So I brought my Wii back to Yamada Denki this afternoon to get it repaired. They had a whole book full of Nintendo repair slips and said that because of the O-Bon holiday, there was a chance that repairs could be backed up and could take up to a month. :O But I was thinking... do I really have a choice? *sigh* so I am without my Wii for the next month and all I can do is read the booklet of the game I can't play. HA HA HA.

In other news, I got my Macbook successfully hooked up to my Sharp AQUOS LC-20D30 LCD TV with audio, which proved to be no small task.  Getting the picture to display was simple, but getting the audio to work was such a pain in the ass. First I tried using the 3.5mm to RCA but that was no good... because the picture was connected with a Mini DV to HDMI cable, so my TV was expecting audio input from the HDMI slot... so then I got the 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable, found this audio-in jack at the back of my TV, separate to the headphone jack and fiddled with the menu on my TV and got it working! Searching online proved fairly useless as most people said that you'd have to do it via VGA, not HDMI or connect external speakers, which I don't have. Clearly, I'm a technical genius.

Oh, I'm a little sad because I didn't pre-order Arashi's All the BEST 1999 - 2009 LE album and missed out. I was half-expecting there to be a few copies left because this IS Nagasaki and stores never seem to sell out of LE's until about a week after release. IThe release date wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow, but stores often get the stock a day earlier. I guess it goes to show just how amazingly popular Arashi is here. They still have LE copies of 悪魔な恋 / NYC (Themesong to 'Koishite Akuma') and that was released a month ago! Tower Records still had copies of the RE but I just don't buy RE on principal. CDs are already so expensive so you may as well pay 1000 yen more and get one that could be a collector's item one day. I am tempted to go out and buy Kobukuro's new album 'Calling', because I love me some Kobukuro. But I guess it can wait until pay day this Friday.

I got paid today, thank goodness. I had 4000 yen in my bank account and I thought I'd get charged an overdraft limit if one of my bills got deducted automatically.

It's another long weekend, so I can't complain too much, but I am freezing. I had no idea Nagasaki could get this cold. I've been abusing the crap out of my air-con/heater every morning; I just can't get out of bed otherwise.

The point of this post is really to whine about how badly I want to buy 街へいこうよーどうぶつの森 (Animal Crossing for Wii), but I don't actually have a Wii yet. It's on my list of things to buy, along with a kotatsu, printer/scanner and DVD recorder. The problem is, I'm broke! I really don't know where all my money goes, because I have nothing to show for it. Also, it seems like I've been wearing the same old clothes (desperately need a new wardrobe).

Anyway, back to the game... I've been watching the commercials on TV for it and you can get a bundle which includes WiiSpeak so you can talk to each other when playing!

I also bought NEWS' new album, 'COLOR'. I'm kind of disappointed with it, because the only songs I really like on it are 'weeeek', 'SUMMER TIME' and 太陽のナミダ (taiyou no namida), which I've already heard! NEWS' 'pacfic' album was so much better. Meanwhile, I am totally loving 'Beautiful days'(嵐) and admit to have totally enjoyed singing 真夜中のシャドーボイ (mayonaka no shadow boy - Hey! Say! JUMP)　at karaoke.

My 3rd year students told me that KAT-TUN would be on Music Station tonight (Thaaaaanks, kids!). :D They performed their new single, 'White X'mas', which I really love, even though it was kind of a dodgy performance. I already pre-ordered the LE edition as soon as I knew it was coming out. Jin looked smoking hot as usual, but what surprised me was seeing Junno's jet black hair. It makes him look so pale. I definitely prefer brown hair on him. I wonder if he's had it for a while and I've just been really out of the KT loop. I used to check the community everyday, but lately I've been so busy with karate and studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Ergh. I need to study right now!

I feel kind of embarrassed to say it, but I'm completely addicted to Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 2nd Kiss. So addicted that I felt the need to post about it. Remember when I bought NANA on DS a while back? Well, both Tokimeki and NANA were made by Konami so they're quite similar as far as simulation games go. The main difference is that Tokimeki is a dating sim, with an emphasis on falling in love, while the aim of NANA was to get hired to work with the band.

