You know the old saying: The head bone’s connected to the…uh… arm bone? Created by manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, The Yōkai Daizukai is an illustrated guide to the pranksters, winter spirits and all around monsters that exist in the shadows, inhabiting the Japanese countryside. Whenever I see these little creatures they seem strangely reminiscent of Little Monsters.
[PinkTentacle]

I was wandering around central London on Thursday (in the rain) and thought I’d pop into Uni-Qlo to buy some colourful boxers and socks. And once my under-roo’s got scanned and rung-up at the till; they got bagged in this cool Yatterman bag! Uni-Qlo always have really cool J-themed prints on their bags. I got a drawer full of ‘em, because I’m sad like that. This bag makes me want Tatsunoko vs. Capcom so badly…

If I were a character archetype I’d be a collector. In an RPG I gather everything I can, rarely selling it or leaving it on the ground. I am a pack rat, a junkie. My addiction? Strategy guides and game manuals. Growing up I didn’t read books, comics, or magazines. The money I’d get whoring myself out in summer jobs would be spent on my beat-up car and the crisp glossy guide of the next gaming hit. Most times I wouldn’t even own the game. It was my “me time” to gaze at each map, carefully studying each location, knowing every bosses weakness. When that wasn’t enough and funds we low, I’d go to the local Blockbuster, sometimes driving to multiple locations and casually take out the game manuals for home reading.

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China is known for its population loving a good old ride on a bicycle. (Something that Chun-Li’s stage in Street Fighter II taught us years ago). But I had no idea so many Japanese folk rode bikes too. Bikes run rampant in Japan. They’re bloody everywhere!! I’m honestly surprised I’m still alive, because I came too close on one too many occasions to being mowed down by a bicycle.

Dodging and weaving in between people on the streets of Japan is difficult enough. But then to have bicycles thrown into the mix!? It’s dangerous. Japan has a low crime rate. So holding onto your bag and your wallet isn’t what you need to be focusing on. What you need to focus on is not getting your arse run down by a bike. People ride FAST. They creep up behind you, they won’t steer out of the way of you and there’s no sympathy for you being a foreigner.

Not all areas have marking on the pavements clearly showing where you should walk and where cycles should ride. So you have to gauge how and where people walk. There seems to be this secret society system to how the Japanese walk in regards to bikes on the pavements. You do catch the hang of it eventually. Looking ahead to see if there’s a wave of people shifting to one side to let a bike through. And listening intently for the speedy spokes, or a bicycle bell unintentionally sounding quietly as the bikes goes over an uneven slab on the pavement.

Me being from London – the city of zig-zagging walkers and pavement blockers, it took some getting used to. But it’s something you do have to adjust to. Unless you want to spend your holiday in a nice, but expensive hospital.

There are a lot of tall buildings in Osaka, but one (or two) in particular are pretty special – being one of the city’s most recognizable land marks: The Umeda sky building. It consists of 2 large buildings which connect at their upper most stories. It’s a very distinctive building which is easily distinguishable and clearly visible along Osaka’s sky line, especially during the day. The top floors feature ‘The floating garden observatory’, which offers a stunning view of Osaka and what I imagine are areas not in Osaka at all. The view is truly breathtaking. A couple of my Heroes stanning mates noted how the hollow in the building looked like the eclipse styled O of the Heroes logo. (The geeks…)

For what look like a couple of office buildings, there sure was a lot of cool stuff to see. Spectacles weren’t only found on the upper most floors, but also the ground floor too. The main courtyard at the ground level between the two buildings had a water feature, which lights up at night: giving the illusion that multi coloured water is being poured out of the pillared fountains. Another area also featured what looked like a small Christmas grotto: complete with over-sized gift wrapped presents, wooden cabins and a large Christmas tree. The grotto didn’t look complete, but in it’s unfinished state it still looked pretty cool. Not sure what the purpose of it is though. Whether there’ll be a Santa-san making appearances in December or what. I should’ve asked someone. But you know, lack of knowledge of the Japanese language and all that.

