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oyceterFirst day in Tokyo! It's a bit overwhelming. Our flight was first delayed, and although we managed to exchange our travel vouchers for tickets for the airport bus to our hotel and get our rental cell phones, Narita's 2nd terminal is not particularly easy to navigate. We then headed to Asakusa to get even more train tickets (for Nikko), in which I got lost about eighteen times in the subway station and managed to get in to buy our passes five minutes before the office closed. Go me and my sister, but that took a lot more time than anticipated.
Then... Shibuya! I think I am still a bit shocked by just how big Tokyo is; no wonder last time I was here, I basically just spent all four days or so around Shibuya. I was startled in Seoul by the size of Myeongdong, which I feel is about four times the size of Ximending, but Shibuya is at least two Myeongdongs, to say the least. Also, it started raining. We had our umbrellas, but still!
So far, I love all the random little eateries underneath highway and subway overpasses, but I have to say, Tokyo's subway system is about ten times more confusing than Seoul's. First there's the fact that there are three separate lines, and I'm still not quite sure how transfers work between them (I heard it was more expensive). And then, the signage is really not very good. My sister and I stared blankly at the ticket screen, and all the exits and maps are extremely confusing. This is particularly weird when compared to Seoul, where I felt like everything made a lot of sense and I almost always knew where to go as long as I was within the subway system.
Thankfully, I managed to find Book Off in Shibuya without getting very lost—like Seoul and very unlike Shanghai, things on the map look far in Tokyo but are actually extremely walkable—and Book Off, like everything else in Tokyo, was far larger than I had expected. Can I say that I continue to hate the Japanese system of shelving comics? It probably makes a lot of sense when you read comics from the monthly or weekly magazines, but when you have no idea what company published which author's whatever series, it takes a lot of time to hunt through stacks of manga to make sure you didn't miss anything! I so wish things were just shelved by mangaka. As such, I didn't get any loot in Book Off and wandered off with my sister, slightly disappointed. But Mandarake was next on the list!
OMG people! How have I managed to never go to Mandarake before in my life?! And I thought Animate in Akihabara was awesome when I first went way back when! I didn't explore it fully, but Mandarake has rows and rows and rows of doujinshi (none of which I bought, since I have no idea what circles publish what and already felt bad dragging my sister through who knows how many miles of comics). And manga! And they arranged the manga by author so I finally managed to find the republished version of Mizushiro Setona's 1999nen shichi no tsuki Shanghai! FINALLY! Well, just part two of two, but still.
AND AND AND OMG!!!!!!!
I now own vols. 1-4 (of 8) of Takemiya Keiko's Kaze to ki no uta (I did not realize it was so long, woe!) and Hagio Moto's Heart of Tomas and November Gymnasium! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I have been looking for these ever since UNDERGRAD!
... and now I am not sure if I was just always looking in the wrong place, because they're published in a smaller format than most manga, or if I just needed to go to Mandarake. And they had a TON more Takemiya Keiko and Hagio Moto that I did not buy because the series were too long and I was already buying a lot as it were! But still!!! Magnificent 49er manga FINALLY! And all for less than $40!
Also, we went to a cat cafe for half an hour and watched a bunch of cats eat and chase each other around! They were so cute! I only wish we could have stayed longer to pet them more. Then on to dinner at an Okinawan restaurant with my sister's co-worker, in which we had this pork with the cartilage still in, cooked so that it was a soft, mochi-like texture. Also, we randomly had takoyaki under a highway overpass in Asakusa and a chocolate taiyaki in Shibuya!
So far, I am actually not sure if I love Tokyo as much as Hong Kong or Seoul, which surprises me a bit, but some of it is probably the size and the sheer overwhelming-ness of it all. And we have really only gone to Shibuya! Tomorrow, Shinjuku and Harajuku and Omotesando and Aoyama, or however much of it we make it through.
(I am SO TEMPTED to go to Mandarake in Ikebukuro to see if I can pick up my missing volumes for Takemiya Keiko and Mizushiro Setona. We will see how much my sister can take being dragged through bookstores where she does not read the language.)
Then... Shibuya! I think I am still a bit shocked by just how big Tokyo is; no wonder last time I was here, I basically just spent all four days or so around Shibuya. I was startled in Seoul by the size of Myeongdong, which I feel is about four times the size of Ximending, but Shibuya is at least two Myeongdongs, to say the least. Also, it started raining. We had our umbrellas, but still!
So far, I love all the random little eateries underneath highway and subway overpasses, but I have to say, Tokyo's subway system is about ten times more confusing than Seoul's. First there's the fact that there are three separate lines, and I'm still not quite sure how transfers work between them (I heard it was more expensive). And then, the signage is really not very good. My sister and I stared blankly at the ticket screen, and all the exits and maps are extremely confusing. This is particularly weird when compared to Seoul, where I felt like everything made a lot of sense and I almost always knew where to go as long as I was within the subway system.
Thankfully, I managed to find Book Off in Shibuya without getting very lost—like Seoul and very unlike Shanghai, things on the map look far in Tokyo but are actually extremely walkable—and Book Off, like everything else in Tokyo, was far larger than I had expected. Can I say that I continue to hate the Japanese system of shelving comics? It probably makes a lot of sense when you read comics from the monthly or weekly magazines, but when you have no idea what company published which author's whatever series, it takes a lot of time to hunt through stacks of manga to make sure you didn't miss anything! I so wish things were just shelved by mangaka. As such, I didn't get any loot in Book Off and wandered off with my sister, slightly disappointed. But Mandarake was next on the list!
