Tag: japan

Looking back on the Rising Sun

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

After tasting the intricately interconnected history of empires in the Middle East, visiting South Korea and Japan this year was a treat. Much like the the nations around the Mediterranean, many of the North East Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan also a shared history. Whether this was their festivals or religious observations – there were many similarities. Especially when it came to engagement with the Western world when European powers came knocking during the Age of Discovery.

While I would still like to do a six week trip to the United Kingdom sometime in the near future, travelling to six different cities over the course of three weeks with my dear friend, bleachpanda, was still an experience in and of itself.

Most of the time I’ve ventured overseas, it’s been with family. In fact, there have only been two instances when it hasn’t been with one family member or another. The first was in 2013 when I accompanied a friend and her brother to the United Kingdom (but stayed primarily in and around London before heading to Czechia and Austria for a week). The second was my solo travel around the United States and Canada back in 2016 after being made redundant when I was selling books.

So, this third trip without family was still very special to me.

And while from date of ticket purchase to actual visit took nigh on six months, the decision to go to Japan in late February to early March was, at least in my eyes, a rather impulsive decision.

In fact, it came about when bleachpanda was browsing the internet and stumbled upon cheap ANA deals, messaging me, and then me readily agreeing to go before I plotted out our route through the cities while noting down the major sights we could see. True, there were places we didn’t quite get to see – like Onomichi or heading to Kawaguchiko and Arakurayama Sengen Park to see a splendid view of Mount Fuji – but overall, I still think our trip to South Korea and Japan will remain a particular highlight for the two of us.

Perhaps because we were not tethered to family or expectations and could explore South Korea and Japan unfettered. And as the two of us had some similar hobbies, it didn’t seem all too terrible to wander through a Mugiwara store or three, even as I dragged bleachpanda to the umpteenth Disney store in the city. Yes, I did get a little cranky when we stopped every fifteen minutes to spend another five to ten minutes at an accessory store in South Korea but it could have been worse.

And bleachpanda was very accommodating when it came to all the tourist sights I had us visiting, despite the occasional tiresome travel day we may have had. Or the fact I had her climbing up Namsan towards N Seoul Tower. Something she likes to remind me of every time I sing the Don Quijote song.

Would I go travelling again with a friend? Yes! Would I travel again with bleachpanda? Probably yes. She’s not the worst travel companion I’ve had and was pretty flexible about places to see and visit.

Travelling with friends can be a delicate balancing act but if you manage to communicate well, it can become much more fun.

Of course, keeping numbers low is still probably more beneficial than being in a large group. Unless, of course, your interests all align. Elsewise, being able to split away and do your own thing once in a while would probably be best.

In any case, visiting Japan has always been a treat. After growing up on a healthy dose of anime and manga, along with video games made by Japanese developers, there’s something fascinating about visiting Japan and soaking in the culture whilst physically there. It also helped that many of their aesthetics for plushies were right in my ballpark. Beyond the major cities, though, there’s also something magical about the smaller towns and the countryside. Less frenetic, they give people an opportunity to breathe.

South Korea, too, was a country of contrasts with one foot in its long storied history with the Joseon dynasty and the other in a ultramodern city setting. This was particularly prevalent in Seoul where people would hawk the latest Samsung TV or phone, which stood in stark contrast to the palaces of old.

While I know many a person who has come to fall in love with South Korea through their music, television shows and skincare products, I was still quite new to the whole experience. After all, the only Korean production I’ve watched is Squid Game and it doesn’t distill much except that capitalism is bad and people will oft times do anything to lift themselves out of poverty. Of course, the game is rigged up for the wealthy to enjoy the novelty of watching people scrambling to survive.

But while in South Korea, I managed to see beyond the image presented by the media it produced. Instead, I came to understand a little of what drove the people and their wishes for the future.

And that is something you can’t always get from a tawdry drama or two.

As someone who loves to read and play video games, exploring and seeing things for myself adds to my understanding of someone’s lived experience. It brings into stark reality the horrors people have endured that seeing it through a screen simply cannot capture. Reading personal stories about those in wars, listening to their testimonies, and seeing the repercussions puts these things into perspective and helps place these events firmly in reality.

We live so much of our lives online these days, it’s often hard to differentiate what is real and what isn’t. Heck, some people even question now if the Holocaust is real.

Like…why? How?

This is why it’s important to conserve our history.

Nations rise and fall but in many places, history has been preserved. And this was abundantly clear while I was in South Korea and Japan. While the actions of nations from aeons ago can be forgiven, they should never be forgotten lest human tribalism repeat the mistakes of old.

With that said, I do hope to revisit Japan again in the future, and perhaps a few more places in South Korea. But for now, I have my heart set on a few other countries I want to tick off. Namely Europe and the United Kingdom before I turn my attention to South-East Asia.

So many places to go, so many things to do…and yet so little time to experience this great wide world we call home.

