by Audrey -

New Toy! I mean, dictionary.

Hehehe.  I have acquired a Nintendo DSi.

These spiffy gizmos launched on November 1st, and that’s when mine came in the mail!

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a gizmo on the day it launched before.   The reason I got one this time was because well…I wanted one, and there were rumors they’d sell out, and so I was worried that if I didn’t get one on launch day, I wouldn’t get a Japanese dictionary for months. That’s right, a dictionary. See, because there’s a stylus on the DS, you can draw Japanese characters, and if you have a dictionary cartridge instead of a game cartridge, it’ll tell you how to say the character, and what it means in English, blah blah blah.

It wasn’t all that easy to pre-order online though – I had to do quite a bit of poking around Japanese websites.  I stumbled across some fellow’s blog, where he was tracking which stores were currently posting “reservation tickets” online.  Through my limited Japanese and *cough* Google translate, I figured out that he was letting folks set alerts as well.  So I set the alert for a white dsi, and waited.  About an hour later, a weird cell phone ringing that wasn’t my cellphone suddenly went off,   I hopped back to his webpage, and ordered my shiny new toy.

Of course, in the urgency of ordering the thing, I needed to pay for it.  Alas, the particular website I was ordering from didn’t allow for (or I couldn’t figure out) how to pay with a credit card associated with something other than my shipping address.  As desperation was setting in, and I’d waded through a mess of sloppily encoded (half/full character issue) forms to get to the checkout point, I did what I had to.  I selected the alternative to credit card payment, hit continue, and held my breath.

Nothing happened, but a confirmation screen and a thank you.

After sitting around confused for a second, I checked my mail to find out that I’d ordered the DSi with “Daibiki” also known as Cash on Delivery.   Oops.  How does COD even WORK?  I haven’t used it in the US, ever.  Some more online investigating helped put me somewhat at ease, but I still wasn’t reallly sure that I’d successfully ordered the thing.

But it came!  And I promptly set it to work, with the magnificent photo manipulation features.

I’m trying to restrain myself from buying any actual games, lest I never leave my apartment. Perhaps before I fly back, so I can ignore all my friends when I return.  Since you all have maybe forgotten me already ;)

Oh yes.  Yesterday I was in a Tokyu Hands store, trying to bling it out with dragon decals and the like, but  sadly, since the new DS is a matte finish as opposed to glossy, the normal sticky shininess does not adhere. I shall have to leave my device bland and unpersonalized.  For now.

by Audrey -

Low key Halloween

From an all-English expat magazine I snagged at Homeworks “the best burgers and sandwiches in town,” I discovered that Halloween coincided with Meiji Shrine’s 50th anniversary.  To celebrate, the shrine was having a light-up on Halloween, and the day after.   A light-up is exacty what you’d think – while the shrine would normally be closed in the evening, they instead…turn on the lights, add some lanterns and candles, and poof – instant magic atmosphere. They even had a fog machine going behind some rocks, and little raised firepits being guarded by boy and girl scouts.

I skedaddled over there right after work, because it was only running from 5:30-8:30 or something, and I was anxious to get back to my apartment to sign for a package (more on that later).

Some cool pictures…but it’s tough figuring apertures and stuff when you’re clueless.  Trial, error and volume really does gets you a long way. At least I learned some things. (Like…forget about autofocus in the dark :P)

The Tokyo office at work got into the ghosts and goblins only marginally – but they did have a pumpkin carving competition.  I’m rather proud of our result, but alas, apparently we failed to scrape out his innards sufficiently, and he got a little moldy (which I’m pretty sure affected his popularity.)  Parasite-kun was a great collaborative effort, though. I think every one of the four members of team mux mux contributed something to his design (fingernails, spidery grin, extended arms…)

Today I’m off to check out Tokyo Design Week, and get some archery in. Maybe after another cup of tea. Ah, Sunday…

by Audrey -

Dust and arrows

Sadly, I think this is the most interesting picture I took all weekend. 

This, despite watching the national long-distance archery tournament, walking my heels off, and cleaning my two-week-old-room.  So many photo worthy events, and yet, this is all we get. 

I have an excuse though! My camera seemed to have acquired a nasty bit of dust on its sensor, so all my pictures have been having big grey blotches on them. .

Never fear though, some photoshop and an air blower, and all is put to rights.  Thank goodness I brought my camera manual with me. One non-useless item!

The archery tournament itself was a bit nostalgic.  It was held at the Meiji Shrine archery dojo, which, as you might guess, is sort of the “national dojo,” solidly inside the Meiji Shrine park.  Walking to the tournament from the train station is a huge experience in transitions. The most extreme would be to approach from Harajuku, and move from teenagers and bright toe sock stores to blander but busy streets, only to be dropped into a wide, tree-lined gravel paths, surrounded by buzzing insects, chirping birds, and the occasional family picnic.  The whole walk probably takes 15 minutes, but once on park grounds, the abundance of tall tall trees, serious green foliage, and the smell of actual soil really makes you forget you’re smack in central Tokyo.  

I digress – the tournament was a bit nostalgic because I tested there during the international seminar where I got my shodan rank (shodan = newbie), two years ago.  I expected these national competitors to have mastered their archery skillz a bit more than me, though, so I was surprised to find a range of smooth, calm, confident shooters and nervous, shaky, sloppy folks.  Maybe it was nerves, but some of those archers didn’t quite look like they had the basics down. 

The score keeping was pretty simple – hit gets an O, miss gets an X. They had a crew of volunteers, 8th rank (remember, I’m rank 1) teachers, close to the targets, who would raise an x or O after each shot, to tell the scorekeepers how to update the boards. 
  

One group was especially impressive. (archers shot in rotating groups of four, with two arrows each), nailed all of their shots.  I was surprised at how many people weren’t hitting the target, so when one group of four hit all of their first arrows, it was pretty impressive.  As they continued to hit their second arrows, one after the other, more and more people stopped chatting, and started paying attention.  As the fourth archer was taking aim, you could feel the audience hoping she’d hit, and willing her on.  Not one to disappoint, the arrow hit with a solid thwack (as opposed to a grassy “swish”), and a burst of applause.

See, they all got circles! Pretty cool.  It was purely chance, since the shooting order is randomized (so they don’t necessarily know each other), but a lot of people were just plain missing the target. 

 

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