Archive for April, 2005


Yuri Revolution Day 6, Part 1

April 14th, 2005

At last my internal clock has reset itself correctly! Hurrah! I feel as close to human as possible. And it’s gorgeous out, the Hanazono Shrine is really cool and the meeting with Ichijinsha went really well.

The scoop is, Yuri Shimai will be back, hopefully in July. So, yay for yuri fans everywhere! The editors, Nakamura-san and Umezawa-san, were exceedingly nice people, and the meeting couldn’t have gone better, really. I look forward to developing a relationship with Ichijinsha to bring good yuri manga to the English-speaking world. :-)

I feel like we turned a major corner today. Maybe it’s the weather, maybe that the meeting went so well, but for a short moment, I am no longer nervous about Yuricon on Saturday. The translation issue may be awkward, but we’ll be okay. I believe that. (Partially because I finally gave the Hanazono Shrine the money I promised it.)

There are so many things I haven’t written about at all, because I’ve been so tired and unmotivated. The hotel is packed with a variety of people…everyday the lobby looks like the UN is convening. This is a little strange for Tokyo, although at home I’d hardly notice. (Actually, this time I’ve seen alot more foreigners in Tokyo, everywhere. So obviously, last time it was the holiday – everyone was gone home, wherever that was.) The other morning, two fabric salesmen had emptied their sample cases in the lobby and were re-arranging them. Yesterday, there was a ton of luggage in that space, and this morning it was two tables, with old guys sitting and answering questions. You just never know what you’re going to find.

Pattie and the gang are off hunting kitsune (fox) shrines and taking in Harajuku (goth lolita capital of the world) so I’m just sitting around in the room waiting for them, listening to what sounds awfully like a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer from my window. It’s probably the yakiimo (baked sweet potato) truck outside. LOL Yes…definitely the yakiimo guy. The wind shifted and I can hear the words now.

In Ikebukuro there are two trucks the ride around with sirens and voices yelling at us. One has a man’s voice – I’m sure it’s some right-wing group exhorting us to expel foreigners or something. The woman’s voice truck keeps repeating a phone number over and over. They are both really annoying. (In fact, as I am typing this, the woman’s voice truck just went by….)

One thing I keep wanting to mention is how REALLY nice and helpful people have been so far. The maps rarely have landmarks I can use (or even *find* half the time) and there’s so little orientation that I’ve been asking alot of metro station guards and koban box policemen for directions – and they’ve all been really nice and helpful. It sounds like a stupid thing, but everytime I’ve ever asked a NYC cop for directions, they’ve acted like I was wasting their time – and then they gave me bad directions to boot, because none of them actually live in the city. So yay for the Metro guys and the Koban policemen! (And no – they don’t speak English, but I can say “Which way is whatever-it-is?” and I know right from left. LOL

And on the way to the Takarazuka theater, some random man stopped and asked in English if we needed help. It just proves once again that that old chestnut about cities being unfriendly is wrong. I know plenty of people are helpful in NYC – I know I help people who are lost there all the time. So, pfft on people who think cities are unfriendly.

Okay…I have a Nero Wolfe novel waiting for me. I’ll catch up again later!





Yuri Revolution, Day 5

April 13th, 2005

Finally! A full day of walking around to see *stuff*.

Today (Day 6) I have a business meeting mid-day, so my day is pretty much shot for fun. P and the gang will be shrine-hunting in the sunshine, and maybe with luck, we’ll manage Mandarake tonight.

But back to yesterday….

It was super cold and rainy, so Tokyo Tower was right out. We decided to head to Asakusa to the Senso-ji, because there’s so much to see there. And I took, for me, alot of pictures, which will probably bore you to death, so here’s just a few:

This is the Nakamisedori – its the road that runs upt to the main Temple, and has a bazillion little overpriced knicknack shops:

Here is a picture of a shrine to Benten, the goddess of fortune and wisdom:

And here’s a cool waterfall set-up, crossed by a tidy little bridge, with a koi pond on the other side:

P and Wing and I ended up in an udon place for lunch- it was good, but a little heavy. A bit miraculously, we managed to find everyone else again (for the second time – bizarrely, we all ended up at the bathroom at the same time….) and we took a long, long, looong walk out to Kappabashi, the restaurant supply and plastic food district.

I want to digress here for a sec. Apparently the only “in” color for school uniforms this year is navy blue. I have seen a handful of green, grey or beige uniforms – but scores of navy blue. I have no particular interest in school uniforms…I just noticed the preponderance of navy blue.

Anyway, at the Kappabashi, we learned that plastic food is very expensive. Vicky, if you read this, we got you your gyoza. You’re welcome.

Expensive plastic crabs:

Shiny colorful expensive plastic food:

Two utterly random things we saw while walking:

We ended up on the Inarichou, which has alot of stores that sell religious goods. We split up here, because we were all tired and cold and needed a break.

P and I went back to the hotel, I napped, she read. At 5 we decided to walk out for dinner, so we called everyone in the hotel and met at 6. We wandered Ikebukuro, spent more money at Toranoana, then wandered behind P who wanted curry and for all of us to sit together. We ended up at Sunshine 60 in the food court, where they all had curry and I ate a salad.

About 9 I crashed again and we went back to the room where I was asleep by 10. I’m really annoyed about how badly I’m handling this trip. I was so good about not having caffeine before I left and eating right and exercising, and I’m falling apart worse this time than last. I wish I had some energy! I feel like I’m half ready to sleep *all* the time here and it’s been almost a week already. I really didn’t count on feeling this way for so long.

