#got them from a gachapon machine in Osaka!

[feefal]

me and my bacteriophage friends on our way to wreak havoc on your gut health by injecting ourselves into your good bacteria

[papawty]

Dec '23: KiriBaku Head-hunting and Sparkly Lights

I spent my 2023 Winter at Japan with my sister. It was my first international flight after Covid and we stayed there for three weeks.

Our first stop was Nagoya, staying at this quaint but very well-maintained hostel that was just a few steps away from a shopping district. On our first night, I immediately zoomed in on an anime shop and got these Bakugou and Kirishima stickers. The designs were pretty cool!

Before finally travelling to Kanagawa where our brother is, I found this Taito Arcade station with MHA plushies.

It was the only Bakugou plush left in the store, so of course I felt a personal responsibility to claim him. JPY1,100 after - I snagged the boy!! At first, I didn't know how I'll maneuver the claw around with him so near the wall, but an arcade staff saw me dawdling in front of the machine and offered to bring him down from the shelf. If you didn't know, you can ask arcade staff if you're gunning for a specific plush/item. They will position it solo on the ground so you can keep trying for it and that item only. I thought that was pretty cool service from them.

I brought the boy back with me to our brother's place. But it was only a quick stopover as we went to Sendai right after.

Sendai was cold. But I really wanted to go there to visit a specific event, which was and was not KiriBaku-related.

By this time, I was trying to get back to writing stories. I wanted to join the KRBK Advent Calendar that year, and was trying to write for Day 24's Christmas Eve prompt. My story revolved around Sendai's Pageant of Starlight, and it was important for me to see this event in real life in order to finish what I was writing.

I saw the lights. Bakugou and Kirishima did as well, in my story.

We only planned an overnight stay, so we went back to Tokyo again the next morning (-3 degrees!). We stopped by Tokyo station on our way, and I found HeroAca posters on the wall! Of course, I had to take a picture with Blasty boi.

After we celebrated Christmas day at our brother's church, we ate these really good tonkatsu steaks and then we went to a Bookoff at Sunshine City, where I got these KiriBaku figurines and standees at bargain price!! Oh, yeah, there's me again. I bought a cat-shaped beanie because my noggin was still cold from Sendai.

Right after Sendai was Osaka - and it was one of the best cities I traveled to. You just get this friendly and warm vibe around the city and its people. It's pretty distinct from the rush in Tokyo. In Osaka, people are more laid-back and welcoming (and not just in a polite way).

One of my favorite memories there was finding this HeroAca gachapon at a nearby Bookoff. It was literally just a few blocks away and on the way to the station, so I'd pass by here multiple times. I was super excited to see that both Bakugou and Kirishima were there!

I don't even remember anymore how many 300 yens I chucked onto the thing, but I did get my boys eventually! It was wild that I only got Kirishima once and had multiples of everyone else sans Bakugou.

The day before leaving Osaka, I was determined to get Blasty boi. I was down to my last set of 300 yens, when I finally got him!! I also went to an Animate store and found these KiriBaku metal keychains at bargain price.

We made it back to our brother's place, if only to dump the stuff we bought (lol) and get even more stuff at Gotemba, where we spent our New Year. Then, it was only a few more days left before we return to home.

I was already aware of the HeroAca x Loft collaboration, but I was still afraid of going on my own. My SIL gladly chaperoned us to Yokohama, where she and my sister then left me to my devices so I can revel in all the HeroAca stuff.

This is me hiding Todoroki to I can take a picture between Bakugou and Kirishima :p

Their area also had this giant standee wall with screencaps of scenes from Season 6. I can't believe they literally added the KiriBaku bath scene in there, but thank you for the fan service lol.

I also got Bakugou's Aji Fry shirt! And several other items for myself and my friend Canary.

Lastly - I don't have pics of it 'cause I got too excited - but I did another HeroAca gachapon for mini figurines! It was pretty expensive though, 500 yen per roll. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

There they are on the lower-left area. This time, I got only one of Bakugou and four of Kirishima. I gave my extra Kiri's to my Discord friends.

