Adventures in Japan

The Wiikend

Little known fact about me: I was a horribly sickly child. Bad asthma and about 2 billion and 3 allergies. Mainly to all things out of doors. I was an indoor kind of kid.

So when dad got me a Colecovision, well...

Let's just say I still think it's one of the best gifts I've ever gotten. I finally had something I could be good at. Reading and writing and drawing didn't really count to me back then. These games were something that required skill. And I didn't have to go outside. Outside, remember, is where my lungs hurt.

For a kid with a vivid imagination but a frail frame, videogames were awesome. Books too, sure, but games required some input. Interactivity is nice.

Nintendo was my playground.

Still is.

Which is why I found myself standing in line outside of Bic Camera in mambo waiting to buy the Nintendo WI.



Bic Camera is one of the main electronic stores in Japan. Also, it was one of only two stores opening early to sell the WI. It opened at 7 am. Seeing as I had to work at 9:30, that was a good deal for me.

This happened on a Friday night/Saturday morning, mind. The nights started, as it usually does, with me and Ben grabbing a beer and a burger at Cap'n Kangaroos. After that, we decided to check out the Yodobashi Camera just a few blocks away. Yodobashi Camera being the other place that was opening early. There was no line at all! Which was surprising, because when the PS3 launched just two weeks ago, the place was nuts.

There was no line but there were Yodobashi employees yelling into megaphones. We listened to one and managed to glean that we needed to take a number and take the elevator to the 11th floor. We got off on the 11th floor. It was all parking, as were both floors on either side. All these floors had WI people on them. Our ticket numbers were somewhere in the 700s. We left.

I went home to gather up some gear and Ben headed into mambo to check out Bic. I met him there at around 11. The Wiis went on sale at 7 in the morning.

Now is when I tell you about the WI. It is awesome in a box. Just navigating around the menus is fun. Is is awesome fun in a fun box of fun.

I waited in line with Ben, I've said. This is the first console he's ever bought. Kishen bought one too. Actually, he bought two. One to sell. He asked a Japanese friend of his, "Hey, do you like videogames?"

"No, not really."

"Oh, well I have this Nintendo WI..."

"I'll take it!"

There's a lot of that going around.

Anyways, we waited in line for eight hours.

Here is where I mention, offhandedly, that we also entered a WI raffle//lottery at Labi 1 (a big electronics shop near where Ben and Kishen and Jon live).

We played a lot of Mario Kart while we waited. We talked to folks around us. We met Bill and Jason, two nice fellows. We got interviewed. We drank. Not too much though, as I had a day at work ahead of me.



At seven, the shore's shutters rose up and the buying began. The store itself did not open until its regular time of 10, but they had a special 'WI space' set up. After Ben and I bought our stuff, we shouted "Wiiiii!!!" and then went home.

At home I gave Carla a hug before she went to work, then I showered and got ready for work. Then I worked. Then I came home and set up the WI. Then I played the WI. Then I forced myself to stop playing the WI and get some damn sleep. Carla woke me up when she got home from work.

We spent the rest of the day WI-ing and studying.

I was studying because I had my Japanese Proficiency test the next day. You can only take this test once a year, it cost 50 bucks.

I turned in early on Saturday night so I could wake up early for my test the next day. That didn't happen. I missed my train, caught the very next one and then had to run the seven blocks to the test. Two of those were up hill. I was not feeling very good as I sat down to take the test.

The test: I understood nearly every question and answer but I have no confidence that I matched them together correctly.


After the test I went home and helped Carla clean up the apartment. Just as we were finishing up the cleaning, people started coming over. We had people over to WI. We Wii'd. It was excellent fun.