Anyway, enough whining. Today I meet with the new editor of Yuri Shimai and Rica to see if we can develop some sort of relationship. It will certainly be interesting, if nothing else!





Yuri Revolution, Day 4

April 12th, 2005

Sorry for the delayed update – yesterday was awfully busy. All that sitting and grinning and being happy wore me out…but I digress.

The morning began with meeting the gang in the lobby. We had a fair crowd: Bruce, Zeyl, Wing, Erin, Laura, Kelli, Donna and Serge.

We hit the streets of Ikebukuro for a short walk, and then, like the good host I am, I had to bail. Donna, Serge, Bruce and I had a date with Death.

Takarazuka is an all-female musical revue troop (for the geeks out there, it’s the kind of thing Sakura Taisen is based on) that has been in existence since the 1920s. Getting tickets is hard, but Rica got us a few and the show was SO good, I forgive her for killing me the other day!

I recommend you click the above link for the story and pictures (because I couldn’t of course take pictures during the show….) but you HAVE to read the story! Who *knew* that the fall of the Hapsburgs was because Death had the hots for a woman??? I sure didn’t! I’m going to track down my history teacher and complain, because that’s a damn site better a story than boring old socio-politcal forces and changing economics!

I did manage to take a picture of the nice policeman who gave us directions at Hibiya Park:

And the outside of the Theater (all the ladies loitering are probably scalpers):

And this statue at the corner of the building:

But it will take me several separate entries to truly gush about the show. It was perfect! It was everything I’d ever hoped a Takarazuka show would be. Nao Ayaki as Death was great – she moved so cool that Donna and I kept trying to mimic it unsuccessfully – and the music and songs were brilliant. Even Luigi, the stereotypical Italian cum Greek Chorus was fantastic.

Really – my toes wiggled through the whole show it was so good.

And everywhere Death went, “he” was accompanied by a dozen Deathlings (which Donna called the “Deathkateers”. I kept singing, “He’s Mister Death Miser” tunes when they came out – and if you know the reference, you’ll understand what they looked like.

When I get home, I’ll scan in some pictures, just to show you some good bits.

In any case, it was brilliant. It was also 3 hours long. By the time we got back to Ikebukuro, I was wiped but, as it happens, almost everyone had fled. So Donna, Serge, Bruce, P and I went for Italian at the Italian Tomato (I had a spinach pasta dish which was pretty good) we crashed in our room for Doctor Who and Live Action Sailor Moon, then I kicked everyone out and was asleep by ten.

Today (Day 5) was supposed to have been sunny, but is once again rainy, so I think we won’t bother with Tokyo Tower. I’m going to start at Akasakusa and try to get to Kappabashi…and then we’ll see. :-)





Day 3, Part 2

April 11th, 2005

P and I were in the hotel lobby, while I waited for Rica and Takami to meet me, and the next thing we knew, everyone else was there!

The rest of the gang decided to hit up Shibuya while I went out to Koujimachi to do a sound and video check at A|Z Cafe. P decided to go to Odaiba to go to a stationery store (that turned out to be long gone, oh well.)

The A|Z Cafe is really a nice little place – very comfortable and friendly. The sound/vid check went off without a hitch, which is worriesome. lol

We sat and discussed the schedule and other details, then had lunch. Eating is a bit of a trial right now – I’m still jetlagging pretty hard. But the food was amazingly good and I did pretty well, although they didn’t think so. :-(

I ordered the fried oyster balls in miso sauce. If you get a chance to try that at the A|Z cafe, I strongly recommend them!


This is, from left to right, Kajimura-san, the owner of the Cafe, Takami and Rica, all working hard while I sat and stared.

Everything is good to go for Yuricon 2005 in Toky – all we need is people to come!

My eyes were smimming in my head when we left. JUST as I crashed onto the bed of the hotel room, P walked in. Figures. So now we’re relaxing in the room, watching a dubbed and subtitled silent western. Seriously.

Oh, weather today is cold and rainy with intermittent earthquakes. (Weird…I was *just* typing “just kidding” when a temblor hit. What a freaky feeling!)

Tonight’s plan is to do snacks and watch Doctor Who. And to *finally* let me crash and burn!

Tomorrow, we begin the tour. I wonder how it will turn out? LOL





Day 2, Part 2 – Day 3, Part1

April 11th, 2005

Well…all I can say is that Rica Tashima is evil. No rest for me, as I found out after the early morning stroll around Ikebukro.

We talked business for a few hours, then she had me come with her to pick a friend up at Shinjuku. Only…I thought I’d be gone for half an hour – I was gone for four. I didn’t have my bag, so no camera, so no pictures of any of the things I saw yesterday, including the bar in Suginami city with the random Gundam statues in the window.

I was supposed to meet someone last night, but I couldn’t do it. I had warned her that my second night and third day is when I crash from jet lag. She didn’t care. I begged off the metting and she took us out to a manjuyaki restaruant for really good food that I only tasted, because I was too tired to eat.

I was asleep by 9PM, and awoken at 7AM by an earthquake – or, more accurately, the wife waking me and pointing out that there was an earthquake. 6.1 at the origin, felt like 3 or so here. Mostly it felt like a boat rocking…a very strange feeling on the 16th floor of a hotel.

We all gathered together for breakfast at a local cafe and a stroll through the rain.

Donna, Serge, P, and Sparkle on “Romance Street”.

This little guy is gesturing for you to come into the restaurant.

We wandered among the closed pachinko parlors and soaplands and nudie bars, and now I have to pack the computer up – I’m off to the A|Z Cafe to meet the owner and do a sound/video check.

The rest of the folks will be wandering about for the day, while I do business. Lucky dogs.