Arrival and the first few days...

So we finally arrived in Japan. The flight was long, boring and tedious and I had a hard time getting any sleep as is normal for me. However, landing in Japan was extremely exciting and I have to say that so far my excitement has been completely warranted. One of the first things that I noticed when we were being driven to our final destination in Oyama City was that though there was a distinct Japanese Characteristic to the place, there was hints of both England and India, places that I thoroughly enjoy visiting. Oyama City itself is definitely interesting in that you can go from a busy city to tranquil farmland literally with the turn of a corner. Its a cool dynamic that I'm really enjoying so far.

The first night we were taken by Usui Sensei and Miller Sensei to a local Ramen restaurant for a meal to welcome us. The food was delicous and the portions were absolutely enormous. For how little you have to pay, and how much you get in both quantity and quality, its really hard to pass up the deal and I can see myself frequenting similar places throughout my stay here. We pretty much retired to our rooms after that and got some much needed sleep. The next day I got up pretty early and decided that I would use the time to get all unpacked and clean up my room. While doing so I decided to turn on my laptop in the hope that there might be a wireless network somewhere and surprise surpise, there was one. Its definitely convenient to have a reliable internet connection this early on. We went to Hakuoh University shortly afterwards to get oriented and take care of a few housekeeping issues. We met up with some friends that we made the night before and made some new ones as well as getting to meet a student who has come from Australia and is certainly a cool guy to hang out with.

Later that night I had some free time and decided that I would go to the arcade. Luckily there is a Sega World right down the street from me and it only takes about 5 minutes to get there by bike. They had a good selection of games though they did not have Third Strike which disappointed me somewhat. there is another arcade that is a little further away but very easy to get to that I want to check out when I get some time. Sega World did have Street Fighter IV and Blazblue. Street Fighter IV was what I knew it was, though the arcade version does feel a little different and I wish I could play Cammy as she is my main. I stuck with Boxer and walked through a Ken player and had some good matches with another player. He had some good zoning but he really lacked when it came to teching throws etc. Blazblue was pretty good although I haven't really had much time to get to know the game so I'm hesitant to say whether or not I like it. I finished off my session by playing Mushihime Sama, a game that I have wanted to play for a while. Visually it was very easy on the eyes and the gameplay was super smooth. Its a very good SHMUP, Cave rarely make a bad one after all, and I can see myself dropping alot of Yen in that machine.

So far the first couple of days have been pretty good. I'm going to start taking a lot more pictures soon so expect to see more of Oyama City and Japan in future updates.

-Indy

Welcome

This blog will contain information about Street Fighter 3: Third Strike in Japanese Arcades as well as other 2D Fighting Games and even a few SHMUPS. Updates will occur on a regular basis after I actually arrive in Japan so until then, consider this as a work in progress.

Thanks for stopping by,
Indy Billing.