Tokyo International Anime Fair

A couple of weekends ago, I had a chance to have an awesome adventure and cross something off my bucket list. I went to an anime convention in Tokyo!! I was so excited to get this opportunity. What anime fan doesn't dream of the day when they can head over to a convention in Japan?! The convention is one of the largest in Tokyo. It's held on the island of Odaiba which is a man-made island off the coast of Tokyo but it's still a part of Tokyo proper.

I started the day by picking up my friend from Tokyo station. She took the shinkansen in from Sendai to join me for a day of anime fun. We crossed the Rainbow Bridge and were greeted by Tokyo Big Sight which is where the convention was being held. I think Tokyo Big Sight is hilarious. It looks like a docked space ship if you ask me.

So strange

We got our tickets very quickly which was super surprising to both of us since out experience with American conventions has always involved standing in line for hours if you buy your entry the day of the show. It was a wonderfully pleasant surprise. It could have also been because we came about 2 hours after opening though XD

Here we are!!

As soon as we walked in, we had a total geek moment. See, children here love this character and show called Anpanman. Being a teacher here means learning all about and loving Anpanman. We were greeted by a giant statue of Anpanman. We immediately had to be the only adults to take a picture with it.

YES! Love Anpanman!

 There was only one company's booth that I really wanted to see: Bandai. So as soon as we had taken our picture, I drag my friend over to the Bandai booth. It was everything that I had hoped in that it was covered with Gundam things!!

Awesomeness!

I lazed around the booth taking in the models and watching the trailers for AGE and Unicorn. It was so fun to see everything that is going on and coming up in the Gundam universe.

After I had that need met, we just kind of wandered around the floor. Checking out the booths and stopping to check out some art work or snap pictures of ADORABLE characters or booth babes. Some booth highlights: getting to see some original artwork from Miyazaki, the vocaliod booth where models were dressed as the characters and there was a life size statue of  Hatsune Miku, taking a picture with samurai, an adorable moving and giant Dentsu, Lupin movie promos and trailer, and a mobile shrine for an anime.

Vocaloid characters :)

Hatsune Miku

More awesomeness

What up Lupin the Third?!

Shrine?

So cute!!

Miyazaki sketches

Despite what I just listed, the convention was actually much smaller than I expected. We had pretty much seen and done everything in two hours. This was mainly due to the nature of the event. There was pretty much only booths from major animation companies. There was no merchandise area or anytyhing like that. The other problem was our lack of Japanese language skill. there were some panels and shows going on but it seemed pretty useless to attend since we couldn't understand them let alone read the schedule.

Another issue that I had with fair that made me extremely sad was that cosplay wasn't allowed. It didn't quite feel the same without seeing people all dressed up. I guess I can understand why it's not allowed. They didn't want people competing with or upstaging the many models that were hired to wear certain costumes from the shows. It was still a huge let down though.

Since we had finished with the day earlier than I had expected, we headed around to do some sightseeing on Odaiba. I also had an ulterior motive though. The to scale standing model of the Gundam is also located on Odaiba. It's scheduled to open on April 17th officially but you can still see it over the fencing. We went over to the park that it's located by. Even from the train, I spotted it. I had to literally bite my finger to keep from shouting on the train, I was so excited.

OMG there it is!!!

 I calmed myself down and as we left the train, I even allowed us to do the sightseeing first. I literally started skipping though as soon as we went towards DiverCity Tokyo where it is. We stood there and started at it for a couple of minutes as I lamented how it wasn't open to the public yet. Soon Gundam, we shall meet again soon...

It's so beautiful

Celebrating my birthday!

