And while it may not be televised, it does look like it will be covered by press on both sides of the ocean.

To say that this whole thing has snowballed out of control is a *major* understatement. But I get ahead of myself.

Morning came early, with the child next door slamming doors and stomping around. We slouched around the room, had sandwiches for breakfast and went down to the lobby as usual. Today I wanted to geek out and spend money, so back to Nakano and all the nifty-shifty and slighty seedy stores at the Broadway shopping arcade.

This is a gratuitous “wacky” shot of a palm tree at a gaming place we saw on the Nakano train platform:

We played some games in an arcade – here’s Erin mastering the Taiko game:

And here’s Pattie taking a rest with Ronald McDonald:

P and I both bought doujinshi, I got some manga I would have bought anyway, but this way I saved the shipping, and I got some very nice ROD The TV gashopon. I saw a set for Mai Hime but it was sold and I never saw the separates anywhere else. And no Shizuru. If I can’t have the cool psycho lesbian with the big-ass weapon, then what would the point be?

We had sandwiches for lunch – I still have NO idea what was in mine at all. It gave me a stomachache later, but the wife says it was nerves. Our feet gave up at 3 or so and we crawled back to the hotel to crash. I drank the energy drink Rica made me buy – it tasted gross, so it probably worked just fine.

We met our staff in the lobby and took what *should* in theory be a 30-minute trip, but is, in reality, more like an hour, to Shinjuku 3choume station, which is right around the corner from the Cocolo Cafe.

Staff floated in and, like some kind of stupid joke, *everytime* I tried to do introductions, we were interrupted. It got pretty funny when we were interrupted three times trying to do a kampai.

Eventually we were all in place, dinner was served and we had a really, really nice time. The two hours flew by. The lighting in the restaurant was the worst possible lighting ever for photos, so all these have a weird surreal look, which I quite like. lol

This is a picture of Catherine taking a picture of me taking a picture, so of course, my picture didn’t come out. lol

From the left: Ive, Serge, Donna, Pattie, Kelli, Takami, Rica (waving):

From left to right: Catherine, Sparkle, Trevor:

I LOVE this picture! From the left: Dillon, Mr. Sakuta, Mr. Horai, Bruce. Aren’t they adorable?

The inevitable Takami and Rica eating picture:

And, at last, proof that I was really here and that I really am not photogenic. From the left: Takami, Rica and myself:

I think the energy drink really did work, but since we’re going to have such a long day, we’re back in the room, relaxing and martialing our energy for tomorrow.

Special snaps for Rica Takashima, who has worked *way* too hard on this and is doing an amazing job.

In the last few days, we’ve gotten some new guests, including Mr. Ito Bungaku, who originally coined the phrase yurizoku (“lily tribe”) almost 40 years ago. I think that this event is a tribute to him, and to Yoshiya Nobuko. I’d like to think that she’s with us in spirit.

Don’t expect updates tomorrow, kids – it’ll be a looooong day, ending in hours and hours of karaoke. Maybe I’ll be able to pull myself together for an entry on Sunday, but I promise nothing. ;-)