One of my holy grails has just popped up for sale on Mercari, but it's over $500, which is way more than I can possibly justify spending on it. However, if you're rich and enjoy the STRANGEST THINGS IN THE WORLD, you should absolutely buy this. jp.mercari.com/item/m992696...

PSA: I just learned from an acquaintance of mine that Brandish: The Dark Revenant -- the last PSP game I worked on during my time at XSEED, released over 10 years ago now -- is apparently STILL AVAILABLE FOR SALE on at least the UK PSN if accessed with a PS Vita! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amec...

Returned to Punk Doily today for the first time in a year and a half -- an Australian sausage roll and meat pie stand with an attached covered seating area on the roof deck of a Christian church in the middle of a random residential Tokyo suburb, operated solo by an Aussie expat named Kif.

I know it's immature, but every time I see this game come up for sale, I snicker to myself a bit. It's really the perfect example of how important font choice is when designing your logo. ;)

Also, since I don't believe I've ever talked about this place on Bluesky before: we went out to Musashino Campus pizza near Mitaka Station after the festival. This is a fancy pizzeria located in the lobby of the Production I.G anime studio building, and their pizza is amazing -- but there's more...

Attended the Kichijoji Autumn Festival yesterday with some friends, and took video for family like I usually do. Can't typically share videos of this length on Bluesky, but I uploaded them to my Google Drive, so if anyone is interested, do check it out! drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Whew. So, apparently I've been added to a block list for transphobes? This will be a long thread, but please do bear with me! First thing, though, is to make this crystal clear: Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Trans rights are human rights. And Rowling is a dangerous, monstrous asshole.

Finally decided to try out one of those fan vests I've been hearing so much about -- the ones that puff out with air from intake fans embedded into them in order to keep you cool in hot weather. Bought the highest-rated one on Amazon JP (4.6/5, with over 2000 reviews!)... and holy crap, it is AWFUL.

So I'm not sure why more people don't talk about this station, but just a few stops over from Tokyo Station itself sits Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station... where every exit has been turned into a liminal modern-art horror show that you'd think was inspired by Exit 8, but no -- it predates it, by years!

AVGN doesn't release videos as often as he used to, but whenever he does, they still tend to be gems more often than not. And sometimes, he manages to get surprising guest stars for his videos that really elevate them. This is one of those times. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhCj...

I really hate Mercari. Mercari is a popular webstore here in Japan where people can sell their used items, and they recently adopted an auction system... but I can't seem to bid anymore, for some reason! And I have no idea what that reason is, because this is all I'm being told.

So, because of Trump's stupid de minimis exemption ruling, items valued above $100 can no longer be shipped to the U.S. from Japan. However, I'm finding no sources clarifying if this means the total value of the shipment cannot exceed $100, or if it means no individual item within can exceed $100.

This came up on my feed again for the first time in ages, and I'm not sure if I've ever shared it on here -- this may have been from before I joined Bluesky! But even if it isn't, it's worth sharing again, as it may be one of the greatest things ever. Do enjoy! www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ut...

I did my best to actually make the logos for these mirror-universe conbini. Please enjoy. ;)

OK, props on creating a new Bubsy game and just straight-up calling it Bubsy 4D. If you're gonna roll with the reputation, you might as well go all-in. ;) www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4bq...

My parents sent me a box of birthday presents, which I opened already despite it being ~2 weeks out till my actual birthday. One of the items within was the Furball Korone Tree-kun plushie I missed out on getting during the very short time it was initially on sale, and have been coveting ever since!

This is a time-exclusive video, so I figure it's worth sharing even if not many of you will care! Sakanaction, my current favorite jpop band, have released one of their concerts (livestreamed during Covid, to entertain those in lockdown) for free viewing online, as promotion for an upcoming concert.

More conbini opposites I came up with today: - Lawson Station -> Chaosdaughter Relieve - Family Mart -> Individual Tupid (probably my favorite!) - Newdays -> Oldnights - Ministop -> Maxigo - 7Eleven -> Seven11 (what else can you do with this?) - Yamazaki Shop -> Taniwan Peddle

I just realized… the opposite of Lawson is Chaosdaughter. Lawson should rebrand themselves as such over Halloween or something.

Where dreams were once made. Now, where pachinko is made.

Cheap mechanical keyboard I bought… less than a year ago?… started either doubling up keypresses or failing to recognize them at all (and cleaning didn’t seem to help), so I replaced it with a new cheap soft-touch keyboard. And so far… I like it! Ergonomic, responsive, and unnecessarily LED’d up! ;)

Forgot to post this yesterday — walked home through a more residential area, and this was on the gate outside one of the houses. Had to do a double take. ;)

First time boarding the Sobu line at Ichigaya Station, and I think we may have a winner for most aesthetic train platform in Tokyo. Emerging from the subway tunnels into this really gave me a boost just now!

Heading into Tokyo proper for some shopping, and figured I’d stop in at Koenji for some Indonesian cuisine at Cafe Bali Campur… and man, I still can’t get over how good the food is there, and how CHEAP — 1000 yen for all this and a cup of soup! 400 yen cheaper than the cheapest breakfast so far!