Story: It starts as a rip-off of Disney's "The Little Mermaid". A young boy met a young girl by the seashore and they fell in love. The girl was a mermaid in human form and couldn't speak. But the girl's gentle ocean-like eyes conveyed much more than words. The villagers found out that she was a mermaid so she had to go back to the ocean. But instead of saying goodbye, they exchanged a kiss. They believed that one day they would meet again by the sea. After they parted, the young boy would spend day after day staring out at sea. And at last with determination, he rowed out to sea in the moonlight.

After that, the young boy never returned.

(the above is my dodgy translation, so pardon the weird expression)

Anyway, the game starts on the beach. You are starting your life as a high-school student with the aim of building relationships with people you meet and getting one lucky guy to fall hopelessly in love with you. You can join a club at school (I joined Oendan as a Cheerleader), get a part-time job (I work as a waitress) and decide how you want to spend each day. On the right-hand of the screen your stats are displayed. They are: stress, study, sports, style, wealth, art, social, charm. The actions you choose can increase or decrease your stats. For example, if you select 'study', your 'study' stats will increase but your 'sport' stats will decrease. You have to consider what guy you are pursuing and build on the stats that he'll like, e.g. if your target is sporty and academically bright you need to focus on building those stats. However you need to sleep sometimes to reduce the stress stats which increase with almost every action. You also need to consider your weekly fortune in various areas of life e.g. love, studies, health etc. by accessing the internet through the PC in your room. Your weekly fortune will determine how successful you are in the activities you participate in. For example if your fortune is bad for sports and you go to cheerleading practice, you might drop your pom-poms and your stats will drop and so will your charm. V. harsh indeed.

On the weekends you can go shopping, call someone or go on a date. The Tokimeki calendar follows the Japanese one so there are added events such as 'Fireworks Viewing Festival', 'Cherry Blossom Viewing' etc. as well as Christmas, Valentines Day and birthdays. I went to the fireworks wearing a Yukata with my target Saeki Teru.

One thing I love about this game is that the characters can SAY YOUR NAME if you enter it in at the start. Of course none of them can say my last name 'Sng', translated as 'Sun' in Japanese, but they can manage a 'Suu' so they call me 'Suu-san' or 'Suu-sempai'.

Oh and Skinship... is so amusing. There are so many different kinds of skinship... like you can make eye-contact, stroke their face/arm, ruffle their hair or even kiss them! But they won't let you kiss them until they really like you. I found this out pretty early because I'm so forward, hohoho.

To be continued! Too sleepy to keep writing...

I got up early and went to church with my mother, brother and sister this morning to attend a Good Friday service. I don't go to church regularly, but occasionally I give into my mother's requests and go to services. I was brought up as a Christian and went to church up to the age of 16 when I started working a part-time job on Sundays, much to the dismay of my mother. Anyway, I've heard the story of the crucifixion a thousand times, but it was the first time I had heard such a graphic depiction. They even had accompanying photos to demonstrate where the nails went in and the processes the body went through in a slow and painful death. I felt a little ill after it finished.

Anyway, my parents and younger brother have gone to Mittagong, where my Aunt and Uncle live until Sunday. I'm totally excited because my sister will be out with her boyfriend, which means I'll have the whole house to myself. I feel bad saying it but a holiday with my family just doesn't feel like a holiday because I feel as if I need another to recover from spending that much time with them. I get along fine with my brother and sister, but my dad is insufferable and my mother in anything other than small doses, is also hard to deal with.

I spent the day watching the drama Yamada Taro Monogatari which I've decided isn't all that good. I've now seen 7 episodes out of 10 and I'm struggling to finish it.  As much as I love Nino and Sho, their characters' personalities are just so boring, the show moves slowly and it's also extremely repetitive (and not in a good way!). Also, speaking of drama I just found out that the manga Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) has been made into a drama and will be aired on FujiTV in April. Although I haven't read the manga, knowing that Hayami Mokomichi (Gokusen 2) and Mizushima Hiro (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) are starring in it is enough to make it a definite on my must-watch list. So much drama to watch, so little time.