It was a great vacation! The HeroAca stuff were mostly unplanned, but they were still all over in Japan so it was super thrilling to see them in the wild.

Next post has even more HeroAca shenanigans, this time more intentional.

[satoshi-mochida]

Maid cafe adventure game Maid Cafe at Electric Street to be published by PLAYISM

Gematsu Source

PLAYISM will publish Adventurer’s Tavern-developed maid cafe adventure game Maid Cafe at Electric Street, the companies announced. It will be available for PC via Steam. It will launch in 2024.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Maid Cafe at Electric Street is a leisurely maid cafe adventure set in the otaku haven of Nipponbashi, Osaka. The protagonist of our story quits his job at an extremely toxic workplace and finds himself at a run-down maid cafe tucked away in a quiet part of Nipponbashi. There, he meets the maid Shiro. One thing leads to another, and he eventually gets appointed as the temporary cafe manager and put in charge of the management of the maid cafe. As the new manager, his first task is to scout cute girls to work at the cafe. Time to explore Nipponbashi and all the otaku stuff it has to offer!

Key Features

Get to know the four unique main girls: Shiro, Miyu, Favna, and Honoka, all voiced.

Immerse yourself in lighthearted stories about everyday life with the cute maids.

Enjoy the modern and gorgeous pixel art graphics depicting even the finest details, including the meat buns next to the convenience store cashier and the figures on the shelves of an anime shop.

Go on fun dates at Nipponbashi, from anime shops to arcades to the cinema!

The Four Main Girls of Fuwa Fuwa

Shiro – “Um, please be the new manager of the cafe!” A maid who loves Fuwa Fuwa Cafe. A huge otaku for anime and video games, she talks really fast when she’s gushing about the things she loves, and often splurges on merch without thinking whenever she visits an anime shop. A little clumsy, but works hard every day to become the cute maid she’s always wanted to be.

Miyu – “Hey Mr. Manager, thanks a bunch for hanging out with me today~☆.” A game otaku and gyaru with a big appetite. Loves both eating and cooking, and apparently really enjoys serving her cooking to customers at Fuwa Fuwa Cafe. Is actually Shiro’s friend on the online game Magic Angel, so they knew each other before actually meeting in real life.

Favna – “I am the Slayer of the False God, the Queen of the Kingdom of Darkness, the All-Seeing Oracle, the Guardian of the Dream of All Things—.” A mysterious girl dressed in gothic Lolita fashion. Speaks in riddles and demands the protagonist become her familiar. She sometimes accidentally drops the edgy act when she’s taken by surprise though, so maybe she’s just got a serious case of chuunibyou…?

Honoka – “Ya want a thrivin’ business? That there sounds like a job for our shrine!” A girl with a Kansaiben dialect who works as a shrine maiden at her family shrine. Practically in charge of the shrine, she is reliable and very good at handling money, and has a strong sense of responsibility to boot. On top of that, she’s also the only glasses girl at Fuwa Fuwa Cafe!

Support Your Maid Cafe Employees as the Manager!

As the cafe manager, it’s your job to allocate work to your maids. Make sure to give the right girl the right job! For example, Shiro is always enthusiastic to serve customers, and Miyu is great in the kitchen. Of course, you can’t just sit there while they work. During opening hours, you’ll also have to make coffee and help out on the floor, so it’s not as easy as it sounds!

The Stunning Sights of Nipponbashi

In order to recreate the atmosphere of the real Nipponbashi, the game features several real stores you can find there, such as Surugaya, Sofmap, Dragon Star, Super Potato, and Karaoke Rainbow, among many others. Don’t forget to pay them a visit when you’re shopping or taking one of your maids on a date!

Collectable Gachapon

If you’ve been to the real Nipponbashi, you’ll know that there are gachapon machines all over the area. In this game, you can also try your hand at collecting your favorite gachapon series and experience that unique gacha thrill of not knowing what you’re getting. As you collect more gachapon, you can even bring them up in conversations with the girls. Keep cranking those machines until you’ve collected them all!

Watch a new trailer below.

