at the piffling 65,000,000 yen should check the requirements before laughing - no women or foreigners allowed - only Japanese males over the age of 35.

Fortunately, there exists a way for folks who want to keep hold of their spleen by going to a local golf practice ground - known as ゴルフ練習場 (Gorufu Renshu-jyo) and also commonly called 打ちっぱなし (Uchippanashi).

These golf practice grounds are usually small in size and are usually surrounded by a huuuge net. An example of one below.

Folks come to these golf practice grounds for many a reason - some play for leisure, some practice for the game on the weekend at a real course and some play for stress relief - prolly pretending to whack their evil boss in the face.

Notice the small basket of golf balls.

The balls can be purchased at this machine.

Balls fall out of this slot into the basket - and if the basket is not in place then they go all over the place.

A peek through the window in the machine to see more balls...

...which travel through the pipe into the machine.

The ground towards the back is sloped and most balls eventually roll into a canal type thing where they then roll off somewhere ending up going through that pipe back into the machine.

I heard that these sort of netted golf practice grounds can be found in Taiwan and China - they be available in your neck of the woods too?

And here is the price list.
-40 balls for 630 yen.
-Booklet of tickets costing 6,300 yen but it does not say how many.
-315 yen for a loan of 1 club.
-210 yen to get in.

I'm lousy at ball games - football, baseball or whatever. I was good at a certain ball game when I was younger which involved dolphins though.
Ah, and I'm good at Mario BB on the NDS - awesome game.

Mamoru Hosoda - the man who brought us The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars is brining us another movie called "Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki" [おおかみこどもの雨と雪].
Not much revealed about the story apart from that a young girl called Hana brings up two werewolf children called Yumi and Ame.

I love Hosoda-san's previous titles and look forward to next July to see his new flick.

Which brings back memories of when I first met him at AFA two years ago.

It was 9 months ago a few days after the 3.11 earthquake when I was in Shibuya on a day like this - blue skies Shibuya I call it. I was taking photos of the apparent Tokyo evacuation that foreign media was reporting. To this day, I still get folks outside Japan asking me about the radiation issues.

To me its a non issue as I would continue to live in Japan no matter what. Radiation updates does get on the news from time to time and there are always periodic reports of some plant or vegetable containing above average levels of radiation.

I was at immigration the other day and an officer told me how the amount of foreigners in Japan who were living here have dropped significantly. The only good news this brings about is that Gaijin ("Gaijin" means foreigner) who decided to stay hardly have to wait anymore to get their application processed. I used to dread going to immigration due to the looong queues which would eat up a few hours - I was in and out within 10 mins this time.

I know there are many folks out there who love Japan and want to visit but are worried about coming back from Japan with the new ability to glow in the dark. What I would say is dont be afraid of dying - be afraid that you didn't live the life that you wanted to live.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

South exit at Shibuya Station. The Cerulean Tower hotel in the background.

This is the Moai statue. Next to it is a van which is doing free tuberculosis scans for citizens.

During the Winter seasons, we get a load of blue skies like this and is a relatively dry season. Tis very cold though - the catch is that the trains are very warm.

HD sized photos in this post uploaded to Google Plus - take and share what you need.

Entrance of Center Gai feels very different without the electronics store Sakuraya not being there anymore.

Grabbing some Starbucks.

Shibuya 109 is the fashion department store for ladies - 109Men's is the equivalent for the lads.

Inside 109Men's which is filled with a load of apparel stores.

The young lads from Sexy Zone.

Center Gai [センター街] - filled with restaurants, apparel stores and dodgy folks at night.

This new apparel store popped up from nowhere.

Entrance to the Everything store Tokyu Hands. You *must* visit this place if you come to Tokyo.

The Apple Store Shibuya.

K-ON! movie has inspired many viewers to take a trip to London - including many of my friends! Would some of you folks in London be interested in taking some of my Japanese fiends around? You need to speak Japanese though.

Android are really ramping up their advertising campaigns on the streets and on TV.

From time to time, bands will play around Shibuya station. Needless to say, one usually needs a permit to do so. Needles to say, its sometimes better to just do it like these folks and like the guy in the video below ^^;

I love the packaging on Japanese pet bottles.

The Japanese Salvation Army is usually out n about at this time of year.

Japan has mascots for just about everything.

One for the ladies.

Dont be scared of radiation - be scared of this stuff instead. Unfortunately no-smoking seats in restaurants are few and far between. Even if you are given a no-smoking seat - its likely to be right next to a smoking seat that has no partition.

Softbank Otousan goes to space.