Days of Transit and Films

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

Living in Australia, the first day of travel is almost always the most uneventful. Why? Because in order to reach any other country (besides New Zealand) involves a bloody long flight. So, it was with my trip to Japan via ANA (which took about 9 hours and 45 minutes or so). It also didn’t help that there was congestion at Sydney airport, which delayed our departure time by upwards of thirty minutes. By the time we landed in Tokyo, it was nearly 9 PM local time and bleachpanda and I needed to go through customs, collect our baggage and check-in to our hotel.

Thankfully, getting through immigration didn’t take too long for either me or bleachpanda. With our luggage in tow, we breezed through quarantine and went about securing ourselves a taxi to take us to our hotel for the night: Toyoko Inn II in Haneda.

On the 9 hour flight over to Japan, I kept myself entertained with several films while bleachpanda battled with motion sickness. Still, she managed to watch Barbie despite sleeping for the majority of our time onboard. As for me, the films I watched included: The Marsh King’s Daughter, Puppy Love, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile and Dumb Money. An eclectic collection of films that started off strong in the psychological thriller genre before dovetailing into a lighthearted romantic comedy and animated child film. Then I finished it off by watching a meme-heavy film about gamers rising up and sticking it to the man.

Sadly, during my flight over to Japan, I didn’t get much reading done. Nor could bleachpanda and I have any riveting conversations given her proclivity for motion sickness and had her eyes closed every time our plane hit turbulence.

But what to say about the films I binged on the way to Japan? Well, The Marsh King’s Daughter was a movie that tickled my interest a few months back when I first saw the trailer. It starred Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn and so was immediately on my radar as a weighty exploration of the human condition. While it wasn’t exactly the most riveting watch, it still managed to capture my attention for the duration of its run-time.

After enjoying the tension-heavy film about family, love and toxic obsession, I decided to watch something I could completely shut my brain off. Enter: Puppy Love starring Lucy Hale and Grant Gustin (two actors who caught my eye back when they were starting out. One featured in a guilty pleasure show I watched back when I was in university – Pretty Little Liars – and the other started out as an antagonist in Glee before becoming the better version of the fastest man alive).

From Puppy Love, I hopped over to watch a film about a singing crocodile and the wacky plot shenanigans that come from a half-animated, half live-action musical starring the likes of Shawn Mendes, Javier Bardem and Constance Wu. Is it strange that there’s a singing crocodile whose exact origins were never exactly explained? Yes, but the songs are catchy and it’s a nice feel-good film.

And even though Lyle doesn’t speak, he can readily communicate through song – which, admittedly, beggars belief but these aren’t things one should think too hard about.

Then finally, after nearly nine hours in the air, and fully from a sandwich dinner, I settled the headphones back onto my ears to watch Dumb Money. Though I never did watch it in cinemas, I did read about how people were using the RobinHood app to hold the line against The Man when it came to the shorting of the GameStop stock back in 2021.

At 8:57 PM, we landed at Haneda airport. After our plane taxied to its designated spot, we traipsed down a set of stairs for the waiting shuttles that took us to the terminal proper. Due to the late hour, we were the only flight going through immigration and customs, smoothing exiting the airport about twenty minutes to ten.

One short taxi ride later took us to our hotel close by. I, of course, managed to embarrass myself by trying to close the automatic door of the cab. It was only when I heard the driver tell me twice to stop that I realised the error of my ways. Still, we managed to check-in to the hotel only a few minutes past 10 PM. Once inside, bleachpanda and I dumped our gear and flopped onto the bed, exhausted from a day on the plane.

The next day, I woke up early and puttered around our shared room as bleachpanda snored away. At 7 AM, bleachpanda’s alarm went off and after spending 45 getting ready, the two of us headed down for breakfast. Once full, we visited a local shrine nearby as well as a 7-Eleven wherein I bought a banana and milk.

Returning to our hotel at around 9:30, it was back on the road for the two of us as we headed to Narita airport for our flight to Seoul. We arrived with barely any time to spare as we checked-in for our flight and sped through security. Still, we managed to try out Japan McDonald’s. I picked a Teriyaki Pork Burger (which was mildly disappointing because of how dense the sauce was) and bleachpanda enjoyed an Ebi Burger. Full, we boarded our flight to Seoul, wherein we were treated with another heavy meal.

At 4:30 PM, we landed at Incheon International. On the flight, I watched Venom: Let There Be Carnage while belachpanda slept on, too ill from the turbulent start to our flight. The sequel to Sony’s Venom was a fun watch, even if it didn’t win any awards. Tom Hardy, I can most assuredly say, is living his best Eddie Brock life, given the banter between our two protagonists.

In fact, it reminded me of my relationship with bleachpanda during the trip. I’d tease and aggravate her, she’d threaten to murder me in my sleep…

And yet she’d still comply with all my walking demands as we managed to rack up a 14,500 step count average over the three weeks we were out and about on our overseas trip.

Once we grabbed our luggage and went through South Korea immigration, we took a taxi to our hotel in the heart of Seoul. After wechecked in to our hotel in South Korea: ENA Suite Namdaemun, bleachpanda and I ventured out to enjoy a nice meal out at Michelin Star winner: Korea Ginseng Chicken Soup.