Publisher Announce Trailer

[koikoikite]

両親と一緒に：京都の歴史

~together with my parents in Kyoto~

First: I apologize for the delay in posts. I was caught up in exams and traveling, so although I leave Japan in a few days, I still have over 20 posts to put up. Some are already written, so look forward to them! 

My parents went to Hiroshima on Tuesday and Wednesday, so when they returned on Thursday we decided to do some sightseeing in Kyoto. I had a test that morning in my first class, so I zipped over to school, took the test, apologized to my stunned sensei (I have a good attendance track record) and left the school in order to meet my parents at the subway station by their airbnb.

this station has a nekoatsume gachapon machine! unfortunately, I had collected 5/6 of the keychains and they removed the machine!!! 残念

We first went to Tenryuu-ji in Arashiyama, a Buddhist Temple with a nice zen garden. Unlike the last time I went, we splurged and paid the entrance fee that allowed us to go inside the temple in order to escape from the heat. We also walked through the bamboo forest, although I told my parents that it was famous for its spiders after we had left.

my parents, and one of the rooms of the temple

Tenryuu-ji

I wanted to take my parents to this super tasty buffet I had gone to before with Sayaka, but it turns out that week it was closed for renovations!! I intended this to be my birthday lunch (I turned 21 the day after this day), but sucked up my disappointment and we found a tasty (and cheaper!) restaurant where my parents got katsu dishes and I got soba noodles with some kind of fish… can you believe I ate a fish that I'm not even sure what it was??

I am the most photogenic.

After that, we continued our quest to visit one of Kyoto’s most famous temples: Fushimi Inari Taisha. This is probably my favorite shrine I’ve ever been to, for multiple reasons:

Foxes!

There are thousands of torii (red shrine gates) that you can walk through

No entrance fee! I put this money towards buying a mamori (charm) instead.

The one drawback is that since there are thousands of gates that don’t get cleaned off… the amount of spiders residing on them is absolutely ridiculous. If you go, just don’t look up. You’ll thank me.

Lastly, we made a stop at Kiyomizu-dera. It’s under construction for the 2020 Japan Olympics, but my real reason for going is that a few of the shops on the road up to the temple have samples, and my favorite shop has over 10 different kinds of yatsu-hashi, a Kyoto sweet. I’ve actually never bought these, since when I am craving them (they are expensive and don’t keep longer than a few days) I just drag my butt up there and eat my fill of samples.

I really wore my parents (and myself, let’s be real) out, so we took a taxi back into the city. Since we had subway passes, we decided to go get dinner up in Kitayama and see my dorm. I finally tried the family restaurant Royal Host, and although it was tasty, the price was not worth it for the portion size (Saizeriya size).

I was glad I was able to be my parents tour guide, since hiring one for the day (like they had to do in Tokyo and Osaka) runs around $300. My fee was just feeding me and buying me mamori from all the temples – what a steal ;)

[jenesys-energy-ph-blog]

DAY 2 by Alyssa Nifas

I woke up in Japan!

The call time is a bit early but that does not stop us from being so excited! We went down and we had our temperatures checked and then we had our breakfast. The hotel serves a breakfast buffet and they have really tasty food! I tried a lot and everything tasted amazing! I got so full and so my energy was at high levels.

After breakfast, we went back to our rooms to finish preparing for the day and then we went down to meet the others and then we had a little practice for our cultural presentation. We practiced outside the hotel, specifically in the parking lot. The sun was up high but it was still very cold! Our group practiced our folk dance and the other practiced a song presentation. After some time we then went back inside and prepared for departure to the Edo Tokyo Museum.

While the other participants from other countries are still to arrive in Japan, we, together with delegates from Vietnam and Timor Leste, got the chance to visit a museum in Tokyo before the program officially starts. We rode a bus to the museum with the delegates from Timor Leste. I was so glad to have met such lovely and friendly people. They shared a lot about their country and also listened to what we had to share about the Philippines as well. I was able to learn about their country even in just a short ride to the museum.

Edo Tokyo Museum shows a lot about the history of Japan. “Edo” is actually the former name of Tokyo. We went around, learned a lot and of course took a lot of photos. It was amazing how some parts of the museum are really interactive. You get to really experience the culture even only inside the museum!

