Whew, got back the other day from 2 weeks of being in Japan, my very first
time there.  I've dubbed Japan "Otaku Boot Camp" since most of what I did
when I was there was walk all over the place carrying heavy shopping bags
(my luggage must've weighed more than I did on the way back), sleeping in
a small, cold room, waking up after getting only a few hours sleep... But
it was well worth it.  I got a lot of awesome Tenchi stuff (only a few
more CDs and CD singles I need to finish my collection) for great prices.
Just about everything I got was used or discounted, so I got it anywhere
from 1/3rd to 1/10th of what it would cost at an anime shop or online over
here.  Got at least 20 Tenchi CDs (got the first pressing of the TV radio
box set my last day in Japan for 3000 yen, doesn't beat finding the Bento
CD box a couple months ago on the net for 600 yen, though), about 8 CD
singles, around 15 art/graphic books (including the one for the "episode
7.5" PC 98 game... I must have that game, it has so many fan service shots
of my beloved Mihoshi...), all of the Japnaese manga tankobons for 100 yen
each...  Tons of dojinshi, both regular and a couple hentai (although used
Tenchi dojinshi seems to be scarce, there's plenty of newly printed ones
at new dojinshi shops, even though some of them were first printed back
when Tenchi was first soming out in Japan), a really nice Seiyuu Grand
Prix issue with Chisa Yokoyama and Ai Orikasa in it... Also got 10 of the
13 Shin Tenchi LDs and both of the half-boxes (damn, they put a good bit
of omake on each of these LDs, and the covers are absolutely gorgeous).
It seems that the  same omake is on the DVDs as well, but even used Shin
Tenchi DVDs go for at least 3000 yen, and I'd rather have the gorgeous LD
covers and inserts, anyways.  Also got some great deals and rare finds on
Transformers stuff, and I also picked up some other anime stuff from some
other series, but most of the stuff I got was Tenchi-related. Besides
shopping, I had a great time seeing amazingly clean and efficient cites
(even though they're crowded).  Spent most of my time in Tokyo, but also
spent a week in the Kansai area, went to Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto.
Also went down to Hakata in Kyushu for a few hours.  Ate lots of delicious
and ... different foods. Can't wait to eat katsudon again.  Didn't have
too much trouble communicating since my Japanese is at a farily advanced
level (for an American, anyways), and a lot of people spoke English, and
alot of signs were in English as well.  Got to see Mamoru Oshii's new
anime movie, Blood: The Last Vampire.  Very awesome, even though it was
less than an hour long.  Strange thing was, it was mostly in English (with
Japanese subtitles).  It took place in and around a US military base in
Japan in the 60's, so I guess they were going for realism instead of just
giving everybody a Japanese seiyuu.  Was kinda disappointing since the
English VA's were of course not very good compared to the Japanese seiyuu
(also think a couple of the seiyuu did their own English lines as well,
which wasn't very easy on the ears either).  It did make the movie easier
to understand for me, though.  On my next to last day in Japan, I got to
go to an AIC cel/art exibit.  Saw lots of amazing art from Tenchi, Oh My
Goddess, Vampire Princess Miyu, Pretty Sammy, Battle Athletes, and one
sweet piece from Dual.  The pieces that were for sale were incredibly
expensive, though, I think all the cel art started at 630,000 yen...  One
of the cute AIC reps noticed my Tenchi shirt as well (it was one of the
ones that was shown at Anime Expo, it was mislabeled as a "Armitage"
shirt for $10 off of Hot Topic's internet store last summer, haven't seen
it anywhere since).  Oh,  the thing I'll probably miss most about Japan is
the girls.  So many,  ranging from cute to absolutely gorgeous...  Wish I
had the time to talk with girls more than I did, but I'm too shy, and it
seems most Japanese girls are equally shy, especially around foreigners.
I was't really looking for a fling-type relationship, anyways.  Has to be
some kind of permanence. Seems I never have time for girls anymore,
anyways... Ah well, I can take satisfaction in that my long naturally
curly red hair and handsome dimpled smile caught the eyes of many cute
girls (and one of the female workers in the public bath house I went to in
Kobe, as well.  I didn't really think about it too much before, but
apparently this American is indeed much more well-endowed than the average
Japanese male :)  Well, that's my little chaotically-written Japan report,
I hope it will encourage some of you to visit Japan yourseleves, if you
haven't already. I spent alot of money, but all of what I saved against
what it would have cost me to buy it in America more than exceeded my
plane ticket and hotel/food costs.  (now that I know what kind of prices
anime dealers pay, it sickens me to see what they charge)  Of course if
you know no Japanese whatsoever it can be a little difficult, but not as
big a problem as you might think.  Banzai!

Jordan Derber, Uber-Otaku
aka H-K
aka Buster Darkwings
Co-organizer of the Japanese TF episode fansubbing project
Visit the Darkwings' Shrine to Devil Z, the ultimate Japanese Transformers
page: http://members.nbci.com/hantaakiraa/pt/