My Takeru collection as of right now. …I don’t have a problem, YOU have a problem! ;)

A lot of people say you can't get a good American breakfast in Japan, but I disagree... so I've set about patronizing and documenting every restaurant in the greater Kichijoji area that serves a platter which includes pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Hit up 4 of 8 so far; which do YOU think looks best? ;)

A tale of two seasonal chips: THEY'RE BOTH SO FRIGGING GOOD. That's it. That's the tale. On the left, we have Pringles "Caribbean Spicy Chicken" flavor, and on the right, Calbee "Hiroshima-Grown Hassaku" (yet another insanely delicious citrus fruit native to Japan, like yuzu) flavor.

And the final purchase I actually managed to win is... Alien 8! The classic isometric puzzle platformer. Except, it's a Takeru cartridge copy of the game, complete with printed Takeru manual! I'm a big fan of isometric platformers (Solstice is one of my favorite NES games), so this was cool to win.

Despite losing all the other rescue items I was bidding on, I did win two other MSX games! One of which I thought was a rescue, but it is not -- though it is a really solid first-person dungeon RPG with very unique battle mechanics! It's called Han-Kairou, listed on File-Hunter as Criminal Corridor.

Got another heretofore undumped MSX rescue to share with you all! An indie shmup exclusive to the MSX Turbo R called "Silent Ripper," released by a doujin circle called Sequence in 1994. Sadly, the only rescue I managed to score out of SEVEN I was bidding on -- the others just went for way too much!

Thanks to @brandenby.bsky.social for bringing this to my attention. 20-some odd years ago, I was introduced to an avant-garde anime masterpiece called Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat In Space. Turns out, its long-promised sequel is running the film festival circuit right now! www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGt...

When it comes to music randomly running through my head, though -- music that I randomly catch myself whistling in the shower or something -- there is no earworm more powerful than this for me. Don't know why, but this track pops into my head at least once per month. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1cW...

Sometimes I find random songs playing in my head that I haven't heard for weeks, months, or even years. Lately, it's been this song -- specifically this version, as Hajime's cover was the first time I'd ever heard it. I dare say, I think it's better than the original! www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-5m...

I've got a little game I want to play with you. Mwa ha ha. ;) Many businesses in Japan have names that are wildly incongruous with what they are. I'm going to post some logos, and I want you to try to guess what product or service each one offers. (If you already know the answer, don't spoil it!)

Swung by Akihabara today and wasn't exactly planning on buying anything, but... when a new homebrew MSX game has box art this frigging badass, how can you say no? ;) I've played this before, actually, and it gets off to a bit of a rough start, but it does seem to get pretty nice if you keep at it!

Was just telling a friend about this, and figured I'd share here too. This was an MSX-BASIC program submitted to a magazine in 1987 by a... junior high kid, I think?... and printed therein as a type-in game, rereleased 30 years later on this absurdly delicate "cartridge" made from a cassette case.

Any MSXperts out there have any theories as to why these 5 disks, specifically, refuse to load on my beltless floppy drive, but load just fine on my original belted one? The beltless drive loads every other disk I’ve tossed at it, but these just drop straight to MSX-BASIC.

Forgot to post this yesterday. For my lunch break, I went to the Atre department store at Kichijoji Station to buy myself a bento, and the clerk at the food shop handed me this alongside my receipt. …(looks at date) …(mutters thank you, but walks away very confused nonetheless)

Finally had a chance to actually play Bokosuka Chess today, and got absolutely demolished (this is the final state of things; I was red) — but I will say, it’s a pretty good board game! Kind of the closest thing to an analog Archon I’ve ever played. I would definitely recommend it!

This is a slightly older post thread of mine, but it's on another indie MSX game I really, really want to spread the word about -- and this one actually has a Steam version you can play (in English, no less!), so it's absolutely something you gamer types who've just started following me might enjoy!

So since I've got a bunch of new people following me, I figure I'll call attention to my recent gaming posts of note. I'm really trying to spread the word about some obscure MSX indie gems, but the posts have gotten little traction, so I'd love it if anyone interested would like and/or repost!

I almost hesitate to mention this, but I think this could be an interesting thread. Apologies in advance to all you metalheads out there, though! Helloween has a new album otw, and there's a song on it called "This is Tokyo." As a Tokyo resident and a casual Helloween fan, this caught my interest!

I'm not usually one for true crime documentaries, but I immediately knew what this was about as soon as I saw the video title and thumbnail, as it's quite notorious. Kichijoji, my neighborhood, has its own homegrown gruesome murder case from 1994. And it's a doozy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A9A...

Made a frivolous purchase while I was out today, which wound up being exponentially cooler than initially expected. ;)

OK, I finally put it all together: rips of every version of Hamaraja Night I've got (in various stages of unlock for the 2010 rom game), with a manual/guide PDF for newcomers to the series, and 4000-dpi scans of the physical manuals cleaned up by @mp83.bsky.social! drive.google.com/file/d/1bNKo...

OK, I dunno what it is with these older musicians suddenly coming back as good as ever, but after the incredible Rick Astley comeback last year, we've got David Byrne suddenly rising up with this single from his new album coming out in September. And I am on board! www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM-B...

Gotta keep HAMARAJA NIGHT TIME alive! So here's another track from the Turbo R game: the third stage theme, China Town. Not the best track in the game, admittedly, but certainly catchy. Catchy enough to get a very, very thorough remix in the 2010 game! So, original: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy7m...

Just sat down to lunch at a place JapanEat reviewed a while back called “Men’s Dinner, Women’s Lunch.” I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but they serve an absurd-looking stamina-don, and I walked here, so I’m very much in need of some stamina! Let’s see what we’ve got…