Oh! It looks like Yesasia.com finally shipped my kat-tun calendar and NEWS 'Taiyo no Namida' First Press Edition single. I was worried that they would cancel my order because the KT calendar is now out of print and almost impossible to find online. I guess they got another shipment of stock in. I've also decided to start gaming again. When I say gaming, I mean playing nintendo, like Wii or DS. I can't seem to find my DS gamecase containing ALL my games (not very smart to keep them all together, I know) so the only game I've been able to play on DS is a Harvest Moon: Sprite Station for Girls (like Harvest Moon DS) but you play as a girl. I also ordered Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 2nd Season from Play-Asia.com. I've played simulation games with elements of love and building relationships with other characters like in Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and NANA but Tokimeki Memorial is a full-blown dating sim (Stop judging me). Apparently there's a feature called 'skinship mode', in which the guys will respond to your 'touch' of the DS stylus on their arms or torso depending on their feelings towards you. Haha. I can't wait to play it.

Anyway, I had better go to bed if I don't want to stuff up my body clock even further- I had a nap this afternoon... a 3-hour nap.

On getting to know the characters:

If you're dressed (and made-up) a certain way when you meet a character, for example punk, casual, branded or formal, a special tone will sound after you talk to them, showing their approval. Once a character likes you more (and their head appears on your statistics screen), they will stop and chat for a longer period of time and ask you a question. Your relationship with the character will improve or worsen depending on your answer. You have to think like the character to answer correctly, so a knowledge of NANA trivia is really helpful. Who knew Ren liked Chinese food more than pasta or steak? =_='

If you talk to Hachi at 'Junko's Room' during the day, she'll advise you on what item each character really wants as a gift (e.g. a poster, CD, necklace, item of clothing) and you're supposed to go out and buy it for them. I haven't quite figured out how to give a gift yet but I think I need to get closer to them before they'll allow me to (like in Harvest Moon games). Also once you get closer to the characters, you will be able to call them or send them e-mail with your cell phone and arrange dates to meet them. ^____^ I haven't been able to yet.


This is my character. See the resemblance?

The four heads on the statistics signify the four characters you are closest to. I'm dressed punk so Shin, Nana and Ren will like me, haha. ._.'

I got a new game on impulse yesterday, the new NANA game for DS: NANAライブスタッフ大募集！〜初心者歓迎〜 ('Nana Live Performance Staff Mass Recruitment ~Beginner's Welcome~', or something like that in English) is supposed to be a limited 'Special Simulation' game. I've been playing it for a few hours and I can't quite figure out if it's an RPG or simulation, but it's pretty damn addictive.

Image source: Konami Style
The game begins the same way the NANA story does; a girl moves to Tokyo to start a new life. As the title suggests, the primary objective of the game is to get hired to work with the bands (Trapnest or Black Stones, I'm not really sure). In order to do this, you must work part-time jobs, befriend the cast from NANA and improve your abilities and talents as a musician, photographer, stage/set designer, hair and make-up artist and stylist. You only have three months to achieve your goal.

It's kind of like an RPG in the way that you need to level up your abilities, watch your stamina meter and savings and get important information from the characters. Instead of equipping yourself with items in the traditional sense, you put on make-up, change your clothes and your hair style and colour in order to gain favour with the characters. There are many different stores for everyday living including a family restaurant, gyuu-don restaurant (like Yoshinoya), drugstore and convenience store (where you start off working) as well as places you can go to go clothes shopping, attend a live performance or just chill out, hoping to bump into one of the NANA crew. Time passes only when you engage in an activity such as working your part-time job, talking to characters, practicing guitar, shopping, etc. You need to eat and sleep to regain stamina.

One of the most important objectives is to work to survive. You need money to buy pretty clothes, go to karaoke or eat. You can search for a job by reading a careers magazine or by word-of-mouth. You then call the company by your cell phone to arrange an interview. There's a really great shift-change feature in your inventory allowing you to reschedule your part-time work shifts if something important comes up, like an interview with a Punk/Gothic Lolita clothes store (which, incidentally, rejected me as I failed the test).

I spend most of my time at Junko's bar, hoping to find out more about the other characters weekly routines, preferences, etc. For example, Hachi told me that Nana likes it when people dress in punk when they see her, so I have to change my outfit if I know she's going to be shopping at the drugstore. It's pretty intense and I feel like a stalker. When Junko's bar is closed, I spend my time wandering around town hoping to bump into the characters or engaging in self-improvement activities such as guitar lessons or reading fashion magazines so that I can improve my musical/style stats.

