« IPLAYWINNER SBO BLOG 2010 »

"Big Box, for those who aren’t familiar, was one of the most popular spots for SF4 last summer. When we visited it was a bit quiet, however Mago was playing against someone in SF4."Hey everyone, as I write this I have been in Japan for 5 days, and been pretty much out and about every day, so I’ll start with the first full day here.

After eating and nursing a hang over for a little while, me, Sextaro (Ken I) and MattxChin decided to go to Takodanobaba, which is where both Mikado and Big Box are located.  Big Box, for those who aren’t familiar, was one of the most popular spots for SF4 last summer.  When we visited it was a bit quiet, however Mago was playing against someone in SF4. A few days later I met up with Kim1234 (US player living in Japan, qualified for SBO in SF4) and he told me Big Box isn’t really a hot spot for SF4 as it used to be. 

From there, I walked over to Mikado, which was crowded with European 3s players visiting for SBO, many of whom I met last year.  Fran3s, an Italian player, told me he had visited Gamersvision, KSK’s arcade, which apparently has gone the way of having console stations.

Later in the evening, we all went to Danisen at Game Versus Spot for 3s.  Among the big names there were Nuki, Aiku, Vanao, Nitto, and Koshun.  I played Koshuns Hugo which was very difficult.  The organization of the event was very impressive.  They have about 10 head to head cabs for Danisen, which are divided by different rankings.  For Dan 1-3, they have 3 cabs, as well as 4-6, etc.  Each station had a GVS employee or just one of the players who often hang out there running it and keeping track of scores.  At the end of the night, I was at 3^rd Dan, which funny enough, is higher than my current Denjin ranking, while Sextaro made 6^th Dan!  As the night ended, ther ran one of the ranks above 10^th Dan.  I didn’t recognize all the players playing in it, although I do remember Nitto playing as Gouki, and Vanao as Ryu, who seemed to be wrecking house.

"Bas’s friends band, Claddagh Ring was playing, which is an all female rock group. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I actually had a fantastic time. "On Saturday, CVS2 top player D44Bas took us to a concert near the Shibuya.  Most of the lineup was Jrockish type bands with female vocalists.  Bas’s friends band, Claddagh Ring was playing, which is an all female rock group.  I didn’t really know what to expect, but I actually had a fantastic time.  The acoustics of the venue were better than any venue I’ve visited in America, and every band had a really great stage presence.  If you are into rock (or Japanese girls) I’d suggest checking out Claddagh Ring!  We then went to a restaurant were everything on the menu was 270 Yen (currently about 3 USD), which was pretty tasty.

Sunday we met up with US 3s player let blood run who lives in Japan to attend a Yomiuri Giants game at the Tokyo Dome.  Last year one of the highlights of my trip was the baseball games I attended, so I was really excited about this.  Naturally, I was pretty inebriated by the end of the game.  One thing I was a bit disappointed about was they don’t really let people keep foul balls at Japanese baseball games.  It’s kind of a bummer when you see people just dodging them instead of trying to catch them.  I’ve went over the difference in atmosphere in Japanese games as opposed to American games in my last SBO blog, so I wont be redundant, but I have to say, its definitely worth going to if you find yourself in Japan.  And in the end, the Giants won, which is pretty important right now because the post season is pretty close.

This is a short clip of one of the many chants the Giants fans do in during their games.  I believe this was after a home run.

From there, I followed let blood run back to his place for Yakiniku and Karaoke.  Yakiniku is like Japanese style Korean BBQ, so I really enjoyed that and I’d say if you want to break out of the curry, ramen, sushi cycle, get Yakiniku while you are here.

"Still, I wouldn’t recommend you buying fireworks here and setting them off in front of your hotel or something. That would be pretty dickish."Monday we decided to slow down a bit, and met up with let blood run once again to set off fireworks near a river by his house.  Compared to California, the rules on fireworks are much more relaxed, so it was a pretty fun experience to have, even if I can theoretically set off fireworks at home.  Still, I wouldn’t recommend you buying fireworks here and setting them off in front of your hotel or something.  That would be pretty dickish.

The last thing I can mention since I’m pretty much caught up is earlier today I randomly saw Rikimaru (SBO 2009 3s Champion) at Club Sega in Shinjuku.  I would have liked to think I have improved somewhat since last year, but Rikimaru is still just too good.  He was playing Yun, and he triple perfected me!  I suck.