Armchair Theorist |
Too frivolous to blog, too alluring to ignore |
Visited the Kirin Yokohama Beer Village (キリン横浜ビアビレッジ) during my trip to Japan last month. They give you a free tour of their brewery, and treat you to two beers - 100% free of charge. Not a bad way to develop brand loyalty, I must say.
It has been a long standing tradition for every release of Microsoft Windows to be accompanied by unofficial anime mascots called OS-tans. Windows 7, which is scheduled to be launched in a few weeks time, is no exception.
However, whereas previous Windows OS-tans were mostly grassroots creations by amateur artists within the community, the Windows 7 OS-tan was created and officially endorsed by Microsoft in Japan, and has started appearing in marketing promotions for the new operating system!
The Windows 7 OS-tan, named Nanami Madobe (窓辺ななみ) and whose name includes both the number seven (なな) as well as the character for window (窓), even has her own Twitter account. I mean, which mascot doesn't have their own Twitter account today?
Final bit of trivia: Believe it or not, Nanami also has her own voice actress. And her voice actress, Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々), of course has the number seven in her name as well (奈々). Coincidence?
Ginza Gogyo (銀座 五行) and the Akihabara shop of Kyushu Jangara (九州じゃんがら 秋葉原本店).
Went to a restaurant in Fujiyoshida-shi (富士吉田市) where you are supposed to cook your own Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き). The instructions were supposed to be idiot-proof, but I think somehow we still messed it up...
Was able to sneak in one photo of the stage before the concert started...
AKB48 is one of Japan's hottest pop idol group sensations right now. Unlike other Japanese pop idol groups, AKB48 is unique in the sense they have their own theater in Akihabara where they hold multiple live performances every week.
In order to support their music career, multiple television commitments, live performances, and so forth, AKB48 has a whopping 48+ members - as their name implies - split up among three teams: Team A, Team K and Team B. Now, that's what I call load-balancing. :) I took these photos of the theater when I went to see Team B's performance tonight. The live performances are so popular that you actually have to ballot for tickets!Official AKB48 Website: http://www.akb48.co.jp
This past weekend me and a few friends drove from Singapore to Malaysia at near midnight to climb Gunung Datuk in pitch darkness throughout the night. It was supposed to be a "beginner-level" trek, but all the sore muscles in my body would disagree. I also almost died on a couple occasions while scaling thin metal ladders that are loosely secured to the rocks with what seems to be decade-old rope.
All for the sake of watching the sunrise from the top of the mountain peak and being able to observe these beautiful sights:
Well worth the pain.
Anime Festival Asia is happening again this year in Singapore. These photos were taken during the media briefing today.
I work in the IT industry. And no, I will not fix your computer.
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