I just finished my six month internship at Hitachi a few weeks ago, and finally found time to share some of the places I went to~ I thought about writing a wall of text about what I did, but pictures would probably be better so this will just be a Picture Diary of sort =]

I apologize beforehand for my bad camera, and even worse camera skills =[

CEATEC Japan 2010 took place last year in October, it's basically just a annual trade show for electronics. Thankfully, a lot of the companies had english subtitles or translations up in their booths =]

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This was Sony's booth, which was mostly showing stuff related to 3D. They were showcasing 3D GT5 at the front which looked amazing, but the kid playing it got stuck on a wall -_-

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Nissan's EBORO robot which featured non-contact rechargeable batteries. (They just had to walk over a certain area of the floor to recharge)

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Can't say no to Vocaloid cosplay * = * I'll just leave a song here if you don't know what Vocaloid is~

Also went to Vocaloid Master 15, but sadly no pictures there n . n It's a monthly event where you can buy Vocaloid goods/CDs~

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I think this was still Nissan's booth, but I don't remember. It's basically a 360 degree camera for your car, so you can see all the objects around it. Pretty neat.

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Singing Robot by Yamaha, using voice from Vocaloids and movement captured from real people using software. Video here (Not from me

)

Skipping ahead, my supervisor and colleagues at work invited me to a lot of events, from drinking parties (These cost something like $60 per person for some reason, but people paid for me since I was a student :3), sports festivals to barbecues and day trips. Here is Abukuma Cave, where I went with my supervisor. Picture doesn't really do the place justice :|

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Got to go on a trip to Kansai (Where cities like Osaka/Kyoto are) for one of my holidays. Cost something like $100 for a round trip by bus.

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Kyoto's Golden Pavillion. I'm sure anyone who's been to Japan has seen this~

Osaka Castle. Exhibitions about the Siege of Osaka and the history of the city of you're interested in going inside.

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At Nara, where there are deers -everywhere- Lots of schoolgirls too since it was a Saturday~

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Todaiji Temple in Nara. I think there are three of these big Buddha statues, not sure if this one is the biggest though.

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Epson Shinagawa Aqua Stadium. There were Seal/Dolphin performances, which were a lot more entertaining then the ones I saw in Canada even though I didn't understand anything they said -_-

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Harajuku, if I remember correctly. Popular shopping street for teens but extremely crowded.

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Gyoza from Namja Town, which is a food amusement park. They have a bunch of famous Gyoza restaurants from all over Japan.

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Naruto Gyoza, promotion for the movie. People still watch Naruto Anime? -_-

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Ice cream Park on the second floor of Namja Town. They have every flavor I've ever seen in my life there. And I mean -every flavor- Squid Ink Ice Cream anyone? :3

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No Pokemons inside sadly :x Amusement/Shopping area in Odaiba, a artificial island. Quite popular place since it's one of the only places where the Ocean isn't blocked by industrial crap in Tokyo.

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VenusFort also from Odaiba. Venice-themed shopping mall.

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Got quite a lot of miyage from colleagues who went on business trips or holidays. It's basically Japanese custom to bring souvenirs back from wherever you visited.

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Mito's Kairakuen Garden, probably Japan's most famous garden. Sadly wasn't able to go during the Spring :x

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One of the rooms from the housing of some lord in Mito during the 1700s. Each room had a different drawing on the doors~

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TGS 2010 =3 Sorry if the pictures don't show much, I was surrounded by No Camera signs orz

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People lining up to try Love Plus, a virtual GF simulation game = - =

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Dissidia 012

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Yeah, um I actually have no clue what this was. Some Taiwanese company just had girls strip on stage continuously.

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Anime MMO #41952 from Gamania. Free stuff for playing it th ough.

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Yuffie, yay!

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Miku, double yay!

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AR.Drone, basically a flying robot with a camera of sorts. Not sure why this is classified as a game though :/

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Lots of game universities set up booths to display their games and such. This one was from a Video Game Arts College.

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Promition for a Shrine Maiden game apparently~

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Leifang from BB. There was a Ragna cosplay there also, but no one wanted him to come on stage for some reason. Figures.

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Capcom Policy: You are welcome to take pictures of our games, but pictures of our Booth Girls aren't allowed.

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Testing for Monster Hunter Portable 3 (I think?) Incredibly popular in Japan, don't see many people playing it back in Canada though~

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Moar Cosplay!

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Giant Chocobo

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures from Akihabara, but I'll try to draw a map for you guys:

__________________________ _____________
Electronic Store |Arcade | Street | Anime Store|
______Maid___|___Maid| Street|___Maid_____|

Mostly went to Arcades in Akiba. Can't deal with playing Shooters anymore after playing Border Break Basically Lagless Japanese Mecha Halo with customization.

