Alpha's J-Adventure 2 - Final Update (P28) All Updates (P1)
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JiggerJay
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LewisD
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Alpha eX wrote:Going to have breakfast soon, no Mister Donut today, going with Lewis' suggestion of Gyudon from Yoshinoya.
It's a bowl of WIN!
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Rightey
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Pelloki on ghosts wrote:Just start masturbating furiously. That'll make them go away.
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Alpha eX
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Rightey
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Pelloki on ghosts wrote:Just start masturbating furiously. That'll make them go away.
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LewisD
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Alpha eX
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Day 5 - Gunma
I woke up not long ago confused and next to my laptop which was still on and full of msn messages. The night before ended with a massive drinking session, I can't remember much after that...
So yesterday I had arranged to meet my friend in Gunma, nearly two hours out of Tokyo, away from the tall buildings, neon lights and business men. Before I went, I had never heard of Gunma so didn't know what to expect, my gf said it was like the countryside, middle of no where and nothing to do. She'd never been there and it was obvious once I arrived, she was so wrong.
I had arranged to be there at 10:51 on the dot, the trains here run EXACTLY on time, never late unless there is an accident or jumper. I woke up at 8, had to catch the 9.16 train from Ueno, I didn't know when the next one would be so had to hurry to get ready and have breakfast, no time for Mister Donut!
When I left the hotel, it was cold and lightly raining, ran back to do a quick change, nothing like yesterday which was really hot and sunny. So made a quick dash to the station arriving at 9.06, 10 minutes exactly to find where to buy a ticket, buy a ticket, find a shop for a snack and then the platform.
Managed to get that all done and got on the train with time to spare, it wasn't as difficult as I imagined, I was worried I was on the wrong train, being on a wrong train would have put me two hours in the middle of no where.
Thankfully, I was on the right train and got moving, the journey was going to be long so I came prepared. I had my breakfast on the train, didn't get much but it was enough, a bottle of water and a Cream Pan, a bun filled with custard like cream, very good.
The train journey was an hour and a half but spent the most of it watching Weeds, thanks chalky!
I couldn't read the train station names on the signs, sometimes I couldn't see the english ones so had to rely on the train being at the station at 10.51, thankfully, I saw the sign that time. Got off and saw my friend on the other side of the platform behind the gates jumping and waving, nice welcoming.
Made my way across the bridge and met my friend, Hisae, she was with her boyfriend, Kire. Hisae speaks english, her boyfriend didn't know much. When I met him I was a bit nervous, he seemed the typical Japanese Rocker type, hair over eyes, big boots but he was very friendly, when he was driving us around, he told me to be relax and make my self feel at home in his car. Hisae was translating for us both.
Hisae saw my Mame-Shiba keychain, she was fascinated, she'd never seen or heard of it before. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! SUGOI DESU!!!!!!!!", Hisae gets excited very easily, she's hillarious. She later found the website and watched all the videos, I will send her one as a gift, want to make it a surprise but need to get her address.
We arrived at our destination, Hisae's University, today we was going to an annual festival at her university, it's an all girls university and the building was originally an old prison. The buidling was quite interesting, a little haunting but was nice to explore.
When we got to the enterance, there was at least 30 girls waiting there to greet and welcome us in, I couldn't take a picture because as we got close they started waving and talking to my friend, they were surprised a foreigner was there and used the chance to practice their English.
Past the enterance was a central area, there was lots of food stands and a stage where some presenters were talking to the crowd. We went in to the buildings and each of the classrooms had something going on in there such as, flower arrangements, cafes, jumble sales ect. It was really nice, groups of students had organised each room. We went to a cafe, the lights were out and the room was lit by small candles on the tables, it was really nice.
In the cafe room, we all had some tea, Hisae had a Cuppachino, Kire had Banana Soya Milk which was lovely and I had Lemon Tea which was ok, it was just tea with a big slice of lemon in it. The service was really friendly, when we sat down we were instantly given cups of water by a girl who seemed to just appear out of no where. After we placed our order we was given some nice homemade biscuits covered in honey and cream.
As we were leaving the festival there was a performance on stage, a group of girls were singing, Hisae pointed out they were terrible singers. Walking back to the carpark there was a police stand, there was a car, bike and information stand. You were allowed to sit on the bike so like any child or tourist would, I got on the bike!