After walking around, we were able to get some souvenirs in the shop and some pamphlets. I also got my first stamp from Japan! I bought a billfold in the museum’s souvenir shop. (It’s for immediate use because believe it or not, I forgot to bring a wallet to Japan!)

After the Museum tour, we were taken to a nearby restaurant where we were served great Japanese food! They served us a meal with salmon, chicken, rice and miso soup. We then walked around after eating. We went inside a konbini, and I was able to buy a Shonen Jump. (it’s all in Japanese but my favorite manga is in it so why not)

We then rode the bus again, now to Tower Hall Funabori for the orientation. All the participants from groups A-J composed of 10 countries. The Philippine delegation was split into 2 groups (B and C). I was part of the C group. Groups B and C are groups composed of participants from Cambodia, Thailand, and Philippines. Groups A, B, and C are to visit Akita Prefecture. Other groups are to visit other parts of Japan: Groups D, E, F, G are to visit Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Shiga, Group H to Kumamoto, and Groups I and J to Chiba.

They provided us with participant’s handbook, a basic Nihongo translation guidebook, ID, and a JENESYS pin! The program officially started!

After the program, we went down to the first floor of the hall as we wait for the bus to take us to the place where we will have our dinner. In our bus, our coordinators were talking about how we will have our dinner. They gave us pamphlets for the layout of the diner and told us that we will be given a 1000 yen card that we can use to pay for our dinner. The place has different restaurants in it, we are allowed to choose what we want to eat just as long as it is below 1000yen.

We decided to get Japanese noodles plus unlimited drinks. I ordered the Shoyu Ramen and tried the infamous Melon Soda! My tummy was really happy that time! After eating, I went back to the drinks area and tried Calpis! I loved it! I loved everything! I was not able to spend all 1000 yen for the dinner but I was so satisfied!

As we were walking out, back to the bus, I saw a sushi restaurant with conveyor belt! I seriously prayed that we could try that some time. (unfortunately, we weren’t able to)

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to put down our big luggages to send to Akita via a courier. We are to ride a Shinkansen Train the next day and it will be a hassle to bring huge luggages. After sending our luggages, we are finally free!

The program already ended for that day, meaning we can go out! Yes, we were allowed to go out after the daily activities, it’s just that we have to be back to the hotel by 11pm. At first we planned to go to Shibuya, but given the fact that we were in Urayasu, Chiba, going to Shibuya would take so long that we would not make it to the curfew. So we decided to go to the Aeon Mall near the hotel instead. It was a regular mall, with almost anything you need. I went around with some of my batchmates at first, but to be able to shop, we had to go around to where we want. I was shopped for some stationery and finally tried the gachapon machines! But after I paid for the stationery, I lost my batchmates.

I was panicking because I cannot contact them, firstly, we can’t communicate through phones, and there is also no internet in the mall! I went around to look for them, sadly, I still can’t find them. The store was about to close as it was already around 10 in the evening. I think I went in and out the mall for like 3 times, and I was standing in the entrance/exit for so long, then walking back and forth.

After some time, I decided to go back to the Hotel on my own. Good thing it was just nearby and I can walk to it. As I was walking back to the Hotel, I visited the tax free shop I spotted along the way. I just got curious on what it might have inside. But I was only able to buy strawberry kitkats. I then walked and then entered the 7 eleven. I bought more snacks and some Osomatsu merch! I really like anime (and ofc Osomatsu) and so I was so glad to find some in a 7 eleven store! I am finally near the hotel! But I saw the Family Mart nearby, so I also went there and got more snacks again! So I basically went on a Konbini-hopping by myself! I then returned to our room, only to find out that my roommates are still not there. I got some rest and waited for them. A few minutes later, they arrived and were really glad that I was there already.

Alyssa Nifas is a 5th year Industrial Engineering student at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. She is very interested on learning about grand innovations in technology, efficient business processes, and good management of the workforce.  She also hopes to be able to contribute in the development of different industries based in the Philippines. Apart from her engineering studies, she also enjoys drawing artworks inspired mostly by the Japanese culture.