tokyo
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Let The DS Show You Tokyo Disney Resort Shopping
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Those going to Tokyo Disneyland, be sure to bring your Nintendo DS. Starting April 25, the portable can show you around shopping, dinning and entertainment complex Ikspiari at Tokyo Disney Resort. More »
News
The Gaijin Gaming Discount
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | As the American economy continues to crater, the valve of the dollar has dropped. While we have misty-eyed memories of a time when it was 135 yen to the dollar, it’s currently about 65 yen to the dollar. Spotted at a Tokyo retro game shop, the pictured sign seems directed at tourists and reads: More »Test Out SEGA-AM2’s New Arcade Racer
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | This Friday (today!), SEGA is location testing new street racing game from its famed AM2 division. Dubbed R-Tuned: Ulimate Street Racing, the arcade game runs on SEGA’s Lindbergh arcade system board and supports up to four players. Apparently there is also a home version in development, but that’s unconfirmed. The location test kicked off today at 10:00AM Japan Time at the Shinjuku Club SEGA and will wrap up next Monday. Stop by, check it out. Tell ‘em Kotaku sent cha! R-Tuned [Official Site via Game Watch] More »
Racism In Tokyo
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | It’s game related. Or rather, otaku related. Somewhat. Hit the jump for a totally non-game related clip from YouTuber tokyocooney. A totally brilliant non-game related one. More »
News
Team Ninja Reacts to Kanagawa Rampage
4:00AM Brian Crecente | It wasn’t until Team Ninja’s Yosuke Hayashi stepped off the plane in the States this week that he heard about the connection some in the Japanese media were trying to draw between his recently released Ninja Gaiden game and the rampage of a disenfranchised gamer at a shopping centre near Tokyo. More »
News
Toshihiro Nagoshi? Dirty Pants.
12:40AM Brian Ashcraft | Super Monkey Ball. Yakuza. Brown awesomeness. Those are three things that SEGA game designer and fashion plate Toshihiro Nagoshi is best known for. His latest game Ryu Ga Gotoku KENZAN! (aka Yakuza 3) was released today in Japan. Commenter Bellamy sends this good ol’ fashioned Kotaku Stalku: More »Live in Tokyo? Forget It.
11:40PM Brian Ashcraft | To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Cells Tomorrow, gotta catch the bulletin train bound for Tokyo tomorrow. Again! In the last two months, I have been to Tokyo a total of something like five or six times. Tokyo is the country’s capital and a lot is concentrated there work-wise. Sure, there is a lot in Kansai — there’s just more in Tokyo. Thing is, I just don’t want to live there. Like, at all. No offence to Tokyo or the fine people who inhabit the city. It is a truly great metropolitan city and has so much to offer. Saying that, living there would cause me to go mental. Forget that I prefer the food, the dialect and the people in Osaka, so much has happened to me here personally that I can’t fathom living anywhere else in Japan or outside it. Even when I go to Kyoto or Kobe, both cities which closely neighbour Osaka, they feel like other planets. Tokyo’s can be like another universe at times, especially how the people act and whatnot. Osaka is the city where I fell in love, became a father and began my writing career. This is where I came of age, really. So much has happened here, and the city’s been really good to me. I gotta be good to it. Can see why some people commute between Tokyo (for work) and Osaka (for home) every week, working in Tokyo Monda-Friday and returning to Kansai on the weekend. Selfish and silly of me maybe, and I’m sure it’s not exactly cheap to put my arse on a bullet train to cover stuff. Though, I really appreciate that Gawker (as well as Wired Mag, among others) are willing to do that! Many things to be thankful for. Living where you want to is certainly one of those, isn’t it? What you missed last night: UMD problem? Team Ico sequel Halo 3 is tops in Japan Consoles in one sentence PSP big in Japan More »Weekend Note: No Place Like Home
11:00AM Flynn De Marco | To: Ash From: Flynn Subject: Tattoos and a Long Snooze So I’m finally back from Tokyo, got in last night and the jet lag is just starting to get to me. I also got tattooed this afternoon so the mixture of endorphin rush and jet lag is quite a bizarre feeling. That being said I’m going to get to the weekend recap before I fall face first into the keyboard. • Master Chief gets sex-ay! • David Hayter’s voicing Snake again for SSBB. Is Grasshopper working on Fatal Frame or not? We demand confirmation! Alright then, I am going to try and sleep off some of this oncoming jet lag and nurse the poor bleeding pin up girl on my arm. Have a great week and don’t forget to trim that mustache (or moustache if you prefer)! More »
Flynn’s Akihabara Adventure: Part One
8:00AM Flynn De Marco | Today marked the day I had been looking forward to since I found out I was going to Tokyo, a trip to the nerd mecca, Akihabara. Accompanied by some friends and the ever stalwart friend of Kotaku, Witzbold, we navigated the massive Tokyo subway system and arrived safely in Akihabara after long journey that seemed to never end. First stop: Super Potato. You’ve heard about it, you’ve read about it, you may have even seen pictures of it, but nothing can prepare you for actually seeing it in person. The outside is fairly unassuming and seems nearly invisible compared to the surrounding shops with their large neon signs. A dingy hallway with a few handmade signs mark the way to a tiny elevator that barely contained our four person party. When the doors opened again onto the third floor, we all gasped in amazement. Here we stood, on the border of vintage game paradise. Famicoms and other ancient systems lined the walls with shelves upon shelves of games of every size and shape imaginable dotted here and there with toys and other gaming memorabilia. The next floor was just as crowded with every available space taken up by a immense collection of more toys, game soundtracks and various knick knacks. One last trip up the stairs brought us to a dimly lit and smoky arcade filled with various otaku and their girlfriends (yeah, they had them!) who lined the back wall texting on their phones, waiting for their geeky knights to finish conquering the video game world. Obviously, hearing me describe it is nothing compared to seeing what it was like in photos. I took a ton of pictures despite the various signs indicating that photos weren’t allowed that I pretended to ignore, all for you, our precious readers. So, click below and enjoy the thirty six photo gallery of the possibly greatest vintage game store in the world.