There's a lot of text and my Japanese language skill is really not up to standard. I failed several mini-games and interview tests because I couldn't read fast enough to answer the questions! I might have to take it to work and get someone to help me get a good job. :O

It's also worth mentioning that the characters in the game are voiced by the same voice actors from the anime, and the opening song 'Lucy' by Anna Tsuchiya plays at the title screen.

I have just recently mastered UFO-catchers in Japan. I learned that the aim is not to pick the toys up with the crane, but to drag/flip them into the prize chute. Why I didn't figure this out before spending billions of dollars, I don't know.

( They were so cute I couldn't resist. )

Just randomly...

I was playing Harvest Moon (The Island Grows With You) on my Japanese DS Lite and when the game froze. I had to switch it off and turn it back on and even though I lost a couple of days (because I'm too lazy to save as I go) it seemed like it was fine again. I've never experienced this before with my old DS.

Has anyone else's DS froze before? :/

Since the new HM game (The Island Grows with You) has been consuming almost every moment of my free time, I thought I'd post about it. Your character starts off getting washed-up on the shore of an island that is only inhabited by one small family of four. Your task is to make the island flourish by having a successful farm. Unlike the previous HM game on DS, this one uses the stylus for all the controls. I found it pretty awkward at times but I'm getting used to it now. The graphics are very pretty and remind me of Animal Crossing's but sometimes there seems to be a problem with the frame rate (not really sure what it's called) and I've noticed a flash of black occasionally.


From the Official site

Fishing is a bit trickier than previous versions of HM and I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet. My fish keep getting away. Also weeds spawn at a really alarming rate, so much so that I don't bother pulling them unless they're near my vegetables. The music was the most disappointing aspect of the game. I'm in Autumn of my first year and the tune for this season is by far the most annoying and I have to listen to it for 30 days.

But the real reason I made this post was not to talk about HM, but in fact this game I found at a small arcade in Yokohama, 'Typing of the Dead'. If you're familiar with the 'House of the Dead' series, it's the same idea only instead of using guns, you have to use a keyboard and type really fast to kill the zombies.



A crappy photo I took using my phone

I actually heard about this game a few months ago from Ashley, who was bragging that she could type really fast. We wanted to have a kind of showdown, because I'm also really fast at typing, thanks to hours of ICQ'ing during my high-school days (GEEK!) but we never found it because at the time, the game was already pretty outdated. But today I found it, for 100 yen a game, in the corner of a small, dingy arcade near Yokohama station.

You can choose to enter words into the keyboard using either romaji or kana. The words appear in Japanese and romaji which means that English-speakers can play. The words start off easy, like single sounds, short words and letters and get progressively harder, with longer words and even sentences. For every kill you get a rank depending on how fast you can type (A being the fastest, E being the slowest). I was doing pretty well and managed to clear two stages but everytime I zombie was swooping down or charging at me, I got really panicky and made typos. My hands were shaking, so I kept laughing out loud like a crazy person. I had an audience of high-school boys, which made me even more self-conscious when I made mistakes. Hilarious. In the end, I spent about 1000 yen. I did pretty well, but would have totally owned it had the words/phrases been in English, not Japanese. Still, it was a great game but I wish Ashley was here to play two-player mode with me. ;_;

I haven't finished playing Harvest Moon Sprite Station for Girls on Nintendo DS yet, but I'm already drooling over a flyer for the new HM game on DS that I picked up at Yodobashi Camera last week. It's called キミと育つ島 (kimi to sodatsu shima), which translates to something like 'You and the island you bred', which sounds not nearly as exciting as it looks (it's depressing to think that I've been here for 5 months and my Japanese is still complete and utter shit). The game features all new characters and story and some very pretty 3D graphics, particularly noticeable in the screen shots of the ocean. The art style is similar to that of the latest HM on NGC, Magical Melody, i.e. unrealistic and extremely cute, which is how I think HM games should always be. I wasn't a huge fan of the more realistic approach they took when they did 'A Wonderful Life'.

It'll be released February 1. which is a Thursday, so I'll going to Yodobashi before work. >:D