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0ne point Zer0

The Fool shows a child or youth, while the Magician depicts an all powerful adept. Just as the Fool showed us the price of eternal innocence, so this Magician gives us the fearsomeness of taking on responsibility. If the Major Arcana represents the Fool’s journey, the Magician is the first thing the Fool encounters.

Remember this Itasha (痛車) that sped away? I finally caught it at rest.

Pokémon Itasha

I spotted the car last evening at the carpark of Parco Bugis Junction. Other than the Pokémon decals, there’s plenty of Pikachu figurines in the dashboard.

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Earlier, I was at HMV hoping to find the local edition of the “End of Evangelion” DVD. It was supposed to be released on 13 May. Instead, I found this on the rack at the Japanese music section:

GACKT: 0079 - 0088

What caught my eye is the Zeon emblem on the CD cover. I am not a fan of Gackt but I bought the CD anyway. This is a Gackt x Gundam collaboration, and he performs the themes from the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movie trilogy, as well as covers of the themes from the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime. The ZEON limited edition “B” version features narration by Shuichi Ikeda (池田秀一), Char Aznable’s voice actor. Two other versions are also available - the ‘normal version’ sans narration, and the Earth Federation/Amuro Ray limited edition “A” version that features Tohru Furuya (古谷徹).

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A day in the real world is like a week on the Net. It feels as if I’ve neglected this blog - the gap between each entry has widened from once every other day, to once a week, to… I still have a number of entries on the Tokyo Anime Fair that’s sitting in the draft folder. Partly, it’s fatigue - not so much as a loss of interest, but it’s grown to a point where I spend more time writing about my hobby than enjoying it.

Four Seasons Ballroom

And, the Wedding is at the top of my mind. Nothing is more important than that for the moment. That’s because I’ve got less than five months to make the preparations. Our friends, who’ve volunteered to be our wedding planners, are in a state of frenzy. Usually, most couples give themselves 18 months to get ready for the big day.

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So, I turned 32 yesterday.

Me & Tokyo Godfather

I haven’t been updating this blog for a while, ’cause I’ve been really busy with things in the real world. And it’s a good kind of busy. Other than the wedding preparations, I just returned from Tokyo on a business trip with Imaginary Friends Studios.

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The Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF/東京国際アニメフェア) is the biggest and most significant animation trade fair in Asia. This year there were 287 exhibitors at TAF, of which one quarter are from overseas. A total of 126,622 people visited the four-day event (27 to 30 May), which is about 27% more than the previous year.

Pokemon poops fireball on a Shinigami’s shoulder

The majority of the visitors (102,143) attended the event during the public days. TAF was an initiative between the Tokyo government and the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA/日本動画協会). The Tokyo Governor - Shintaro Ishihara (石原慎太郎) is the incumbent chairman of the TAF committee since the first event in 2002. In less than a decade, TAF has become an important industry event on the calendar. The Tokyo Anime Award is conferred during this event.

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The ultimate event on our itinerary took us to the state-owned Tokyo International Exhibition Center, otherwise also known as Tokyo Big Sight for the annual Tokyo International Anime Fair.

Tokyo Big Sight - The Holy Temple of Otaku-dom

If Akihabara is Mecca, then this convention centre is ought to be the Temple Mount. At different times of the year, pious Otaku pilgrims congregate under the inverted pyramids to celebrate the important events on the calender. This is venue of important events such as the twice-yearly Comiket and Wonder Festival. Other significant events such as the World Hobby Festival, Hobby Complex, Dream Party, During Spring, Super Comic City, Comitia, Tokyo Toy Festival are held here too.

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The second day was supposed to be own-time own-target. I thought I’d be able to do the things that I’d wanted to do, such as checking out the places of interest at my own pace. However, none of that happened as duty calls.

Even for native Japanese folks, unless they are one of our kind, they are but strangers in a strange land. Next to Mr. Enomoto, I’m the only other person in the group that knew Akihabara. So it was up to the both of us to troubleshoot the SNAFUs. Being a Lao Jiao (Old Bird), I have enough local knowledge to navigate the streets of Akihabara without the aid of a map (thanks Don777先輩 ’s guidance when he showed me around during previous year’s visit).

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It’s hard to surprise her because she knows what I’m thinking. She knew I was up to something but decided to play along.

So by the time the dessert was served, the flowers came…she knew what was coming. Though, she was still a little unprepared because she expected it to happen on our birthday (our dates are two days apart, so we celebrate our birthdays together)

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okay. i am freaking nervous.

i am now in shanghai. typing this post from my pda phone. waiting for my girlfriend.

in three hours time i will be at a restaurant by the bund.

the diamond ring is with me now.

tonight i am going to propose.

To broaden our knowledge of animation in Japan, our coach took us to the next destination: the Suginami (杉並) district. This special ward was once the hub for animation production. Although many of the studios have migrated to the neighbouring Nerima (練馬) and Mitaka (三鷹) districts, it still has about 70 of the 400 studios throughout Japan.

Suginami Animation Museum

Recognising Suginami as the ‘heartland’ of anime, the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA/日本動画協会) established the “Suginami Animation Museum” (杉並アニメーションミュージアム) in 2005. While there already are many other museums and galleries dedicated to specific animation works/studios/artists, this is Japan’s first all-encompassing animation museum.

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