Last week was my 24th birthday. I was very excited and nervous to be spending it in Japan. I was excited because I'm in Japan! I thought I had some fun potential! Although, I was very nervous since I really don't know anyone here. I started the day off very well! I got a call in the morning from my boyfriend who showed me my presents over Skype! Then, I had to go to work. I had a FULL schedule! I literally was supposed to work from 1-8 straight. That's 7 50-55 min lessons in a row. Luckily, one of my students canceled right in the middle so I got a break. Happy birthday to me! I got myself a great lunch of sushi and finished off my day. Cleaning went by very quickly and I had the rest of the evening to myself. I couldn't really go out because I had work the next day. The first thing I really wanted was just some American food so I treated myself to McDonalds. Then, I went to an arcade, where the real fun started. Japanese arcades are amazing! They have everything. The most popular machines are UFO catchers, purikura, and rhythm games. I, however, had a mission. I came to play the Gundam POD game. The Gundam PODs are mobile suit simulators. You hop into a giant pod that a full projection system with all of the same controls as a mobile suit. You have two levers to steer and fire and two pedals to jump and boost forward. Here's a shot of the inside:

Amazingly sweet!

A screen shot as you push into battle

The pods from the outside

 I was really geeking out! Check out the video I took: (be warned, the following clip contains Heather being a fangirl which includes odd noises at times)

After playing the game a couple of times and using the rest of my money on rhythm games, I went home satisfied at my low key but fun birthday.

The real fun came a few days later on Saturday. My co-workers (and friends) took me out to dinner for my birthday. They asked what I wanted and I knew immediately: Pizza! We went to a nice Italian restaurant and got a couple of pizza and pasta dishes and ate our fill. We also had a nomihodai which means all you can drink. They had the restaurant staff surprise me with dessert and they surprised me with a gift!

My dessert had a sparkler on it!

Their gift to me was a yukata (summer kimono!)

I was so excited and floored that they gave me a kimono. This is one of the best birthday presents I think I may have ever gotten. It was a fantastic way to end my birthday abroad!

Odaiba Gundam Project

In case you haven't noticed a theme here, Gundam is my favorite anime. So naturally, when I heard that there was going to be a full scale replica of the Gundam in Tokyo, I jumped at the opportunity to see it! I hopped on a train to head over to the man made island of Odaiba. The train ride was actually quite nice! I had to take a train that took me over on the Rainbow Bridge. It was a stunning sight! From there, I was met by a replica of the Statue of Liberty with Tokyo as the back drop.

I quickly walked over to the Gundam display. To my fangirlish delight, there in pieces was a to scale replica of my favorite mech (giant robot). It used to be erect by the Bandai museum. However, it was damaged in the March 11th quake so now it rests in pieces. First thing I did was get in line to get a picture sitting in the hand.

Such a happy nerd!

I stood around the Gundam for hours amazed by it's size and reality.

All the pieces laid out

The foot

The beam saber, it's weapon for hand-to-hand combat

The head and scale

Me with the head!

My entry ticket and food ticket. My entry ticket is advertising the newest Gundam series AGE and the food ticket is from the original Gundam. It has my favorite character Char <3

I spent the rest of the day wandering around Odaiba. There wasn't much else there besides shops and malls which was still pretty fun! I ate dinner at the Takoyaki Museum in Odaiba. It was so delicious! Octopus may be my new favorite seafood!

Takoyaki!

It was an excellent day. Even though the weather was rainy and cold, I had a blast!

Gundam Cafe Day! (Tokyo Day 3)

Today was the day that I let my nerd show proud! I've been reluctant so far in my journey to venture too much into hobby shops and whatnot because I wanted to establish myself where I live so I wouldn't just be THAT gaijin who is in Japan solely for anime and manga :P But today all that changed! It was my friends last day staying with me and we decided to spend the afternoon in Akihabara which is the big anime and video game area in Tokyo. The only condition that I set was that we HAD to go to the official Gundam cafe. For those of you who don't really know me, I am a HUGE Gundam nerd. It is my favorite series. I own about 30 models (and growing). It's kind of a weakness. She agreed and we were off. We spent the first half of the day walking around and shopping. There are many cosplay cafes in the area so we encountered many young ladies in costume :)

Anime EVERYWHERE!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Gundam Cafe!

A shot of the cafe

My drink! Notice the official emblem and the nutmeg Haro

A lady dressed in a Federation uniform took our order.

My food looks like a Zaku!

Gunpla-yaki with custard

Best day ever?! I think so.

Every thing was Gundam themed including the bathrooms! The ladies bathroom was themed as Char's Zaku. Here's a video of the bathroom.

It was a great day for my very nerdy self :)