OMG people! How have I managed to never go to Mandarake before in my life?! And I thought Animate in Akihabara was awesome when I first went way back when! I didn't explore it fully, but Mandarake has rows and rows and rows of doujinshi (none of which I bought, since I have no idea what circles publish what and already felt bad dragging my sister through who knows how many miles of comics). And manga! And they arranged the manga by author so I finally managed to find the republished version of Mizushiro Setona's 1999nen shichi no tsuki Shanghai! FINALLY! Well, just part two of two, but still.
AND AND AND OMG!!!!!!!
I now own vols. 1-4 (of 8) of Takemiya Keiko's Kaze to ki no uta (I did not realize it was so long, woe!) and Hagio Moto's Heart of Tomas and November Gymnasium! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I have been looking for these ever since UNDERGRAD!
... and now I am not sure if I was just always looking in the wrong place, because they're published in a smaller format than most manga, or if I just needed to go to Mandarake. And they had a TON more Takemiya Keiko and Hagio Moto that I did not buy because the series were too long and I was already buying a lot as it were! But still!!! Magnificent 49er manga FINALLY! And all for less than $40!
Also, we went to a cat cafe for half an hour and watched a bunch of cats eat and chase each other around! They were so cute! I only wish we could have stayed longer to pet them more. Then on to dinner at an Okinawan restaurant with my sister's co-worker, in which we had this pork with the cartilage still in, cooked so that it was a soft, mochi-like texture. Also, we randomly had takoyaki under a highway overpass in Asakusa and a chocolate taiyaki in Shibuya!
So far, I am actually not sure if I love Tokyo as much as Hong Kong or Seoul, which surprises me a bit, but some of it is probably the size and the sheer overwhelming-ness of it all. And we have really only gone to Shibuya! Tomorrow, Shinjuku and Harajuku and Omotesando and Aoyama, or however much of it we make it through.
(I am SO TEMPTED to go to Mandarake in Ikebukuro to see if I can pick up my missing volumes for Takemiya Keiko and Mizushiro Setona. We will see how much my sister can take being dragged through bookstores where she does not read the language.)
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Mon, Aug. 9th, 2010 04:22 pm (UTC)If you do think you'll be giving in to the temptation to visit another Mandarake location, I can give you some pointers to good Saiyuki DJ circles to look for... ^_~
(no subject)
Tue, Aug. 10th, 2010 03:15 pm (UTC)OOOO give me pointers! I have no idea if I will make it, but pointers are always good!
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Tue, Aug. 10th, 2010 04:27 pm (UTC)For personal recommendations -- bear in mind that I mostly collect 585/10K books, and the occasional gen-ish title that's mainly focused on Hakkai and Gojyo or Tenpou and Kenren.
Sezuka Ai -- does a mix of very soft/romantic 585 yaoi and unbearably cute gen stuff with chibi versions of the ikkou. Gorgeous art, seems to be fairly prolific.
Honey -- does both 39 and 58, often in the same book; fairly prolific. Some of the most gorgeous, professional-quality DJ art I've ever seen, her style is damn near identical to Minekura-sensei's own work. Alas, she's also rather fond of the pushy-seme/weepy-uke/dub-con yaoi dynamic, which makes it harder for me to enjoy some of the titles that go beyond angsty UST. (The icon I'm using here is cover art from a Honey DJ.)
Mikaduki-chop! -- currently inactive (last time I checked she'd shifted fandoms to Tenipuri), did a couple of interesting K10 and 58 books, the two I've managed to find so far were both plotty, softer yaoi. Art style is kind of quirky -- Tenpou in particular seems to have the face of a twelve-year-old girl -- but it has a strange charm that grows on you, IMO.
Lunaria -- I've only found one book by them but it's AMAZING -- lavish full-color 585 (and occasional gen-ikkou) art, non-explicit and subtly romantic, much of it in gorgeous historical costume or wafuku, pearlescent cover stock, just a stunningly gorgeous physical object.
EGS/Egoistic Guess -- fabulous art, at their best I'd rank them as second only to Honey in terms of similarity to Minekura's own work. Very prolific 58 and K10 focused circle, with works ranging from fairly soft yaoi to explicit smut.
Treasure -- this is the primary circle that I collect, and just about the only one I've seen who does 85/10K where Tenpou or Hakkai are seme for a change! Art is a bit stylized, in a pointy-chinned early-90s-BL sort of way, but still very nice; the color covers in particular have a very unique, recognizable style. Plotty, romantic softer yaoi with MASSIVE amounts of crack -- Treasure books have some of the weirdest, most id-tastic/AU-plots of any Saiyuki DJ I've seen. (The prize of my small collection, for instance, is a historical AU where Gojyo is a cross-dressing tayuu, the main attraction of a Yoshiwara brothel run by Sanzo -- Hakkai is his sinister attendant and Hazel is their confused and weirded-out would-be client.) The books aren't quite as exceptionally lavish as the Lunaria one, but still have excellent production values -- colored endpapers, satiny cover stock, even the interior pages are often on subtle colored stock like very pale green or creamy ivory rather than stark white.
(Also, while Lunaria and Mikaduki-chop! seem to be fairly obscure, I know at least two other people who actively collect Treasure, and books by Honey, Sezuka Ai, and *especially* Egoistic Guess seem to move fairly quickly on eBay or LJ sales posts -- so if you end up not being totally in love with any DJ you happen to pick up, you shouldn't have too much trouble unloading them -- and considering what I've heard of Mandarake used-DJ prices compared to shopping international auctions, you may even be able to make a profit on them, too.)
(no subject)
Tue, Aug. 10th, 2010 04:30 pm (UTC)