video games artist

Shadows of the Damned

2011-09-25T23:06:00.001+09:00

Above: The best trailer for Shadows of the Damned, the game for which I was Lead Environment Artist during its entire 3.5 year development.
Below: Preview of the Xbox360 Premium Theme I made while we were wrapping up development of the game.

Fatal Frame 4 artwork

2009-05-31T11:17:00.006+09:00

I recently posted some screenshots of some work I did for the Wii game Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse on my portfolio website. I created a number of indoor environments and the final stages of the game. It was a fun project to work on -- I took lots of photos of Japanese temples for research, and it forced me to look at them in a way to understand how they are really built.
The game was released under the name Zero: Gesshoku no Kamen in Japan, but unfortunately will not be released outside Japan.
Anyway, check it out!
Fatal Frame 4 artwork on my website
Fatal Frame 4 information on Wikipedia

Happy Mascots: Alive and kicking!!!

2009-05-25T23:17:00.009+09:00

Hi.

Come inside!

Take a free magazine!

Buy a computer!Please don't punch me in the face.
(Note: the boy did, and there was somebody inside that thing!)

Hakone

2007-11-25T20:50:00.000+09:00

Last week we made a short trip to Hakone, a mountain area about an hour and a half by train West of Tokyo. In fall, it attracts lots of visitors like ourselves to admire the brightly coloured autumnal trees. Using the Hakone Freepass we were able to easily travel to and through the area using trains, buses, ferries, ropeways and cablecars.

Mount Fuji as seen from the ferry while crossing Lake Ashi.

At night we stayed at a traditional japanese hotel with private hot spring baths. We had a bathtub both inside and outside our room.

The next day we took a ropeway up to Owakudani, where we ate pitch black eggs boiled in the hot sulfuric volcano water. Each egg you eat is said to prolong your life by 7 years; I ate three.

The bright reds and yellows that the Japanese maple leaves turn are indeed spectacular.
Hakone is also the home of many modern art museums. We chose to visit the Hakone Open Air Museum, which features many sculptures by the likes of Henry Moore, Picasso and Jean DuBuffet (above).

100% Design Tokyo

2007-11-04T22:10:00.000+09:00

Today I visited the 100% Design Tokyo trade show, the main event of Tokyo Designer's week 2007. The show is organised in collaboration with the 100% Design trade show in London and the Design Association. Hence a lot of the designs on display here were from European origin, although there was plenty from Japanese designers and manufacturers. I spent about 2 hours at the show, and here are a few things that caught my attention.

The roller buggy by Valentin Vodev of pixstudio. This child carriage transforms into a scooter for added speed and fun. The front wheels turn when you lean sideways. Looks like fun even without a child on board! Information: pixstudio.net.

The write-bulb by Japanese studio sample case. The light is turned on by drawing a coil (or any other line) between two contact points with a regular pencil. The light is switched off by erasing the line! Information: tel. +81(0)90-3629-9429, or samplecase-j1@nifty.com.
The heatwave by Jaga and Joris Laarman. This modular neo-rococo central heating radiator is made from polyconcrete and is truly impressive in real life. It has already been added to the collection of several modern art museums in the Netherlands and France. Information: theradiatorfactory.com, jorislaarman.com.

My favourite object at the show was this zuse toaster by Inseq design. The compact design of the object is great in itself: the bread is inserted from the top and is toasted as it travels through the toaster, to be caught by a minimal metal wire tray. On top of that, it burns a random design from a selection of images kept in a memory chip inside the toaster. Information: inseq.net.

A day at the Sumo

2007-09-25T09:39:00.000+09:00

Last week Monday we attended the sumo tournament at the Kokugikan, the sumo arena in Tokyo. It was the 9th day of the two-week tournament held each year in September.
The Kokugikan arena around noon. The bouts start from 9am, but most of the crowd arrives at 2:30pm when the professionals take the stage.

Referees are barefoot during the lower-ranked bouts.

The ritual foot stomping is said to increase strength and squash bad spirits.

The initial lunge.

One of the few short ceremonies held before the top ranking wrestlers start their bouts.

Companies that sponsor the prize money for this bout are allowed to advertise on these banners before the bout starts.

Many bouts are over in a matter of seconds, but in this one the two wrestlers were locked in a battle that seemed to last for minutes.

The final bout of the day followed by the "bow dance" closing ceremony.

Koenji Awaodori dance festival

2007-08-27T07:20:00.000+09:00

The summer festivals continue and this weekend we visited the Awaodori dance festival in Koenji, Tokyo. According to the official website it is the second largest Awaodori festival in the country, at which a staggering 12,000 dancers perform on two evenings. As expected, there were large crowds, but it wasn't too difficult to find a good spot to view the parade from, and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Saving the best for last:

Matsuri in Asagaya

2007-08-08T22:17:00.000+09:00

This weekend we visited a street festival in Asagaya. Asagaya has a quite long glass-covered shopping street that takes a good 10 minutes to traverse on a normal day. As you can see by the crowd below, this was no normal day! The entire length of the street was heavily decorated with lanterns, banners and large paper mache cartoon figures. There were a handful of videogame characters, but they were relatively poorly made compared to this pink bundle of joy.

This is a very common sight at a matsuri. Using a paper "net", kids try to scoop goldfish from a large tank to take home. The paper easily rips when wet, so they must continue to try using the edges of the paper.

Finally! I got to see some stag- and rhino beetles on sale. These wrestling beasts are summer pets for Japanese kids. Admittedly it's difficult to see, but there's a big one feeding at the front, just to the left of the metal ring.

Also on sale were this singing Long-horned Grasshopper, hermit crabs, white salamanders, turtles and crickets.

Of course no street festival is complete without excessive amounts of food. Here scallops and squid-on-a-stick are being sold.

Happy Mascots in Kawagoe

2007-06-16T16:55:00.000+09:00

Onions are usually associated with making people cry, but these can only put a smile on your face.

Local delicacy the sweet potato is more likely to scare off tourists with that grumpy face. Still, if you're ever in Kawagoe, I can recommend you try the sweet potato ice cream. It's purple and tasty.

These mochi-making mascots look none too happy. Presumably it becomes less fun if you have to do it all year round.

The one hundred million yen (ichi oku yen) note exists, is made of dried squid, edible, and will set you back only 350yen.

Usually in Japan you find people in bright coloured clothing either handing out tissues or shouting at passers-by outside mobile phone shops in order to promote their wares. Here, a trio of superhero ninja monkeys serve the same purpose.

I just love this antique. The frog is asking the rhino beetle car to let the turtle and caterpillar cross the road. Crawl safely.

Kawagoe, "Little Edo"

2007-06-05T21:39:00.001+09:00

On Sunday we made a day trip to Kawagoe, a small city about 40 minutes by train from Ikebukuro station in Tokyo. It's known as "Little Edo" for its many Edo-period (1603-1898) buildings that remain there. The main attractions include the Tokino Kane (Bell Tower), and a street lined with black clay-walled stores known as Kurazukuri. We visited one of them which now acts as a museum (entry 100yen) and which used to be a tabacco wholesaler's shop. Elsewhere in town there are some large temples, an utterly cute candy-store alley, several museums, and part of the former castle (below).
One of the temples, known as the Kitain, has 538 stone statues on its grounds. The panorama below shows most of them, click on the image for a closer view.
On the last visitor bus through the street with the clay-walled stores I made the video below, which gives a good impression of the street. Highly recommended for a quick and easy day trip from Tokyo.

Links: Koedo Kawagoe Tourist Association (English pages)
Next post: Happy Mascots spotted in Kawagoe!

Happy Mutant Mascot Turtles

2007-05-06T22:21:00.000+09:00

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles originate from an American comic book, so I don't think this one is related.
This turtle boy is a Kappa, a river sprite found in Japanese folklore. While it looks cute, it has an absolutely disgusting eating habit. Read about it here.

It's a tortoise and a hare! I think we have a winner here...

