When you stick the kanji "Ita" [痛] in front of a noun, you get a new word that describes something that is plastered with 2D girls. For example:-
痛車 "Itasha" (Moe car) > example
痛チャリ "Itachari" (Moe Bicycle) > example
痛部屋 "Itabeya" (Moe room) > example

And now we have Ita Controller [痛コントローラー] as made by Itabeya-san.

Itabeya-san made this 360 Ita controller to go with his Ita-Xbox covered with the gorgeous Kusagano Sora from the eroge Yosugano Sora.

Folks who are bored of gripping up their controller and would rather get to grips with a cute 2D girl (or boy) instead should first off go and get some Nobiru Label from Amazon - tis a sticky sheet that you can print on - and stretches. As you can see from the insert, you can print and stick the label on curved areas like a mouse, controller of even your dolphin or best friends face.

Itabeya-san has kindly provided the 360 controller template for you - half way though this post - click to download the 300 DPI template.

Once you have printed on the sheet, you will then want to top it off with either some Lacquer Spray or Acrylic Spray which coats the print and prevents damage from sweat or any other bodily liquids.

Close up of a print that's been protected. Now you can spray all the...sweat that you want all over the controller without worrying about the ink running.

Cut out the print, stick on the controller and enjoy.
Me thinky me wants to make one with Mirai-chan for the back of my iPhone4 - me needy to look for an iPhone4 template.

On our recent trip to Izu, we visited an area called Dogashima [堂ヶ島] which is a popular scenic spot featuring a load of caves, cliffs, greenery and absolutely gorgeous clear water. Tis located very close to Koganezaki.

One of the highlights of Dogashima are four islands called Sanshiro Jima [三四郎島] which can be reached by walking over the path of rocks that reveals itself only during a low tide. If you fall asleep during the hot Summers afternoon then you will need to swim back to the mainland ^^; In this post we will go play around Sanshiro Jima.

No train stations in the area at all so you'll need to rent a car or take a package tour which you can pick up in Tokyo or wherever you are staying. Punch the following address into your car navigation: 静岡県賀茂郡西伊豆町仁科
When you arrive, you will see something similar to the view in this photo - just park anywhere.
[gmap=34.78471, 138.76552]

Look for the Dogashima Onsen Hotel - this is the entrance. Continue to walk down this path.

When you see this sign, walk up the steps which will eventually lead down towards Sanshiro Jima.

200 meters ahead is Sanshiro Jima - be very careful on the way over there as the mossy rocks are very slippery. The water is just so gorgeous that you will want to just dive in. If you do then you can wash yourself off after - there is a tapped hose leading away from the toilets near the hotel.

Photos taken on the Lumix GF1 and Lumix LX3.

Stumbled onto a BBS that had a load of Japanese users sharing photos of rooms with Macs. The otaku level for most of these photos are rather low though ^^;

The last time I visited Ameyoko was a couple O years ago - should probably visit more often as the food is great and there is lots (and lots) to see.
Also wrote up a post on Ameyoko back in 2008 which lives here - going to cheat and copy/paste bits of it.

Located between JR Okachimachi and Ueno station is Ameyoko - an outdoor shopping market filled with many dealers wheeling and dealing discounts on all kinds of stuff including seafood, sweets, t-shirts and snacks. Map of Ameyoko below.
[gmap=35.709909, 139.774385]

"Ameyoko" [アメ横[あめよこ]] is short for the full name of the market which is "Ameya Yokocho" [アメヤ横丁[あめやよこちょう]]

Many moons ago, American soldiers used to come here to sell their bits n pieces to make a few yen on the side.
One of the origins of the name "Ameya" is said to come from "AMEricans" and "YA" meaning "shop" = American shop.

Another explanation of the original meaning of "Ameya" is said to come from many shops in the market that sold sweets. "Ame" meaning "sweets" and "ya" meaning shop.

The whole area around Ameyoko is filled with side streets which branch off all over the gaff. Somewhere in here you can make some dog tags of your 2D girl/boyfriends, buy some frozen pigs ears to bring back for your nephew, stock up on old military equipment so that you can get treated like a criminal while going through security checks at the airport and you can also stop by the many stalls selling hot n cold snacks to keep you going.

