Reina's Japan Trip, June 2016: Day 4 Part I [Hokkaido, Hakodate Bay Area]

Reina's Japan Trip, June 2016: Day 4 Part I [Hokkaido, Hakodate Bay Area]

Thursday, July 14, 2016 / No Comments

To All,

Hakodate is quite a well-known town in Hokkaido, but to foreigners like you and me, it is constantly outshone by Sapporo, and we may have our doubts about visiting Hakodate, which we don't usually hear much about. I too, had my doubts, especially since I was going to Hakodate for school, but now that I've been there and back, I'll say proudly that I have no regrets!

This article would be mentioning a few tourist spots in Hakodate which I visited on my 4th day in Japan (2nd day in Hakodate). For starters, I'll talk about Hakodate Bay Area, which is a very famous tourist spot in Hakodate!

Hakodate Bay area is divided mainly into three parts: shops at the Bay area, the sea part of the Bay area, and hills. Hakodate is filled with hills.

For now we'll start with walking from the station to the shops itself. There are many sculptures and monuments which remind you time and time again that Hakodate is a fishing town and that they are very involved with the ocean! This large wheel among others is a hint of that.

While walking to the Bay area, I also came across a white building labelled "Shirokuma" where you can see a sculpture of a polar bear from the window. I didn't enter the store nor did I go close to take a better picture of the interior of the store.

The Bay area shops itself is in red brick buildings and they are quite easily recognizable. If you have been there before, you'll definitely remember them!

Some items which they sell include purses, clothes, shoes and food. They have a lot of food -- Shiroi Koibito, other famous Hokkaido food, honey, and more food. Also, it seems like Hakodate has something for Snoopy, Rilakkuma and Hello Kitty, but mainly for Hello Kitty.

 I came across Sugi Bee Garden in Hakodate as well! They have a branch in Singapore at Takashimaya so you can always easily check out their goods. From this store I purchased a Yuzu Honey bottle. The faint taste of the Yuzu is very refreshing, especially when Singapore gets unbearably hot.

Gudetama has its own fans, and of course they are rampant in Hakodate as well. Though I must add that it still can't rival Hello Kitty's. 

I also came across a Bushi-shop, which specializes in selling merchandise related to Japan's history. If you like Tokugawa (Edo era, like I do) or other famous historical figures and events, this is the shop for you. I spent quite a bit of time in this shop, looking at all the different range of merchandise they have on display and for sale. Even their purses look exquisite to me!

 After shopping a whole bunch at the shopping area, we decided to go on to other areas of the Bay. This time we started going towards the more scenic side of the Bay area where we can see the sea itself. The weather that day was really good and the skies were pretty, which makes the scenic areas good for both sight and pictures. I'll let the photos below do the talking on my behalf~

And if you don't know how it feels to be hot and cold at the same time outdoors, visit Hakodate in summer!

After this area, we went up the hills where we received a discount voucher for ice-cream, For 300 yen I got a milk ice-cream cone while my other friends got melon. The milk one was sweet and melts in the mouth to a creamy aftertaste. The melon one, on the other hand, was sweet and remained sweet while melting to leave a refreshing taste.

And when we speak of Hakodate, it's squid. And when we speak of squid, it's squid ink. Squid ink is the only edible black ink in the world and Hakodate have an urge to mix it into their products. It does set them apart from the other more commonplace products well. 

By the way, she is Tako-Rin.

I didn't try any squid ink products, but I've heard from the locals that the squid ink ice-cream didn't taste any different from the usual milk one. So the ink probably just resulted in the black color. My friends tried squid ink pudding on a later date, but that is a story for another time.

Making my way higher up the hills, there are many various strange architecture. Perhaps strange isn't a good way to put it, but more of... unique? You can't really find them in Singapore/ The one which I remember the clearest would be...

Up and over the hills brought me and my friends to souvenir shops, which I were unsure if they were placed there strategically or just randomly there, since I didn't see many other tourists. I'll skip the shops since they weren't selling anything much different from the Bay area, other than them specializing in selling handbags and phone pouches with either owls or cats printed on them.

After exiting this store, the next direction was to go back downhill and back to the hotel to unload before proceeding to the next and final location -- Goryokaku tower. While descending, we came across a park (which was unexpected) and we made a detour to take pictures. Being tourist sure is fun!

Hakodate, full of slopes.