Hopper's volume 2: Snake vs Zombie

2007-04-16T23:24:00.001+09:00

This Saturday, games developer Grasshopper Manufacture held the 2nd edition of its annual Hopper's festival. The festival was a one-day event in Club Asia in Shibuya, featuring talks by prominent video game developers and live music. While in one part of the venue the talks were held, live music was played on another stage elsewhere. Various Grasshopper goods such as their soundtrack CDs and signed copies of the book Hand in Killer7 were on sale at the event and seemed to be selling well.

Speakers included Tetsuya Mizuguchi (best known for the games Rez, Space Channel 5 and Lumines), Fumito Ueda (director and lead designer of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus), Keiichiro Toyama (director of Silent Hill and the Siren games) and Hifumi Kono (Steel Battalion).

The main event, Snake vs Zombie, was a joint talk by Konami's Hideo Kojima and Capcom's Shinji Mikami, and hosted by Grasshopper's own Goichi Suda, better known as Suda 51. For the non-gamers: Kojima is famous for his creation of the Metal Gear Solid series of games (the lead character of which is called Solid Snake, shown right on the flyer), and Mikami is best known for creating the Biohazard/Resident Evil games, which can be credited for re-popularizing the zombie-genre in both film and video games in recent years.
The two men were asked things such as how they first got to know each other's work; which films they watched recently (all seemed to like the TV show Lost) ; and to explain their jobs, which differed in that Mikami said he was more concerned with scheduling while Kojima is more hands-on with the game's (visual) design.

All the talks were very much of the talk-show type; informal discussions which were loosely lead by some questions. I didn't attend all the talks, as my Japanese is still quite limited, but I was just able to understand the main points they were talking about. A better-Japanese-speaking friend had come along, and some of my colleagues were also there, so I was able to get some translations as well.

Following the main event there was also a recording of Kojima's podcast, in which members of the audience could ask questions to the speakers present.

The evening was concluded with a performance of the Grasshopper sound team, which played tracks from games such as God Hand, Killer7 (the Handsomemen theme song) and the upcoming No More Heroes. I can't be certain, but I think I heard the Grasshopper sound team announce that a Killer7 soundtrack CD is in the works. I also think I heard Suda 51 announce that one of their earliest games, The Silver Case is due to be appear for the Nintendo DS in the future.

Standing most of the day while trying to concentrate on the Japanese being spoken made the whole event slightly too tiring for us to go to the "after-party" nearby, which was some kind of Lumines Xbox360 Tournament party hosted by Mizuguchi and Microsoft. Still, it had been an interesting and fun day - I'll be back next year, when I should be able to follow the talks a little better!

Happy Mascots: Cats and Dogs

2007-04-10T21:41:00.000+09:00

I've amassed something of a backlog of Happy Mascot photos, and most are of cats and dogs! They're everywhere! And most are poor designs as well!

That's a very fluffy-cheeked cat.

Acorn, dog...or both?

The sign says it's a dog hair salon. Cats are also welcome, by the looks of it.

That boy and his dog...they've got the same eyes!

If you have an orange dog or green cat, visit this pet clinic.

International shipping company Yamato's famous black cats.

Hanami at night

2007-04-06T08:03:00.000+09:00

Cherry blossom fever continues. Yesterday evening we went to see the cherry blossoms lit up along the Nogawa river. The event was started eleven years ago with the lighting up of a single tree.

Against a black sky, the white trees look even more surreal and make for a somewhat tricky camera subject...Click on any of the images for a larger view, or here to see a video.

The lights are only set up for one night, and only three hours, so it draws quite a crowd. Police were on the scene to tell people to move along.

Hanami weekend

2007-04-01T23:37:00.001+09:00

As this weekend was officially the best time to go look at the cherry blossoms this year, we decided to go visit one of the many sakura festivals held in the city. Going out to see the flowers actually has its own word for it: hanami, "hana" meaning flower, "mi" to look.
Click on the pictures below for a larger image.

Panorama of one of the sakura-lined streets surrounding a block in Akasaka, Tokyo.

While the skies may have been overcast all weekend, it was still a spectacular sight to see these white trees. For me, it was the first time to see it on such a scale. As we first entered the street, we were greeted by a blizzard of flower petals. I took of a video of it, but after putting it online it has been scaled down and recompressed, so much of the effect is lost.

So that's what they look like up close.

Some larger trees seen along the Zempukujigawa. These weren't even the largest around, just the more photogenic ones.

Bargain hunting in Tokyo

2007-03-28T09:42:00.000+09:00

After spending nearly 6 months rent all at once but before even moving into your utterly empty flat, you won't be very much in the mood to go spending much more on furnishing the place. Not only will you need to get your own furniture, you'll also need to bring your own fridge, gas cooker and washing machine.

Luckily, there are some real bargains to be found at this stage.

Second hand goods stores are usually quite depressing places; they tend to be disorganised, and stuffed with too much of that porcelain tat that absolutely nobody wants to buy. The Treasure Factory does just about everything to not make itself look like a second hand goods store. It's clean, well-lit, items are properly categorized and prices are clearly labelled. Six-month warranties are given on larger purchases such as refrigerators, cookers and washing machines, which clearly have been serviced and thoroughly cleaned. The year in which they were manufactured is also clearly stated, so you know exactly how old the item is you are buying. But best of all are the prices - one can really find bargains here.
The whole recycling marketplace in Japan is quite big, with the Book-Off franchise spin-off Hard-Off being the largest chain. Book-Off is an enormous (and now even international) chain of second hand book sellers that you'll find everywhere in Japan, but from I've seen their prices on second hand games are hardly discounted. I've not been to the ridiculously named Hard-Off so I can't comment on their prices.

For really low prices, there's no beating the shop in your local recycling center. These are dotted throughout Tokyo and can be spotted from a great distance as they all seem to have a tall, white chimney. The city will pick up, clean, repair and put on sale the unwanted goods they consider to be sell-able. Electronic goods and appliances aren't sold here. In some places they will even deliver any purchases to your house for a fee. Here you can also buy unclaimed bicycles that were parked in no-parking zones, fully repaired, for about 6,500 yen.

If you're out buying second hand goods, why not help another foreigner who is leaving the country get rid of his or her stuff? Sayonara sales, as they are called, are happening all the time and you can find them listed in either the paper or online version of the Tokyo Notice Board. Among other things, we picked up a good sized fridge, only 1 year old, for a mere 12,000 yen from someone. Several sellers gave us free stuff as they were so desperate to clear everything out before their departure.

So what first seemed like an immensely expensive task turned out to be not so bad after all.
We didn't end up buying everything second hand, and I think we were able to furnish the entire flat (+ buy a bicycle) for the equivalent of about 2 weeks rent. With that out of the way, I'm in the mood for spending again.

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #7

2007-03-20T09:26:00.001+09:00

Squid smurf demonstrates the elasticity of this dried squid "sweet". It was in fact one of the most sour things I have ever eaten in my life.

TV station TBS also builds homes - this beardy fellow appears to be the Happy Mascot for the homes division.

Even cigarette butts themselves prefer to be put in an ashtray than be thrown out onto the street.

Starting at a Japanese games dev

2007-03-18T22:58:00.000+09:00

Two months after being offered my job, I was finally able to start working on the last Friday of January.

I arrived at the requested time and was shown by the receptionist to a table where two other people starting that day were sitting in silence, avoiding mutual eye contact. I couldn't help but kick off with my "Japanese Lesson 1" material and started the introductions. We were soon met by our leads and taken to our departments.

During the day we were shown around the entire office and introduced to everyone, which involved lots of bowing and exchanging the words "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" several times. This translates more or less into "Please be kind to me", and is the most common expression when meeting someone.

As usual, most of the first day working at a games developer is spent getting your PC set up. Creating a login, password, installing and setting up all the required software, network paths, etc. Learning what-does-what in Windows software is a little trickier when it's all in kanji. Luckily though, the software I need to use the most (Maya and Photoshop) were both available in English. When I'm in deep "into" my work, there's little to remind me I'm actually working in foreign country.

In addition to that, the two artists sitting nearest to me in the office are the two employees who speak the best English - it really couldn't be more convenient. Needless to say they've been a tremendous help to me the past few weeks in translating my questions (and answers), reading error messages on my screen, explaning work practices, teaching me new words, etc. etc. I'm not sure I would have managed without their help. Also since my arrival, all my colleagues have now added their names in romaji to the list in our instant messaging software, making it possible for me to read their names.