While there are many foreigners who visit Ameyoko, many locals come here to do their daily shopping which makes this place special in that you also get to see a slice of life in Japan.

Previously however, Ameyoko wasn't so much about "A slice of life" - rather a "Slice of somebody's knife." After the Second World War, Ameyoko became a black market where a load of rogue soldiers and gangsters would come to wheel n deal and occasionally shoot others.

The authorities at the time turned to a business man called Hirokichi Kondo and asked for his help to buy up 80 stores in the Ameyoko area with the main purpose to drive out the trouble makers. Over time, Ameyoko started to become a safer place to be.

Ameyoko is in the Ueno area which is also close to Akihabara. If you are nearby then I recommend dropping by - don't go too late (8PM) or many stalls will be closed.

Just a few things to mention before I hit the sack. Currently creating a Places to visit in Japan guide which you may want to refer to before you come over.
You can also see a PDF icon on some posts which we are testing at the moment - Mirai Gaia can now generate a PDF of each post so that you can conveniently read it on your mobile device or if you are using an iPhone/iPad or iPod Touch then you can view the posts in iBooks. Download the PDF for this post and give it a whirl - lemme know what improvements you want. Font sizes are 16px so that they should look decent on the iPhone 3GS.

Also plan to release an RSS feed so that you can grab all the PDF's for each category. Want to make the whole site archive-able in PDF format. Will probably torrent each years worth of posts in PDF format too.

You will also see a little map icon in the gray bar below the title - hover to get Geocodes or click to see the location in Google maps. Soon there will be a map of Japan filled with all the thumbnails for posts on DC.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

All photos taken on the Lumix GF1 and some of the original photos in this post are in the Wallpaper Pool.

The recently released Amaha Miu Dollfie appeared on the doorstep the other day - thanks to Dollfie World for sending her over! They sent her out on a Monday from Hong Kong and she arrived a couple of days later on Thursday - speedy service @.@
Dollfie World still have one left if you are interested.

This is what Miu-chan looks like after a change of wig and clothes. She's originally from an eroge called Mashiro Iro Symphony - more 2D pics of her at Moe Imouto including a very smexy dakimakura cover. Om nom nom?
PV for the game below with a very catchy tune.

Still trying to figure out what those white marks are on the box - reminds me of crop circles.

There is no plastic padding in the box so it can be folded up and easily stored.

Had no idea that Miu was a Dollfie Dynamite. But after seeing her the eroge it starts to makes sense ^^; Speaking of Dynamite, which DD body do you prefer? I would love one that's between DD and DDy.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
And how about bust size? I used to prefer L size but taking a liking to M size of late ^^;
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Dollfies come with a booklet on how to maintain your girl and a single print of the character.

Default wig which I thought looked OK but then decided to use another. At the moment Aoi-chan is the only girl who uses the default wig.
Do your girls prefer default or custom when it comes to wigs? If you prefer custom then do you keep or sell the original?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

When it comes to the original garments however, none of my girls wear them. I'm not keen on the way dark colored clothes are included when they are only going to color transfer onto the body - then there is a note that comes with the doll saying "color transfer is not a defect."
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Lovely uniform but looks odd without the inner dark shirt - but didn't bother to try it on as dark colors can color transfer in as short as 5 mins!
If you are new to the doll world then don't leave dark colored clothes on your girls. You could get some body tights if you do want them to wear dark though.

If you do get color transfer stains on your girls then you could do what I do and use some left over paint thinner from making Gunpla.

Actually she looks better without the inner shirt ^^;

Wig was second hand - about 500 yen (?) from one of the doll shows. Eyes are default and clothes by Puppy Dolls who are currently auctioning some of their products.

Many doll owners have a habit of being on the look out for more daughters. What I notice is that they also end up customizing their girl which leads me to guess that many don't really care about which character the doll is supposed to be as they usually don't look anything like their anime or game counterpart.
Having a cute face is probably the main criteria for deciding upon adoption - would this be the case for you? If so then I'm guessing that you would probably prefer to pay less than having to fork out extra for a wig and dress that you are not going to use. Also, because most Dollfies are licensed characters, you are also paying for that license fee that the manufacturer has to pay to the copyright holder.