Grief and Acceptance

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

In 2021, there were plenty of games that tackled grief. Some did it well while others were a bit of a convoluted mess. Thankfully, Ghostwire Tokyo errs on the side of Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy. True, it might not be as fun or have as rollicking an adventure, but plot-wise, it managed to keep everything in perspective without bringing any twists out of left-field. The story was very contained, in both location and breadth, and for that, I applaud it for keeping it simple. That, and the fact that the spider lily imagery was kept to a minimum. Honestly, it’ll be a long time coming before I get over how much they were used in Scarlet Nexus.

Ghostwire Tokyo begins with the spirit of KK possessing the body of what he believes is a deceased courier. To his surprise, that person is very much alive. Enter Akito: our earnest protagonist who only wants to make sure that his sister: Mari is all right after a strange fog engulfs everyone around the thriving Shibuya Scramble and the surrounding environs. 

Despite still recovering from his near-death collision with a car, Akito limps to a local hospital to check in his sister. When he arrives, however, he discovers a man in a Hannya mask kidnapping her for some crazy ritual that he doesn’t quite understand.

So begins his quest to save Mari and put a stop to the villain’s plans with KK at his side.

Unlike Scarlet Nexus, the narrative tucked within Ghostwire Tokyo is quite a simple affair. There’s no hidden governmental conspiracy where people are transformed into visitors. Nor is there a sudden revelation that humans came from the moon. Rather, all the characters involved have all suffered loss. Akito has lost both his parents and fears losing his sister as well. KK is a solitary man by trade. Though he has a wife and son, he’s been mostly absent in their lives. Despite that, he still strives to protect his family and keep them safe.

The man in the Hannya mask, on the other hand, is a scientist that lost his beloved wife and becomes obsessed with rejoining her and creating a paradise for souls. Though we never get to see the man behind the mask (except through voice logs), it’s clear that he is a man driven by his ego to attempt the impossible without any care for the repercussions. Even when his daughter attempts to stop him, he barely bats an eye – believing that they will all be reunited in his twisted version of life beyond death.

While his motivations are understandable, it’s clear that Mister Hannya has gone off the deep end. Better yet, the game doesn’t even attempt to redeem him or make him see the error of his ways! Yay for finally having a villain just do villain things and believing he is the hero of the story.

What I loved about Ghostwire Tokyo, though, was how much the game was infused with love and care for Japanese culture and folklore. Kappas, Oni and so many other yokai (monsters) make an appearance. Almost all get a small entry in the glossary. For someone that has fallen in love with the idea of Japan ever since I was first suckered into watching anime, I loved the titbits about iconic Japanese foods like onigiri and taiyaki. I can’t believe these types of food have been around for so long!

Almost every collectible had an entry. And almost all of them were tied to Japan’s unique history and culture. Even though there were so many things to find, I didn’t find it all that tiring to scour the map for them.

This was also prevalent in the enemies. Especially the lady with the scissors. I might have only dabbled with Japanese mythology but even I’ve heard the horror urban legend of a woman wearing a mask asking strangers whether or not she was beautiful before showing off a disfigured grin. The other visitors have their moments but they don’t reach the heights of horror that the Kuchisake. At least in my first battle with her.

Still, they seem to encapsulate very well some of the frustrations that are inherent in the very rigid social structures within the culture. From the businessmen to high school students.

Even the side quests help flesh out the world of Ghostwire Tokyo and its heavy focus on yokai and Japanese mythology. The game might not be as bombastic with its drops of lore such as having ancient heroes or the Gods jump in to save the day, but it was still fun. 

Reading online, I know that many people were disappointed in the combat. While I do acknowledge that the ether weaving can get repetitive, I’m also of the mind that it didn’t need any additional flairs. Think of it in terms of guns. Wind weaving was like using a pistol. Water weaving represented a shotgun. And fire? That was basically lobbing a grenade/ using a rocket launcher to clear out pesky bullet sponge enemies. Throw in some talismans that help expose cores or stun them for a few precious seconds and you’ve all the tools needed to take down the myriad number of foes just waiting to jump Akito on the streets of Tokyo.

Having more ether weavings would have only bogged down the players with too much choice and would have overly complicated an already working system. Especially for those that liked to race through the main story instead of slowing down to sniff the roses.

Ghostwire Tokyo was a fun distraction and palate cleanser for Lost Judgment. The story wasn’t as dense and the combat was simple. Although I roamed around Kamurocho and Ijincho, the worlds could not have been more different. That said, the topics and themes explored in both games were still a bit on the heavier side. Hopefully, whatever I play next will be focused on something silly and nonsensical. Maybe also just shorter in general too. 

Goodness knows that I have far too many games on my ‘To be played’ list. And now with not-E3 behind us, there’s also a slew of new titles waiting around the corner for me to pick up. After all, when this post goes up, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will be just around the corner.

By the way, is it me or does Lanz just have super Reyn vibes? We’ll see when the game comes out but if someone who knows me in real life hears me saying ‘It’s Lanz time,’ you know where I’ve got it from.

Unfortunately, no One Piece cafe in the Tokyo Tower of the game.