This previous month had been loaded few things that I wanted to talk about, so I thought it be a good opportunity to corral these events into a post.
A Coastal Drive
Two friends of mine invited me off to join them on a drive to Choshi, Chiba for a day trip. I hadn’t been to many spots in Chiba before, and in particular this area was hard to access through the train. Plus, it was my first time taking a trip exclusively by car to anywhere in Japan. I had my international driver’s permit that I was aching to use for a moment like this, but unfortunately I was barred by a particular law that prevented foreign residents from using the permit if they had lived at least a year in the country (the actual ruling is a little more complicated, but it roughly exists to stop those skirting getting an a Japanese license). My friend took the mantle of driving a rough 6 hour round trip through Chiba and back (greatly appreciated!).
Driving trips are totally worth it. The true convenience lies with just being able to directly go to places without needing to deal with train transit. We’re not crunched to take a particular train and don’t have to wade through crowds just to get to a transfer. To be fair, Tokyo’s existing infrastructure makes using trains ideal, but anywhere outside of a major city is where a car shines. More importantly, off beaten places like Choshi are either difficult or impossible to get to without driving.
Being near the coast, we got to explore a temple, a rocky seaside near the ocean, and a beach with interesting cliffside rock formations. The views were immaculate and accompanied by a cool breeze that signaled the end of summer for Japan (and well needed since it was humidly hot the past few months).
I definitely want to do more trips like these in the future, but I need to legally be able to drive. It’s possible to convert your existing license here in Japan, so I’ll be considering that.
Pixel Art!
The day after I participated in Pixel Art Park 9 in Yokohama. Pixel Art Park is a celebration of all things pixel art, gathering talented artists to showcase and sell their artwork to those interested. I like to think of it is a giant artist alley at conventions like Anime Expo. As a lover of pixel art, I was particularly interested in seeing what they had to offer.
The event itself took place in a giant hall, so there were rows and rows of vendors selling their goods. There was also retro-styled music played by DJs during certain times of the day as well. While there wasn’t much going on in the event aside from this, being able to peruse and examine different artists’ artworks was a treat in itself.
I hadn’t expected to purchase anything during the convention, but one type of merchandise had caught my eye: Postcard prints. Whenever I see nice art, I’m usually deterred by the size of the prints. Sure, I could always get a standard paper sized print but I never knew where/how best to place it up in my apartment. And while prices vary, they tend to stack up to being a bit expensive for me.
Postcard prints changed this because not only were they small, but they were quite affordable. It could have been that I adored the art pieces enough to just buy whatever size I wanted, but most shops ended up offering postcards of their various artwork. And it kind of just clicked with me: I could keep an album of postcards and keep it in my shelf as a small keepsake for art that I like. And so, I purchased some prints after scouring the hall a few times.
After coming back from the event I wished I bought more prints to add to my collection. Now that I have an album, I’ll be sure to add more in the future!
Catch Up and Life Party
In another weekend, I spent some time catching up with my Japanese friend. We don’t meet often, so reconnecting after a month or so always feels refreshing. My friend’s a chill guy as well, so it makes for a pretty comfortable conversation. In particular, he’d encourage switching between English to Japanese just for me to get better at my speaking skills. It always puts me in a bind when I try to actively listen and respond, but I do appreciate his patience and choice of coffee shops.
On that same day, I went to a birthday party (well, more like an after party) for another Japanese friend. She had just moved back to Osaka from Tokyo recently, but came to visit to do a joint birthday celebration. While I missed the first half of it I stuck around the later half for dinner, a pub run filled with Jack Daniel’s drinks, and a final bar that ran until first train at 5:00 AM. The last bar was particularly enjoyable as we went through deeper conversations that you would only get late at night. This might just be me, but there’s just something about answering questions about life while being increasing sleep deprived and drunk.
Tokyo Game Bridge Art Workshop
Roughly 6 hours after the party I attended a workshop for Tokyo Game Bridge. Thanks to a tiny energy drink bottle from the local conbini, I powered through the event. We were tasked to make two game assets for any game. While I have no capacity for art, I took things from a different angle by creating a layout and a rough UI design for the game that I was working on. Despite being just concept art, time flew particularly quickly. We were constrained for about an hour and a half, so timeboxing was necessary. I did come out with a design I was satisfied with and was able to present my thoughts out to the other attendees. I also got a better perspective on what to look for in my art and what I can try to ask artists for when I need assets for my future game!
Elden Ring and Halloween
To round off the month, I had to mention the game that consumed a good amount of time this month: Elden Ring. A friend of mine mentioned there was a co-op mod that allowed us to seamlessly play together, so I decided to brave George R. R. Martin’s world. I may have more thoughts on the game in a later post, but in short it has been a refreshing, addictive, and frustrating experience. It’s been a while since I found a game where I would binge 4-6 hour sessions and be immersed freely exploring through an open world environment. It’s also been a while that I’ve been thoroughly frustrated in a game, getting destroyed through unfair (subjectively) attacks, unexpected encounters, and many, many falls. Considering that I have about 106 hours as of writing, I am having a good time with the game. Or I’m masochistic.
Oh, and I made some ghost fettuccini for Halloween.
That wraps up the whole month of October for me. I don’t plan on doing this monthly, but if there’s enough stuff I want to talk about piles up in another month, I’ll write something else in the future.