At the last Wonder Festival, I spotted just the thing to spice up your daily dishes! These Alien Face Hugger chopsticks will no doubt spice up any boring old meal - brought to us by Kotobukiya at just under 10USD per pair.

For those who are not familiar with the original Alien series then take a lookie at the video below - maybe look *after* dinner.

Or how about some Alien Chest Burster chopsticks?
If you fancy any of these then have a lookie for them from any of the following trusted online hobby retailers.

http://jlist.com
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
http://www.amiami.com
http://toylet.net
http://hlj.com
http://hobbystock.jp
http://kidnemo.com

There is a poll embedded in this article.

More photos taken at the Wonfes last weekend - everything else apart from the Good Smile Company stuff which can be seen in this post.
All photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N.

Other Wonfes related photo posts listed up below.

Soon after relocating to Japan, you'll want to get some essentials like a dakimakura to keep you company, and maybe some wrist support so that you dont break your arm when working hard at your new job. After that you'll probably want some furniture and some other necessities around your apartment.
In our 13 years of living in Japan, we've never come across anything cheaper than Ikea - cheap and the quality is decent too. I hear many folks knock Ikea but its good enough for us and we've been happy with their stuff for many years now.

Ikea Japan was first established in Japan in 1974 but pulled out in 1986. In 2001, Ikea decided that Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win and decided to make a comeback and in 2006 they opened their first store in Funabashi. Now Ikea have 6 stores in Japan - Funabashi, Kohoku, Kobe, Tsuruhama, Shin Misato and Sendai.

Today we take a gander around the Kohoku branch which is located in Kanagawa. If you are going by public transport, you need to take a shuttle bus from Shin Yokohama station or Denen Chofu. If you are going by car then punch in the following into your carnavi.
〒224-0043　神奈川県横浜市都筑区折本町201-1

More access details on this page.
[gmap=35.52304, 139.59005]

We usually go by car although we are not in the Mirai Itasha today...

We dont usually come on a Saturday but was the only time I could escape from work for a bit.

Come on a weekday night and Ikea is rather empty - come on a weekend and the place is like a theme park! Hundreds of people queuing up for food!

Currently plan on moving office and came to get some inspiration for what we want in the new layout.

Do an image search for Detolf and the only thing you see are figures n hobby stuff ^^;
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Most of our furniture now is from Ikea - from the Vika frosted glass tables in the office to the cabinet in our bedroom.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Another nice candidate set of cabinets for figures.

Here is the glass that we have in our office - photos in the posts below.

Young chap looking for health material - actually probably not as he gets to see it all the time.

The path through the two floors of Ikea is one designed in a way that makes sure you go through every nook n cranny! Filling up with some energy half way.

Before exploring the first floor however, we go off to grab some of those Ikea hotdogs as we could not be bothered to queue up for hours upstairs.

Ton of folks here too!

All reasonable prices down here - 100 yen for a hot dog.

There's so many people around the hotdog area that folks are just sitting on the floor to eat ^^;

Tastes good!

But which you do prefer? The hotdogs at Ikea or Costco?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Tummy filled and now to explore the first floor.

Probably going with this for the new office.

My favorite section - lighting!

The electrical supplies at Ikea are cheap and decent too.

The 38 bus - thats the bus I took when I lived in London! When I was working as a waiter at Benihana in London, I would catch this bus from Piccadilly which goes to Dalston/Hackney.

My fave plant - got a few in the office.

Self service checkout.

Nabbing some of those hotdogs for tomorrows brekkie!

In Japan, 99% of folks park their cars facing outwards. in America, I noticed that 99% of folks park their cars facing inwards. How about in your kingdom?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Tucking into some biccys that we picked up from Ikea with some afternoon tea.

More from the Living in Japan Guide series listed up below.

Some photos remaining from the Hobby Maker Show Winter 2012. You will find everything else apart from the Good Smile Company stuff which has its own dedicated post. All the other Wonfes related photo posts listed up below.

Some figure cases by Solid Stage on display which not only protect your figures from dust but also from evil UV rays.

Also met up with some of my blogger comrades who all use the same camera!

Nora neko [野良猫[のらねこ]] or "stray cats" can be found here there and everywhere. They tend to leave presents for their counterpart humans in the form of poo which come in a variety of shapes/sizes and smells. While folks who have a delicacy for or collect SCP (Stray Cat Poo) would be over the moon to have a free supply of the feline stool, most humans tend not to like having a steaming pile of cack left on their doorstep.