Heading back to base on the Yamanote line.

This is my line - the Mita and Nanboku join onto the Meguro line.

A snap from the train.

Back at Musashikoyama. All photos taken on the NEX-5N.

Previous Shibuya photo posts listed up below includes places to visit.

Located in the Chuo ward in Tokyo, Ginza is where one would go to find department stores, fashion boutiques, restaurants and brand names such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Gucci. On a Sunday or national holiday, the main wide street that runs through Ginza is pedestrianized until the evening enabling folks to have a nice stroll while shopping n eating.

This is Chuo-dori - the main street that runs through Ginza (located here in Google maps).
There is something about Ginza that has a distinctively different feel than other shopping districts like Shinjuku for example. Could be the tall buildings or the "snazzy" feel of things in the air?

Here looking for some parking with the aid of our car navigation. We got that navi quite a few years ago and am not sure how to update the map data - we discovered the hard way that the one way arrows were out of date ^^;
Here you can see the car arrow on top of a building - it gets confused when there are too many tall structures in the immediate vicinity.

If you are looking to get some car navigation in Japan, I recommend smaller units that you can take out of the car with you. After parking your car, you would then be able to use the same unit to get you to your destination.

Parking on the roads in Tokyo are a pain in the left buttock. In most places you can park for only an hour - in this case its 300 yen. If you park for more than an hour, the side of the parking meters start to glow red making it easy for a traffic warden to spot from afar.

If you want to park for longer in the same spot, you need to move the car and re-park it. We discovered that there is some sort of infra red beam that hits the car when its parked. Unless the beam is broken, it thinks you are still parked. If you are lucky enough not to have anybody behind, you can just move the car back a bit to break the beam and then move back forward. Wondering if a deflecting mirror would do the trick instead? ^^;

The meters don't let you put in money to cover a few hours either. I'm presuming that they do this so that everybody gets some parking time.

At this time of year, Ginza is decorated with Christmas illuminations adding to the ton of neon signs.

Also done a short live broadcast from the iPhone which you read about in the Tokyo Cam photo article.

The buildings in Chuo dori are very tall and many of them are very narrow. Its interesting to watch how they manage to demolish and build new buildings in such narrow spaces.

Stormtrooper x Evangelion.

The main intersection at Ginza.

Depend on what you want to do but if you are shopping and eating then you would probably use up 3 - 4 hours here. The Apple store is also located in Chuo dori - and better still - the Volks store is located just opposite Apple so you can also pick up a Dollfie daughter too.

The bustling intersection reminds me of how I recorded sounds of the Shibuya crossing many moons ago when I came to Japan as a visitor. I would listen to those recordings in my room back in London. When I closed my eyes, I was teleported back to Shibuya thought the sounds.
When I opened my eyes, I was back in London which reminded me that I needed to continue to study Japanese hard or I'll be stuck in London forever listening to those recordings.

For folks who want to live and work in Japan - when you are over here next, record something through your own eyes so that you can relive it when you are back home - the chemical reaction caused by this will help keep you focused on your destination and push you to get the things done needed to get you here.
The chemical reaction thing is obviously just a theory of mine but it worked for me ^^;

Department store Mitsukoshi. Most of the department stores have the basement floor filled with food stuffs, clothes and wot not on the middle floors and restaurants at the top.

You can get to Ginza by getting off at Ginza station and also Yurakucho station on the JR line - its very close.

Shiny people, shiny balls.

Ginza also has a load of coffee houses too where you can take a break from shopping and walking.

Ginza has a load of chocolate and sweet stores - the popular ones would have a constant queue of folks outside.

Forgot the name of this little elephant - is the mascot for a pharmaceutical company and can be seen with his female elephant friend - both of them often wearing clothes.

The rows of warm drinks in vending machines increase in the Winter seasons where you can pick up some hot Japanese green tea or piping hot lemon tea amongst others.

Ginza is a lovely place to take photos of at night. More photos of Ginza taken with the Canon and wide angle lens in the Ginza Xmas photo article.

And then there are above ground parking lots like this one - 500 yen for 20 mins! @.@ Whats the most expensive parking rates (and where) you have in your neck of the woods?

At first I thought this was a clump of some sort of meat...

But turned out to be some sort of sponge cake. 2,835 yen for this box.

Saw folks like this in the UK too - playing seasons tunes for the folks who served in the war. In the UK they gave out poppys for those who donated.

Was looking for some Singaporean food and then remembered a place called Rasa located opposite the CitiBank. Was also close to our parking spot.
Bet this Penang set (3,675 yen) costs 10 times more what it costs in Malaysia ^^;

Wanted to try something different but ended up ordering something that tasted like soap ^^;

This is our second time at Rasa. In early evening the place is pretty empty but packed by 8PM.

