Back from Japan - An Update!

Hello! Long time no see and all that. It's weird, every time we go to Japan for a few months I think "great, I'll have a lot more free time to blog and read through all those roleplaying books I want to review!" but then it doesn't turn out like that and in a way I actually have less free time than when I'm back home, working. Very weird. So please excuse the long silence. Now we're back in Sweden and I even managed to bring some loot from the land of the rising sun!

First off  here are a couple of quick phone pics of my recently painted fleet scale mecha for Jovian Chronicles and Lightning Strike. Since I've been waiting so long for something like this I was eager to get started and begain painting the same week we got home. They've even seen their first action as we played the second session in our Jovian Chronicles campaign this week. More on that later of course.

This is what I've finished so far, and covers pretty much what was needed for the current session.
The Hector standing in as a Retaliator.

Two standard Wyverns and one Command variant.

Pathfinder Alpha command variant. I drilled four shallow holes in the backpack as thrusters.

As you can see I've re-based them on regular hex flying stands. Mostly as we'll be using them for the roleplaying game quite a bit, but also since I do like the current Lightning Strike rules where each exo armour is an individual unit. I can always re-base them again later if needed. I'm really happy with how they turned out and I think they hold up pretty well to the full 28mm scale exos.

Up next are a flight of Syreens and bunch of CEGA ships. These will be followed by another two Hectors and some Jovian ships which should amount to enough to allow me to start playing Lightning Strike properly. More and better pictures to follow!


While in Japan I took the opportunity to get some Japanese stuff. Two games from Japanse board game maker Oink Games: 海底探険, aka Deep Sea Adventure, and エセ芸術家ニューヨークへ行く, aka A Fake Artist Goes to New York. One is a quick push-your-luck game where you're trying to gather as much treasure as possible without drowing (which you do. Frequently) and the other is a kind of drawing based Spyfall. A Fake Artist Goes to New York is just... awesome! So much fun can be had with just a few pieces of paper and some pens. Great game! Deep Sea Adventure is also a solid filler, but doesn't quite tap into the same genious as Fake Artist.

Trying to get just a few... more... pieces... of... treasure! *Gasp*

Some of the weird creations we came up with as we played.

One of the things I love about Oink Games is that all their creations come in tiny, tiny boxes! They're about the size of two regular decks of cards stacked on top of each other and it's so nice to have producers trying to make it as small as possible instead of just pushing more unwanted air into their boxes. Smaller games=more space, more space=more games! :D


Of course, you can't go to Japan and not get some kind of giant robot! This year I finally managed to see the full scale gundam at display in Odaiba and it was spectacular! Actually larger than I had expected and with loads of cool detail. While I was there they projected a Gundam series (Iron-Blooded Orphans I think) on the facade behind the gundam and it lit up in different colours to match the action in the episode. Pretty cool!

I also bought my first proper Gundam kits. Although I was on a tight budget I managed to squeeze in three 1/144 High Grade kits by simply playing smart with the different bonus point cards all the big chain stores have in Japan. For a long while I was thinking that I would get some of the models from the excellent Gundam Thunderbolt series, but in the end I went for three kits from Gundam: The Origin instead as they are newer and better designed. While "only" HG kits they are fairly close to Real Grade kits when it comes to detail and movability.

I've only put one together so far, the YMS-09D Dom Test Type, and it was a lot of fun! Took longer than I expected (even with painting and glue not being required) simply because I did all the panel lines as I built it. It's the first time I've used my Gundam markers and the ones I have are a bit larger than I hoped for, but works fine as long as you wipe away the excess paint. You can see the finished product up top. Well, it needs a top coat, but apart from that it's done. I have Char's Custom Zaku II and Zaku II High-Mobility Type, both from The Origin, to build as well. Here are another couple of pictures.

There's also another modelling project lying before me. An old friend in Japan, who also loves scifi, was kind enough to give a Maschinen Krieger model out of the blue! It's the 1/20 Raptor power armour and it looks like a lot of fun to build! However, I really want to do it justice, with lots of rust and other weathering effects so I'm not going to rush it. It might sit untouched for a while, but I am determined to get it built before I go back to Japan next time.

