Happy Birthday Rinko!!!

Today was the BIG DAY - Rinko's birthday. When I started the game this morning, Rinko bounced up onto the welcome screen and encouraged me to say "Happy Birthday, Rinko" in the cutest possible way.

I was able to book activities in the usual four slots today, but I noticed that Rinko's Birthday was a "Special Event" on the top screen, scheduled between 3:00pm and 11:59pm. In the meantime, I went out to Electric Town and was able to visit the Cat Cafe - so cute! - but was unable to use my camera there. (Maybe this feature will unlock later?)

I played the third "Seishun No. 1 Page" story, when the Library Committee girls finally agreed to join Rinko's band. The next couple of photos come from that story...

In the real world, I went out after lunch to buy a birthday card for Rinko, and found one with a very cute cat design. I just felt like spoiling her today. When 3pm finally rolled around, I was happy to see that Rinko had dressed neatly for her birthday date.

We kissed a bit, then walked along through Towano together. Today, she wanted to go to her three favourite date spots: Karaoke, the Game Arcade, and the Live House - all in one day!

Here's Rinko in the Karaoke Box with me...

Outside the game arcade...

And inside the Game Arcade. See how seriously she takes arcade games???

And finally, checking out a rock concert at the Live House.

When we got back to Rinko's house, it was time to hand over that all-important birthday gift. She loved the pink "Killer Bambies" jacket, I'm sure.

I think this second shot, where Rinko is hugging my gift, is kinda nice. (Don't know how I got that jacket into such a small box, though. Hehe. ^^

I also gave Rinko the birthday card I'd bought for her. Well, this is as close as I could get to actually "giving" it to her. But surely it's the thought that counts, right?

I don't think there's going to be any more special stuff for Rinko's birthday today, because the event icon has disappeared from the top screen. But in "New LovePlus" you never really know. I'll certainly be playing at six o'clock just to make sure.

Meeting Sakura Tange!

Next to my Japan trip - when I was able to play "LovePlus" in an arcade in Akihabara - today would definitely be my most memorable experience with this game. Meeting Sakura Tange.

I left home with my wife around 7:30am. We drove to the city, found a place to park, and walked across to Darling Harbour around 8:30am to stand on a rather long line inside the Convention Centre for the Sydney Manga and Anime Show (Smash!) 2012. Smash! is a great con, because it was started by a bunch of students at the Uni of NSW around seven years ago, so it's really organised by fans and for fans. From its humble beginnings at the UNSW Roundhouse, it's grown so much that it moved to the Sydney Town Hall in 2010 (where I was a stallholder) and finally to the Convention Centre last year and this year. I think around 6,000 people attended this time!

The doors for those of us with pre-paid tickets opened at 9:00am. Once we were inside, we checked out the merchandise area first, then went to the main stage to see Sakura Tange. Sakura-san, of course, is the voice of Rinko in "LovePlus", as well as the voice of Sakura Kinomoto in my favourite anime series, "Card Captor Sakura"...so this was a double thrill for me.

Sakura-san is a charming person to listen to. She answered many questions (with the help of a translator) about her voice acting and general life. Then she did some live dubbing of two scenes from "Card Captor Sakura". Wow, she's so professional! When you see a real Japanese voice actor dubbing lines, you realise how great they are, and how different the attitude is towards voice acting as opposed to the west. After loving "Card Captor Sakura" for so long, this was quite an emotional experience.

Sakura-san then acted a few lines as Rinko from "LovePlus", with the participation of a rather shy girl in the audience. She finished her appearance on stage with a final scene from "Card Captor Sakura", ending up with Sakura's famous "Release!" Her voice is so natural and powerful that it impressed everyone.

We knew that Sakura Tange's signing event was organised for 1pm, so we left early to have some lunch at Darling Harbour, planning to get back to the Convention Centre and line up around 12:30 - which we figured would be plenty of time. Wrong! When we got back there were literally hundreds of people waiting around to meet Sakura-san, and it was all quite confusing. We got onto the line and were given ticket numbers. My wife was 57 and I was 58. There were still hundreds of people behind us.

