TOKYO - It's Wednesday in Tokyo, and the rainy skies have stopped their downpour, instead being content to be overcast. But the sun did manage to show itself at a few points during the day today. Today on the plate was wandering around the vast Shinjuku area and getting some play-time in on more arcade games here.

　　One of the coolest things about Shinjuku is that it's always crowded. Today we ventured over to one of the many department stores in the area, finding a really cool store called Tokyu Hands. It's hard to describe, but the place has everything a pop culture fanatic could possibly want, including an inflatable Mario. Some of the coolest stuff were tin/metal figures in that “retro style” of Arnold Schwarzeneggar as The Terminator, Edward Scissorhands, and others. They also had plastic ocarinas, which I couldn't resist. Now I just need to learn how to play those Zelda songs…

　　Back out on the street we saw a preview for the new Gamera movie, Gamera 3. It looks like they've really increased the quality of the special effects in this new one. If you haven't seen a Gamera movie, you have no idea what you're missing. Screw Hollywood's “interpretation” of Godzilla, Gamera is the real deal, friend to all children, kick-ass turtle—what more could you want?

　　Just across the way is the really big Tower Records Shinjuku, one of the biggest record stores I've ever seen, and four floors of everything and anything music and movies. The first floor is comprised of all Japanese Pop, so I was in total heaven—going around to all the listening stations and taking a sample of the music. One of the strangest things is that bands here in Japan often have their singles used as songs in TV commercials. When you see the cover of the single, it actually says “featured on TVCM.” Good exposure for the bands, but it has very little to do with the products being advertised.

　　Then over the hill and through the street of Shinjuku (avoiding the many “adult” stores and locations along the way) to Sakuraya Hobby, which has to be one of the biggest games shops I've ever seen. The first floor is all new games and systems. Dreamcast, WonderSwan, Neo Geo Pocket, PC-FX (NEC's failed 32-bit system), PlayStation, N64—all that. They used to have a nice selection of brand new Famicom Disk Drive games, but now it's unfortunately really lame—some kind of Barbie game or something. Whatever it was, it wasn't what they used to have. They've also got a section of Dreamcast goods—Shen Mue mousepads, Segata Sanshiro dolls, Dreamcast mugs, etc. Sega's really merchandising the hell out of that system. Gotta wonder if that's good or bad.

　　The basement floor's got all kinds of game books and other little trinket goods. There I was able to pick up a small stuffed PaRappa doll, a Crash Bandicoot plush keychain and the latest figures in the Pokemon anime series—Brock and Nurse Joy. On the second floor of the place, they've got tons of action figures and model kits. Everything you could possibly want in that area is right here. Unfortunately, they've sold out of their Nightmare Before Christmas figures, which I was hoping to be able to buy. But, oh well…

　　The day wrapped up hanging out in a little bar/restaurant with Yutaka and the rest of the guys here and getting into trouble with the sake. That'll teach me! Back tomorrow with more!