At some point during the first day I received my contract. Apparently it is not unusual to get this on your first working day, and it's only one page. Being that short it is of course pretty basic, the only striking clause being something along the lines of "Should the company get sued for something you did, you get sued, not the company". You don't need to sign - or rather stamp - it on the spot, but return it to following week.

While I'm not the first Westerner to work at the company, at the moment I am the only one. All in all, the company and the employees have been extremely accommodating. I can do my work without problems and best of all, I'm enjoying myself. So far so good!

Along the Zempukujigawa

2007-03-15T09:37:00.000+09:00

Through Suginami runs the Zempukujigawa river, along which we cycled some last weekend. Part of the river is surrounded by the Zempukujigawa Green Belt, which consists of a number of parks and recreational areas.

Cherry blossoms are making headlines in the news again. A computer glitch at the Meteorological Agency supposedly was the cause of the incorrect forecasts of the "official" cherry blossom season. Just so you know, in Tokyo the blossoms are now expected to open around March 23 instead of the original prediction of March 18. This tree, and several others seemed happy with an earlier date, though.

The utterly cute Children's Traffic Park (1-22-13, Naritanishi, Suginami) looks like a great place for kids to learn to ride a bike and the traffic rules. Bicycles, tricycles and pedal cars can be rented and ridden around this miniature town, with low traffic signs and signals. There are even pedal cars for adults in which the very young kids can ride along. It wouldn't surprise me if the rental is free, but we didn't ask. There's also a playground in the park (and many more elsewhere along the river) and an old locomotive.

The Omiya Hachimangu shrine (2-3-1, Omiya, Suginami) is a fairly large shrine that is said to have been built [originally] sometime in the 8th-12th century. There's a fair margin of error for guessing the exact year. The grounds are also quite beautiful, and South of the main building are a large number of portable shrines on display. The sun was setting, so no great photos this time, but I'll certainly be back.

Happy Mascots: It's Wabbit Season!

2007-03-12T23:58:00.000+09:00

Hewwo! Elmer Fudd here! Be vewy vewy quiet...I'm hunting wabbit mascots!

"You wouldn't shoot a rabbit with glasses, would you?"

Now where did that wascal wun off to?

Oh hewwo, miss, you wouldn't happen to have seen any wabbits awound here?
"Eeeehhh, he went thataway!"

NO USE HIDING WABBIT!

I gots you now you scwewy wabbit!
*CLICK*
Well what do you know, no mowe battewies...

Back online and a Ninja Popcorn Robot

2007-03-11T23:25:00.000+09:00

Well, that took quite a bit longer than anticipated. Despite ordering our new internet connection a good week before we moved into our new flat, it's taken well over a month. This was mainly due to the fact that we needed to reschedule an engineer coming over, and the earliest opportunity was more than 10 days after the originally scheduled date that we were given (which was during working hours, of course!). When he finally did come over, all he needed to do was plug a little device into the phone outlet, dial a number and that was it!

So, we're all moved into our new flat, I've started work, we're exploring the neighbourhood, and springtime is just beginning. I've got some stuff to write about.

Below you'll find a lengthy post which I hope will be informative for anyone who's about to look for a place to live for the first time in Tokyo. It was hell to write. But first, here's a picture of Ninja Popcorn Robot we discovered yesterday. Not only does it make fresh popcorn, it talks too!

Finding a flat in Tokyo

2007-03-11T23:00:00.000+09:00

Just like anywhere else in the world, finding a flat in Tokyo is a stressful and expensive task. It requires patience yet quick and possibly risky decision-making at times, and seeing all the great properties just outside budget is horribly depressing. To be honest, I don't even like writing about the process, re-living some of the stress, but here goes. (There's a lot to cover, so the writing's a bit sloppy - apologies in advance).

Letting/Estate/Property/Realty agents, whatever you call them depends on where you are from, can often be found near the train stations for the area you wish to look in. They are easily recognized by the numerous cards with floor plans and exterior photos. These cards a fairly comprehensive and contain lots of the information you're after: size classification, actual size in square meters, a quite detailed floor plan, number of minutes walking from the station(s), property age, rent per month and (most of the) additional payments required.
The agent will have many more available to look at inside, and if you are somewhat picky like we are, you are quite likely to look at hundreds of these before going to see any flat on the inside.

Size classification: Properties are labelled with one of the following codes for quick categorisation. They'll give you a pretty good indication of size, and apart from your budget you'll be asked which kind of flat you're after.

1K (One Kitchen): A studio flat, one room with open kitchen inside.
1DK (One Dining Kitchen): Practically the same, just slightly bigger.
1LDK (One Living Dining Kitchen): One combined living/dining room with open kitchen, and a seperate bedroom.
2LDK (Two Living Dining Kitchen): The same, but with two seperate bedrooms.
The list goes on, obviously, with 3LDK, 4LDK, etc.
One thing you soon notice is that having a seperate kitchen in a rarity in this country. When it's there, it will be indicated with an "S" for Separate somewhere in the label, but you'll rarely come across it.

Actual size in square meters & Detailed floor plan: With the last property agents I've had to deal with being in London, I find these two bits of information a luxury.

Most flats in Japan are very small, so it's good to be able to check if the layout is a little clever. Personally, I'm not too fond of having the door to the toilet open directly onto the kitchen.

Each room size is given in number of tatami mats, which (in Tokyo) are 180x90cm each. The most common size for a room is 6 tatami. The floor plan also indicates which rooms actually have tatami flooring, easily recognized by the layout pattern drawn in the plan. Most flats have one tatami-floored room, older flats often more, and newer flats are the most likely to not have tatami flooring at all.

Number of minutes walking from the station(s): If multiple stations are within walking distance they will all be listed, the maximum being usually 15 minutes. The further the flat is from the station, the lower the price is likely to be.

Property age: While the average lifespan of a building in Europe is 50 years, in Japan it is closer to 20 years. A property older than 10 years is considered quite old, and the rent is likely to be lower than that of a newer flat.

Rent per month: This figure is definitive, unlike in the UK where a potential tenant can make an offer on the month's rent.

And finally, listed in numbers x monthly rent, there's the deposit and "gift money". The deposit is usually 1-2 months, and can be expected to be refunded when you end your tenancy.
The "gift money" however is another matter. As the name indicates, this is a "gift" from the tenant to the landlord, which you pay out of thanks for him letting you rent his property. This isn't a requirement for all properties, but this being the equivalent of one or two months rent are equally common.

The hidden costs are revealed later, once you've seen and/or decided which place you want to rent. The property agent takes another month's rent for their services, there's the key money (cost of getting a new lock installed), insurance, and if applicable, a building service charge and additional rent for a car parking spot.

After sifting through the cards an agent will take you to a limited number of flats. Depending on the distance between the flats you are seeing, you may be riding the train with the agent instead of being driven around by car.

We made our decision quite fast, after seeing only four properties on the inside. That in itself made us question if we hadn't decided too quickly (more stress). The flat we'd chosen unfortunately required 2 months deposit and 2 months "gift money", but at least we no longer would have to look around any more. By this time we'd spent many days looking at floor plans online, checking their location in Google Earth and had visited several property agents already.

Once you decide, you need to present a Guarantor - someone who, in the event of an emergency would be able to pay your rent. The ideal candidate for that is Japanese man with a steady job. My brother in law was kind enough to fulfill this formality. Before we could move in though, the landlord would still have to approve of a foreigner without a full-time contract living on his property. For a friend of mine who lives here that has been reason enough to be rejected twice from properties he wanted to rent. I guess we got lucky then, because after a few weeks we got the approval before me even having started work, and my wife wasn't working at the time either.

So, if you want to rent in Tokyo, be willing to cough up up to 6 months rent before you can move into your pricey, cozy and utterly empty flat. There will be no furniture, fridge, cooker, washing machine or bed in it. I'll give some tips on how to get those dirt cheap in an upcoming post.

Notice before nightfall

2007-01-25T18:12:00.001+09:00

Quite a bit has happened in the past few weeks, but you've not been reading about it. And you won't be for another while.