For those who don't know, Maschinen Krieger (or Ma.K as it is also known) was originally a science fiction comic in Japan in the early eighties. However, that was only the catalyst and what we know as Ma.K today was the brainchild of Kow Yokoyama and was born out of kitbashing and the love of science fiction, early space exploration and WWII. It has a fairly fun backstory about human space colonists who want to return and take back Earth from a fascist dictatorship that now rules it. It's mostly just an excuse for building amazing looking models though, and for it to be proper Ma.K they should be dirty and grimy and rusty. Haha! I highly recommend checking out the page of Ma.K enthusiast Maschinen Kreuger as it has loads and loads of great picturs of models!

I also picked up some smaller stuff. The 100 yen stores are great for finding all kinds of cheap stuff that can be used for modelling in different ways. Among others I got some pastels (for weathering) and a bunch of sheets of corrucated cardboard (for terrain). Got to love scoring cheap deals! I was going to get sheets of cork as well, but forgot all about it so that'll have to wait till next year.


Well... I think that covers the main events. There is a lot of other stuff that I'm doing or prepping for, but at the moment I'm trying to focus on getting all the Jovian Chronicles minis painted (working on the CEGA fleet now) and then I might get stuck in with MERCS Recon as the wave 2 stuff should be arriving here soon... ? I hope. I really want to do more roleplaying as well. Need to try Ten Candles and Ryuutama for sure and I would love to find the right constellation of people for Torchbearer to really take off! Then there's Mutant: Maskinarium where you play as a robot who has just gained consciousness. And of course our Jovian Chronicles campaign.

Well, expect some more regular updates from now on!

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Japan

Just wanted my dear readers to know that I'm in Japan att the moment to visit friends and family. So if I seem unresponsive that's the reason. If I get some time over I might do some blogging, but more than likely it'll have to wait until next month when I'm back again.

I do have some hobby stuff lined up for future posts. Stuff like this:

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A Revisit of the Saitama Storm Drains

I wrote about the Saitama storm drains (or the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, if you want to get technical) in this old post from 2009 and likened it to the dwarf-city of Dwarrowdelf, aka Moria. It's a very interesting location that's been used in numeours commercials, movies and video games.


TheOneRing.net had an article about it the other day, making the same connotations to Moria that I did, and it reminded me that I had forgotten to post my own pictures of the "Underground Temple" from when I was there with my friends in early 2010. So without further ado:

And this is what it looks like from the outside. Nice that they have their own soccer field.

It's a spectacular location and if you visit the Tokyo area you really should try to make your way there. It's a bit off the beaten path as it's out in Saitama prefecture (not Tokyo as is usually claimed) so it's an hour or two by train and then a 45 minute walk. Well worth it though!

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"Weird" Japan

I just came across a post on Kotaku about a new Toyota commercial where they use a virtual idol to promote their car (watch it above). However it's not the post itself that is important here, or the ad, but one of the comments on it that is so in sync with how I often find myself feeling about Japan and how it is perceived in the west that I just had to repost it here.

For those who don't know I lived in Tokyo for five years between 2005 and 2010 and I know exactly what FarmboyinJapan is talking about (just change America and American to Sweden and Swedish):

As someone who has lived in Japan for the better part of decade now, I find all of this incredibly fucking offensive, on so many levels. 

