this is the sign that i am all too used to seeing in front of ds and dslite shelves..  sold out, wait for next shipment.  therefore it was very surprising when we found a few left in the department/variety store “Tokyu Hands” in kobe.  as this was my mission for the day outing to kobe, i was very happy to fulfill it in the first shop we visited.

what can i say?  its a nice little machine – the screens are so bright that games look different to what they did on the original ds colour wise.  i was kind of planning on getting the white version, but this store only had light/dark blue.  this colour is actually a lot nicer than i thought it would be though – a very pale shade of blue (probably looks a bit different to the picture above even).

i already bought ouendan second hand last week, so i wasn’t really planning on buying any games today.  then there was a change of plans when i found children of mana on sale for 2980yen ^^;.  at least i had a game to play on the way home .  children of mana is interesting – the fighting system is quite unique and doesnt get boring, the graphics are awesome and colourful.  if i have one problem with the game, its the simplicity of transport between dungeons, which involves a main map where you can choose a location and instantly be transported to it.  the story is also quite.. shallow?  but i guess i’m not *that* far into the game yet.  the dungeons are fun when it comes to replay, as you can try to beat your time in order to get higher ranks and earn item rewards.

tonight at the shops i saw that big band game second hand – is it worth buying?  i never really got a chance to play it :/

so today we had 3 classes at uni. while they are almost double the length of lectures at uwa, they are somewhat bearable (depending on the sensei though). we then went to visit “The Mall” – a largeish shopping centre with a department store called Livin and a variety of specialty shops. i dashed straight for the games section of course, but they didn’t have any ds lites . the woman gave the usual reply “no we don’t know when we will be getting more” as well. i wasn’t surprised though. how the hell nintendo is making profits at the moment if they aren’t even selling their console… this store did have ouendan for 4400yen so i was happy to be able to think that i saved 1300yen buying it second hand .

well episode 2 of the anime化 nana was on tonight (although somewhat delayed by the baseball -.-) so i was glad my palm reminder woke me up from an unplanned nap. at first i was wondering if i had the wrong channel.. so i started to do some hardcore channel surfing. the tv system (at least at this house) is somewhat strange; there are three services – 地上(above ground broadcast, or normal tv), BS and CATV. as you’d probably expect, the 地上 service doesn’t have the best image quality, but luckily all these channels are available via CATV. the only small problem is that the picture doesn’t fill the screen… i’m not sure if this is a problem with this particular settop box or the tv, but its kind of annoying. i really have to look into getting a HD recorder and sticking it behind the STB… around 30-40000 yen for a cheapish 200gb one which also has a dvd recorder. sounds goodish?

as for the BS service… i’m not sure why but it wasn’t working tonight ^^;. the catv specific channels aren’t really that interesting, but i guess thats the same as most cable services? there was some anime channel which i was watching earlier – rockman was on at the time. these little kids came over from across the road and were watching it all afternoon. i fell asleep >< .

i want to go back to the video rental store already :d

omake: my humble media collection from this trip. its sure to expand

nn

update: i found out how to access the BS channels ^^;

first of all i’ll just mention that i’ve changed the number of entries my front page displays at once… since i am kind of overloading on the pictures, and loading the page takes almost 30 seconds ^^;. so just keep that in mind if you do even care. i’ll also be laying off the embedded pictures in exchange for a bit more written content – so if you are just coming to look at the pictures head off to the gallery :p.

i guess there’s a lot to say. university classes started yesterday, so i actually have some material to study now. they are not so different from what we were doing in australia for the majority (apart from being 80 minutes compared to 45), apart from specialised and optional classes for speaking, kanji and computer information handling. it is a lot more like high school – we stay in a single class room and teachers come to us, there are bells signalling the end of each period, and the classes are small and very interactive. overall its a good learning environment imo and i’m happy :d.

the university has its own eating area (or 食堂) where you can order a meal from a vending machine, and take your ticket up to the kitchen, where the chefs cook (or… dump on to your plate) your meal. the meals i’ve tried so far have been quite tasty (tonburi, katsudon set, kitsune udon), but i really don’t know how healthy it would be to eat that kind of food every day… tea is free, but you have to wash all your dishes yourself in the (somewhat) automated washing area.

beneath the canteen place is a general store, with lots of haichuu and tasty stuff, along with a smallish bookstore. besides these shops are about 4 vending machines selling just about any drink you could possibly desire . the cream melon soda for 80 yen in a cup is veery good, not to mention cheap.

-

its been raining for the last few days, and almost everyone is sick.. i have a sore throat myself, which is really horrible when i wake up but not so bad in the day as long as i have some (peach) throat lozengers. apparently there is a weather warning for tonight, but tomorrow was forecast as cloudy -> fine…

speaking of weather forecasts – in japan it isn’t just a matter of rainy, cloudy or fine. oh no… they will make sure to give you a percentage chance of rain for that day, just in case you want to take a gamble on whether to walk or bus it to your destination. i guess thats weather loving japanese for you.

-

my host family took me to a video rental store last night. this place has just about any dvd you could possibly want, along with a music cd library (also for rental ). the best part is that rental overnight is only 200yen. yasui deshou! i got out the movie NANA and watched (and ripped) it last night – it was really nice . next time will be a raid on their music cd collection, followed with a lot of lossless ripping that night.

mmm, i have a lot of random events that i’d like to talk about, but i think its best to start in new posts for those. i guess i’ll finish with a few interesting points!

• sakura flavoured kitkats are tasty…
• in the worst case, our classes go for 240minutes with 3×10 minute breaks in between :s…
• because of the length of classes, one week of studying here is equal to more than 7 weeks at UWA…
• i bought ouendan without even owning a ds…
• (though i’m reluctant to write this) psrv is still up and going strong..

well, finally the sakura have finished blooming (most of them anyways ^^;).  its an awesome sight – they kind of line the side of the river along the road we take to uni.  it makes the journey a lot nicer.  so does the recent rainfall, which filled up the “waterway” to actually make it look like a real river.

they really do have a *lot* of sakura in himeji.  these trees look pretty bland for what… 350 days of the year, yet they make it the primary plant which is around the city.  i guess they can spend those days looking forward to the sakura blossoming for the other 10 or whatever.  they really do like their sakura in japan though – about every tv show on at the moment has to have a sakura tree in the background, every pop song that comes out has to have the word sakura in the title, and every family has to have a barbecue and drink under the sakura trees (on the dirt beneath them >.>)

next time you visit the boook store, don’t buy a book – buy a mook.  i guarantee it will be a much more interesting experience :p

we have an orientation kind of camp starting tomorrow and going overnight.  not really sure what will go on there, but we are with all the japanese first year students along with the other ryuugakusei.  should be an interesting experience.