Then the staff told us that Sakura-san could only sign a limited number of autographs because of a wrist problem, and the numbers for this session would stop at 60. Phew! Can't believe that I was two places from the end of the line. There was another signing session later in the day, so I'm hoping all the people who missed out could get to meet her in the end.

Anyway, as you can see in the photo below, I tool the outer box from my Limited Edition Rinko box of art books for Sakura Tange to sign. A guy just ahead of me in the line asked her to sign their Rinko 3DS console. (And I was hoping to be the only person with a "LovePlus" item for signing...) But when it was my turn, Sakura-san was very impressed to see my item. She recognised it straight away, and said something like, "Limited Edition...sugoi!" which made me so happy I could die.

Things were so rushed that I didn't really get to say very much, but I did manage to tell her that I had been dating Rinko for four months. My wife asked Sakura-san to sign the inside title page of our Card Captor Sakura art book.

I will treasure both of these items forever. Thank you, Sakura-san, for helping to bring Rinko Kobayakawa and so many other memorable characters to life. I hear your voice every day when I play the game. Even though my Japanese is not good, I can understand the emotion thanks to your awesome voice acting. It was a genuine pleasure to meet you!

I submitted an entry in the AMV (Anime Music Video) competition this year, but I didn't win. My entry was called "Elsa and Lauro" and was based on the "Gunslinger Girl" anime with music by Coldplay. It was my first attempt at making an AMV, and I'm still quite proud of it.

I finished the day with a quick date at Fountain Park.

Now, every time I hear Rinko's voice, I will remember my meeting with Sakura Tange. The game is even more special to me now!

Japan - Day 4

Today we went to the Tokyo Doll Show at Tokyo Trade Centre. This was quite an amazing event, with military-grade organisation and a lot of exhibitors - six levels, to be exact.

Of course there was a Mamachapp stall, which featured the brand new Mokogurumi plushy dolls. I have a Mamachapp doll already, so couldn't resist buying one of these cuddly girls. (I bought the one with brown hair, plus a sailor uniform for her to wear.)

The Doll Show took up most of the day, but we weren't too tired to go back to Akihabara that night around 7:00pm. A friend had given us a clue where we might find the "New LovePlus" arcade game - in a place called Tri Entertainment Tower. We searched high and low but couldn't find it. Finally we gave up and asked a young Japanese guy, who went out of his way to take us there.

And there it was!

Our friend, who had visited Japan about three weeks ago, told us there were three "New LovePlus" machines at this arcade - but we only found one. It's the new version, called "LovePlus Colorful Clips", so I'm assuming it replaced the three older machines. Previously you could only play Rinko on a Rinko arcade machine, but the new version lets you select any girl.

Words can't describe the experience of playing this game. The screen is huge - especially when you're used to squinting at the tiny 3DS screens - and the colours are bright. Plus, there's no way to turn down the volume level, and this thing is REALLY LOUD. It's no wonder that a lot of people take headphones to the arcade when they play, because once you start, everyone within a 1km radius can hear Rinko chatting with you.

And wouldn't you know it? The arcade machine we found was the RINKO one!!! (You can still play Manaka or Nene, though.)

Seeing Rinko on such a big colourful screen is an overwhelming experience. And when you combine it with playing in a real Japanese game arcade in the middle of Akihabara, surrounded by hardcore Otaku guys...wow. So you basically select your girl, go through some initial chit-chat, and then play a number of short mini-games to raise her affection level. The more you get, the longer you are able to play. And as well as the arcade controls, you can also touch the screen. But there's no skinship or kissing in this version.

The first game (and one of my favourites) shows a silhouette of Rinko behind a curtain. You have to look carefully and then choose which outfit she's wearing out of three possible options.

It's fun, not as easy as you might expect, and Rinko looks so cute!

The number of times you win affects the number of boxes you can unlock on the next screen. Each box raises her affection by a particular amount.