There are a variety of traditional methods called Neko Yoke [猫よけ[ねこよけ]] (pronounced "Nehko Yokeh") which are utilized to keep stray cats away - one is in the form of a mat like this with spiky bits on it - the idea is that the spiky bits hurt the cat which would cry like shown in the illustration.

This product is called "Don't Cat" and can apparently be used for stray birds or dogs too - costs 100 yen for a pack of 3.

Don't Cat comes in all shapes and sizes. Not sure how effective it is after seeing the following video though ^^;

When I first visited to Japan, I saw these bottles of water all over the place. They were usually located near a wall or by lamp posts outside houses. I really thought that they were left there for somebody to drink ^^;

On my second visit to Japan, I bothered to ask my friend and he said that they served the purpose of scaring off cats - introducing another form of Neko Yoke. Apparently, reflections in the water are supposed to generate holograms of fifteen feet tall fire breathing dragons which cats dont like.
Another theory (which sounds unlikely) is that the sun's reflections in the water scares cats. This Google Image search will show you how folks use them to attempt to scare off cats, although after seeing this photo, I'm not sure how effective they are ^^;

There is a poll embedded in this article.

Are there other methods of cat repellant used in your kingdom?

This is my neighbors line of defense against stray cats ^^;
Any of you are cat owners?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Have been meaning to write this post since last year ^^; For Many moons, I've been a fan of Osaka based eroge game development company Yuzusoft. While I've not had the opportunity to sit down and play them, I love the artwork from Yuzusoft's illustrators Kobuichi-sensei and Muririn-sensei.

Am over the moon that I've added another company that I've been a fan of to my list of clients. The official website for Yuzusoft has been running on our Mirai Gaia platform since last October. They Join Konami, Good Smile Company, Bushiroad, King Records, Sega, Ascii Media Works and more in using the same platform that runs dannychoo.com.

A poster of Yuzusoft's up n coming title DRACU-RIOT spotted in the office - signed by the illustrators Kobuichi-sensei and Muririn-sensei! DRACU-RIOT is due out on the 31st of March and our Mirai Suenaga is going to be in it!

When visiting Osaka last Summer, I went along to Yuzusoft's office to meet up with the guy who runs operations - Rodo-san. I work with him on the website and other things like this.

Rodo-san and I are interested in exploring ways to get their products to you. My thinking is that the original Japanese product text and language remain untouched but include inline English translations that can be turned on/off which would help one to learn Japanese. I also think that the kanji should have furigana so that you can easily look up words which can be added to a Learn List.

I would add functionality to the International version so that you can export texts or send learned phrases to a mobile device so that you can also learn on the go as well.
If you got any requests regarding how you want eroge to be made more available to you - just name it. If you want to be involved with the production or work in the eroge industry then just leave a comment and list your skillset. If you prefer to work in the anime industry then there is a post for that.

If only I had eroge when I was learning Japanese - probably would have learned much quicker! Back then I didnt even have Internets ToT

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

Then its time to raid the office to see what goodies they have lying about. Here we have 3 of their recent titles - Nobel Works, Tenshin Ranman and Natsuzora Kanata.

Tenshin Ranman was really popular and even got adapted to the PSP which still sold well without the ecchi scenes.

Yuzusoft's 2008 title Burapan.

Yuzusoft's first 2007 title ExE.

A 1 billion yen note! ( 1,233,851 USD )

Only managed to take photos of the tidy parts of the office - although the rest of the office is where all the goodies and action was going on ^^;

So cute and ecchi!

Yuzusoft also have their own wrist support systems.

Rodo-san's desk.

Rodo-san makes Gunpla during lunch breaks.

Then its off round the corner to have some noms noms for lunch.

Back in Tokyo to mysteriously find a load of Yuzusoft stuff in the office.

This Tenshin Ranman wall scroll is so nice!

As for how I got to know Yuzusoft, one day I tweeted asking somebody to introduce me to Yuzusoft - then Rodo-san replied ^^;
The first thing we worked on together was this illustration of Mirai Suenaga by Kobuichi-sensei. I've not released all layers yet but she also drew the Solar Marine, Winter Uniform and Bikini layers. I'll distribute the Photoshop files later but for now you can get this wallpaper here.