Tomorrow I finally start work again, roughly 2 months after I was given the job offer. The day after that, we are moving into a new place and that means we'll have no internet connection at home for about 2-3 weeks. That will make posting a bit trickier, but I may be able to do some during my lunch breaks - I'll see what I can do.

Of course I'll be writing about the ordeal that goes with renting a flat in Tokyo, possibly some musings about what it's like for me at a Japanese games developer, and maybe, just maybe I'll show you some more Happy Mascots....OK, definitely.

See you in a few weeks!

Third first interview in Japan

2007-01-25T17:51:00.000+09:00

Quick recap: With quite a bit of luck I had found a Japanese games developer who was willing to hire a foreigner with a limited ability in Japanese. I was offered a job a few hours after my second interview, and decided to accept. Just a few days before I had that second interview, I had however received another invitation for a first interview. Of course, I didn't cancel the upcoming interview and decided to have a look.

This interview was at one of the big companies, to which I had applied at the beginning of October. Shortly thereafter I received an e-mail saying that it would indeed take about 6 weeks before I'd hear from them again. After a few weeks, I got a call on my mobile from them. It was with quite some difficulty that I was able to understand that the positions I had applied to weren't available, and I was asked if I was interested in another position. Of course I said yes to that, and a few weeks later I was called again to agree a date for an interview. This was far easier for me to understand and communicate about.

So like I said, this interview took place after I already had an offer, so there was little reason for me to be nervous. As usual I arrived early. The reception area was truly impressive, displaying boxed games, merchandise and a few games running on monitors. The two receptionists wore matching yet stylish uniforms.

The interview itself went pretty well. I was interviewed by one Japanese developer and one foreigner to handle the translation - a relatively low headcount! The position we talked about was at a department that's not even listed on their website, and a rather interesting one at that. The questions were numerous and deep, and I think I answered them well, albeit mostly in English. The interview also lasted longer than the usual 30 minutes, although I don't recall the exact length.

A few days after this interview, my portfolio was returned with a rather glossy rejection letter. It didn't take me by surprise, but the interview had given me a fair amount of hope. I certainly didn't regret going to the interview, as it has pointed out to me a possible way of how I might try to profile/market myself in my upcoming job, which starts -- tomorrow!

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #6

2007-01-10T23:47:00.000+09:00

Papillas are the bumps on your tongue, and by the root of a hair. Papilla-kun here is the Happy Mascot of hair implant company Reve21. Makes sense, right?

A boy riding a scooter wearing a large red safty [sic] helmet.

Finally, to answer the question "What kind of home would an elephant build?":

Two purple elephants promoting a catalogue show-home.

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #5

2007-01-09T13:51:00.000+09:00

One of the Happy Mascots of TV station TBS, whose body shape is most likely derived from the kanji for "person", goes for a stroll.

Dining and shopping area for ferrets up ahead.

Elephant-sized dungarees are apparently easier to find than elephant-sized construction helmets. What kind of home would an elephant build, anyway?
Find out tomorrow in Random Encounters #6!

An evening in Yokohama

2007-01-05T14:00:00.001+09:00

The day before yesterday we made a short trip to Yokohama. We arrived in the late afternoon, looked around the shops a bit, and headed East to the Yokohama Passenger Terminal. We had seen it from a distance a few years ago, but decided to have a closer look this time. The simplest description for it is that it's a large futuristic pier for cruiseships with an enormous wooden, steel and grass landscape deck, but that doesn't do it justice. The photos below don't really give a good idea of the sheer size of it, either. I can recommend anyone visiting Yokohama to take the slight detour and go for a walk on this pier. You get to see some fantastic architecture up close and a great view of the Yokohama harbour front.

After darkness had completely fallen, we went ice skating at an outdoor rink next to the orange-lit warehouse-turned-shops in the top picture. Some, though not all, of the rental skates had flashing lights attached under the shoes which reacted to the skater's movement, lighting up the ice - a very nice effect. Although crowded (possibly because it was still in the New Year's 3-day holidays), the rink was a decent size and the price wasn't bad either. We concluded the evening with a ride on the Chrono Clock, the 5th largest ferris wheel in the world.

Seal of approval

2007-01-02T21:28:00.000+09:00

When settling in Japan, you will find that there are certain things you will truly need you didn't expect. One such thing is a personal seal, roughly the size of a AA battery, officially called an inkan or more commonly referred to as a hanko ("stamp").

The inkan serves the same purpose as a signature does in the West; it is used to mark your agreement, and so all Japanese have their own inkan. Many banks require you to have a inkan, and it is used for signing contracts and official documents. Before buying real estate, a car or a house one must have their inkan registered at the town hall. A registered inkan is known as a jitsuin. For foreigners the jitsuin must contain their surname, which may be written in katakana or the Roman alphabet (romaji).

Inkans for common Japanese names can be bought for as little as 105 yen, but foreigners will have to get one custom made and that will cost around 4000 yen. Thankfully, shops where you can get them made are plentiful, and there also plenty of suppliers online. These inkans are clearly a big business here, and customers can choose from an enormous range of sizes, materials, fonts and carrying cases. Check out the extensive website of hankoya.com, with its sub-domains for women's and titanium inkans.

A few weeks ago I was bought my inkan as a birthday gift. I decided to have my last name put on it in katakana. My last name is quite long, so the resulting inkan has some of the narrowest katakana I've ever seen crammed into the 13.5mm diameter. I've not actually used it yet, but I'll be opening a bank account in the near future and of course there's the job contract I look forward to signing - I mean, stamping soon.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T21:00:00.000+09:00

...or akemashite omedetou: "congratulations on the beginning of a New Year"!

New Year is one of the most important holidays in Japan. Like Christmas in the West, celebrations are a mixture of religion, visiting family, watching TV, gift giving and of course lots of food.

Following a tradition dating back to the Edo-period (17th-19th century), on New Year's Eve we ate Toshikoshi soba ("Going into the New Year" buckwheat noodles), and on New Year's Day we had Mochi. We didn't watch the yearly Kohaku Uta Gassen on TV, a 5-hour singing "contest" featuring countless Japanese musicians of past and recent fame. Right now however, we're watching actor/director Takeshi Kitano doing some tap-dancing on another famous New Year TV show. This afternoon we visited a nearby shrine, where we made our prayers for the year ahead. This year is the Year of the Boar according to the Chinese zodiac, in case you're wondering what it's doing in the picture above.

Happy New Year!

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #4

2006-12-29T21:37:00.000+09:00

More weird and wonderful Happy Mascots! You can run but you can not hide! There is no escape! Watch out, here they come!

It looks like a domino piece, but it's more likely to be a pair of conjoined Mahjong pieces.

Not sure what this is meant to be, but it definitely looks happy. Lives next door to the Mahjong twins.

"Greensaurus" on a bag of green peppers. Note the shape of its cute head!

Happy Mascots: Dental edition

2006-12-28T16:31:00.000+09:00

Small businesses here are just as fond of having their own Happy Mascot like the big ones do. The poles carrying telephone and electricity cabling often carry ads for small local businesses, such as dental clinics. Here are a few I've spotted in the neighbourhood.

Having confident teeth is a good thing. A cute koala promoting a children's dentist.

A tube of toothpaste is not a cat toy.

The giant squid video

2006-12-28T12:35:00.000+09:00

Earlier this week it was widely reported that Japanese researchers had managed to film and capture a live giant squid. The not even fully grown 7.3-meter female died in the process, unfortunately.

I finally found a site that actually has some footage, you can watch it here on CNN.com. Fascinating stuff. Squid-mania continues on squid.us.

First second job interview in Japan

2006-12-27T11:41:00.000+09:00

As previously reported, my second first job interview in early November had gone surprisingly well. By the end of the interview, I had been asked to do some freelance work as test of my abilities in the Maya software package. For those that don't know, Maya is a 3D modeling package and is the most commonly used in the games industry in Japan. The other famous packages (3D Studio MAX and Softimage XSI) are also used, but companies that use them are less common, so it's best to have Maya on your CV if you apply here - even if you're still learning the software.