1) I am CONSTANTLY engaged in an "image war" every time I go back to America. Family/friends come to me with BS questions like "I hear there is (some stupid shit) in Japan," or "I read that in Japan everyone does (some made up crap)", or one girl in Harajuku wears some ridiculous "hey look at me!!!" attention seeking outfit....and it ends up in the style section of The New York Times. And so now Japan has this stereotype of being "weird". And all this ad does is reinforce that stereotype. So now when I go home again, I'm going to have to explain to people that yes, virtual idols exist, but only the hardest of the hardcore actually gives a rat's ass.....and that the average Japanese person (much like the average American) is utterly bewildered at why something like this exists. This is absolutely embarrassing. I truly hope that the devastation and subsequent international coverage of the recent disasters over here will cause the tourism industry in Japan to change its marketing strategy. Because while the international media carries most of the blame with helping to create the image of a "weird Japan"....Japan itself is not blameless either. They have constantly been prioritizing "sub-culture" in how they have chosen to market Japan as a tourist destination. "Come to Japan! You can watch cartoons, read comic books, go to a maid cafe, and do cosplay." And while a model like that certainly helps attract a very specific group of people, it has done a lot to stigmatize this country as "weird." 
The Micheline Guide has classified Tokyo as the "best culinary city in the world"...not just for Japanese food, but for any kind of cuisine you can imagine. In my travels, I've been all over the world, and Japan is by far the most fashion progressive country I've ever been to...Japan has a booming fashion industry for every taste imaginable. Japan has some of the most beautiful nature preserves in the world. Certain parts of Japan still have a tight grip on ancient traditions, so a trip to Kyoto can seem like you've stepped into a time machine. All of these are assets Japan has as a tourist destination...but they are rarely if ever exploited. Instead, Japan seems more content with marketing itself as a country "where you can buy video games, listen to virtual idols, and look at girls walk around in Little Po Peep costumes". It really truly does break my heart. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if part of this ad was subsidized by the Japanese government to promote tourism. 

2) Right now, this very day, if you were to ask the average American what springs to mind when you say "Japan", I'm almost certain that it would be the recent disasters. So while "capitalize" might be a dirty word, why doesn't Toyota US start some kind of campaign that takes into account the recent headlines? How about an ad campaign proclaiming "Help support Japan with us at Toyota," or announce a percentage of sales will go to help disaster victims. Nope....virtual idols!!! 

Yepp...

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Running behind

Devastation in Minami Sanriku where 10,000 of the city's 17,000 inhabitants are missing.

I'm running behind on my updates. I do have a bunch of stuff to post; WFRP session reports, my thoughts on our recent Android session, some painting plans and some stuff about the LPL (that starts tomorrow), but it's all been eclipsed by what is happening in Japan and I feel I don't really have the energy to type things out at the moment.

While family and friends over there are alright (although they now face the more longterm problem of water, food and electricity) it's still mentally taxing to see what is happening to what I consider my second home. In some weird way it feels strange not to have been there. Like we should have been there. Some mild form of survivors guilt perhaps?

Hopefully I'll get up to speed next week or so.

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Behold! The great realm and Dwarf-city of Dwarrowdelf...

Well, maybe not quite as beautiful but almost as impressive. These are the storm drains here in Saitama where I live. Pretty big! I came across this set of pictures years ago and they fascinated me then just as they do now. They do offer guided tours there a couple of times a week so if you have the chance I highly recommend it. More details on the offical site.

If these pictures seems familiar to you even though you haven't seen them before you might have played the positively excellent (Swedish!) game Mirror's Edge. In the second chapter, Jacknife, Faith ends up in some storm drains that looks almost exactly like these, including the huge doors below! What I'm curious about is if they made the level from the photos or if some of the guys from Dice actually came here and checked them out in person.

Oh well... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Notice the truck being lowered down in the above picture.

It's really breathtaking I have to say. When my friends get here in Februari we'll have to make a stop in the Saitama storm drains.

I'll sign off with a last plug for Mirror's Edge. Although it has it quirks and can be quite unforgiving at times it's definitely one of my favourite games of recent years. I had followed its development and although I liked what I saw, especially the art direction which reminds me very much of Tokyo, it never felt like a must-get game for me. That is until I downloaded the demo on Xbox Live. Then it all fell to place and just a few minutes of free running in Faith's well-toned body and I was hooked! Sure, Assassins Creed has great looking free running but it's nothing compared to the adrenaline rush you get when you get into the runner mindset in Mirror's Edge. Highly recommended!


That's all for now I suppose. I got an email from Robert telling me that my fledgling Northern Guard army has been shipped. Yay!

Now I think I'm going to go jump on some roofs!

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