京都から初めてのブログポスト：Ｄ

Hi! I`ts been about 2 weeks since arriving in Kyoto now, and I have yet to write a single thing about Kyoto, Doshisha university or my stay at the 修学管　(shuugakukan)! For this I can blame no one but myself. Well, myself and the splendour that is Japanese bureacracy :p, of course. After 2 weeks of writing numorous forms, undergoing exams and tours, Classes will finally start coming monday!:D And seeing as most of the classes are in the morning, I shall be able to utilize time in the afternoon to my new hobby; Book-off scavenger hunts!

For those of you not familiar with the concept that is Book-off, it`s basically a dense chain of second-hand stores throughout Japan that sell pretty much all your entertainment needs, from Manga, to Drama, Novels, and Video-games. The picture below examplifies what I mean by `dense`:





the icon being a book-off outlet, it is clear that there are book-offs aplenty. These book-offs are totally bike-able by the way, as i`ve been to half of them this afternoon to document the first in a series, my mission to visit as many book-offs as humanly possible.

Book-off scavenger hunt: Part 1

The first one Book-off I`d like to start with is relatively new to me, as is it quite out of the way to my `usual` bike ride to Doshisha campus. As can be seen below, a solid mountain prevents me from directly going up there (the red circle indicating the Book-off in question, the blue circle my dorm).

第一






I rather like this Book-off, actually. It has but a single floor, but still has a nice arrangement of stuff, certainly the large section of reasonably priced DVD`s alone makes the trouble of driving out into no-man`s land worthwile. I`ve had t restrain myself not buying entire series there, eager as I was in the first Book-off of the day, but the foresight of carying them around all day helped in restraining myself, but that is not is not to say I won`t return there if I find myself travelling up north. On a side note, it was really nicely cool in there :D which I greatly appreciated in the midst of Kyoto-esque weather.

Name: ブックオフ・京都宝ヶ池店

Floors: 1

Pre-packaged sets of manga: no

Selection (grade 1 out of 10): 8

Location: 6

Overall grade (not an average): 7,5

Adress: 京都府京都市左京区岩倉南桑原町５４

第二







This books is the closest to my dorm, and actually the most cramped up little Book-off I`ve been to yet! I couldn`t even made a proper picture without crossing the street first. Once inside the Book-off I couldn`t help but feeling like walking into the type of an old, small, cozy bookshop we all love. Having been to the high-tech, esculator-equipped Book-off in Shibuya this was quite the change in atmosphere, heck, I almost fell of the squeecky stairs themselves when having to dodge an (offcourse) FOREIGNER coming from the other direction :p but he was a fellow book-off enthusiast, so he`s forgiven :). As I was saying, this Book-off is rather small, and the selection kind-of-disappointing. To be fair, it was very crowded when I was there today, so some parts of the selection may have eluded me, seeing as some people just book-block you for a seemingly eternity if they are standing in front of a particular section, indulging in 立ち読み, or reading while standing /rant.
All in all not a bad Book-off by far, though, but not advisable during rush-hours.

Name: ブックオフ・京都鞍馬口店

Floors: 2
Pre-packaged sets of manga: Yes, but mostly pink/girly ones.
Selection: 7
Location: 8 (a perfect 10 will only be awarded when I finalize my dreams of actually living atop a Book-off store)
Overall grade: 7,5

Adress:
京都府京都市上京区上御霊前通烏丸東入上御霊前町４１１−３


第三







This Book-off was in fact my first fix of Book-off since returning to Japan this September, and thus quite special to me. Well, that, and the fact that it is quite enormous. Furthermore, it`s location makes it a perfect combination with a shopping spree in the nearby malls :D, just make sure that your bike doesn`t get nicked for being parked in the wrong place, as I`ve seen trucksloads been filled to get hauled away in front of this Book-off :/.

Inside, there are 3 floors, all of them spreaded out over a large chunck of space, making manouvering around easier than most Book-offs I`ve been to. The selection, needless to say, is wide and far, although they lack the 105 yen section of `smaller-kind-of-manga-volumes` which of I do not know the technical term. Overall a great Book-off of which I`m sure I`ll visit often!

Name: ブックオフ・京都三条駅ビル店

Floor: 3
Pre-packaged sets of manga: Yes, although not the best ones
Selection: 8
Location: 8,5
Overall grade 8,5

Adress: 京都府京都市東山区三条通大橋東入大橋町１１７

Well, that`s it for now! I`ve been to some (excellent) others, but those have to wait until a next time :D　Regular posts will also resume shortly, for the mean time, Els has several great posts on life in Kyoto for those interested, linked to in the right bar :). bye!

キッコーマン

Not unlike the way the juices of the fermented mixture of wheat, soybeans and aspergillus [see picture 1.1] are squeezed out of 2.8 KM long sacks in the hearts of Kikkoman factories, has my body depleted itself of its energy resources. today was a<long>, although enjoyable, day, filled with soysauce-flavored icecream, awesom mascottes that weren't for sale, demon books (which my female classmates seemed to appreciate greatly), [picture 1.2/1.3], and questionable spelling [1.4].Summa summarum, We went to Kikkoman.


other random pictures (this will be the staple of future posts, atleast until classes last, which should be another 3 weeks or so).




song of the day: Silent hill 0 OST: O.R.T

眠りたかったのに＞＜some random phone pictures

さっぱり分からない

Hello :3

Not really any message worth it's own post, but I decided it was interesting to mention anyway.
Last wednesday I went to a cafe/bar with a particular theme: that of the Christian religion.
I'm not much of a Christian, but I could appreciate the unlikeliness of it's presence in middle-Shibuya.




Yesterday I went to another bar in Shibuya (Shibuya has a lot of great places to hang out :>), and while I didn't care much for the soccer match being broadcasted (the Dutch team PSV against Liverpool I think. All i know is PSV lost, badly ;p) the design of the place as well as the artwork was succulent.






listening:
Bloodthirsty butchers : beat the drum

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war

Yes, I'm still alive. barely.
I've spend the greater part of the day in bed, having went to "womb" a strange strange place in shibuya, coming back at 5AM or so. yay for morning trains

oh yes, I got a phone! It's :)　oh ! I got Murakami's new novel 1Q84 as well. I'll let you know what's it when i've made a decent dent in it, shouldn't be more that about half a year or so.

edit: I've found a nice band as well :3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gOCz8xe9PU&feature=related
I want to see them at Nano Mugen, as well as AKFG and Straightener, among others

意味の無い

----------->06月12日（金）

BG Magazine & JUICE & Rooftop & SHINJUKU LOFT PRESENTS『UNITED FRONT』

開場:17:30 開演:18:00 前売:\2500(DRINK別) 当日:\3000(DRINK別)

wbugy craxone (pictured below)/Veni Vidi Vicious,吉田肇(from panicsmile),Radio Foundation

.
チケット発売日:5/9(土)
LAWSON(L-code:77519)
e+
LOFT店頭

今日の曲：The Whip-Divebomb/crystal castles remix

>:D<3>

Meiji shrine+harajuku

Today we went to the Meiji-shrine and the accompanying park to look at birds with names that could make one giggle in a frisky mood, and at the same time tried not to get our heads bitten off by grotesquely large ravens. And purple hippo signs, off course.


Naturally, a day at Harajuku wouldn't be complete without the occasional freaks and visits to Kiddy Land:

After having lived through this adventure we arrived back at the weekly mansion packed with foodstuffs to prepare the culinary delight of 'wentelteefjes', which were succulent. All by all a good day.