I had been told at the first interview that the details of my freelance work would be emailed to me a few days later. The few days passed, and a little later I got an email requesting me to come over to the office again to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and presumably talk through the work. Naturally I agreed to that, but then a few days later I was emailed an invitation to meet the company president for a second interview.

So about a week later I returned to the office. Knowing there was no apparent doorbell by the front door, I phoned reception who were able to point out there was a door with a doorbell on the side of the building.

The interview itself went well once again. There was another English-speaker present this time to help out, and among the specific questions there was also some small talk. I was still a little confused as to the purpose of this meeting, expecting to still get the freelance work, but it turned out it was no longer thought to be necessary. In fact, I was asked how much I was hoping to earn, and after that I was told I would be emailed a salary offer later that day!

The offer indeed came to my Inbox that evening. It was less than I'd hoped for (isn't it always?), but having only a very rough idea of what to expect I checked with some friends in the business here what they thought of the offer. "Not bad" and "Doable" were their answers, along with some stories of their first "offers" and what some of their Japanese colleagues are "earning". So while I'd have to swallow some of my pride, I knew I had been quite fortunate to get a reasonable offer in such a short time - I decided to accept it.

The job wouldn't be starting for another good few weeks however, and in the week of this interview another invitation for a first interview elsewhere had come in. Well, there'd be no harm in going to that... Stay tuned!

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #3

2006-12-26T16:37:00.000+09:00

Here are a few more specimens of Happy Mascots I recently spotted while on "Mascot Patrol". Always carry a camera!

An insectoid parking lot superhero ensures your car is parked safely.

A happy cupcake. His brethren were tasty.

A truly weird self-opening door with floating eyeballs. The company name appears to be shouted by somebody who has gone inside!

Happy Mascots: Docomodake!

2006-12-20T16:35:00.000+09:00

Here's something that's not an uncommon sight in Japan - a large, inflatable mushroom sitting on the street just staring ahead of him.
But don't worry! He's not down and out, loitering or slacking off. He's hard at work -- he's a Happy Mascot!

He's part of the Docomodake family, who have been drafted to promote NTT Docomo, a mobile phone network provider.

The Docomodake website offers plenty of the usual downloadable goodies; wallpapers, Christmas and New Year cards, animations and a pair of nicely animated TV ads.

Happy Mascots at the Post Office

2006-12-19T16:15:00.000+09:00

In the run-up to Christmas and New Year it's busy all day at the post office. The Christmas cards, gift parcels and the all-important New Year's cards are all being sent out now. The zodiac of the coming year is the Boar, so card shops and the post office are filled with images of boars.The post offices in Japan however aren't just busy with people (and boars) - they're also heaving with Happy Mascots! The Japanase postal service appears not to be content with just having one, and some of these mascots are created to promote a specific service.
Let's go meet a few, shall we?

The one on the far left is the most commonly used Post Office mascot. His hat follows the design of the zip-code boxes, often printed on envelopes and postcards - as demonstrated by the Happy Mascot standing next to him. My favourite is the red stamp, gleefully holding a white envelope. Finally, there's every postman's natural enemy in a romper suit with the Post Office logo on it.

A pair of philatelist penguins promoting stamp collecting.

Finally, a boar dressed as a postman - most likely a temporary employee.

Mochitsuki

2006-12-18T14:06:00.000+09:00

Yesterday my father-in-law, an active member in the local community, took me to a local rice cake making event. The rice cake is called mochi, the traditional way of making it is called mochitsuki. About 80 people had turned up for this year's event, which took place outside a community center a few blocks away from our house. Mochitsuki involves pounding rice into paste using large wooden mallets, so it's fun for the whole family.

The rice is first steamed (not boiled) above fires. It is then put into a mortar, where it is first kneaded and subsequently pounded into a thick paste using big wooden mallets. The rice is kneaned first to stop the rice from flying about when it is pounded. While the rice is being pounded, another person wets and turns the rice between each hit. Although you're encouraged to keep a fairly high rhythm to this, I found it quite difficult to do so with the kind old lady sticking her hand in the mortar every time!

After the pounding it is cut and molded into shapes and is eaten with either sweet or savoury flavourings. I tried two sweet varieties (one in red bean sauce, the other with toasted soybean flour) and one savoury (mochi with fine chopped radish). Mochi is incredibly chewy so it took me ages to finish the portion I'd been given. I much preferred the sweet variety.

Traditionally mochi is food for the Japanese New Year. Because it can be kept for a very long time, it would be made just prior to the new year and could be consumed throughout the winter. It can be further prepared in many different ways. For example, it can be added to soup or small pieces of dried mochi can be deep fried to make a crispy snack.

After the mochitsuki, I was invited to join the organisers in a lunch with beer and shōchū, which is a kind of Japanese vodka that's quite nice to drink with hot water.

Later that (birth)day, I took the family out for dinner at an Izakaya (Japanese "tapas-bar").

Read more about Mochi on wikipedia.

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #2

2006-12-15T14:30:00.000+09:00

Going for a walk in Japan you are almost as likely to see Happy Mascots as you are human beings. Here are a few more from places I pass or visit regularly. As noted before, any object can be turned into a Happy Mascot - organs and planets being no exception!

This smiling globe served as a light source above a small construction site just off Shibuya station.

A happy heart asking for a high five. He lives next door to last week's smiling house. Why, it's another smiling house! That's not very original!

So there you have it: a happy heart, a happy home and a happy planet. What more could one ask for?

Inakaya

2006-12-13T10:46:00.000+09:00

On Monday, my wife and I had something to celebrate, so on the advice of a friend of mine we went to Inakaya, a small restaurant in the heart of Roppongi. He strongly dislikes the area, so for him to recommend a place there it had to be pretty special.

The restaurant itself has only one table, around which on three sides sit all 25 or so guests. On the fourth side of the table sit two chefs in front of a grill and some other traditional cooking equipment. Fresh meat, seafood, tofu, vegetables and other foodstuffs are laid out in baskets over the table, which basically serves as the menu.

Each order you make is shouted out by the waiters and repeated in unison by the two chefs and all the other waiters present. A chef then grabs the required ingredients from the area in the middle and proceeds to prepare the order. When it is done, the dish is presented to you by the chef from where he's sitting using a long oar, while shouting the name of the dish. Bottles of beer and sake are also "handed" to you by these chefs, but certain dishes (sauces) and drinks are brought to you by the waiters.

Among other things, we tried dried stingray (which has a strong taste) and crispy bite-size crabs, which are eaten whole - and are delicious.
During the meal there was some additional entertainment in the form of a short ritual when the chefs are replaced, and when some rice cake was prepared, for which some younger guests were asked to help pound the rice.

The only downside to this restaurant is perhaps its price tag. While not immensely expensive for West European or American standards, it is so for Japanese. Most of the clientele is indeed foreign, so the waiters also speak English. The portions are of a good size and beautifully presented, and of course you pay for the service and atmosphere. All in all recommended if your wallet allows it.

Map and restaurant information can be found here at the Tokyo Food Page.

Happy Mascots: Buru-Buru-Kun!

2006-12-12T14:23:00.000+09:00

Sometimes, you don't even have to leave the house or switch on the TV to be greeted by a Happy Mascot.

Buru-Buru-Kun (you can pronounce it Blue-Blue-Kun if you prefer) came to us on a flyer in the mailbox, advertising Blueberry-Eye vitamin capsules. I've read that blueberries are good for your eyesight, and I have this particular blue-eyed Scandinavian specimen to thank for that knowledge. His style of dancing is quite interesting as well, with its Street Fighter-style chops and air-punches.

Desktop wallpapers, his full profile and dancing TV ads can be found on Buru-Buru-Kun's website.

Second first job interview in Japan

2006-12-11T14:22:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday the 8th of November, I had my second first-job-interview in Japan. This one was at a relatively small development house. The reasons I had applied here quite early on was because the company website had a recruitment page in English, but also because they have made some very unique games in the recent past, the visual style of which I love.