After the festival we were a little hungry so Kire suggested we go eat, Mister Donut! Kire is awesome. He took us to Mister Donut where he kindly bought us lots of donuts, as he got to the till, he called to me and asked for my point card! 23 points get! Kire explained that it would be difficult for me to get the points but I have to keep trying and eat donuts until I am big and round
Had some really nice donuts today, Kire bought me a mini selection box so I could try the most popular ones. We had lots of donuts, we were all full after that.
From Mister Donut, Kire suggested we go to the game center, he drove us to Saitama where there was a large game center, it seemed like in the middle of no where, the building was huge, one part arcade, one part pachinko parlour. We went to the arcade which was awesome, all the games were 2 credits for the price of 1!
We started with Taiko no Tatsujin (Drum Master), I first played against Hisae and then Kire, they were both supprised how good I was at this game, I could over hear them saying that I was "very super" at the game
Next was Pop'n Music, this game is really fun, it has 9 buttons so can get very tricky, there are 2 play modes so you can play with either 5 or 9 buttons. After seeing me play Taiko so well, Hisae took control and put me into the 9 buttons mode on a song with begginer 4/5 difficulty, "I like this song". Again, they were both surprised how well I did, after the song, Hisae again took control and put me into advanced mode on a song with 6/8 difficulty.
We played more Pop'n music, we played with two people on the buttons, it was more fun that way, meant we could do the really difficult songs too, even with a 5/4 button split, the songs were tricky, me and Hisae didn't do so well but me and Kire got a really high combo and got 98% on a song! Great game.
After Pop'n Music Hisae dragged me to Drum Mania, DM is insane, the song I did was far too easy but it's hard to judge which songs are hard and not, even on normal mode, some songs are really hard.
Rock Band Expert is what this is on lower advanced difficulty, extreme is just inhuman, later in the day I saw some expert players, first they played Taiko and then they played Drum Mania.
After that we played more games, some Initial D racing game, I managed to beat Kire, he wasn't pleased. After that some Guitar Freaks, Beatmania and then Virtua Fighter 5 which I had never played, Kire was good at this game, very good but I some how managed to perfect him on one round. Took me 4 fights to beat him.
We left the arcade around 4pm, the sun was just setting and we were heading back to Hisae's to watch a DVD. It was really cloudly but you could still see the sun setting.
When we arrived near Hisae's house, I got a strange sense of dejavu, where had I seen these buildings before and that shop set up looks strangely familiar... Shenmue! I swear, the shop set up was exactly the same as the first one in Shenmue, the area she lived was pretty much like in the first town of Shenmue, it was such a contrast to the big buildings and neon lights in Tokyo.
Hisae lives in an apartment building, it looked never than the surrounding houses. Her apartment was small but for some reason it seemed very spacious. Kire had rented some DVD's the day before my arrival for us to watch, he got Babel and The Brothers Grimm. We decided to watch Babel but it was all in Japanese so we put on the other DVD. Brothers Grimm was quite good, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.
After the watching the film, we had to return the DVD's, by then, it was really dark and we were hungry so dropped the DVD's off and went to eat. Kire wanted to drink with me so we went to a traditional Japanese pub for food and drinks. It was really nice to experience a place like this, no tourists were here and it was not changed in any way to suit tourists. We had lots of good food, drinks and lots of sake.
I can't remember much nearer the end of the night, I some how got home, Hisae didn't drink so I assume she helped me to the station, paid for my ticket and threw me on the train. I can remember waking up in Ueno and stumbling back to the hotel where I must have decided to go online but fell asleep. I woke up next to my laptop and the youtube video of Giga Pudding was open
Gunma was amazing, as Lewis said, an experience Joe American or any other tourist wouldn't get, i'm really greatful that Hisae and Kire were so welcoming and showed me around their town. So far, Gunma has been my favourite day in Japan, it was nice to be with friends especially after yesterday.
I woke up not long ago confused and next to my laptop which was still on and full of msn messages. The night before ended with a massive drinking session, I can't remember much after that...
