Minmaxing Life

Some Japanese like dogs…

…and some don’t.

Just from looking around, it is fairly clear that Japan has a thriving gaming culture.
I am not just talking about local specialties like Shogi or Pachinko but of a broader understanding and acceptance of gaming as a normal part of life. It is ingrained deeper than anywhere else I’ve been. Mario and other gaming icons [...]

I only visited two museums during my whole stay in Japan: the Ota Memorial Museum of Art and the Ghibli Museo d’Arte. The first one is a tiny place where you take off your shoes before going in and has a rotating collection of ukiyo-e. By an immense stroke of luck, while I was in [...]

Heading home from another amazing dinner at a funky Roppongi restaurant where I had tsukune, tofu and Kobe beef yakitori – the waiters and cooks kept shouting orders back and forth in a very entertaining way – I walked down to Tokyo Tower before catching a cab heading for my hotel back in Shinjuku. Took [...]

Just made it back from Kyoto where I had a wonderful time, to say the least.

Yesterday evening, I had dinner at the Wakuden, an ancient traditional restaurant, where I was treated to an unbelievable kaiseki while listening to shamisen and the sweet voice of a Maiko. Among the interesting dishes that were served, alongside the [...]

Between TGS last week and my deambulations in “electric town” Akihabara, I’ve had ample opportunity to check out local DS titles that will probably never leave the island. Among other things, I saw: a yoga instructor, a beetle card fighting game, a skin beauty advisor, a bunch of translators, a face trainer, a mouse driven [...]

To say that I was disappointed with the event would be a vast understatement. More and more I feel like video games trade shows are a complete waste of time and energy. After seeing the meretricious lines of gaudy stands displaying almost nothing but stale games – although fabulously well executed in some cases [...]

A very perplexing message seen at Taito Station, an arcade in Akihabara.
Believe it or not, there is a sensible explanation for that sign!

In Tokyo, getting ready to attend the TGS.
I’m mainly here to find a japanese publisher for our upcoming Nintendo DS game. I’m also trying to get a better understanding of the japanese people since my team and I are thinking of making a game that could only work here (at least initially).
We’re probably out of [...]