The illustrations done by Kobuichi-sensei where used to make a Mirai Itasha in Singapore. If you are interested in making your own Itasha and want to use Mirai's images - lemme know and I'll send the original files to you at no cost. Just lemme know which company you plan on using to plaster your car.

Tis March the 3rd which means that its not only a festive day in Japan called Hina Matsuri, but its also the birthday of our Mirai Suenaga! Folks out there who know Mirai well will know how old she is this year - I guess the number of candles give it away ^^;

Mirai Suenaga started off as being the mascot character for this site dannychoo.com and moved on to work with many companies in the industry like Good Smile Company, Bushiroad, Nitroplus, Kadokawa, King Records, Yuzusoft and recently JC Staff where she finally gets animated in the OP for Mirai Millennium ^o^

Look forward to seeing a load more from Mirai in 2012!

Every year on her birthday, Mirai gets changed into her B'day suit ^o^

Is there a 2D girlie or boy that you really really like? If so then why not prove your devotion by having a tattoo of her/him somewhere on your bod?
A comrade in Osaka Hori Benny has a tattoo service where he will make sure that you and your 2D love are united forever. Comrade Brian at Kotaku has a full write up on this subject.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

When you come to Japan, of late you will see more and more vending machines being replaced by these intelligent touchscreen ones. There is a camera at the top of the machine which recognizes your face and identifies your gender - based on your build, height and other factors, it will make recommendations based on purchases of others who resemble your traits.

All you have to do is stand right infront of the machine and after a few seconds a few products will be highlighted for you - try it! It will recommend different drinks for you and your partner.

Below is a video taken soon after they were released in Japan with a load of folk taking videos and photos of it - now they are so common that the only people taking photos of them these days are gaijin like me ^^;

You dont need to take whats recommended - just tap on what you want...

...and the machine will display a high res image of your chosen drink together with some info to entice you to part with your change.
But there are vending machine manufacturers who feel that customers feel more comfortable buying something from a vending machine which they can see as a physical object - introducing another type of touch panel vending machine which has a transparent display - check out the video below.

Shibuya - a commercial district filled with restaurants, shops and home to the worlds busiest pedestrian crossing.
While Shibuya is still a town where a load of young folks gather and go out n about, there is a feeling that some areas are turning to a kabukicho-like area filled with hostess bars.

Was out n about Shibuya last weekend shopping for a few bits n bobs and as usual took along the trusty Sony NEX-5N. This photo can be taken on the bridge between the JR Yamanote and Inokashira line.

And before I forget - the hd sized wallpaper photos are on my Google Plus.

Zooming back in time heading towards the station. I've got a new road bike (which was a prezzie from the Good Smile Company boss Aki-san ^^;) and am now seeking one for wifey - we got our eyes on a Bianchi and spotted one on the way to the station. Any of you road bike otaku out there? I notice many in the anime industry here like road biking.

Lately more and more people are using these pull-along carry-ons - wondering if its because folks cant be bothered to carry their bags anymore ^^;
Anyway, due to the increase, more accidents are happening in and around the stations which means people tripping up over them where their face would end up flat on the floor - or in somebodies oppai?

Why is this acceptable in public and yet the equivalent 2D moe version is not? I need a good explanation please! An explanation I had from Flickr was that this is considered to be "art" but I consider Moe 2D girlies to be art too - why does he get to decide what is and is not art?

"Kakekomi Josha"[駆け込み乗車[かけこみじょうしゃ]] means "to rush into the train" and you always see folks do it. At times you will see folks or their belongings get sandwiched in the doors which the delays the trains.

Busy Sunday in Shibuya. The wall of red in the right of this photo is Sanzenri Chemist which was still back there in 1952 >>> History of Shibuya.

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the new standard for wireless communications and the new products have just recently hit the market here in Japan. Here we see the emobile devices which give you speeds of up to 75Mbps on the go at only 3,880 yen per month.
Commercial below staring AKB48 Tomomi Itano.

What sort of options are available in your neck of the woods regarding hi-speed mobile connectivity?

Passing by Shibuya 109. Its called 109 because 10 is also pronounced "To" and 9 as "Kyu" - the company that owns 109 is Tokyu Group.

Ita-socks.