So yesterday I had arranged to meet my friend in Gunma, nearly two hours out of Tokyo, away from the tall buildings, neon lights and business men. Before I went, I had never heard of Gunma so didn't know what to expect, my gf said it was like the countryside, middle of no where and nothing to do. She'd never been there and it was obvious once I arrived, she was so wrong.
I had arranged to be there at 10:51 on the dot, the trains here run EXACTLY on time, never late unless there is an accident or jumper. I woke up at 8, had to catch the 9.16 train from Ueno, I didn't know when the next one would be so had to hurry to get ready and have breakfast, no time for Mister Donut!
When I left the hotel, it was cold and lightly raining, ran back to do a quick change, nothing like yesterday which was really hot and sunny. So made a quick dash to the station arriving at 9.06, 10 minutes exactly to find where to buy a ticket, buy a ticket, find a shop for a snack and then the platform.
Managed to get that all done and got on the train with time to spare, it wasn't as difficult as I imagined, I was worried I was on the wrong train, being on a wrong train would have put me two hours in the middle of no where.
Thankfully, I was on the right train and got moving, the journey was going to be long so I came prepared. I had my breakfast on the train, didn't get much but it was enough, a bottle of water and a Cream Pan, a bun filled with custard like cream, very good.
The train journey was an hour and a half but spent the most of it watching Weeds, thanks chalky!
I couldn't read the train station names on the signs, sometimes I couldn't see the english ones so had to rely on the train being at the station at 10.51, thankfully, I saw the sign that time. Got off and saw my friend on the other side of the platform behind the gates jumping and waving, nice welcoming.
Made my way across the bridge and met my friend, Hisae, she was with her boyfriend, Kire. Hisae speaks english, her boyfriend didn't know much. When I met him I was a bit nervous, he seemed the typical Japanese Rocker type, hair over eyes, big boots but he was very friendly, when he was driving us around, he told me to be relax and make my self feel at home in his car. Hisae was translating for us both.
Hisae saw my Mame-Shiba keychain, she was fascinated, she'd never seen or heard of it before. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! SUGOI DESU!!!!!!!!", Hisae gets excited very easily, she's hillarious. She later found the website and watched all the videos, I will send her one as a gift, want to make it a surprise but need to get her address.
We arrived at our destination, Hisae's University, today we was going to an annual festival at her university, it's an all girls university and the building was originally an old prison. The buidling was quite interesting, a little haunting but was nice to explore.
When we got to the enterance, there was at least 30 girls waiting there to greet and welcome us in, I couldn't take a picture because as we got close they started waving and talking to my friend, they were surprised a foreigner was there and used the chance to practice their English.
Past the enterance was a central area, there was lots of food stands and a stage where some presenters were talking to the crowd. We went in to the buildings and each of the classrooms had something going on in there such as, flower arrangements, cafes, jumble sales ect. It was really nice, groups of students had organised each room. We went to a cafe, the lights were out and the room was lit by small candles on the tables, it was really nice.
In the cafe room, we all had some tea, Hisae had a Cuppachino, Kire had Banana Soya Milk which was lovely and I had Lemon Tea which was ok, it was just tea with a big slice of lemon in it. The service was really friendly, when we sat down we were instantly given cups of water by a girl who seemed to just appear out of no where. After we placed our order we was given some nice homemade biscuits covered in honey and cream.
As we were leaving the festival there was a performance on stage, a group of girls were singing, Hisae pointed out they were terrible singers. Walking back to the carpark there was a police stand, there was a car, bike and information stand. You were allowed to sit on the bike so like any child or tourist would, I got on the bike!
After the festival we were a little hungry so Kire suggested we go eat, Mister Donut! Kire is awesome. He took us to Mister Donut where he kindly bought us lots of donuts, as he got to the till, he called to me and asked for my point card! 23 points get! Kire explained that it would be difficult for me to get the points but I have to keep trying and eat donuts until I am big and round
Had some really nice donuts today, Kire bought me a mini selection box so I could try the most popular ones. We had lots of donuts, we were all full after that.
From Mister Donut, Kire suggested we go to the game center, he drove us to Saitama where there was a large game center, it seemed like in the middle of no where, the building was huge, one part arcade, one part pachinko parlour. We went to the arcade which was awesome, all the games were 2 credits for the price of 1!