Dollfies are not the easiest doll to get hold of. How are you getting hold of yours - online, locally or through a proxy service?

Wasn't too sure about the face sculpt of Miu-chan until I saw photos by actual parents. The official stock photos dont seem to do them justice. Initially felt the same particularly about Nia but now want her bad especially after seeing Aquabeat's girl!

OK that's enough interrogation for today ^^;

Miu-chan was feeling rather hungry after being in hibernation for a while.

One of America's largest anime events took place last month - Anime Expo was held between the 1st and 4th of July and was attended by over 100,000 anime fans from all over the world. Guests included MAY'N, Megumi Nakajima, Nabeshin, AKB48 and more.
While I didn't feel that I deserved to be invited to such a prestigious event, I humbly accepted and not only did I get to absorb an incredible experience, I also got to meet a load of comrades.

The main purpose of my visit was to meet and help connect my comrades with other comrades and hope I did that through events like Los Angeles CGM Night.

Today we will take a peek behind the scenes starting with the Press Junket. Each of the guests were lead to hotel room where interviews took place one after the other for a few hours.

Some of the press folks awaiting their next victim ^^;

Taking a much needed 5 min lunch break.

Saber complained about the food so the folks looking after us gave her a 500 USD AMEX gift card to buy some grub. They work just like a standard credit card.

Saber took us to eat some nosh at Little Tokyo (I think that's what it was called). Great company and fab food.

Saber ended up using the 500 USD in a jiffy so she asked for another one - only to be given a 1000 USD AMEX gift card @.@

Saber then went and got herself a basket ball that cost 1 USD and then decided to keep the rest of what was on the card. Oi Saber!

The whole of Anime Expo was managed from one hotel suite called the "Green Room" or "GR" for short. This is where the staff come to get orders, hang out, sleep and play some Street Fighter.

The Green Room is also where the guests came to mingle with the staff...

...and is also where I came to raid the place for food. This photo was taken after the event but during AX this room was filled with *everything* just *everything* !

All the Anime Expo staff were volunteers - everybody worked their bottoms off around the clock and were not paid a single dime. But instead they got something much more valuable than money. They got to be part of something big in a field that they are passionate about and also got to mingle with the guests and make a load of new comrades. The connections and experience that these folks have made is something that can not be easily bought.

I've been running my business for a few years now. Much of the work I do (not all!) is for free which helps me build my network and gain experience. This also means that as I'm doing a load of unpaid work, we barely cover our costs - but that's OK for now as long as I'm paying Chris every month and we are not starving ^^; But the network and experience that I'm still building now will help me recover costs in the future.

The takeaway here is to always think long term and think about the future you. If you believe in yourself then invest some time on building your network and experience now because you will make it in the future anyway. Thinking about ROI (Return On Investment) from day one means that you are focusing too much on the cash and are not willing to devote time to building relationships or gain valuable experience that you need for the future. Thinking short term will always mean that you fall short of your destination.

Going back to the staff, many were Japanese Americans but also included Taiwanese, Chinese and Korean folks who spoke fluent Japanese too. Some of the folks flew in from overseas just to help out on AX. If you speak fluent Japanese and can translate clearly between the local teams and guests, are good at working with ambiguity and with large teams (and for free) then AX needs you next year - keep your mince pies on the AX site for updates on volunteering.

I remember when Street Fighter 2 World Warrior first came out in the arcades back in the UK. T'was 1991. I always chose Chun-Li back then. These days however, I end up choosing Ryu and manage to do 2 Hadouken and 1 Shouryuken before its game over for me ^^;
What SF character are you most skillful with?

Had a nice room although I didn't get much time to relax in it - nearly every day I was up until 4AM working on the presentations or with folks back in Japan. Would be often woken up at 7AM with a "Danny you are supposed to be at the Ballroom!"

Most of the times the room looked like this though ^^; That windbreeaker is from my times at Microsoft. I was surprised at how cold it got at times even though my Twitter comrades told me that it was quite warm at night!

The opening ceremonies took place at Nokia Hall (or was it Nokia Theater?)

What was supposed to happen was that I was to go on and make out that I was the MC for the morning. Then the real MC would come along and kick me off where the music would start to play straight away. Events didn't quite happen the way it was supposed too ^^;

The AKB48 girls as seen from back stage.