Started to notice a bunch of Kyabakura (hostess bars) popping up around Shibuya.

At Shibuya Labi checking out the latest electronics. A load of folks after a Sunday bargain. Sometimes they have something called "Time Service" where all of a sudden a shop assistant would shout out "40 inch flat screen TV for 20,000 yen!"

Its a Sony.

This drink is awesome! Strawberries, Cherries n Peach mixed in Mitsuya Cider. Retro ad below.

Japan is generally graffiti free but on this block in Shibuya, it can be found all over the place.

Exploring the back streets of Shibuya which you may not have seen before.

These back streets are tucked away in the location below.
[gmap=35.662562, 139.697091]

The Gaijin butlers cafe.

Tokyu Hands - the store that sells anything and everything and is a must visit for anybody visiting Tokyo. Tis located below.
[gmap=35.662154, 139.697483]

At Tokyu Hands checking out their road bikes. These ones between 50,000 yen and 100,000 yen.

Tokyu Hands is commonly abbreviated to just "Hands" [ハンズ] in Japanese.

One is supposed to wear a helmet when road biking but I know many who dont. How about you?

Checking out the bike accessories - have already stocked up on some.

Love the designs of these - but they weigh a ton with nothing inside.

Need a new bin for the kitchen - like these ones but dont like that pink - managed to find on online with an orange draw instead of the pink. There are 3 separate drawers because all folks in Japan are required to practice recycling.

These rucksacks are Dollfie size!

Time for another snack - Shibuya Crepe.

Never seen such a suspicious looking van.

LOFT is another popular lifestyle store just like Tokyu Hands.

Kin no Torikara - a very popular hot snack - deep fried pieces of dead chicken flesh.

New Okinawa restaurant in Shibuya Center Gai.

How many of you are instrumental? If I could play I'd probably choose the piano so that I could play the C64 Sanxion loading tune on it.

To make a blurry photo (like this one) look half decent, use something like Lightroom to turn up the sharpness to max and then pump up the saturation and then add a vignette.

I dont want to be a bad influence on you - but probably too late for that anyway ^^; But if you have been to Japan, you may have seen these "Information Centers" here n there. The type of information that they dish out here are for folks who are wondering where to go for some hanky panky.

Shibuya seems to be slowly becoming another Shinjuku with this part of Shibuya looking like Kabukicho - hostess bars and hanky panky.

The building with where you can see "DVD" is a place where you can go and watch DVD's in a small room by yourself. They supply you with dolphin polishers and tissue - no I'm not joking either ^^;

Some Thai for dindins.

More competition for Yoshinoya - Chikarameshi do a load of "don" - a heap of meat or other topping on a bowl of rice. The ones showing in the window are from 280 yen - 630 yen.

Nyan.

Dont remember seeing these here before - more hanky panky in the form of Telekura [テレクラ] which is a short form of Telephone Club.

What happens is that you pay a fee to go inside a small room and wait for a girl to call you. You can then chose to continue to talk to her on the phone or arrange to meet up with her later.

More Shibuya backstreet exploration.

Got the urge for some fish n chips.

Mobile carrier Softbank says that if you switch to them then you need not pay for your line for 3 years - and they will thow in a bike for good measure.

Catching the JR Yamanote line from Shibuya station.

Perfume are now on a new label and are frequently on TV - their latest CM below.

Kyoto - where I want to be for this Hanami season. How many of you have been?
I love the JR Kyoto ads on TV! A retro collection of them below.

The latest bunch of ultraman.

I had no idea that you can get a travel history from your Suica card - you can get these printed at the terminals in the station where you charge your Suica.

View more photos in related Shibuya posts below.

WORKING!! was the last anime that I managed to find time to see - because it was broadcast on Tokyo MX TV just after Culture Japan Season 2 every Saturday ^^;

This sweetsome Nendoroid of Yamada is up for pre-order and due out this July - retail price is 3,800 yen. She somes with 3 face parts, a broke plate and a hatch which me going to either stick to my ceiling or car roof! More nitty gritty at Good Smile Company.