  

We were nearly at the bottom of the hill when I spotted someone selling framed drawings. From afar I recognised Sumikko Gurashi and I just had to take a look!

Almost right after I raised my head from staring at Sumikko Gurashi, we saw a long queue outside "Lucky Pierrot". And being Singaporeans, long queues meant good stuff, so we had to check it out! 

Lucky Pierrot is actually a fast food chain in Hakodate, and it is more popular than McDonalds there. It's refreshing to finally have a fast food chain which is more successful than McDonalds, even if it's only in a single area. In fact, I heard from the locals that many people come to Hakodate just to have Lucky Pierrot because it's no common elsewhere (well, when you compare the availability to McDonalds...), and I couldn't actually believe this till I tried their food.

I mean, who would travel just for some greasy measly fast food? Oh, how wrong I was.

Oh my, that photobomb... Lady, I don't actually know you, please, no photobomb?

This is why it's much more popular than McDonalds. By the way, that squid cost only 300 yen and it definitely is a lot more chewy that Singapore's ones. Not to mention the rich sauce that adds just the perfect amount of saltiness to the dish, and the slightly burnt squid skin, which gives a nice grilled taste to the meal!

From Your Fellow Japan Fan,

Reina-rin

Day 1 (Part I) | Day 1 (Part II) | Day 1 (Part III)

Day 2
Day 3

Day 4 (Part I) | Day 4 (Part II)

Day 5 (Part I) | Day 5 (Part II)

Days

Days

Tuesday, July 12, 2016 / No Comments

As a kid, I hardly had anything to do with sports. The occasional Physical Education lesson was barely a representation, even though we did laps around the field, played ball games and tried not to kill one another in the process. Well, we never had much say in anything anyway. If anybody wished to be excused, they had to be too sick to do anything. In the first place, who would even think of attending school if they were unwell? Apparently, the school had believed that one of the methods to nurture its future stars was to drill them during Physical Education.

When it came to ball games, the boys had mostly picked soccer before the school decided that the balding field wasn't suitable for it because anybody could just decapitate anybody right in the middle of the game or something. Okay, our school never had a proper field for sport activities. The basketball courts were worn out and had fraying nets. The neighbouring school was way better off than us. But we still played anyway, no matter how bad everything was.

Naturally, the boys devised new ways to satisfy their soccer addiction. They used the old basketball courts for kicking the ball. Small plastic cones were placed at both ends to mark each goalkeeper. It was a lot crazier. Funnily, the teachers didn't think that playing soccer on the basketball court would pose any danger at all.

Anyway, since soccer was merely a form of passing time during those dreadful Physical Education lessons, it was more of the fun and fooling around that mattered than the sport itself. None of us had actually played in a tournament or a sport club. Neither had anybody expressed a desire to be involved in one. But I used to know a fellow student from another class who fought against the odds to play soccer competitively. He reminded me of Tsukamoto Tsukushi, a high-schooler who wasn't even athletic to begin with, yet had the determination to play the sport alongside others.

Joining the soccer club was quite the decision for Tsukushi, who had almost killed himself while trying to keep up with everybody else. An invitation to play casually with some strangers at the beginning became the trigger for Tsukushi to become a member of his school's soccer club later on. His fellow classmate, a blond head named Kazama Jin, was initially surprised and eventually motivated to do his best in the sport as well, despite being extremely talented and such.

Of course, just like how every other newbie would, Tsukushi had an extremely painful start with the physically and mentally demanding aspects of the sport, which were in fact a huge leap off the ground. Jin was worried about Tsukushi wearing himself out excessively, as the latter was rather clumsy and had no gauge whatsoever when it came to endurance and such. But an incident would change his perception, and Jin was more than willing to look out for his team-mate and newfound friend. 

Tsukushi's extraordinary growth as a soccer player had also influenced the rest of his team-mates and opponents. I have to say that watching Tsukushi is like revisiting another anime with a different yet still similar get-up. Yeah, Tsukushi is rather similar to Sakamichi from Yowamushi Pedal in some ways. Even though the former plays soccer, and the latter competes in road racing, both had started their respective roles from scratch.

Well, it would be fun to see where Tsukushi would end up in this anime. It has been a while since I followed a sports-themed anime. Yeah, I'm not really that fond of sports in the first place, but you know, there are exceptions to a lot of things. This is one, and then some.

This is Days.

Eccentrically Yours.


