Universal Studios Japan - May 22 2007

Today I had a real treat: there were always conferences that I had the opportunity to attend throughout the semester, but never attended because of mainly lack of time. Since school is now over, I decided to go to my first business conference in Japan and it was a very nice conference, it was nothing like I had expected. The subject was also quite interesting to me: about theme park. The director general of Universal Studios Japan talked to us for an hour about the challenges of bringing Universal Studios in Japan and how they changed their budgeting and marketing strategies to make the park viable and make it successful.

At the end of the talk, we were invited to ride the ride that opened just last month called Hollywood Dream Ride, where you can choose a song and listen to it while you are riding the roller coaster! It felt really nice to visit the park while it is closed and have a private ride for the conference participants only!

Then there was a quite a nice reception with excellent food and I got to talk to the Marketing Director of Universal Studios Japan, who happened to be the marketing director of McDonalds Japan before.

The evening was topped off with some giveaways (I just love them!) of USJ merchandise and discount tickets on USJ entrance! Yey!

I left too late from the dorms so I was thinking about not going, but I went on my own and did not regret it!

Sotsugyou Omedetou - May 21 2007

Finally the semester is over! I could not see an end to it! I did not have any other time but studying, preparing papers or presentations! In the past week I had: 4 exams, 2 oral presentations and 4 papers due. Who says end of semester also says parties, and the parties started on Thursday right after my last exam and continue this week until Saturday! I am kind of getting tired of beer, I actually created an INtolerance to beer... now I am on water or juice... here is a run down of the parties:

Thursday May 17:

Dinner and drinking at Torikizoku, a nice izakaya with food items and very large beer mugs for 3$ a piece! Then we headed over to nomihodai (all you can drink) karaoke...







Friday May 18:

Break - I watched a movie called "GO" (again) about a North Korean raised and born in Japan.


Saturday May 19:

Graduation ceremony in the morning and then reception with free booze and food! I enjoyed the food very much and some people obviously enjoyed the booze too much.







Dinner at Niju Maru, all you can eat and drink... Very good Yakuniku (BBQ) and I didn't drink very much, but there were some drinking competitions and one Japanese went at it and felt very very bad after (poor him).






Sunday May 20:


Picnic at a park in Kozenji... spent the afternoon there peacefully just relaxing.

(No photos)

Monday May 21:

Went to another branch of Niju Maru but this time "a la carte" and the food was great, didn't drink that much either, but then went to a PURIKURA place, which is a big fad in Japan where mostly girls go in this complex machine to have pictures taken of them and then make drawings on them (see photos to understand) that was a must for me in Japan. Then we headed to a friend's place to watch a movie called "Doraheita" that I purchased in a videoclub here.

Prices in Japan - May 15 2007

Here is one good question that might be on everyone's mind in Japan at some point (maybe not for the Japanese): Why are prices so damn high in Japan?

Well, I looked into this issue and found a super good link that explains this in all sorts of ways and I also decided to write a paper on the distribution system in Japan (which is part of the explanation of high prices in Japan)... so if you are interesting in such issues and subjects please check out this link, if not, you can totally ignore this post...


Why prices are so damn high in Japan?


Disentangling the Dinosaur: The Japanese Distribution SystemJoel Kwan - PDF file

GO Hanshin Tigers! May 9 2007

Today was yet another adventure for me: I went to my first major league baseball game and it was in Japan! It is debated weather sumo or baseball is the national sport of Japan. In any case Japanese are huge fans of the sport and the most interesting part of a baseball game in Japan is not the game itself, but the fan support, encouragement and chanting for their teams (even when they are losing). The match tonight was between the Osaka Hanshin Tigers and the Tokyo Giants, bit opponents! I don't follow baseball at all, but the Tigers lost tonight, which makes their 8th loss in a row! Still, no one in the crowed seemed to be insulting the players or seemed frustrated, everyone seemed to be having some good, peaceful good time. I even heard a story of a noodle shop filled with Tigers fans and then Giants supports coming in and the Tigers fans started shooing them and then felt bad and excused themselves! During the match instead of hotdogs you can order squid on a stick and another great thing is that you can bring beer in.