Pre-order Yamada on one of the following trusted bootleg free online hobby retailers.
http://jlist.com
http://www.amiami.com
http://toylet.net
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
http://hlj.com
http://kidnemo.com
http://hobbystock.jp

My fave WORKING character is still Popura-chan though.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Players: 1-4 players
Requirement: 2 packs of Moekana
Difficulty Level: Lesser Ninja

Setup

1. Pick out 10 pairs of cards per player from the two decks
   
2. Lay out all the cards face up neatly in any order
   
3. Spend a minute to memorize where all the cards are
   
4. Flip all the cards over

1. Take turns in clockwise order to flip any 2 cards over
   
2. If both cards are the same, the player keeps those cards
   
3. If the cards are different, flip them back face down
   
4. The game ends when all the cards have been taken

Players: 2 players, 1 judge
Requirement: 2 packs of Moekana
Difficulty Level: Ninja

Setup

1. Lay all 50 cards face up on the floor in the middle of the room
   
2. Both players sit in Seiza style at opposite ends of the room
   
3. The judge shuffles a second deck of Moekana and places it face down in front of her

1. The judge flips over the top card of the deck, and shouts out the Japanese word on the top right of the card
   
2. The players rush to the cards, and slams their palm down on the corresponding card
   
3. The first player to put her hand on the right card keeps the card
   
4. Both players return back to their positions and repeat steps 1-4
   
5. The game ends when all the cards have been taken

Players: 2-4 players
Requirement: 1 pack of Moekana
Difficulty Level: Greater Ninja

Setup

1. Remove the special cards (Character Cards or Moekana Card) and shuffle the deck
   
2. Deal the cards out in clockwise order starting from the dealer's left
   
3. Each player receives one special card

1. The player on the dealer's left starts by forming a noun that has 2 or more syllables with the hiragana available in her hand, and places the corresponding cards down in the pot (pile of cards in the middle)
   
2. The next player must form a noun that has 2 or more syllable, and starts with the last hiragana of the previous player's word, with the cards available in her hand, and places those cards in the pot
   
3. Special cards can be used to represent any hiragana syllable. (Wild Card)
   
4. Dakuten and Handakuten may be ignored (eg. は can be used to represent ば and ぱ)
   
5. Only nouns are allowed
   
6. If a player is unable to form a connecting word with the cards available in her hand, she keeps all cards in the pot into her hand
   
7. If a player forms a word that ends with the hiragana "ん" (n), that player keeps all cards in the pot into her hand

Players: Any
Requirement: Camera, and lots of Moekana cards
Difficulty Level: Infinite Ninja

Setup

1. Using no external support, build the tallest Moekana Card Tower!

1. Build your Moekana Card Tower
   
2. Take lots of photos of it when done
   
3. Look out for Card Tower competitions
   
4. Submit your photos and win

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10179407
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=CGD2-26174&page=top
http://www.hobbystock.jp/item/view/hby-ccg-00016232
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007HY3SUQ/mitsu-104-22/
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/amiami/cgd2-26174/
http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/amiami/cgd2-26174.html
http://www.happinetonline.com/NASApp/mnas/MxMProduct?Action=prd_detail&KIND=0&SHOP_ID=1&PRODUCT_ID=4571368440051
http://ow.ly/9wHdR (Animate)
https://www.chara-ani.com/details.aspx?prdid=B12308838

At last - an easy method to tether any iPhone or Android without jailbreaking or rooting. Saw the news on Mac Rumors this morning and thought I'd give it a whirl.
The method I'm going to cover is for the iPhone and Mac but you can also do it for an Android/PC combination too. This does not require jailbreaking because it uses some groovy stuff in HTML5. First off - get along to Tether.com and register an account - it says that the service costs 300 USD per year but when I got to Paypal to pay, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it only cost 15 USD for the first year.

Once you have an account just download the Tether app to your Mac/PC and install. Run the app and just enter an SSID and password.

An ad-hoc connection will be created automatically for the Mac - just hit "create."

An ad-hoc icon will appear in the Mac's bar at the top.

Then just connect to the ad-hoc network on the iPhone.

Browse to http://tether.com/web from Safari and enter your user/pass. You will see some funky HTML5 magic going on and it will connect to the ad-hoc connection.

Once connected, Your browser will automatically fire up tether.com to let you know you are connected to the Internets.

And this is my iMac connected to the internet though my iPhone. You can see the packets being exchanged.
In the event of a disaster, I'll be able to connect to the Internets with my MacBook Air on the road. Awesome.

