If you ignore my warning, then I take no responsibility for you becoming mentally unstable after reading about a number of your all-time favorite characters doing horrible things to each other. ^^;
Now that you've been warned, click below to read about my misadventures in Japan. (You won't see the clickable "Read More" link if you received a direct link from me or someone else.)
The reason I was taking a trip to Japan at all was because I work for a 100% subsidiary of a Japanese parent company. There's a big summit twice a year and I accompanied the company's president, who speaks no Japanese, as his translator/interpreter.
Before any trip took place, just getting the presentation for the summit ready was hell. My flight was also at 1:20 A.M. Tuesday - meaning I had to leave Monday night. I was working from home on Sunday night, got the work done at around 2 A.M. Monday morning, went to bed at 3, got up at 8 and then went to work. I left work shortly after noon so I could finish up what I couldn't at home, such as vacuuming and washing the dishes before my flight. After I was done with the mundane household chores, I checked my work e-mail and found more work. I didn't want to do that work in Japan so I spent the time and effort to do the work before my ride arrived. Done.
My ride arrived shortly after 7:30 P.M., picked up another passenger a little after 8, and then arrived at the airport early.
Flight at 1:20 A.M., Tuesday.
I slept on the plane for about 4 hours. Local time in Japan at the time of arrival: 5 A.M., Wednesday.
I accompanied the company president in a taxi to his hotel, dropped him off at his hotel, and then had the driver drive to my hotel. My hotel's check-in time was 3 P.M. Even after the taxi ride and filling out the hotel's paperwork to join its membership program, it was still before 7. My work schedule for Wednesday was to meet with the company president and an important person from the parent company for lunch in Shinjuku at noon. Since I had a few hours to burn, I paid a visit to a 7-Eleven located just outside the hotel to get some food and drinks. I then went to the train station and hopped on a train to Gotanda.
Once in Gotanda, I walked around quite a bit to familiarize myself with the area. I still had a lot of time before 10 - which is the time the Mirai store opens. I managed to make several laps between the train station, the Mirai store, and the post office. I did this not just to kill time but also to check how long it took for me to walk from one location to another. The most important one was checking how long it takes to walk from the Mirai store to the Gotanda train station. My plan was to leave the Mirai store by 11 so I'll have time to attend the business lunch in Shinjuku at noon.
I went through a slight misadventure trying to withdraw cash from a machine in Japanese post offices. I even called my bank from Japan to see if there's anything wrong with my account which prevented me from withdrawing money. No problems exist stateside, so it had to do more with the post office machines. In 2006, the only places I could withdraw money were from machines in post offices and not from normal banks. Now it's the other way around. I ended up withdrawing cash from a cash machine located in a 7-Eleven near the post office. Cash in hand, I headed toward the Mirai store again and did a little more waiting. I took some photos. While they're nothing somebody else hasn't posted already, these are MY photos. :)
While I waited, one of the things I did was to watch and rewatch Danny's tutorial video for how to build a Smart Doll. This is a recommended video for anyone who wants to build a Smart Doll by participating in the workshop.
Once it was close to 10, Danny Choo and his staff came out from a door different from the one with Mirai and Chitose on it. Since I was waiting at the building's entrance, he asked if I was waiting for him and I replied I want to participate in the workshop. He replied please wait a few more minutes because he still has a meeting with his staff. Shortly after 10, I was able to go inside and participate in the workshop.
Once inside, I paid for the workshop. I was then told to choose the parts I wanted to use and I was pretty much left on my own until the step which required a staff member to implement. I chose to build Kizuna. Once I selected my parts, I looked at the clock on my cell phone to see when I started building. Within minutes, I asked a staff member to implement the step which requires specialized tools. I expected him to understand Japanese but the staffer was more comfortable speaking English. I asked him to use the tools to attach the spine and the rear socket while I worked on assembling other parts. While I don't know if this sets a new record and it wouldn't be official anyway, looking at the time on my cell phone, I finished building the body in 12 minutes. I had trouble assembling the head because for whatever reason, the wrong head cap was mixed in with the correct head cap when I was selecting the parts. I also didn't didn't do a perfect job with the eyes. However, the head, my struggles and all, took me 7 minutes to build. It took me 19 minutes total to assemble a Smart Doll. My experience with building complicated plastic model kits came in handy. The fact I can assemble my own doll was the reason I took an interest with the Smart Doll in the first place.