Also played Project Diva Arcade a lot, and touched on a lot of other Rhythm Games. Still sad I couldn't clear Disapperance of Hatsune Miku (78/80%) before I left T _ T

This seems way too long now so I'll just leave it at that :|

Lovedrop

2629 Posts

January 17 2011 06:01 GMT

Awesome blog. Looks like you had a good time !

Loser777

1931 Posts

January 17 2011 06:04 GMT

All of that seems ridiculously fun ;_;

Zidane

United States1686 Posts

January 17 2011 06:05 GMT

Cool, thanks for the pictures. Can you speak Japanese pretty well?

ProjectVirtue

Canada360 Posts

January 17 2011 06:06 GMT

WOOOO Nara park!

When i went there, one of the deers hit me with his horn T_T
then when my sister fed them the cookies they provide they kept following her for the rest of the time we spent there haha.

Monkeyshark

United States406 Posts

January 17 2011 06:07 GMT

Wow awesome blog. One of my goal in life is go to Japan once, I hope I would have as much fun as you.

RyuChus

Canada442 Posts

January 17 2011 06:08 GMT

Well that must have been fun! BTW you took pictures of a lot of cosplayers. just saying. Japan is an interesting place though definitely.

O-ops

United States4236 Posts

January 17 2011 06:09 GMT

That's Litchi, not Leifang damnit!

+ Show Spoiler +

Lei Fang is in the DOA series.

Spica

United States5582 Posts

January 17 2011 06:15 GMT

Cool, thank you for showing your pictures with us! I'm going to Japan on a cultural study tour with my Japanese teacher and a handful of classmates in the summer, and I absolutely can't wait to go! Your blog just made me more pumped for what's coming soon for me. ^^ やった～

moopie

12605 Posts

January 17 2011 06:25 GMT

#10

Great pictures, I'm envious.

knyttym

United States5797 Posts

January 17 2011 06:34 GMT

#11

Ya that taiwanese company seems pretty legit

Ares[Effort]

DEMACIA6550 Posts

January 17 2011 06:46 GMT

#12

On January 17 2011 15:34 kNyTTyM wrote:
Ya that taiwanese company seems pretty legit

haha

nice blog thanks for sharing, I hope to go to Japan in the future! and I also watch naruto anime

OpticalShot

Canada6330 Posts

January 17 2011 06:48 GMT

#13

Seems like you had lots of interesting experiences, thanks for sharing the pictures~ 5/5
*edit: you might want to spoiler some of the sections... take a bit of time to load / scroll

Suc

Australia1569 Posts

January 17 2011 06:55 GMT

#14

Thanks for the pictures, this is pretty interesting.
"Yeah, um I actually have no clue what this was. Some Taiwanese company just had girls strip on stage continuously." <- I laughed a lot at this for some reason heh

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

January 17 2011 06:57 GMT

#15

I miss Japan so much lately ;_; 5/5 for an interesting reminder of why I need to go on holiday there soon.

thopol

Japan4560 Posts

January 17 2011 07:06 GMT

#16

Awesome pictures man. They really show me that I need to travel around. Haven't been outside of Hiroshima except to visit an aquarium in Shimane for an afternoon. You've experienced a lot more of the country. I'm inspired.

Yiruru

Canada690 Posts

January 17 2011 07:40 GMT

#17

On January 17 2011 15:05 Zidane wrote:
Cool, thanks for the pictures. Can you speak Japanese pretty well?

I actually can't, and there were no lessons available where I lived (It was kind of Rural) The group I worked with all spoke English though so that was fine, but I probably would have learned more culture and work wise if I did speak it.

On January 17 2011 15:06 ProjectVirtue wrote:
WOOOO Nara park!

When i went there, one of the deers hit me with his horn T_T
then when my sister fed them the cookies they provide they kept following her for the rest of the time we spent there haha.

Haha yeah, I wanted to buy some of those deer cookies when I saw the deers, but then I saw people getting chased and headbutted xD

On January 17 2011 15:08 RyuChus wrote:
Well that must have been fun! BTW you took pictures of a lot of cosplayers. just saying. Japan is an interesting place though definitely.

The cosplay area was the only place without No Camera signs! T _ T Some of the ones I took I had to sneak them =[

On January 17 2011 15:09 O-ops wrote:
That's Litchi, not Leifang damnit!

+ Show Spoiler +

Lei Fang is in the DOA series.

Sorry! Yeah I know, not sure why I put Lei Fang, when I actually play BB and never played DoA >.>

On January 17 2011 15:48 OpticalShot wrote:
Seems like you had lots of interesting experiences, thanks for sharing the pictures~ 5/5
*edit: you might want to spoiler some of the sections... take a bit of time to load / scroll

I got a PM from TLBot about putting too many images too T _ T

MOOG

United States188 Posts

January 17 2011 07:45 GMT

#18

The Mito lord room looks exquisite. still in good condition too.

Were there any new IPs in the tokyo game show that caught your eye? i.e. games that werent sequels?