As you can see - carriers in Japan dont allow tethering - how about in your neck of the woods?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Some photos taken last Saturday back in London - danced from Tower bridge > Tate Gallery > Westminster > Trafalgar Square > China Town > Hackney. Was a really nice day back at the river which was the first place that wifey and I had our first date. I love the Thames and would spend time night n day walking by the river when living back in London. Its really nice by night too but we didn't wait until then as energy levels had depleted down to 4%.

Was nice to see the millennium bridge in the flesh - lovely architecture. The only place we've seen it before was in the Uniqlo ad and the Harry Potter movie ^^;

Bumped into quite a few dannychoo.com readers along the way but special thanks to d.ark who purposely went out hunting for me with her hubby ^^; She uploaded some pics to her Flickr of my visit to London.

A few months after the earthquake, I went to the city most affected by the disaster - Ishinomaki. There, I covered the relief efforts of the volunteer group called Peace Boat.

Here we see some volunteers singing the Anpan-man song to get their spirits up before they start work for the day.

Zooming back in time - we drove about 5 hours North through the city of Sendai onto Ishinomaki.

Arrival in Ishinomaki. This area was completely flooded.

Some boots and gloves for the volunteers. Most of the volunteer work is heavy duty.

Peace Boat set up headquarters in an Izakaya restaurant.

Meeting with one of the Peace Boat team leaders.

Pretty much all of this area on low land was hit by the tsunami.

Going through photos taken by Peace Boat shortly after the tsunami hit.

In the kitchen they prepare food to be taken out to the evacuation centers.

Taking a look at what this street looked like just after the tsunami.

This main street was flooded for weeks.

Messages for hope written on Ema wooden plaques.

There are many types of work that Peaceboat do. One is to clear out the drains which are clogged up with mud from the tsunami.

Its obviously not just Peace Boat helping out - Ishinomaki is filled with folks working on the restoration of the city.

"Ganbappe" is a Tohoku dialect for the term "Ganbatte" which means "to fight" or "stay strong."

Its important to help shop owners back on their feet too - here we have some students helping restore piano's.

The food being prepared earlier on is ready to be taken out to the needy.

This building is being used to stock and hand out supplies and food to the needy nearby. The route to this area had been heavily damaged making it difficult especially for the elderly to get supplies from town.

The volunteers not only bring food and supplies but try to cheer up folks as much as possible. There is warm laughter as food is handed out.

This whole area was submerged under water.

My guide for the day.

You probably would have seen many videos of Ishinomaki being engulfed by water from this viewpoint. Folks at the time described the incoming tsunami as a "Black Mountain."

Now we are at Senshu University where part of it is being used to house the volunteers and supplies.

Many brands contributed supplies directly to the relief efforts.

The volunteers stay in tents in the university grounds.

All photos of the damage are in the Onagawa and Ishinomaki posts.

Here we are near school grounds where temporary housing has been set up.

The selection process is harrowing where families are chosen at random through a lottery. Lucky families get to move in while the remaining folks continue to stay in schools and libraries.

Didn't want to take any video or photos of the folks staying in this school - the hall is filled with cardboard boxes used to make up partitions which are filled with families.

At the end of a days filming, we retreat to an Izakaya - this place was completely flooded too and just managed to open for business again - restoration work done by Peace Boat.

As always, wifey helps out with the TV production <3

Nom nom.

Ishinomaki is town where the most lives have been affected by the tsunami. Its going to take a while before everything starts to get back to normal. With everybody's help that normal can come quicker.

Some of the Peaceboat members here been staying here for months to help out. If you are interested in volunteering then just get along to http://peaceboat.jp/relief/ for more details.

The following are screenshots of Culture Japan Season 2 Episode 1 - Tohoku and the Tsunami can be seen at YouTube.

The episode can be seen on YouTube.

All related earthquake posts listed up below.

Exactly 1 year ago to this day on 2011 March 11th, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck the east coast of Japan at 14:46. It was the most powerful earthquake to have ever hit Japan. The quake triggered a tsunami which reached 40 feet that devastated many towns on the east coast.

The combined earthquake and tsunami that occurred on 3.11 is known as the "Tohoku Chihou Taiheiyooki Jishin" [東北地方太平洋沖地震] or "The Great East Japan Earthquake." In Japan its also abbreviated to Shinsai [震災].