The Umeda sky building is multi purpose. Not only is it a tourist attraction, but a dating hang out, macking plot, make out session spot, kick it with the girl on the d-low zone – whatever you’d like it coin it as. The floating garden observatory featured comfy little pods that couples can snuggle up in, a dark room with a large circular seat around the perimeter and a lit up floor, and then up on the roof-top you had retro style UV lighting. Probably not the best place to take your partner, unless you want to see how much dandruff they have in their hair and how white their and your teeth aren’t. The roof top had a sectioned off ‘couple’s only’ area, which can only be described as a futuristic dance floor with a seat in the middle, looking like something out of a Madonna music video. It looked pretty crap, but we still wanted to plot ourselves down there. I mean, shit. We’d come all this way! A couple of my friends asked the security man / attendant (who looked like M. Bison) if they could go down to it. But the man gave us the old X-arms (which means “No!”). He then told us “Couple’s only”. My friends then replied (with lies) saying “But we’re a couple!” But M. Bison said nope. No gays allowed it would seem.

Whether you want to go on a spot of sightseeing, chill out with friends, go on a nice date, drop a marriage proposal, hold a wedding (Yes, the Umeda sky building offers wedding packages!) or go somewhere to get some nookie with a nice view – you can do it all at the Umeda sky building. Highly recommended. If you do go, be sure to go at night, so you can the cities aglow with lights from the rooftop.

This is one of Japanese’s unique national sports, and a regular sight on Japanese trains. There is no place you won’t find a Japanese person K.O’d. In the street slumped against a lamppost, in shopping malls, in restaurants and eateries, even on train platforms. Anywhere is fair game to look dead and completely out of it.

The Japanese work hard and party hard, so it’s only fair they get to sleep hard too. It’s something you don’t ever really get used to, because each day you’ll find somebody looking more dead and K.O’d in a more uncomfortable position than the last. Only in Japan could young lady be sat on her own in a train carriage fast asleep with her handbag and mouth wide open, and there be a minimal chance of her getting mugged or raped. Gotta love the safety.

God continue to bless Japan.

I have to admit to not having thought much of the 360 to begin with. But having watched it materialize into this pretty decent console with a tight library of games, solid online and Japan slowly warming to it – I had to hop on board. So a few days ago, I went and treated myself to a brand spaking new Xbox 360 Elite. Most of my mates owning a 360, Street Fighter IV and vowing to buy Resident evil 5 day of release were also defining factors which shoved me into taking the dive.

If any of you own an Xbox 360 and have a shiny gold Live account, be sure to share your gamertags. I’m not fussy. I’ll accept Friend requests from any one. The more the merrier!!

Post your gamertag or your gamer profile link in the comments section of this post. If we get enough gamertags and activity going on, then the next step – gaming parties. Who doesn’t love a good ol’ party!

Capcom gave Xbox 360 and PS3 owners a pretty nice gift a couple of weeks ago: a playable demo of their forthcoming, behemoth of a game, Resident evil 5. I have to confess that my rose coloured glasses for Resident evil 5 came off quite some time ago when I began to see that nothing about the game looked all that new over 4, aside from the co-op play and graphical step-up. Everything else looked more of the same, right down to the character animations, A.I and sound effects. So is there really anything to get excited about?

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Chun-Li’s theme has been remixed and re-arranged so many times, that it’s often hard to even take notice. But Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has me sprung so badly, that I’ve been indulging in everything related to the game except playing it. (Curse Capcom for developing a great looking game, just to have Tatsunoko licensing screw its chance of getting a western release!)

After a bunch of Street Fighter related games which featured not so much as a hint of classic theme’s and a bunch of ever-so-forgetful new ones; Tatsunoko vs. Capcom see’s Capcom giving characters kick arse remixes of their classic themes! Yay!!!

Chun-Li’s Tatsunoko vs. Capcom theme is for the lack of a better term, downright funky. It’s a cool take on her theme – staying true to its essence, but giving it a cool new twist. I especially love the bass and the guitars. This is probably one of my favourite arrangements of Chun-Li’s theme. It’s great to hear a non CPS-2 mixed take of it.

Listen: Chun-Li’s theme

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom OST
© 2004 Namco

For the mp3 players: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom – Chun Li’s theme

Honey & Clover is a currently airing drama in Japan, based on Chika Umino’s manga of the same name. It centers around a small circle of friends who all attend an Art university. Things start off pretty simple, but soon complicate themselves because of that age old thing called ‘love’.

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