Once I was finished, Danny inspected the doll and adjusted Kizuna's eyes for me. He then commented I chose Chitose's eyes, which are blue, instead of Kizuna's eyes. All I did was to select a pair of blue eyes; I didn't know there was a difference between Kizuna's blue eyes and Chitose's. However, I'm perfectly happy with the eyes I selected for Kizuna.
After Kizuna was assembled, I started to shop and I also got an interesting conversation going with Danny. One of the topics which came up was why I was in Japan. I told him I was on a business trip and I had a little bit of a window for visiting Gotanda. When questions about why I took an interest in dolls came up, I made it a point to mention I love his design philosophy. Because of his design philosophy, I made it a point to tell him I wanted to give him money.
In terms of shopping, I picked up a few more things (which I won't list here) but there were a few non-doll items as well. The most significant item would be the umbrella. The umbrella didn't come into play until later but I'll address that when I write about the following Monday.
Danny Choo is awesome. Period.
I had several bags of stuff to carry back. Fortunately, I brought a large plastic Nike shopping bag with me so I took the products I purchased at the Mirai store into that. Instead of carrying several small bag, I carried one large one. This Nike shopping bag played a significant role later, on Monday.
I left the Mirai store shortly after 11. I arrived in Shinjuku around 11:20 and the restaurant at 11:30. I had one problem. I wanted to use the coin lockers to store my new toys instead of taking them with me into the restaurant. This was impossible. Due to a number of heads of states arriving in Japan for an economic summit, all the coin lockers in Tokyo were barred from use as a way to prevent terrorism during their visit. I ended up taking my large shopping bag with me to the restaurant. I stored the shopping bag underneath the table.
The business lunch lasted from about noon to 2 P.M., and then I had free time. This was still too early for me to check into my hotel so I walked to the Tora no Ana in Shinjuku. I asked about a non-H doujin by a circle I like and it was in stock. By the time I was done with shopping for doujins, I figured it would be around 3 by the time I got back to the hotel. I got back sooner than that but I didn't have to wait too long to check in.
After checking in, I changed out from my "business" clothing and got into a plain white T-shirt and khakis. I rested a bit and left my hotel room around 4. I headed to the train station, hopped onto a train, and headed to Nakano.
The place of interest to me in Nakano is Nakano Broadway. Once there, I was disappointed with one thing. One of the stores I wanted to visit was closed on Wednesdays. I still had things to buy at other stores. A few other non-H doujins from the circle I like was in stock - and this was a pleasant shock. I also picked up a few more "doll crap" items. Most of my shopping was done at several Mandarake stores. Once I was done shopping, I looked at the time and it was 6 P.M. I pondered where to go and I decided to head to Ikebukuro.
I found the layout around Ikebukuro station to be a little confusing. I spent quite a bit of time on foot trying to figure out the layout of which path goes where because nothing seemed to be straightforward. I don't think I reached the next store until 7:30, and Ikebukuro is only a few train stations (and a few minutes by train) from Nakano.
Ikebukuro has a small doll store called Dolly Teria. Its inventory of new and secondhand doll items is quite impressive. I waffled over what to buy but I did pull the trigger for this secondhand set:
I assume the shirt is a now-discontinued Culture Japan brand Smart Doll frill shirt. The skirt is a TTYA brand skirt.
If anything, after all that time I spent on foot trying to figure out the Ikebukuro area layout, I was glad I didn't walk out from Dolly Teria empty handed.
After Dolly Teria, I went to the Ikebukuro Labi and picked up a 1/3-scale plastic model kit of swords.
By the time I got out from Labi, it was close to 9 P.M. and I was hungry. I headed back to Shinjuku and had dinner at Coco Ichiban. Good curry. After dinner, back to the hotel. Crashed. Day 2 would be much easier.
If after reading this you think I'm nuts, my mother agrees with you.
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