The quake was so powerful that Honshu (the main island that makes up most of Japan) moved 8 feet to the East and even shifted the Earth on its axis. To top that off, the tsunami hit several nuclear facilities which eventually caused meltdowns. It didn't stop there - the nuclear reactors being shut down also meant that most of the Eastern side of Japan had blackouts.

I was in Hong Kong for a business trip at the time. I was actually having lunch with the Milky Holmes girls when all of a sudden Sora on her mobile phone tells us that there was a huge earthquake back in Japan...

We all went back to our hotel rooms to try to gather as much info as possible and contact ones who were close to us back in Japan. The images on TV of Japan being ravaged by the tsunami was so painful.

In this post I cover how the earthquake affected me and what life was like back then.

The huge screen in Hong Kong Times Square was showing images of the tsunami hitting the east coast. Today on the anniversary, most of the TV shows in Japan are marking the anniversary and warning parents that images of the tsunami could cause stress for children.

Folks in Hong Kong watching in disbelief.

Hong Kong's newspaper on the 12th March 2012.

The quake and tsunami hit on the 11th and we were due to go back a few days later but from the news outside of Japan, all we heard was that everybody was leaving Japan mainly due to the nuclear disaster. Parents called and asked us to stay in Hong Kong.
It was a stressful time - I knew that I wanted to go back to Japan no matter what but wifey's family were especially worried.

Even folks in Japan were recommending that we stay away from Japan for a while due to the lack of supplies, food and electricity. There were still many aftershocks at the time too and reports that another big quake could hit.

You read how Japan changed my life and ever since I moved here I've always considered Japan to be my home and and that if I had the choice, Japan is where I would die too.

Just sitting watching from the outside was too painful. Despite the risks, we decided to head back to Japan on schedule.

Before heading back to Japan, wifey said we should we pick up some rice as folks in Japan said that there wasn't going to be any for a while - never ever thought I'd buy rice overseas - not in this lifetime!

Arrival back in Tokyo. We took the ANA (All Nippon Airways) flight from Hong Kong to Haneda which took only just over 3 hours and arrived at about 19:00.

The main nuclear reactors meant that there wasn't enough electricity to go around so rolling blackouts were in effect - so for example a ward would have their planned black out between the hours of 9am - 5pm - then the next ward would get their black out etc.

Planned rolling blackouts meant that train services are disrupted but still running on a reduced service. The Keikyu line from Haneda was only running to Shinagawa - but Shinagawa is on the JR Yamanote line which is one of the most convenient lines available as it circles around Tokyo.

Even though the service is "reduced," as you can see from the train times here - its still more frequent that I've seen in many other parts of the world.
The first day of the quake hit East Japan hard - Tokyo was crippled and many simply could not get home as all the trains stopped.

Things on the trains seemed to be back to normal.

Most vending machines were turned off to save electricity. The whole of East Japan went into power conservation mode.

Back at home. I honestly that the damage was going to be much worse than this.

In the 13 years that I've been living in Japan, I've only had about 1 figure fall over in a quake - and it probably wasn't even standing properly.
I'm not complaining or sad about any of the damage in our house though - considering the damage and deaths up North, I have no right to complain.

All photos of the damage at home in this post.

The earthquake and tsunami affected the whole of Japan in many ways. Many factories were destroyed and logistics disrupted. Indeed there was a lack of rice but its not as if there wasn't any left - you just had to queue up for it.

"Get out of Tokyo now", "Starving in a city of ghosts" were some of the headlines in foreign media. The British embassy in Tokyo were giving out some sort of pills to protect Britons from the increasing levels of radiation and were even paying for flights back to the UK. Many Gaijin [外人] (non-Japanese folk) that I personally knew left the country and many others fled too.

Gaijin who left Japan were branded "Flyjin" - many Gaijin stared to complain about the "racist" new name even though the term was invented by a Gaijin ^^;

Radiation levels were increasing but were still lower than the levels in other cities around the world. Foreigners who left Japan that were worried about the radiation probably exposed themselves to more radiation on the flight out of Japan.

This photo taken in Shibuya a week after the earthquake - I went along to show folks around the world what was truly going on in Tokyo.

The shops however were running out of daily supplies - but only because people started to hoard - buying much more than what they needed meant there wasn't enough to go around.
Then when they announced that radiation levels were found in Tokyo's tap water - folks started to buy up all the mineral water.