Following the previous day's interview elsewhere, I was a little more nervous. As per usual, I'd arrived at the station nearly half an hour early. So once again, I took to exploring the area a little after I had located the building I needed to go to. When I decided to go inside, I encountered a slight problem: the building had no doorbell! The front door only served a tiny hall with an elevator, so nobody inside could see me standing there either.
Thankfully within a minute or two, an employee of the company arrived and opened the door for me using his swipe-card. I told him I was there for an interview, and he took me upstairs to the relevant floor and let reception know I had arrived. A receptionist showed we where to sit, and not long after four employees arrived to interview me. One of them introduced himself as the English-speaker and said he would translate, to which I (naturally) replied that I would try to speak as much Japanese as I could.

The interview went much better than the one the day before. The questions were numerous and specific, and I was able to understand and use a lot more Japanese, answering a few questions even without the English-speaker's help. It seemed they had already made up their mind to a degree, because they offered me some freelance work as a test to see if my Maya software skills were up to par. Needless to say I accepted that, and the details would be sorted out later.
Again, the interview lasted only about half an hour but this time the result exceeded my expectations: I'd just been offered work by a Japanese game development studio!

The day didn't pass without an awkard moment though. After the interview, I bought some sushi and took a seat in park to eat my lunch. While I was sitting there eating my lunch, I was approached my three plainclothes policemen. Of course I was surprised, helped by the fact that these policemen all looked rather young. Still, their badges looked real enough, their clothes were quite typical for plainclothes police (jeans, sneakers, puffy jackets and hip-bags) and I figured the penalty for impersonating a policeman in this country wouldn't be something a student would risk. They asked to see my alien registration card (a.k.a. gajin card), what I was doing in the area, and if they could search my bag. One man put on a pair of white gloves and had a look. He asked if I had a knife in my bag, to which I could only answer: "Ehh, why?". Anyway, the three men were all polite during the whole routine and thanked me before they took off. Putting things into perspective, I guess it's in a policeman's nature to stop 'n' search minorities, the ones in Japan being no exception.

The friendliness of the Japanese people shone through again not a minute later though, when a cheery old man walking by said "Oishii desu neee?" ("Delicious, isn't it?") while pointing at my tray of sushi.

So what happened with the freelance work I was offered? Did I pass the test? Stay tuned!

Roppongi Hills

2006-12-08T17:40:00.001+09:00

Roppongi is an area of Tokyo that's the home of many embasssies, foreign companies, foreign restaurants, The Hard Rock Cafe... I think you get picture. It also carries the reputation of being one of the sleaziest areas and in response to that there's been a recent surge in large property developments, the first being Roppongi Hills which opened in 2003. A few weeks ago I had to be in the area so decided to take a look.

The quite good looking Mori Tower is the center piece, which is surrounded by restaurants, an art museum, cinema, the offices of TV Asahi, and countless luxury shops predominantly owned by the big Italian fashion brands. For architecture-tourists I'd say the area is worth a look. (Left: a panorama photo put together quickly without proper stitching software).

While I was there, there was some sort of outdoor promotional exhibition by BMW. Aside from a few of their latest 4x4s, racing cars and motorcycles being on display, there were a few interactive exhibits to make it all a bit more fun. Visitors could have a go at playing a F1 game (I think the game was Grand Prix 3) from inside an "F1 car"; it wasn't particularly impressive but enough to warrant a queue of about a dozen people. Elsewhere there was a yacht racing simulator with a yacht-sized steering wheel. The graphics for the water, sunlight and surroundings looked pretty good for its purpose but the model and texture of the boat itself were downright shoddy.

Not far from Roppongi Hills the National Art Center Tokyo is nearing completion and is due to open January 21st, 2007. The building looks impressive enough from the outside, so I'm quite keen to have a look inside.

Happy Mascots: Random Encounters #1

2006-12-07T15:53:00.000+09:00

Of course not all Happy Mascots come with a complete back story, name, bloodtype, favourite food, theme song, website or merchandise. So far I've listed only those that have, but there are countless more that don't have the financial backing to break it into the big time. So let's have a look at a few of these! Any object can be turned into Happy Mascot - just put a face and/or some limbs on it!

A smiling house on the window of an estate agent's office nearby.

The world's first water drop with a medical degree.

Running with scissors outside the barber shop.

Plan B

2006-12-06T14:11:00.000+09:00

Before coming to Japan, I already had a backup plan to keep me busy while I would be looking for a job here. I had already notified several colleagues and ex-colleagues in other companies that I would be available to do freelance work.

So far, Plan B has been working to a satisfactory degree. I've been doing some work for people in Los Angeles and London, and I've spoken about possible work with someone in Sweden. The work on each little project has been completely different from the others.

One of the companies I've been working with is AirPlay, a mobile games developer started by some ex-colleagues of mine based in London. Their first game, Super Yum Yum, got excellent reviews and was nominated for a BAFTA game award a few years ago. That year they were the only game nominated which didn't carry an existing brand/license. They've recently released Super Yum Yum 2, which is also getting great reviews. Check it out!
As is usual in the games biz, I'm not at liberty to talk about what I've been working on (until it is officially announced by the publisher).

Working with a time difference of 8 to 17 hours (Europe and LA, respectively) turns out to be easier than I'd expected. By the late afternoon, when I'm finishing up my work, Europe gets to work and we discuss the work either using Instant Messenger or Skype. If my employer in Europe decides he wants some other changes, he can always send me an e-mail, knowing it will arrive well before I start my work the next morning.

To anyone reading this who is looking for a freelance artist: I'm still available until the end of January. (There's a hint in there about the status of my jobhunt, but more on that later!)
You'll find my contact details on my CV at videogamesartist.com. =D

Happy Mascots: Tarako Kewpie!

2006-12-05T16:48:00.000+09:00

Among the enormous population of Happy Mascots, there are some that are able to reach true celebrity status. Tarako Kewpie currently enjoys massive fame, with its theme song scoring high in the charts recently, and its likeness dangling from many mobile phones.

Tarako is actually blobs of salted Alaska pollock roe, which indeed has an orangy-pink colour. It's quite tasty with spaghetti and some dried seaweed, and makes for a very easy dish.

The popular theme song is performed by a duo of girls wearing large tarako-shaped hats who go by the name of Kigurumi. Their full-length video can be found here on YouTube, as well as the video for the Xmas "Wall of Sound" version. (Note: Japanese media companies aren't too happy with YouTube, so Japanese clips are frequently removed from the site).
It's a very clever trick to give a Happy Mascot human form, because as such they've been able to appear on TV shows. Whenever I pass one of the game arcades around here, I always hear the Tarako song coming from one of the toy-grabber cabinets, which is filled with the keychains of the mascot. On Saturday, I saw Kigurumi hats, the CD and a full-size Tarako costume for sale in a shop nearby, with of course the music playing from a speaker directly above it.

For true surrealism, be sure to have a look at the TV ads in the gallery of the Tarako Kewpie website. The marching armies of Tarakos have to be seen to be believed.

It must be noted that Tarako Kewpie is an offspring of QP Corporation's far more human-looking mascot, which is just a cute baby.

Happy Mascots: Tempurin!

2006-12-04T13:15:00.000+09:00

Yes, her head is a pudding with whipped cream and a cherry on top!

Meet Tempurin -- Happy Mascot of job agency Tempstaff! Tempurin is 24 years old, and no doubt that she loves her work. Outside Shinjuku station there is currently a huuuuge billboard of her, several stories tall.

She can't handle a drink too well, unfortunately - in a TV ad depicting her on a night out she piles the cherries from her cocktails on her head! You can see the ads, read her CV, watch her dance, and change her outfit when you visit her swanky quasi-3D room on her website. Despite having a video game controller on her couch, I'd say she's not much of a gamer: the games on the site are limited to tic-tac-toe and a sliding puzzle. So you might as well get back to work.

Happy Mascots: the Hamrins!

2006-12-02T11:11:00.000+09:00

Every time I go to either of the two supermarkets around here, I know there will always be a few characters there to bring a smile to my face. Among these are the Hamrins! -- Happy Mascots of Nippon Ham! In the meat section is a TV screen playing a video on a loop, all day, of these four singing and dancing meat-inspired characters. Fun for me, but presumably dreadful for the supermarket staff that have to work within earshot of the TV.
Sosegita has two sausages on his head like antennas, Hamyuu has two slices of ham on her head like Mickey Mouse ears, Bacoron wears a bouquet of asparagus-bacon rolls, and Yakibeta wears a pair of grilled pork headphones.