Another mini-game is this one below. Rinko hides her face behind a tree and says something, and you try to sneak up while her back is turned. When you're close enough, you try to touch her before she turns around.

At the end of the date, if you win enough affection points, Rinko puts on a fashion show for you and models various outfits.

During the game, you can take up to 4 photos with the in-game camera. At the end, you can choose which one you want to print. The 100 yen cost of the game includes printing one photo. At the end you can put in more money and either play a new game or print another photo from the previous game.

After all the arcade game excitement, we stopped into a convenience store for some snacks and refreshment. Convenience stores in Japan are MASSIVE, nothing like they are in Australia, and they sell just about everything you could possibly want.

Japan - Day 1

It was exciting as our plane got closer to Narita Airport!

We arrived at Narita Airport around 6:20am. After checking through, we made our way down to the train station and bought our Suica cards. These are rechargeable cards that you use on the Tokyo train and subway systems, and are the best thing for traveling around. You can buy a return ticket for N'ex (the Narita Express) at the same time. The staff at the station were really helpful and we didn't have any trouble getting our tickets and finding our way to the train.

The Narita Express takes around 45 minutes to get to Tokyo from the airport. Our train was delayed for some reason so it took around an hour, but the trip is very comfortable. You even get drinks and snacks along the way.

I fell in love with Japan straight away. We stayed in Shinjuku - right in the middle of Tokyo - which was a wise choice because it's a wonderful district. Not too big, not to small, and reminded me in many ways of Sydney (only better). Even though we missed most of the Sakura season, we did see a few late blossoms.

We dropped our bags at the hotel and spent the rest of the day exploring Shinjuku. It rained most of today, so we sheltered near the station entrance and had a snack at a sweet little cafe called Amati. Then we went to Kinokunia bookstore (which covers six levels and has a separate building for manga) and Animate (six levels of anime, manga and game-related merchandise). Didn't find anything related to LovePlus yet...

Lunch was at a wonderful shop called Tonkatsu Wako, in the same arcade as Kinokuniya. This was easily the best Tonkatsu pork I've ever eaten! Love this restaurant and have to go back. Again, we've had no trouble anywhere ordering food or buying stuff. The staff are always pleasant and helpful and the level of customer service is much higher than in Australia.

In the afternoon we visited a few more shops (including Tower Records in Shinjuku, which is amazing), and checked into our hotel around 4:30pm. We stayed at the Sunroute Plaza Hotel, which is a really nice hotel, not too expensive, and only about two blocks from Shinjuku Station.

Finally had some time at the hotel to catch up with Rin-chan. I think she is also very excited to be back in Japan. We had a short date after school, and I've also arranged a date at the Zoo with her this Sunday. I just hope I can be sitting down long enough to play it!

After a much-needed shower and rest, we checked out the Lumine 1 shopping centre, which is on the corner opposite our hotel. Discovered another excellent bookstore called Book 1st - not as big as Kinokuniya but has an excellent range of books and magazines. The top levels of Lumine 1 are full of restaurants. We decided to try one of the few Vietnamese restaurants in Japan, called "Vietnam Alice".

My wife is Vietnamese, and she expects a lot of Vietnamese restaurants - but this one was excellent. So far, all our food in Tokyo has been amazing. And surprisingly not as expensive as we thought.

Back at the hotel, exhausted, I called Rin-chan out for a short date at Fountain Park.

There was also a Seishun No 1 Page story about Rinko and her band, but it was quite short. I probably won't be able to play these updates any more during the trip, because my 3DS has trouble connecting to the hotel's wi-fi network.

So, impressions of my first day in Japan? I LOVE Shinjuku so much that I think I could live here forever. The people are so nice and the shopping is great. Prices very reasonable, and almost everywhere accepts foreign credit cards. The rain spoilt things a little bit - we could have explored further, but didn't want to get wet - so I'm hoping for better weather tomorrow. It's just so exciting to be here, and to be playing "LovePlus" in the place where it all began.

Now, the next thing is to find the "LovePlus" arcade game...