We started with Taiko no Tatsujin (Drum Master), I first played against Hisae and then Kire, they were both supprised how good I was at this game, I could over hear them saying that I was "very super" at the game
Next was Pop'n Music, this game is really fun, it has 9 buttons so can get very tricky, there are 2 play modes so you can play with either 5 or 9 buttons. After seeing me play Taiko so well, Hisae took control and put me into the 9 buttons mode on a song with begginer 4/5 difficulty, "I like this song". Again, they were both surprised how well I did, after the song, Hisae again took control and put me into advanced mode on a song with 6/8 difficulty.
We played more Pop'n music, we played with two people on the buttons, it was more fun that way, meant we could do the really difficult songs too, even with a 5/4 button split, the songs were tricky, me and Hisae didn't do so well but me and Kire got a really high combo and got 98% on a song! Great game.
After Pop'n Music Hisae dragged me to Drum Mania, DM is insane, the song I did was far too easy but it's hard to judge which songs are hard and not, even on normal mode, some songs are really hard.
Rock Band Expert is what this is on lower advanced difficulty, extreme is just inhuman, later in the day I saw some expert players, first they played Taiko and then they played Drum Mania.
After that we played more games, some Initial D racing game, I managed to beat Kire, he wasn't pleased. After that some Guitar Freaks, Beatmania and then Virtua Fighter 5 which I had never played, Kire was good at this game, very good but I some how managed to perfect him on one round. Took me 4 fights to beat him.
We left the arcade around 4pm, the sun was just setting and we were heading back to Hisae's to watch a DVD. It was really cloudly but you could still see the sun setting.
When we arrived near Hisae's house, I got a strange sense of dejavu, where had I seen these buildings before and that shop set up looks strangely familiar... Shenmue! I swear, the shop set up was exactly the same as the first one in Shenmue, the area she lived was pretty much like in the first town of Shenmue, it was such a contrast to the big buildings and neon lights in Tokyo.
Hisae lives in an apartment building, it looked never than the surrounding houses. Her apartment was small but for some reason it seemed very spacious. Kire had rented some DVD's the day before my arrival for us to watch, he got Babel and The Brothers Grimm. We decided to watch Babel but it was all in Japanese so we put on the other DVD. Brothers Grimm was quite good, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.
After the watching the film, we had to return the DVD's, by then, it was really dark and we were hungry so dropped the DVD's off and went to eat. Kire wanted to drink with me so we went to a traditional Japanese pub for food and drinks. It was really nice to experience a place like this, no tourists were here and it was not changed in any way to suit tourists. We had lots of good food, drinks and lots of sake.
I can't remember much nearer the end of the night, I some how got home, Hisae didn't drink so I assume she helped me to the station, paid for my ticket and threw me on the train. I can remember waking up in Ueno and stumbling back to the hotel where I must have decided to go online but fell asleep. I woke up next to my laptop and the youtube video of Giga Pudding was open
Gunma was amazing, as Lewis said, an experience Joe American or any other tourist wouldn't get, i'm really greatful that Hisae and Kire were so welcoming and showed me around their town. So far, Gunma has been my favourite day in Japan, it was nice to be with friends especially after yesterday.
Last edited by Alpha eX on Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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LewisD
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tl;dr 
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Qikz
- #420BlazeIt ♥
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That must of been so nice being shown around their little town considering no other tourist would probably get that oppurtunity.
That guy playing Drum Master was just... insane.
That guy playing Drum Master was just... insane.
The Watching Artist wrote:I feel so inept next to Qikz...
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Alpha eX
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I was just going to write train directions in my notebook so I know how to get to my girlfriends house, I completely forgot about these, the last one is hillarious, I don't know who did that one!
Last edited by Alpha eX on Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Crimson
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I was enjoying reading that post Alpha.......until I opened the last spoiler box. 
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JiggerJay
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Alpha eX
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Alpha eX
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Day 6 - Meeting the Father
Today was the day I would meet my girlfriend's father, I was really nervous and didn't know what to expect, Yuka didn't tell me much about her father, hardly anything so I just assumed he was a strict traditional Japanese man.
For the first time since I was here, I didn't have Mister Donut for breakfast today, instead I took LewisD's advice and went to Yoshinoya for Gyudon. Yoshinoya is very close to my hotel, it was a short walk to get there.