Written by J.Fluffysheep ♪

Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid Kousaka Honoka Stage Version (Good Smile Company)

Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid Kousaka Honoka Stage Version (Good Smile Company)

Monday, July 11, 2016 / No Comments

To All,

Finally I'm going to take a look at the leader of everyone's favorite idol group! Kousaka Honoka is an energetic girl who may seem rash and selfish sometimes, but that only makes her more human and in that aspect, more endearing to fans.

Here I have all three of them in their infamous Bokura wa Ima no Naka de poses, as if they are in a performance mid-song. Sadly, I didn't order any of the Love Live! Nendoroids from Good Smile Company and hence don't have any of their exclusive bases to make my display appear more stage-like.

Packaging

Orange is Honoka's image color and Good Smile Company plays well by making this her main color. In addition, they have contrasting colors like pink and blue to help add more life to this box.

Honoka comes with simple parts. She has several exchanges of hands -- one to pose her with her hand on her hip, a bent arm with a gun pose, and another arm without a hand -- a bent leg, and an additional face-plate. Sadly, the main difference between the two face-plates is that one has a closed smiling mouth while the other has it wide-open.

Base

It's another normal Nendoroid base. Fortunately for mine, it fit Honoka well, albeit a bit tightly, so I had no fear that I needed to file the stand to fit or that the Nendoroid would fall off the stand if moved.

Posing and Assembly

The lights from this make it seem like Honoka is right on stage and the spotlights are all focused right on her! Sadly, Honoka doesn't come with a lot of parts, or parts that have much variation. This clearly restricts her freedom of posing and leaves her looking pretty tame no matter which pose you put her in. Maybe that would be different if you match her with her Training Outfit Version parts, but that doesn't change how bland she is as a Stage Nendoroid alone.

Perhaps because she came with so few parts, assembly is much easier than expected. I could also easily decide on a pose to put her in because there aren't that many choices in the first place.

Sculpting and Painting

Honoka's sculpt is pretty amazing in its own way and it does make up for her lack of parts. Ill start from her hair sculpt first. Her hair seam is well-hidden and doesn't look out of place. It also merges well with her hair shape, along with the side parting. The criss-cross parting likes on the top of her head is a cool detail to add as well.

My only gripe would be the white spot on the right side of her bangs, but slight mess-ups like this when you are producing on a huge scale is imminent.

Of course, Good Smile Company hasn't forgotten to add in the her trademark parting hairline above her left eye. Her earrings are also in place and the large circular part with golden shade makes them look slightly comical, which is perfect for a Nendoroid (chibi!).

The painting for her glove is well done as well, with no paint spills over to her fingers. I admire and at the same time, wonder how Good Smile Company is able to accomplish that, especially with the thin line of red going in between her thumb and index finger.

Her outfit is done pretty crisp and clean as well. The colors are spot-on and Honoka's yellow ribbon, with stripes of orange going down it gives a slightly different feel from the flat black ribbon on her skirt. This actually adds dimension and prevents the two large ribbons, which are situated so close together, from overwhelming the figure.

I would also like to take this chance to mention about her earrings as well! I like how detailed the red tassel-like object is! Her glove is also well-painted, with reference to the lack of paint spills from the red glove to the back of her hand in the heart-shaped cutout.

But more importantly, I'll like to mention how the black layers of her skirt reflects the light! It catches the light at the right spots, giving the flat black more life by making the light and shadows give it more depth! This also helps in enabling the skirt to appear more lightweight even though the piece has at least 4 layers (2 red, 2 black)!

Enjoyment

Being an expressive individual, it's disappointing that Good Smile Company failed to have more varied expressions to show all those other sides of her. Thankfully, her sculpt seems to be better than the other Love Live! Nendoroids, which makes her amazing to pose right in the midst of that amazing group of nine ^^

From Your Fellow Collector,

Reina-rin

Minami Kotori Stage Version | Minami Kotori Training Outfit Version 

Yazawa Nico Stage Version | Nishikino Maki Stage Version | Kousaka Honoka Stage Version

My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia

Sunday, July 10, 2016 / No Comments

Adolescent superheroes certainly aren’t unique anymore, being used a theme countless times through the years, from Disney’s The Incredibles and Sky High to Marvel’s X-Men. Although this isn’t a unique theme by now, it’s still entertaining to see these teenage heroes struggle with their powers and the usual host of growing pains one goes through. 