And a snap from my seat at the closing ceremonies. Will leave you to gander at the rest of the photos while I catch up on more posts as usual ^^;

Almost forgot to mention. Just wanted to say to all the AX staff that it was great meeting you all and hope to see you again soon - ping me when you are in Tokyo and we'll grab a bite to eat - I'll bully Saber into letting go of that 999 USD ^^;

Just saw the post by Yui over at Figure.fm about the new 50cm bodies by Volks entitled Dollfie Dream Sister (DDS).
Looks like they've come out with a completely revamped body - dying to get my hands on one ^^;
More pics at the official DD Blog.

Opera-tan is the unofficial mascot for the Opera browser created by illustrator temp_h. According to temp_h's latest blog entry, Hobby Link Japan will be bringing out a garage kit figure of Opera-tan this November and that comrade Modeller-T will be the sculptor.
Is Opera the first browser to get its own figure then?

Used to be a die-hard IE user until about 2003-ish when I switched to Firefox. Me use Chrome on the MacBook Air though as Firefox is resource intensive. Have not been using Safari due to the lack of extensions up until recently. Gave Opera a whirl for a bit but then stopped whirling.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Nitroplius - a Japanese company set up in the year 2000 which focuses on game, anime and character goods development. Some of the games they work on include titles like Phantom, Steins:Gate and Muramasa. One of their most popular character creations is Super Sonico.

Today we have a gander around their gorgeous offices located in Akihabara and as usual look for stuff to pocket ^^;

First met Nitroplus when invited to join in on some karting shenanigans by Good Smile Big Boss Aki Takanori.
In 2008, Nitroplus and I worked on a game called Miracle Mirai starring our mascot character Mirai Suenaga. But it was just an April Fools. However April Fools have a strange habit of becoming a reality over time ^^;

This is the desk of Tsuji Santa - the guy responsible for many of the Nitroplus artwork including Sumaga and Super Sonico.

More of Tsuji-sans desk where he's working on some ecchi stuff ^^;

There are two big bosses at Nitroplus - one is Kosaka-san who you saw in the Otacool 3 post.

And this is the workspace of the other big boss Doi-san. Absolutely loved their offices which felt kinda cozy.

Announcement soon on what Nitroplus and I are working on ^^; In the meantime I still got to write up office tours of Hobby Japan, Hobby Search and the Obitsu office visit ^^;

Today we take a gander at Lazona - a shopping complex located in Kawasaki within the Kanagawa prefecture. Designed by Spanish architect Richardo Bofill, Lazona Kawasaki opened for business in September 2006 and currently houses a ton of shops n restaurants and is also home to one of the few IMAX Digital cinemas available in Japan.

To get to Lazona you can get off at Kawasaki station on the Keihin-Tōhoku Line, Tōkaidō Main Line or Nambu Line. If you are going by car then punch in the following address into your car navigation.
神奈川県川崎市幸区堀川町72-1
[gmap=35.531976, 139.694149]

While its still mid Summer, many of the retail stores start to stick out their Autumn apparel line.

In the not too distant future, shops like these will have underwear for dolls too. Maybe? ^^;

Sometimes I cant tell the difference between Uniqlo and Muji. I know my pantsu are from either but cant remember which one.

On the Avex label is Alan - a popular Chinese singer in these neck of the woods. Shes already got a few CDs out and you can listen to one of her tracks below.

Lots to om nom nom in the food courts. I think I've tried pretty much everything here ^^;

Machines to charge your e-payment cards such as Edy. Popularity is certainly growing but you still cant get by without cash in Japan. Many places don't accept credit cards at lunch time because of the processing fees they need to pay.

The Cold Stone girls can be very sweet - especially when they sing.

A new shop on the corner is selling some large takeout pots of beef, tarako, rice and spring onions - we give em a whirl.

Food court is more lively during the Summer holiday season.

Me chose the tarako (cod roe) . Only became accustomed to eating this after living in Japan. Sometimes the tarako comes with a baby face.

Many shops start to close around 8PM so if you plan on paying Lazona a visit then go early.

Some traditional Japanese sweets - Dango and Warabi Mochi.