The Hamrins may not actually be from earth. They fly in a spaceship named the HAM 86 which is adorned with a giant fork and two knives. What, no chopsticks? Definitely alien.
Of course, they also have a giant robot at their disposal who happens to be called HAM 87. There's a fifth member of the group called Meacoron (from Meatball); I think she's part of the live band because she's not featured in the video.

The instructional video to learn their song's lyrics and their dance moves can be viewed here, among many other things on the Hamrins website.

So, how's your Japanese? Episode 2.

2006-11-30T08:36:00.000+09:00

Learning Japanese may be a mammoth task, but thankfully we no longer live in prehistoric times and there is of plenty of technology to make the learning and communication a little easier.
(Terms explained in the previous post on Japanese language are written in italics).

Web-based translators such as AltaVista's Babelfish have been around for years. I've found that Google's translator for Japanese-to-English is the most reliable, giving me the least "err-I-can't-display-this-page" errors. You can set Google's translator as a link in your browser's toolbar (Google toolbar not required), making a translated page just one click away. Sadly though, this does not work with Gmail, so I still have to copy-paste my Japanese e-mails into the translator page.
Another good translator is Eigo-Navi, which shows both the original and the translated text on screen, which can be handy at times. Sure, with all these translators the English looks like by Yoda it was written, but understand it we can, hrrrmm?

I've also been using my Nintendo DS with DS Rakuhiki Jiten. This is a relatively simple dictionary application that's very easy to use, thanks to the touch screen.
It does require one to know how to write a word phonetically using kana. If I know that, I can look up the kanji for it and read the meaning in English. I never use it for English-to-Japanese translation though, because the result is always written in kanji, and not how to pronounce that. There's also a DS Kanji Dictionary, but I have yet to check that one out.

Finally, there's LexiKAN, an excellent piece of software for learning to read and write kanji. I've only recently discovered it, and I was truly surprised at how good it is. Using a mouse or Wacom tablet (which I strongly recommend) you draw the kanji, either on a blank canvas or by tracing a light-grey image. The software immediately gives you feedback while drawing each stroke, ensuring you draw them in the correct length, order and direction. This is very effective in helping you memorise how to draw each character. If you work on paper, you just end up copying the character you drew before, not forcing you to think. LexiKAN also lets you view a little animation of each character being drawn, which can be useful for the more complicated ones or where the stroke order deviates from the standard rules.

The full version of LexiKAN (only US$29) contains writing instructions for all the 2000-odd kanji required for the highest level JLPT; a dictionary which lets you search on meaning, reading (pronounciation) or a few strokes you've drawn; a fully customizable flashcard system which lets you create your own lessons and tests, and much more. Bargain!
But most of all, it's fun! I blast through a number of flashcard lessons each day for practice, and I can clearly see my kanji knowledge improving. I'd buy this again if it ever came out on the DS (hint to developers/wishful thinking).

Happy Mascots: Pipo-Kun!

2006-11-30T08:24:00.000+09:00

Not to be outdone by the Tokyo Fire Department, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police of course also has a Happy Mascot, namely Pipo-Kun.

He has large ears, large eyes and an antenna on his head to keep alert, and a pair of strong hands to help out. Born in 1987, his name is derived from "People" and "Police".

Pipo-Kun has his very own 70s-sounding theme song, to which you can sing along here. I quite like it! All this and more can be found on his own website.

In the DS game Phoenix Wright:Ace Attorney, Pipo-Kun is parodied (repeatedly) in the last episode of the game, in which his lookalike is referred to as the Blue Badger.

Red Bean flavour KitKat

2006-11-29T10:15:00.000+09:00

Here's something we tried last week: Azuki (sweet red bean) flavoured KitKat. The chocolate had a very faint pink colour with dark spots in it, presumably bits of red bean. Unfortunately neither of us were very convinced by the red bean taste -- it just seemed incredibly sweet. I must admit that I found the Azuki bean ice cream I had tried earlier far too sweet as well, to the point where I couldn't actually eat it.

Top marks for this lovely KitKat packaging with its gold lettering, though.

More about Azuki beans on good ol' wikipedia.

Akiba Robot Fair 2006

2006-11-28T17:39:00.000+09:00

Earlier this month, me and a friend went to the Akiba Robot Fair in Akihabara. Akihabara is also known as "Electric Town" and is famed for its enormous electronics shops. It has also evolved into a center for geek ("otaku") culture with its many games- and anime shops, and more recently the Maid Cafés. The last time I was in Akihabara I don't think these even existed, now you are greeted by a number of maids promoting their cafés as soon as you come out of the station (on a busy Saturday at least).

The robot fair itself, located in a shiny new building behind the station, featured robot football and battle events, build-your-own-robot workshops, special demonstrations and of course a display of various robots.

Click on the images below to see the videos I took at the fair.

A creepily realistic robot woman.	Kids confuse a penguin robot.
Robot Battle: Humiliation!	A typical Robot Battle.

You can read another blog post about the Akiba Robot Fair here.

Happy Mascots: Kyuuta!

2006-11-18T11:40:00.000+09:00

Autumn Fire Prevention Week has also brought to my attention the existence of Kyuuta, Happy Mascot of the Tokyo Fire Department. The first part of his name is derived from 1-1-9 ("ichi,ichi,kyuu"), Rescue ("Res-kyuu"), and the second part of his name comes from Tasukeru, the Japanese verb "to help".

He wears the number 119 on his chest, and his yellow antennas flash when he senses danger. How do I know all this? Why, from his own website of course! Check it out and marvel at the real-life futuristic Rainbow 5 fire-fighting tank which is equipped with a giant robotic arm!

Autumn Fire Prevention Week

2006-11-16T22:01:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was the last day of Autumn Fire Prevention Week in Japan. The week starts annually on November 9th, as a reminder to dial 11-9 in case of a fire. The local firestation (shoubousho) was open to the public on Sunday, and since it is literally a stone's throw from our house we decided to have a look.

A number of firefighting and rescue operations were on display or being demonstrated. We saw a demonstration of a portable defibrillator which talks the user through the steps on how to use it, firemen sliding a stretcher and themselves down a rope, and a fireman abseiling down the side of a building. Children could wield (water-based) fire extinguishers and watch animations -- from what I could see, it just looked like Pokemon to me, though. We saw a young child crying its eyes out after its parents had put it in an oversized fireman's outfit, and were trying to take a picture of it.
The highlight however was the chance to be lifted up an extending crane to about 30m high (shown here about halfway up).

For me, Autumn Fire Prevention Week has done its job - I've since had a look at the website of the Tokyo Fire Department (English page) and know what to do in case of fire: run down the road to the shoubousho! Or dial 119.

Happy Mascots: Ni-tere-ching!

2006-11-15T16:18:00.000+09:00

Japan is a densely populated country. Not just with people, but also with cute, happy mascots. Every other product, brand or institution appears to have one (or more). While most are native Japanese, European classics such as Nijntje/Miffy and Barbapappa are also licensed here to promote various products. In this series of posts (Happy Mascots) I'll regularly be showing these cute, happy, but sometimes ugly members of Japanese culture. Most perform their job extremely well and cheer me up.
First up: Ni-tere-ching! Ni-tere-ching gets his name from Nippon Terebi (television) and the sound he makes when he slaps himself on the head. He's the Happy Mascot of NTV, and slaps himself on the head between commercials in a 2-second ident. Ching!

So, how's your Japanese?

2006-11-14T18:23:00.000+09:00

Never been better, thanks for asking! Could be better. Getting better! Not quite good enough. But I'm working on it, and will be for years to come. That much I know.

Before coming to London, I studied Japanese in my spare time on-and-off for about three years. I took some lessons with a few colleagues, bought a few books, listened to many hours of audio lessons and did exercises from the books.
Now, in addition to self-study, I go to class once a week (not enough, I'm going to take more classes). The lessons I'm following cost a whopping 300 Yen per four lessons. How much is 300 Yen? About £1.50, or €2.

I will try to give a very brief and simplified explanation as to what's involved in learning Japanese.
Disclaimer: Remember, I'm no expert on the subject!

