hey all,
This week has been ridiculously busy. Tuesday, a friend and I went shopping in Akihabara in Tokyo. This is the main electronics district, so we hopped from store to store, checking out games, Blu-Rays, TVs and computer monitors, and MP3 players. I've been meaning to get an mp3 player, but actually that name is rather deceiving. Yes, the machine I bought plays mp3s, but I don't actually have any mp3s. It also plays Ogg Vorbis files, which is the file format that all my audio files are in.
The other main items I was looking for were Fight Club and The 40 Year Old Virgin on Blu-Ray. It turns out that neither of these movies have been released in Japan on Blu-Ray, although Fight Club is actually coming out this Friday. I reserved a copy at a local shop today, so I won't have to spend $10 on train fare just to go and pick up a movie. Why these movies? Because Michi is actually coming up to Omiya this weekend, instead of me heading in to Tokyo. The current plan is dinner and a movie Saturday evening, then Omiya park and possibly Kawagoe on Sunday. During out trip to Jogasaki, I told Michi about Fight Club and The 40 Year Old Virgin, and she was interested in seeing the later. However, as it hasn't been released in Japan yet, we'll probably have to settle for Fight Club. Although I am envious of her English ability, she would probably have a hard time following rapid, slang filled dialogue without subtitles, and the US Blu-Ray release does not feature Japanese subtitles. (Of course, both these movies have been released in Japan on DVD, but neither my PS3 nor my laptop can play Japanese DVDs, and I'd rather not shell out any money for a DVD player, nor clutter my already (electronics- and otherwise) cluttered room with another clunky piece of hardware. Thus my insistence on the Blu-Ray format, since the US and Japan are in the same region for Blu-Ray.)
Today, I went in to Tokyo again to see Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's latest piece. A pretty enjoyable film, even more so since I got to see it for free. I even hit up several local electronics shops for accessories for my mp3 player.
Tomorrow, I've got my part time job, and on Friday I've got possible skype appointments.
Cheers,