Otaku Paradise - May 4 2007

After my shopping streak in Americamura I went to DenDen town to find collectibles for a friend that is an anime and manga enthousiast. I found figurines of Ichigo and Bukyaka (I have no idea what its about) in a store called The Sanctuary of Otaku... I don't know if I have addressed this yet in this blog, but Otaku in Japan are what Geeks are to America. They are a subculture in Japan that are known to be timid, unattractive and crazy about anime and manga. They are also known to be secluded from society and spend long amounts of time by themselves in their rooms. They are also known to go in so called maid cafes where waitresses are dressed in French maids and call the customers masters. In Osaka the number one spot to see Otaku is in denden town and in Tokyo it is Akihabara. There is was a popular drama and movie based on a real story that broke out on the internet about an Otaku falling in love with a sophisticated upper-class girl. I saw the drama and it was quite interesting.

Here is a spin-off special of the original "Densha Otoko" drama:

Shopping in Osaka - May 4 2007

I finally give into the shopping frenzy of Japan and shopped for new sunglasses and a baseball cap in Americamura, the fashion district of Osaka. I found all sorts of sunglasses ranging in price from 10$ to 150$, but I didn't want to spend so much money on glasses in Japan, so I settled with the 20$ Gino style glasses in Japan. (Look at the photo, some friends say I look Italian!)

Here we can take a small break and talk about fashion in Japan. The 80's style is IN! Long haircuts for guys (sometimes look like 80's hair bands!) for girls, short skirts is IN! The androgynous look, marketed by pop artists (see clip) is IN! and the boy next door look or rapper style is OUT. Also for boys, having big boots and tucking your pants in (we think that is too feminine!) is IN! Long hair extensions for girls is IN! And tanned skin is OUT!

Fashion catches like fire in Japan and when something becomes trendy, basically everyone has to wear it. Of course there are the more marginal trends like looking like a doll, or goth, or candy (see this website for examples of outlandish sytles:http://www.japanesestreets.com/).

But I think I have not seen the most original of Japanese fashion. I will have to go to Tokyo, Harajuku for that. Here in Kansai, things are pretty heterogenous, all boys generally style the same and same thing goes for girls.

EKISUPORANDO - May 3 2007

In my momentum of recent enthusiasm for theme parks, I decided to visit Expoland in Osaka today with 2 friends of mine and a visitor from China (the sister of one of my friends). Everything was pretty standard at this park, you can see pictures and reviews of this theme park here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/japan2004/expoland1.htm

***UPDATE*** On May 5th at 12:40PM the coaster called FUJIN RAIJIN derailed and 1 woman was killed with 21 injured. Details: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35254

The park was packed because it was Golden Week. At the ticket booths, we estimated they were making 1000$ every minute! We did not have time to ride everything because of the long lines, and the longest coaster on earth also happened to have the longest waiting time: 2h30! So we gave up on that one. They had the usual shooter rides and also a pretty cool haunted house that featured yet another samurai style beheading. They had a fireworks display at the end of the day which was nice. All that waiting in line in the sun (today was another hot day) gave me a nice tan! The best roller coaster was called OROCHI, a ride where your legs are dangling... the ride is so smooth and there are many twists, turns and loops, it feels like you are riding a jet. We also rode the FUJIN RAIJIN which is quite standard ride where you ride standing. They also had a funny walkthrough in freezing temperature of below 30 degrees celcius. This felt good on a hot day. There was also a big exhibit on anime character toys, that was quite typically Japan.

The day was filled with relentless excitement and lots of waiting, but it was well worth it, and for the price, it is much more worth it to go to Expoland than Hirakata Park.