Supermarkets had restrictions on food purchases - in this case it was 1 carton of milk per person.

In my lifetime I never thought I'd see modern day Japan like this.

Batteries, cosmetics, soaps and even paper where in shortage. Newspapers became thinner and some weekly publications didn't happen due to the paper shortage.

Many shops reduced their opening hours and to conserve electricity.

All the tissue sold out at this pharmacy - to get some, one would have to queue up early in the morning.

Read more about the food and supply shortage.

Our local shopping arcade darker than usual due to the electricity conservation.

Most of the neon signs were turned off and pretty much all the large TV screens were just blank. Due to everybody's efforts to save electricity, many (not all) of the planned blackouts were postponed as demand was kept lower than the supply but it meant that the streets of Tokyo at night were darker than dark.

This photo was taken in Shinjuku - I came out of the JR exit and was shocked to see Shinjuku like this.

Comparison of what Shinjuku normally looks like and how it looked like shortly after the earthquake.

Akihabara shortly after the quake - more photos in this post.

For several weeks, news of the nuclear reactors filled the news which slowly seemed to get worse.

After getting back to Tokyo, we experienced many aftershocks - a big one shortly after getting back.

The green border in the shape of an L that you see on the edge of the screen is known as the "L-ji" [L字] and usually appears during a TV show when there is a disaster - the L-ji was pretty much attached to every TV show for many weeks.

This photo taken at our neighbors place a few days after the quake - they've strapped their TV down in the event of another aftershock.

The newspapers back then were pretty grim - rolling blackouts, over 10,000 dead, explosions at the nuclear reactors and increasing levels of radiation. The aftershock epicenter moving closer to Mt Fuji made things feel grimmer than grim.

Constant news of the disaster wasn't doing much in bringing back hope to the citizens of Japan and after a while, some TV stations decided that what Japan needed were programs to cheer everybody up - especially those in evacuation centers and makeshift homes.

Many opposed the move and thought it was too early to be cheerful. I personally feel that it was important to get Japan back up on its feet again and staying glum wasn't doing anything to help the country.

The TV's at electronic stores showing more disaster related news.

Price of petrol was going up and folks were queuing up for hours to fill up their car - but most of this was just people hoarding. This meant that people who really needed it (folks up North) couldn't get around due to the lack of petrol.
This photo taken near where I live - the line of cars is actually a queue for the gas station down the road.

I wanted to head up North to the most heavily hit parts to help but I didn't know what I could do. I consulted with comrades in the Japanese government and they suggested that rather than go up to do heavy duty work, they said that I should do something that most others cant do - which was to cover the relief efforts of volunteer workers and let folks around the world know.

I done that and you can see the result below in the first episode of Culture Japan Season 2 which was broadcast across Japan and America.

The first two parts of my coverage are of the devastation which you can see in the Onagawa and Ishinomaki posts.

The third part of the coverage can be seen in the Japan Volunteer post.

>Continue reading part 2 - the relief efforts.

Has to be the sweetest figure of Miku to date. She is due out this August and will retail for 10,000 yen - for each purchase, 2,000 yen will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross to help the relief efforts.
You can pre-order yours now from Good Smile Company but you only have up to the 28th of this month to order.
I already have reserved a space on my shelf for this cutie ^^

More details at Good Smile.

Anime Festival Asia Malaysia announced together with Anime Festival Asia in Singapore.

See you this June - only 3 months to go! Ticketing, artists, seiyuu, booth and other details soon.

What can you be expecting? Check out below what AFA in Singapore was like last November.

Oh darn! So many figures fell from the ceiling that they are blocking the entrance and I cant get out of the office meaning that I cant get food or go for a poo and die.
But its all cool because you are going to help me take some of it - tis giveaway time again! But its the first time I done it this way so lets start with 1 item first - all you have to do is use the photo annotation tool and put a box around what figure you want - the comment should contain a link to a tweet, facebook, googleplus or pinterest entry that lets your friends or followers know that you want the figure. Something like this:-

I want these figures!
http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26464/Figure+Loot.html

And thats it! You can only choose 1 figure. I will announce a winner by the end of this week and will send you the item directly - I'll stick in a signed business card so that ou can use it to scrape the bottom of you shoe if you stepped in poo ^^;

Good Luck!

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