Japan Trip

Hey Hey, not sure if anyone's interested ...
Just thought i'd do a short report on the Trip + casuals + SBO.

Day 1:
We reached japan at around 8am in the morning. Didn't believe my folks when they told me that Japan was HOT. I mean it was Japan, and how bad could it be ? Then the heat hit me and i'm a believer. The scorching sun, and absolute lack of cloud cover had me consoling myself that I'd _definitely_ lose weight in Japan! Due to late checking in time for the hotel (3pm), we found ourselves wondering around asakusa temple. Tax, rein and Thomas did the interesting mikuji thing. What their fortunes were, I'd leave it to them to say. No SC today. Everyone was tired out from the plane journey and traipsing around in the sweltering sun.

Day 2:
One day before the Shinjuku West 3 on 3 tourney. We decided to get some practise in and it was off to Akihabara. We needed to know how the different SC version in Japan impacted our main characters, for eg. was Taki's WL KKK still a NC? (I would cry if it wasn't..) and if there was any last minute adaptations required. Club Sega in Aki was a smoke chamber! I apologised to my lungs for all the second hand smoke inhaled.

There were 2 SC machines - a vs cabinet and a sit-next-to-each-other one -- This was actually quite miserly ompared to the Guilty Gear / VF machines available. Rein and Tax started sparring with each other, I noticed this particular chap staring intently at them. (i think he was at Tax's side first, then later he walked over to Rein's side). I couldnt decide whether he was 1) actually watching the game next to SC or 2) he was an SC player. It was until the next day that we found out that he was the SBO qualifier, Isbella Neo.

Devil Jim came later. Rein and Tax chatted with him for a bit. I don't remember talking to him. Didn't get to play his Soph. =( Watching it however, it seemed to be like the usual wait-and-punish Soph. No special setups i can remember off hand, but i guess it would have to be solid to be in SBO.

Isabella Neo's Ivy OTOH was a PAIN. Turtle Ivy has always been a difficult matchup for Taki. This guy does just that. I was whiffing and eating random CSes. Gah!!! Rein and Tax did much better than me, and i was secretly happy that they did well against him after getting used to his tactics. Go Cass 66A!!

End of day 2.

Day 3:
Shinjuku West Exit tourney Day! We were quite pumped up. Our order was Tax (cass), Rein (nightmare) and me (taki). Sign ups for the tourney started at 2.30, but we went there early to warm-up and check out the competition. Already there were some players there ahead of us. I noticed that there was this mitsurugi player in shades, wearing a pull-over cap, and carring a fan. He reminded me totally of Kisuke Urahara from Bleach. Later I found out that he was dekka cho. Another Asta player also caught my eye. i went to play him. OMFG!! I have never been rung out soo many times in my life! GAH! However, I did sense that he was not used to playing against Taki, and got off a few lucky UBs. Later i found out that he was Sarusube! Later on, Oosaka came, Kita Senri too, and I managed to see 666. We met Talim JP (who was very friendly) and Reno (long time no see) too. Chang's Friend was there as well. KT Voldo came in Voldo's Moon Mask. We got him to take a photo with us in the arcade (even tho' photography was banned in arcades. haha) The whole tourney was a "OMG! it was like the who's who of Japanese SC IS here!" (i might have missed out a couple of persons, so do forgive me if i missed u out.)
Oh yah. Back to the tourney. Tax and Rein charged their way through 4th place. The hard work was all theirs, and i was immensely proud of being in Team Singapore! We actually didnt do that badly after all =) I lost to KTVoldo (mantis is BAD!!!) and Kita Senri (no more random As vs Sets 3aB at Ring edge!!)

Later on, we got to talk to the Japanese Players, Talim JP helpfully showed us how to get to Odaiba, and him and reno helped act as translators. Tax accousted Kita Senri and MADE him tell us anti-Voldo strats. Kita Senri was very nice, and patiently answered our questions as best as he could. In fact the whole Japanese community was very friendly. The language barrier was a major downer tho'.

i think we left at 9pm, after more casuals. The next day was SBO day, and we would have to leave the hotel at 6am in order to reach Odaiba in time for the last chance tourney

... to be continued.
mich