This was the best meal of the evening - Rojak I beleive?

The satay tasted good - 800 yen for this.

Ended up ordering too much - curry fish head. Takes a while to prepare so if you are in a rush then you may want to go for something else.

After dindins walk.

Secret between you and me (don't tell anybody I told you) - but I think I may have already mentioned it ^^;
If you fancy a nice view from above, as you walk along a street, keep an eye out for staircases which go up the side of a building. Many of the stair cases are situated where the balcony is so if you just go up the stairs, you can normally get a good view.

The stairs let pretty much anybody in - because they have to let everybody out in the case of an emergency.

My fave shot of the evening taken on the GF1 pancake lens. Its really nice up here!

If anybody does approach you and ask what you are doing up there (very unlikely), just say that you are waiting for Suzuki-san from Kani Doraku.

If you become knackered from all the walking up n down, this young chap will take you up n down Chou Dori for free - take in the sights while you relax.

Time to head back home. Folks can get to Ginza using the map below.

Was filming the 2011 AmiAmi end of year figure ranking for Culture Japan with Richard yesterday and would like to share the results with you. As its the EOY rankings, we only cover the top figures from various categories.

Moe Figure

The top selling Moe figure for 2011 is Lyrical Nanoha THE MOVIE 1st Fate Testarossa -PHANTOM MINDS.
Extremely well crafted figure by Alter. A wee bit too big to display if you dont have much room.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Action Figure

The best selling action figure of 2011 is figma - Miku Hatsune Append ver. Lovely sculpt by Masaki Apsy - perfect git for the in-laws.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Robot Toy

The best selling figure in the Robot Toy category is Super Robot Chogokin - The King of Braves GaoGaiGar. This comes with a load of parts which you can enjoy loosing around the house.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Mini Figure

The best selling Mini Figure of 2011 was Nendoroid Miku Hatsune - Absolute HMO Edition which sold an absolute bucket load. This Miku has more joints than standard Nendoroids and comes with a zillion extra parts.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Tokusatsu Toy

The best selling Tokusatsu Toy of 2011 was figma Kamen Rider Onyx from Kamen Rider - Dragon Knight. Never seen the series but love the designs of these. My fave is still Kamen Rider Kabuto though.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Standard Figure

AmiAmi have a category called "Standard Figure" which are figures which dont fit into any of the above categories ^^; The top selling was Excellent Model Portrait.Of.Pirates One Piece CB-EX Luffy & Ace.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

And thats all we had time to cover in the 6 min on-air time. What was 2011 like for you in term of figures? Many releases that you got hold of or not much that you wanted? For me it was a good year and think its going to be a good year in 2012 too ^o^
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

For folks who are not beknowist, AmiAmi also make figures like this one of Hinako which is due out next March. Hinako is from the "Isshoni" Series which Mirai Suenaga was a part of last year.

I've been told from reliable sources that the white stuff is foam bubbles.

And this was the office setup during filming - it will be episode 13 of Culture Japan Season 2 which will be available worldwide on TV and the Internets.

All photos taken on the NEX-5N.

The 1/1 scale Gundam has returned to Odaiba - for those who missed it last time can get along to Odaiba now to see it before its officially opened to the public. The head was put on yesterday and is currently located infront of Diver City which is a shopping and entertainment complex that is still under development - not sure why they are putting the Gundam together now though as the place is not due to open until next Spring 2012.

If you want to have a look just get along to Fuji TV - its right opposite.
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Video of Gundam being put together.

Comic Fiesta - Malaysia's largest anime event is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is taking place on December 17th and 18th - that's today!
As with last year, Comic Fiesta 2011 is going to be filled with cosplay, events, guests, doujin work and a load of anime merchandise.

At the moment I'm still working on finishing up the second season of Culture Japan which finishes its run in Japan next week - this is the reason why I cant be at Malaysia this year again. But fortunately, my clone SF-001 has been programmed to look after you again this year and he will be presenting the video message that I have recorded for you which will play before a digest edition of Culture Japan Season 2 this Sunday 4PM.

Hope that everybody who goes has a fab time and I'll update this post with photos of the event. How many of you attending?

I will be in Malaysia in 2012 though so see you then! In the meantime, say hello to Mirai, Haruka, Kanata and Eiji for me.
Illustrations by JC Staff for the anime Mirai Millennium OP.

A taste of what you can be expecting this year.