Looking for some of that liquid you use to disinfect your hands while out n about.

Some lovely designed cones for folks who need their door stopping. Probably not effective enough to prevent your door being opened by mama or papa while you are taking care of your health.

These mats are made of Igusa - in daily lingo its "Juncus effusus L. var. decipens Buchen." Tatami mats are also made from Igusa. In the Summer, we stick one over our futon (bed) to keep us cool and it also helps keep the sweat from seeping into the futon.
These Totoro ones cost between 5,980 yen and 8,980 yen depending on the size. They can be rolled up so if you are thinking of buying one then you should have no problem sticking it into your suitcase or as a carry on.

Some character brolleys for 500 yen a shot.

Chalk bags are still popular. I have a black one which I wear out n about. Want to design my own soon.

Lazona has a huge store just like Tokyu Hands which do a load of DIY goodies. Enough plastics here to make an Iron Man suit.

Time for Inception and before that are the usual manner videos. Some of these are quite amusing. If your Japanese is up to scratch then you will like these.

So how did you enjoy Inception? If you went to the toilet half way through then you probably would have come back thinking what on earth was going on. I enjoyed the movie. Me a sucker for eye candy so was expecting more of it though.

New Ultraman Zero movie out this December.

About 23:30 after the Movie. Trains continue to run from Kawasaki station until about 00:20. I think the car park is open 24 hours.

Also adding some photos that you have seen scattered throughout the A Week in Tokyo series.

Tis that time of year when the creepy crawlies or cutie crawlies (depending on your preference) come out not only to play but to also bite and suck on your juicy bouncy...legs.
I say "cutie crawlie" because many folks over here love insects and keeping some of them as pets are part of Japanese Culture as we learned in the Japanese Pets post.

The insects that I see around the house would be cockroaches (an average of 3 a year), a spider or two near the windows and a load of mosquitoes in the Summer. I've seen a total of about 2 flies in the house after 5 years of living here!

Back in the UK however, we had a ton of insects - bees and wasps loved flying into my room, flies circling the ceiling endlessly and ants would make their way in somehow. I remember biting into an apple pie only to find that a family of ants had move in. Does your gaff have insects crawling out n about?

While I say that we don't have many insects, there are obviously a load that the average human optical eye cant see. To make sure we don't end up with infestation problems, we regularly "gas" the house with some of the Japanese products available.

Posted some photos from the iPhone the other week but didn't really talk about the whole process.
These red canister thingies are grenades designed to send out a gamma pulse to wipe out all insects in your house. This brand is called Earth Red and you can see it in action in the videos below.

As you saw from the videos, a cloud of smoke shoots out of the canisters which goes absolutely everywhere. While they are designed to leave objects around the house unharmed, my girls didn't fancy being around breathing in all the smoke. Karin, Nanoha and Saber run up to the 3rd floor and ask me to help them hide in one of the cabinets.

The girls are probably the most precious items in the house so wanted to give em extra protection - placed them in a rubbish bag as the smoke will seep through the cabinet doors too.
Most Japanese rubbish bags are transparent which enables the rubbish collectors to see whats inside. If the contents are not separated out properly into recyclables, burnable and non-burnable bags then this happens.

Girls go into hibernation mode for a few hours.

This is how Earth Red and similar products like Valsan works. Water is placed in the outer can and then the Canister Of Doom is dropped inside. After 1 - 2 minutes, smoke will then start to shoot out while red lights start to flash, sirens start to wail and radars start to spin.

The Canisters Of Doom carrys a payload enough to wipe out 12 - 16 tatami mats worth of arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton.
Tatami mats differ in size depending on the region of Japan but in Tokyo a tatami mat is 88cm by 176cm. The size of a tatami is still regularly used as a measure to represent room size. For example when you buy an air conditioner, it would indicate the total of tatami mat area it covers.

These ones cost about 1,000 yen each but the price goes up depending the the payload area. Ones that cover 30 - 40 tatami mats retail for about 2,500 yen.

We place one canister on each of our 3 floors and slowly make our way down while activating the payload. Smoke shoots out of each canister at an alarming rate and within a few seconds each floor is filled with smoke.

Time to retreat to the 1st floor.