Unfortunately, I’m unable to think of any anime or manga off the top of my head that uses the ‘superhero-in-training’ theme to great success. An unpleasant surprise considering all the ninjas, samurai, pirates and even shinigami I’ve seen through the years.

Enter My Hero Academia. The manga made its debut two years ago in Shonen Jump and has already received a 13 episode-long anime adaptation by Studio Bones with a second season currently in production; a testament to its popularity. It revolves around Midoriya Izuku, his enrolment into U.A High School, a prestigious training institute for superheroes and his growth as a hero.

One small catch: he doesn’t have any superpowers in a world teeming with heroes and villains. However, as one would expect, he does develop a superpower, hence his successful enrolment, but in an unusual way.

Before anything else, I would like to commend Studio Bones for faithfully adapting the manga, taking 13 episodes to adapt 21 chapters. They’ve even managed to include minute details, such as the supporting characters’ antics in the background and the studio’s own take on several key scenes ended up improving the viewing experience. An example would be the scene where superstar hero All Might takes on Nomu, a villain that is essentially a humanoid bird on steroids.

My Hero Academia’s cast of characters was the highlight of the anime for me. Each one of them has a unique superpower, or ‘Quirk’, as the series calls it. From your usual super speed and super strength to more outlandish ones such as the ability to fire lasers from one’s belly button and the creation of cellophane tape from one’s elbows. 

For the main cast comprising of Izuku’s class in U.A High School, they aren’t seasoned heroes yet so expect mistakes to be made throughout the series, with the most common one being the students overusing their powers. Hilarity ensues, even in dire situations.

The fight scenes were top notch as well and I’m glad the anime resisted the urge to turn every battle or trial into a bare-knuckled brawl. Izuku’s battles were especially entertaining, with the young high schooler being required to use his extensive knowledge of heroes and quick wit to overcome the lack of control over his own Quirk. He even manages to minimise the disadvantages of using his Quirk almost immediately after enrolling into U.A High School.

I’m definitely looking forward to the second season of My Hero Academia, where the pace ramps up, new villains get introduced and character development is increased for Izuku’s class. Fortunately, there’s even enough source material for a third season but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Written by ET

3DS: AC Happy Home Designer

3DS: AC Happy Home Designer

/ No Comments

Hello fellas and welcome back to another 3DS review!

This time round, I'll be talking about Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. It's quite different from the usual ACs, in the sense that you literally do nothing but design homes over and over and over again.

So, from the beginning, you come in as a Nook's Homes employee, and right after you pick a avatar design that you like, you head straight in and design one of your colleague's home. The client will provide several items that must be used, along with a theme for the house design.

For example, the first was to design something with a lovely atmosphere (if i remember correctly), and you literally do not need any brains to go about it. You can just pick any furniture you like, and as long as you use the required furniture that the client provided, you pass! Of course, if you wish to follow the theme, it's still easy as pie because everything you need is already labeled.

My third client wanted a Rococo themed design, and I didn't even need to think hard because there was already a selection titled Rococo wallpaper, Rococo flooring, Rococo bed, etc.

After designing a few homes, you'll be upgraded, and will be able to start designing facilities. The first will be a school, and you'll get to pick the external paint color (although only three choices). You'll proceed to design a classroom, and only one classroom.

Further through the game, you'll get to pick plots of land for your clients, and you can actually just pile all of them on one plot of land without repercussions. You'll also be able to start design their gardens and facade.

This goes on and on and on, though you'll be able to upgrade houses from one room to three rooms, and the same goes for the facilities. You'll also be able to change your avatar style after the tenth design.

There really is nothing much to do but to design and redesign your neighbor's houses over and over, and after a while, I had to give up because I felt so bored and stale.

Of course there are smaller details, like being able to take photos of your designs, and using the amiibo feature to get several other neighbors, but ACHHD doesn't pose much of a challenge. In fact, as a designer, I'd say the only challenge I've faced is trying to fit all my furniture into the small room early game, but once I've given up on fitting a toilet/bathroom in, I'm all settled.

Overall, ACHHD is a great game for designers, and especially so if you're a bored designer who has too much time on their hands. However, as someone who constantly need new things and new challenges, this is a no-go for me.

I'll probably set this aside and play something else. Well that's all for now,

Nerd out! (None of the photos belong to me!)

Written by: ninetylives