One of my spies at Good Smile sent over this photo of the Good Smile Cafe in Taiwan - they are currently preparing for the press conference tonight at 18:30 local time which will be streamed on Nico Nico douga.
The big boss Aki Takanori has just flown over this morning and will be giving a talk too. I'll be holding Culture Japan Night when I'm over in Taiwan later next year. How many of you in Taiwan? Would love to have a chat with you soon ^o^

Folks in Taiwan who want to visit the cafe can get along to the following address.
No. 50, Section 1, Zhōngxiào West Rd, Jhongjheng District
台北市忠孝西路一段50號5F（K-mall 5F)
[gmap=25.046521, 121.515851]

Updated with photos from Aki-san!

"You are not the droid I'm looking for. Please leave me alone."

How would you caption this photo?

The PS Vita was released in Japan today. Folks who wanted it on the day of release waited out infront of the stores. Me wasn't in any rush and knew that mine was going to arrive tomorrow. One of the games arrived first and I thought we'd have a gander - BlazBlue Continuum Shift. PV for the game below.

Pre-ordered mine and got a pre-order goodie - a CD with the BGM. The Nendoroid Puchi Noel Vermillion came with something else - cant remember what though ^^;
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Either my game didn't come with a booklet or they got rid of them completely. I think most (if not all) of the games are downloadable too and playing instructions usually come inside the game anyway so not to bothered.
Apparently according to Kotaku and the video below, the Vita cards loads just a wee bit faster than the download version.

Size comparison of the Vita and SD card.

Found myself a storage method for my Vita cards.

The packaging is quite small and cute ^^;
Do you generally prefer to pay more for a package version than a cheaper download version of a game?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Notes on the back tell us that this game makes use of the mic, touch screen and touch panel on the back of the PS Vita.

Comparison with a PSP package.

Puchi Noel.

Aoi grew her hair since we saw her last.

I initially didn't have any interest in trying to get the PS Vita during the launch period - I thought it was going to be sold out and unavailable for quite a while and there were not that many games that I was particularly interested in anyway. I then had a gander at Amazon and was surprised to see that they were taking pre-orders at retail price as opposed to some merchant trying to flog the thing for 3 times the price.

I then started to seek games - I heard of BlazBlue but not played it at all - picked that up together with Uncharted which I've also heard a lot of good things about.

Box design looks...not so cool.

A load of accessories available to spend your moolah on.

Box lid opened.

Bare bones inside the box.

Adapter is the USB type.

I'll use the small USB adapter that came with the iPhone instead when I'm travelling.

Yuki-chan was playing with the PS Vita all day today while I was editing the last episode of Culture Japan Season 2. I cant wait til its all over!

Wee bit on the big side but you get a lovely large n bright screen.

I presume the holes on both sides of the PS Vita is so that you can hang it off your ear.

The joysticks initially feel very small but you get used to them.

There seem to be some UI problems though. The joystick on the right gets slightly in the way when you try to press the X button. The select and start buttons need to either be pushed very hard or with your fingernails. Also, when holding the PS Vita, your thumbs cover the speakers. The whole unit is not as comfortable to holds as the PSP either - will probably get used to it after a while though.

The port at the bottom of the unit where the USB and power cable goes.

Power button, PS Vita card slot, some extension slot and volume buttons. Folks who dont read the instructions when they first get the PS Vita may break out in a sweat - you need to hold the power button down for 5 seconds on the initial bootup. I saw folks saying that they got a faulty PS Vita because they overlooked this detail.

Comparison with the other gaming devices lying around. As you can see - the PSP buttons are much bigger. Everything on the Vita seems so squashed together. And if you are wondering - the iPhone app is MiraiClock3.

NDS, Vita and PSP are all pretty much the same thickness.

The USB plug at the bottom does not fit snugly and as you can see from the photo, there is quite a bit of a gap.

I usually choose Japanese but thought I'd pick English for these photos. If you are learning a language then I would recommend to not to choose your native lingo.
Yes there is a crinkly hair on the screen - too small to be human so must belong to one of the girls.

Setting the timezone.

On first run, you will get asked if you have a PlayStation Network ID - I do so naturally choose "Yes, I do."

But then this screen saying "A system software update is required. Update the system software, and then link your account with the PlayStayion Vita system."
The only option to choose here is "OK."

But after tapping "OK", I'm just sent back to the previous screen! To get out of everything, you need to lie and say that you dont have a PSN account.

I think this is supposed to be the equivalent of the Mac intro welcome sequence which is particularly bad.

Going to need time to get used to this horrible UI. One of the reasons why I love the PS3 and PSP is because of the system UI. The PS Vita UI must be designed by a completely different team...