1st floor payload activated. ETA to complete wipeout - 30 seconds.
While the payloads are being delivered, one *must* vacate the area or end up damaging ones lungs beyond repair. We vacate for a few hours to Lazona to watch some Inception and take some video of the mall while we are there too. The recording of the live broadcast can be seen at my Twitcasting page and broadcasts are announced on my Twitter.

As mentioned, the product is designed to wipe out insects and leave everything else unharmed. Figures and computing devices are unharmed with no trace of power or anything.

Its all over when we come back home. The payload has wiped out the entire population of creepy crawlies on all 3 floors and we find a couple cockroach carcasses lying about here n there. Then we give the whole house a hoover and wipe down to get rid of the ones we cant see.
And for curious folks out there like me - don't sniff the canisters like I did - ended up with a sore throat and a cough for the evening ^^;

These products are the bees knees - have not seen them back in the UK and remember buying some to go back when we came to Japan as visitors. Wifey and I used to rent an old apartment back in Earls Court which was infested with bugs. You got anything like this in your neck of the woods?

During the Summer, mosquitoes are out in force and there are times when you just cant prevent them from sucking on your juicy bouncy...arms. Muhi is a product to help get rid of that itch. Its usually a liquid which you roll onto that pesky spot. An example of Muhi in action below - all you do is shout "Kayui" (Itchy!) and an onee-san will come running along with some.

And now they got these wristbands called "Mushi Guard" which is supposed to keep away the mosquitoes. Have no idea how it works.
"Mushi" [虫] means "Insect."

Saratekuto is a product which you spray on your soft n boucy bod to prevent being bitten in the first place. We use this product too which provides a cool powdery feel after spraying.

Recently found out that one of my comrades does some marketing work for McDonald's Japan. She asked me whether I was collecting the Food Straps that we saw in the previous Tokyo Fast Food post.
Told her that it was tough super sizing my meals to L size each time and that I only had the fries and Big Mac. She said that she would send some over for me.

I was just expecting the set of 5 but what arrived was a box of 47 of em!

Hope my girls don't get too fat eating these. I just realized that these are great marketing items too. Whenever I look at them, more often than not I would feel like eating some Mc Dee's ^^;

Will be giving these out to dannychoo.com doll owners on my next visit to Hong Kong this October and Singapore this November. Hope to have some left for a TBA visit to the UK this December. Will announce meetup locations through my Twitter and Facebook.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Lots of juicy buns. 5 of em. Om nom nom.

First photo taken from either the July Megami Magazine or Animage - I forget which one ^^;

Folks who have just recently started to read the site may not know about the anime title Chinka that I'm working on with production house Hibuse. Pretty much everything you need to know is summed up in this post.

As a reminder, the following folks worked on the PV which we released this April 1st ^^;
Masahiko Komino (小美野雅彦). He was the supervisor for the Chinka PV and previously worked on titles such as Baka to Test, Macross Frontier, Saki, Hayate, Kannnagi, Sekirei, Strike Witches and more.

Junichi Higashi (東潤一) managed the art direction and some of his previous titles include Seitokai no Ichizon, Sekirei, Witchblade, Queens Blade, Sora no Woto and his work also goes back to 1985 on Zeta Gundam.

Yota Tsuruoka (鶴岡陽太) managed the sound and he previously worked on titles such as Haruhi, Lucky Star, Clannad, Idol Master Xenoglossia and Last Exile.

Motion sketches was managed by Frontline who have produced titles such as Death Note, Welcome to the NHK, Ninomiya-kun, King Gainer, Gurren Lagann and Devil May Cry.

The voice actress in the PV is Sato Satomi (佐藤聡美) - she does the voice of Chinka, Megumi and Shoka! Her previous work includes being the voice actress for Ritsu Tainaka from K-ON!

And here is the other photo taken from either July Megami Magazine or Animage ^^; Both articles just give the story a going over and announce that Chinka will be an OVA.

Cant talk much about who, what, when and how right now but I can tell you that we will have something to announce next year - these anime thingies take ages to produce!

Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai - the light novel series published by Ascii Media works. Also known as "Oreimo" and often abbreviated to "Ore no Imouto."
ANN has a nice short description of the story:-

The story follows the daily life of an ordinary high school boy named Kyōsuke Kōsaka. Kyōsuke's younger sister Kirino is a pretty fashion model — but also a secret otaku of adult games. Kyōsuke is the only person to whom Kirino reveals her hidden obsession and other issues.

Picked up this Kirino Kousaka towel for Karin to rub herself down after a shower.

Been reading the novel for a while now which brought back memories of how we used to read light novels like this when studying Japanese back in the UK. We read a load of Hoshi Shinichi's novels which provided us with not only an interesting read but also learned a load of new words and kanji too. If you are learning Japanese then I do recommend trying to read light novels because it helps stimulate your imagination through a foreign language that will help towards your study.

Kirino is one of my fave 2D girls at the mo. Shes such a cutie!

And from October we get to see her in 2D action - the anime series starts to air on Tokyo MX TV from October - which is also when my new series of Culture:Japan starts to air on Tokyo MX too ^o^

There is a poll embedded in this article.

Located about 180 kilometers to the South West of Tokyo in the Shizuoka prefecture is Koganezaki - a cape in West Izu which is a popular spot for diving and watching the sunsets. Tis also a lovely location to relax.

Spent a couple of days in Izu last week to try to give the back a bit of a rest. We visited a few places and will write up separate posts on each location. Today we have a look at Koganezaki [黄金崎].

Public transport on the West side of Izu is lacking so you will probably be going by teleportation or car. Teleporation coordinates are Z56-X25-Y102 and you will need to punch in the following address if you are relying on car navigation.
静岡県賀茂郡西伊豆町宇久須3566-7
[gmap=34.842063, 138.76176]

The drive to Izu took about 4 hours. Went on a Friday but came back on Saturday and was stuck in traffic for a while. If you are traveling anywhere in Japan by car on a weekend then prepare to be sitting in a jam for a while.

After parking your car at the Koganezaki cape car park, you can go and om nom nom some snacks in the small shop located up there.

The West side of Izu has a load of natural scenery. Lack of public transport means less people visiting the area. The towns over there are small too. The East side however has better public transport meaning more people visiting during the Summer season. The water at the beaches in East Izu are said to be clearer than Okinawa.

This place reminded me of a level from the last Devil May Cry. Or was it Bayonetta? ^^;

Azunyan beckons us to follow her down the path.

T'was an absolutely gorgeous day. If you are planning a trip out there then check the weather forecast for the area first.

If you can manage to climb down there then it will be your own private beach. Or get there by boat. Need to look up how to rent one for next time.

This place reminded me of that cove in Kurenai no Buta.

There are many decks that line the side of the cape which are filled with folks in the evening to enjoy the sunsets. We didnt get to see any but you can see some of them on Google image search.

Steps lead up to the top of the cape where one can see Mt Fuji on a clear day.

A dial outlining the position and time the sun will set throughout the year.

Then its back down the stairs and off to the left to explore more of the area.

Small shrine on the way down the hill.

There is a park at the bottom of the hill full of greenery and a gorgeous beach too. Here we see a load of divers - some getting ready to dive and some who have had enough for the day.

The tanks looked extremely heavy!

Not tried diving but I do remember when I was a wee lad back in the UK, I would pass by a scuba diving shop where I would see some very cool diving gear in the window. I would stare at the window saying to myself that I want to try hard in life so that I could be able to afford one ^^;

Most of these diving folks had camera gear with them - SLR's in huge cases. There's a load of marine life down there and you can see some of it from this Google image search.

A small diving facility provides showers and light snacks.

More parking down here which we didn't know about.

More of that absolutely gorgeous clear water.

While there's hardly anybody on this size of the peninsula at this time of year, the East side looks like this.

The greenery behind the beach. This place is filled with flowers in the Spring.

A few folks camping n barbecuing.

Trying to muster enough time to go back there this week ^^;

Have always wanted to come here since seeing the location in Zettai Kareshi. You can use this site to find out what locations were used in the filming of Japanese dramas. For Zettai Kareshi for example, you can see all the locations used in the drama on this page.

A view of the park after climbing up the Laputa-esque hill.

Alrighty, me got a few more posts on Izu so will leave you here to wander around Koganezaki.