Japanese uses three types of writing; hiragana, katakana and kanji. To be able to read a book or newspaper you need to master them all. Hiragana and katakana (together known as kana) are phonetic syllabaries, meaning each character has a unique sound. Katakana is generally used to write words which originate from other languages (mostly English), while Hiragana serves the same purpose for phonetically writing Japanese words. There are 48 basic characters in each syllabary.

Kanji is also known as Chinese characters, from which they originate, and the highest level Japanese Language Profiency Test (JLPT) requires you to know nearly 2000 kanji. Each character represents a word, but combined they can also form unique words. Memorising a kanji's meaning in your own language isn't that difficult, but knowing how to pronounce it? Hoo-boy.
You see, most kanji have several ways to pronounce it, depending on the context.
An (extreme) example: 下, meaning under, lower, bottom, etc.(!), can be pronounced as Ka, Ge, Shita, Moto, Shimo, Sa-, Kuda- or O-. I'm sure you'll understand how relieved I am whenever I come across a kanji with only one pronounciation!

Still, pronounciation of the Japanese sounds is relatively easy for myself, as the sounds used in Japanese can also be found in Dutch. Native English speakers tend to find the pronounciation more difficult at first, as they are not used to pronouncing a,i,u,e,o as "ah, ee, uuh, eh, oh".
So, if all goes well, and I keep studying, I should hopefully be able to at least speak the language at a decent level within a reasonable amount of time. As with learning any other language, building an expanding your vocabulary is the key. Wish me luck.

Reference from wikipedia: Kana, kanji, JLPT

In an upcoming post I will write about some cool technologies that make learning and understanding the Japanese language a little easier.

PS3 Launch in Japan

2006-11-13T10:05:00.000+09:00

I suppose I should write something about the Japanese PlayStation 3 launch, seeing as I'm a games developer who's in Japan.
Of course, I didn't carry out my devilish plan to try to buy one here and double/triple my money by selling it on eBay to someone who really wants one. With some luck that could've worked, if also I had the energy to queue all night, but I consider myself too old for that kind of thing.
Having just seen an item on TV on the launch, I have no regrets. Twelve employees of the TV show were sent on a mission to buy a PS3, and began queueing 24 hours before the launch which would be at 7am on Saturday. The report showed sleeping people on the streets, sped-up shots of the queues hundreds of people long, and a manic stampede across a street and into a large shop, with security looking utterly helpless. Out of the twelve TV employees five managed to buy a PS3. A good first-hand account of the events can be found here.

First job interview in Japan

2006-11-12T23:36:00.000+09:00

Last week I had my first job interview in Japan. I had applied online to this company and was asked to come a few days later for an interview in the late afternoon.

Never wanting to be late for anything ever, I arrived half an hour early at the station and went looking for the building. I found it soon enough, and to kill some time, walked around the block. The building was clad with a charcoal grey marble, much like the type that's used for gravestones over here. I went inside, spoke to the lady at reception and was asked to take a seat. The waiting area had a few games on display on monitors surrounded by Point of Sale material. The seats and tables were all primary colours which made the waiting area look like a kids' corner.

While waiting in the lobby I silently rehearsed my little introductory biography in Japanese, and looked at the game demos running on the TVs. Another person was called inside, and sometime later left. Another person arrived -- also an artist here for an interview? It looks like he's carrying a portfolio. Eventually my time came and I was shown to the room nearest to the lobby.

The interview itself was probably the most intimidating I'd ever been to, but thankfully also the shortest. Seven people were sat across the table, and I was simply asked to talk through some of my best work. My introduction wasn't called for, and while I talked through most of my work in English, I inserted a Japanese sentence wherever I could. Only two specific questions regarding my work were asked.

As I left, still somewhat confused by the briefness of the interview, I wondered if it had gone well. I couldn't really tell. The lack of questions could have been a good thing or a bad thing. If I heard correctly, I'll be hearing from them in about a week. I checked my watch and concluded that the interview had taken half an hour, if that.

Thinking back, I figured these 7 from across the table probably had been churning through first-interviews all day.
...
A few days later, I received the standard thank-you-for-applying-and-good-luck-to-you rejection e-mail. No matter. Read about what happened at my second first interview elsewhere in an upcoming post.

The beast with many eyes

2006-11-10T12:51:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago, while we were still in the lazy period (waiting for PC and Internet), my wife and I cycled to a few places of interest here in Machida. On the top of a very steep hill (which you can't possibly cycle up) is a small park where remains of prehistoric dwellings have been found. Two dwellings have been rebuilt and foundations of others were marked on the ground, plus a few signs explained what the site was all about. Interesting but not amazing. What was amazing was this caterpillar we saw crawling about just outside the park!

It was about 6cm long, and the tip of its tail whipped up and down as it crawled about. The markings on the side that look like eyes are incredibly well defined. You can see a video I took of it here.

The game's afoot.

2006-11-06T18:11:00.000+09:00

My highest priority at the moment of course is to find a job. Here's a quick run-down of what's been happening so far:

Before coming to Japan, I had already started one application at a company that looks very attractive and where I thought my chances of me getting a job were pretty good. This company had asked me to do an art test as part of the application. It was impossible for me to do this back in London while a million things needed doing for the big move, so it had to wait until I had arrived in Japan. Thus after getting our PC in Japan, the first thing I did was the art test. It wasn't particularly difficult, as it wasn't that much different from work I had done before. I sent the two pieces off and awaited my judgment.

Next, I updated and polished my CV and digital portfolio further. At the Tokyo Games Show I met an English games recruiter who works here. I met up with him the following week, gave him a copy of my portfolio and he's now doing "his thing". To my knowledge, he has introduced me to two companies here thus far, but I've not heard anything back about those yet.

Meanwhile, my wife had started translating my CV. The CV and portfolio needed to be bilingual, because let's not try to kid ourselves that every Japanese HR person or lead artist can or wants to read a CV and portfolio in English. Translating the CV took a few days, which involved me having to explain to my wife what "Initiated improvements to the special effects technology and pipeline" exactly means, among other game-technology terms. The Japanese CV text was then copied into the portfolio (so the English portfolio's text is actually different).

From a friend and game artist who lives and works here already, I'd received a massive list of nearly every game development studio in Tokyo, including addresses. He had done the bold thing of applying to a 100+ companies from abroad in writing (in English!) a few years ago - with success! Now, I haven't sent out a hundred applications just yet - and I really don't want to. I checked the list to see which companies were still around, which (kind of) games they'd made, and how foreigner-friendly they might be. The big names and those with recruitment pages in English on their websites would be the best to start with.

With the CV and portfolio all bilingual and finally a broadband connection at home, I could upload my website for the world ( = potential Japanese employers) to see. I had a slight problem with the website's host (it's in Holland) not willing to send HTML pages encoded with Japanese characters. I found a workaround, but it makes it nearly impossible to edit my HTML, as each Japanese character is written as a five-digit number now.

Most of the big Japanese games publishers let you apply for a job directly online. You fill in an online form with pretty much the same information that's on your CV (copy-paste), answer why you want to work for them, and in my case promote my online portfolio. So far, I've been very impressed with the response times I've gotten to most of these applications. One company apologised for not replying any sooner, while I'd applied only one week before. The reply was negative, but at least I didn't have to wait long for it. Another invited me for an interview, about which you can read later.

Most companies however, from what I've seen, require hard copies (printouts) of artwork. So, for a second batch of applications I quickly put together a little booklet. We also put together a Japanese-style CV, which has a particular layout and includes a straight-faced passport photo. A plastic folder containing the Japanese-style CV, colour printouts and the CD-ROM was sent to a small number of companies. Two replies so far: one saying the selection process will take 6-8 weeks, the other an invitation for an interview! Bring it on!

Quick first post

2006-11-06T15:33:00.000+09:00

OK, so two months after arriving in Japan I finally sit down and start writing my weblog. What's been keeping me so busy? I will try to answer that in a few upcoming posts.
First up, I'll be documenting my search for a job here. Hopefully, that won't last very long and I'll be able to just join the ranks of the many "Hey-I'm-in-Japan!"-bloggers.
Read on!