Switching back to Japanese as its easier for me these days ^^; I go to the system settings where I can update to 01.500.

Now I can head to the PlayStation Store to see what goodies they have. I dont have a memory card yet so cant download anything ><
The card should arrive soon.

I heard the Twitter client for the PS Vita is good - tis free.

Time to check out BlazBlue.

The OLED screen is a joy to look at. Tis a touch screen too.

Kimchi fried rice with PS Vita ^^;

This is actually my first time playing BlazBlue. I think I'll be sticking with Noel for now ^^

Folks going from PS3 or PSP to the Vita will find that the buttons take a wee bit of getting used to - the PSP buttons are about the same size as the PS3 controller but the Vita ones are much smaller.

Yuki looks after the Vita while I work.

Danny: "Hey Yuki!"
Yuki: ?

PS Vita added to the other inventory of hardware.

Folks who want one now can order from J-List.

The back is a touch panel too although I didn't find anywhere in BlazBlue that uses it.

I've dropped my PSP may times and works fine as it feels sturdy in build - the Vita feels like something may break if dropped ^^;

Looks like I have found a cradle which looks much better than the official one.

Am overall happy with the machine so far - the git at the end of BlazBlue is annoying! The quirks that I mention are just things that one may need some time getting used to. I'm looking forward to getting my UMD passport so that I can play my PSP games like Valkyria Chronicles on it.

I think what we will see a lot of is PS3 ports over to the Vita - just like Ninja Gaiden Sigma due out next Feb.
After playing handhelds, I wonder why home consoles dont have a sleep mode. I dont have much time and appreciate that a handheld can be picked up and I can just start off from where I last was - playing a home console requires turning on tv > turning on PS3 > booting up game > go through several menus > play game but usually from beginning of level that I was on. And by the time I can start to play - I dont have any time left ^^;

When I play games, I usually watch the clock constantly and slowly start to feel guilty as time passes that I could be doing something more productive instead. Having said that, its important to relax from time to time - just remember that too much relaxing is just another comfort zone.

Do you prefer to play games on a console at home or handheld?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

Some lovely photos taken in Akihabara by NagatoPyon who regularly appears here n there on Culture Japan ^^; Even though we are well into Winter, the trees around Tokyo still make it feel like Autumn.

Man Madoka?

NagatoPyon in the middle of collecting some Mii's.

Never got round to it in 2011 but will do so in 2012 - one Mirai Itachari coming up!

Ready to take home, chop up and serve with rice.

My name is RoboMirai. Dead or alive, you are coming with me.

figma fun with RoboCop and Mirai Suenaga.

Tis the Winter season in Japan right now. While the temperature is distinctly Winter, the surroundings look very Autumn. These photos taken the other day at my local park called Rinshi no Mori [林試の森] which is one of the larger parks in Tokyo.

Here, wifey and I would go for walks, play badminton or rollerblade. There are a few schools around here and one can from time to time see students practicing sports or their after school activities like singing or dancing too.

Closest station is Musashikoyama on the Meguro line.
[gmap=35.62515, 139.70348]

All photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N. Also uploaded the HD sizes of these photos to my Google Plus.

Tis the season to be jolly is it not? If you dont feel lucky enough to win the Azunyan figure, then try your dab hand at this giveaway to win anything you want - yes *anything*! Just as long as J-List have it in stock ^^ 3 lucky bods will walk away with some goodies!

As you know, J-list have just about everything under the rising sun. Everything from the PS Vita to Totoro goodies to Japanese bath salts.
Go ahead and choose absolutely anything (anything) from J-List and put the name and url in the comments like this together with a message to Santa explaining why you want it. The reason should be ever so slightly amusing because Santa likes a laugh from time to time. Something like:-

Stripe Panty -- Shimapan Light Blue ~ size M
http://www.jlist.com/product/NET149
I would like this because its cold outside and I need something to wear on my head.

Go ahead to choose anything from J-List - you've got until boxing day (up until the end of the 25th December). There is absolutely no limit on the price of what you choose. You can only choose *one* item regardless of whether its 10 USD or 100 USD. The item must be instock.

Below are some of the more popular categories at J-List.

• Books & Calendars
  
• Games & Computer
  
• Anime & Toys
  
• Bento & Kitchen
  
• Snacks & Food
  
• Traditional & Study
  
• Apparel & Cosplay
  
• Health products

I'll choose three (count em) entries at random on boxing day and announce the winner on my Twitter or Facebook.
Arms installation is complete - Good Luck!