Yoshinoya is a fast food place but here you don't buy a ticket, you sit at the counter, someone brings you some green tea and takes your order, awesome service. Within 2 minuites I had some nice tea and a tasty looking bowl of Gyudon. I had never tried Gyudon before, it's beef with sticky rice. I really enjoyed it so big thanks to LewisD, it was cheap too.
After breakfast I went to meet my girlfriend in Sengendai, about an hour out of Tokyo. When I got there, gf was waiting for me and her father was waiting in the car to drive us to their home. Thankfully, he was really nice!
Won't go into detail about the day, a bit tired at the moment. Shortly after I got there we had lunch, we had a Japanese/Korean style BBQ, it was great! During my stay there, we watched some awesome Japanese tv, it was crazy and very interesting, a 2 hour long game show!
The whole visit went really well I think but it doesn't really matter, after today, i'm more than likely going to break up with my gf. She ignored me pretty much the whole time I was there, she made an excuse saying it was because it wasn't normal to bring a bf back home but that's bullshit, so what if it's not normal, you don't ignore a guest!
I'll end my post with this video, took it in an arcade today, this player was probably the best Beatmania player i've seen in Japan, he used both controllers and got over a 1500 combo... on each side together, I think he actually got a full combo!
Today was the day I would meet my girlfriend's father, I was really nervous and didn't know what to expect, Yuka didn't tell me much about her father, hardly anything so I just assumed he was a strict traditional Japanese man.
For the first time since I was here, I didn't have Mister Donut for breakfast today, instead I took LewisD's advice and went to Yoshinoya for Gyudon. Yoshinoya is very close to my hotel, it was a short walk to get there.
Yoshinoya is a fast food place but here you don't buy a ticket, you sit at the counter, someone brings you some green tea and takes your order, awesome service. Within 2 minuites I had some nice tea and a tasty looking bowl of Gyudon. I had never tried Gyudon before, it's beef with sticky rice. I really enjoyed it so big thanks to LewisD, it was cheap too.
After breakfast I went to meet my girlfriend in Sengendai, about an hour out of Tokyo. When I got there, gf was waiting for me and her father was waiting in the car to drive us to their home. Thankfully, he was really nice!
Won't go into detail about the day, a bit tired at the moment. Shortly after I got there we had lunch, we had a Japanese/Korean style BBQ, it was great! During my stay there, we watched some awesome Japanese tv, it was crazy and very interesting, a 2 hour long game show!
The whole visit went really well I think but it doesn't really matter, after today, i'm more than likely going to break up with my gf. She ignored me pretty much the whole time I was there, she made an excuse saying it was because it wasn't normal to bring a bf back home but that's bullshit, so what if it's not normal, you don't ignore a guest!
I'll end my post with this video, took it in an arcade today, this player was probably the best Beatmania player i've seen in Japan, he used both controllers and got over a 1500 combo... on each side together, I think he actually got a full combo!
Last edited by Alpha eX on Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rightey
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Pelloki on ghosts wrote:Just start masturbating furiously. That'll make them go away.
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Orbital
- Member
- Joined in 2008
man.. the day in Gunma sounded so great, with some great people, Hisae and Kire sound like really fun and helpful folks, i hope you meet up with them again since it sounds like there the most fun people you can meet up with at the moment, you should try and get them to come to central Tokyo, you can go drinking closer to home 
and that picture in Gunma, the one you said looks like Shenmue.. it really does (except the Snow and hill (the one the Hazukis live in)). i think the place you were thinking of in Shenmue is Dobuita / Doibuta street (something like that, keep in mind it was a long time a go last time i played Shenmue 1).
anyway i hope you have fun whatever happens, don't let the difficulties with your gf make the rest of your trip gooseberry fool, i will be waiting for your next post ^__^
and that picture in Gunma, the one you said looks like Shenmue.. it really does (except the Snow and hill (the one the Hazukis live in)). i think the place you were thinking of in Shenmue is Dobuita / Doibuta street (something like that, keep in mind it was a long time a go last time i played Shenmue 1).
anyway i hope you have fun whatever happens, don't let the difficulties with your gf make the rest of your trip gooseberry fool, i will be waiting for your next post ^__^
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