Wuggy likes my pants.

Okayama

Day 6 - 11.26.8

First I have to apologize for the lack of pictures. Every single time we left the hotel I forgot my camera in the room, so most of these pictures were taken by Cat with her iPhone. The ones that I actually took with my camera were either from our hotel window or from inside a bullet train traveling 180 mph. I always forget my camera :P.

Boo! The last day of the trip. We hit the bookstore one last time before heading to the train station. These two trains were sitting there when we arrived.

Inside the train station at Shin-Osaka, I think. 

Taken from inside the train looking out of the window.

The Green Car inside the bullet train (Nozomi). The Green Car is a reserved seat car. It is more expensive, but it is definitely worth it. Check it out.

More shots while looking out of the window. 

Mmmmm, candy.

Upside down doggie cookie thingy.

These are the 3D cards that I received from some fans at the show. I was totally blown away with these. I also got a really cool photo album. I'll have to try and post a picture of it soon. Thank you again!

Well, that concludes our awesome trip to Japan. I plan on going back soon, and I have actually been seriously considering moving there one day. Cat has been wanting to move there for many years, and now I understand why. I already know some words and phrases from watching anime and reading manga, but since the trip I have started learning more Japanese. I bought My Japanese Coach for the DS, and we have the Japanese Rosetta Stone program. Maybe in a couple of years I'll know enough to get a job there. Who knows.

I just want to thank Ron Foster and all the people at Wizards and at the Okayama convention center for allowing me to visit Japan. I will never forget it. 

Okayama

Day 5 - 11.25.08

Oops, I forgot to post these two pictures. We took these on the way to the Okayama Castle. You can see it on the horizon. 

Pastries from the local convenience store. Oh man, the convenience stores there are awesome. You can actually get EVERYTHING there, and their food is actually better than Japanese food I have had here in the states, with the exception of a few places in San Francisco. 

This one had egg salad and ham inside.

Sausage and potatoes on some bread. 

Cheese!

Lunch at the train station. This was actually on our last day, but oh well. I had the best katsudon I have ever eaten in my life. This isn't a picture of my katsudon.

We ended up taking it pretty easy that day. We walked around the city, went to a few different shopping centers, music stores, and some bookstores. 

I bought the Final Fantasy XII Soundtrack, the Metal Gear Solid 4 Soundtrack, and issue 6 and 7 of Yotsuba&!. They only had up to issue 5 in the states, so I was really happy that they had the new ones there.

Another day comes to a close :(

Okayama

Day 4 - 11.24.08

Well, the event is over. It was really interesting seeing the differences in a Magic Grand Prix in Japan as opposed to one in America. I had a great time. Everyone was so polite and excited to be there. I hope everyone had a good time.

This was our first day to go sightseeing, and of course it was raining. We decided to visit the Okayama Castle, also known as Crow Castle due to its black color. We took a trolley part of the way, and then walked the rest. I ended up putting a 500 yen coin in the trolley coin slot (the actual price was 100 yen, but I only had a 500 in my pocket), which didn't take it because we were all putting our money in the wrong place. Yay for a 600 yen trolley ride!

Unfortunately the castle was destroyed in World War II, but was rebuilt in 1966. These stones were part of the original foundation.

Walking up to the castle. 

Some original materials used in the castle.

They put these on top of the castle to ward off evil spirits. 

Samurai armor, with authentic battle damage!!!

A picture of one of the rooms that was believed to be haunted.

More armor, woo!

Part of the original wall that survived the bombing.

This is the outer wall that was rebuilt using the same materials and techniques as the original. If you notice, they did not use mortar in the construction of their walls. These huge blocks of stone are held together by gravity. The small spaces between the stones are stuffed with smaller stones. You can see the huge key stones on the corner of the wall.

One of the gates. Most of the time these huge gates remained closed. Smaller doors to either side were used instead. 

MMMmmm, teppanyaki place.

This was the best example of Japlish that I could find. This was on the front of an arcade. Cat and Brian were taking pictures of this in the rain and people that walked by kept trying to figure out what was so cool about this ad. If they only knew its true awesomeness.

The end of another awesome day in Japan. Tomorrow we leave for America, it will be a sad day indeed.