Yamato<\/em> line. <\/p>\nAs Tim had planned, we were all supposed to meet up in front of the Shinjuku Piccadilly at 7am. Unfortunately, due to me being slow at finishing my shower, I arrived at 7:15 to be met with\u2026no line of people. A quick check with Tim provided no information, so I decided to approach the theater anyway. \u201cThere\u2019s supposed to be a line of people, according to Tim\u201d I thought, and sure enough there was – on the inside. Rain had poured down all morning, so the Piccadilly staff seemed to have opened earlier to make sure their customers wouldn\u2019t get drenched. Lucky! <\/p>\n
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\nWaiting for Chapter 7 to start.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nInside, I saw my compatriots in different parts of the newly-formed merch line, and suddenly bumped into a man with whom I had spoken online for many months: Minoru Itgaki. Having traveled far against the rain from Yokohama early in the morning, he\u2019d made it unscathed (but tired). We had our first official conversation as other Japanese Twitter friends popped up all around. \u201cAh, you\u2019re Mei-san? This is so cool!\u201d I was blown away by how well-known I had become (via Twitter) in the time I\u2019d spent gearing up for the trip. <\/p>\n
I saw P-san again, among others I had longed to meet. As Minoru-san explained what certain gift shop items were, I made my acquaintance with several Yamatour members all listed in Tim\u2019s travelogue. And then we headed in. Genga delivered, merch bought, and an excitement beyond any other boiled up!<\/p>\n
Among the items I bought were a Saki Todo blanket and acrylic figure, clear files, the Blu-ray, and program books. I left the second OST & Theme Song CDs for another time, since several stores would give away a clear file when you bought them.<\/span><\/p>\nThe experience blew my mind. The story I had followed for the last two years, a story which helped me make sense of several human concepts following a tough breakup, was finally concluded. I won\u2019t pretend that I understood all the dialogue-heavy scenes, but the story resonated with me and delivered some cold, tough punches to my heart. At one point during the movie I realized, \u201cWait\u2026 I\u2019m in Japan. Watching my generation\u2019s Farewell to Yamato<\/em>.\u201d It was hard to comprehend. Subsequent viewings would help make more sense of some ideas I had, starting later that very day. Some predictions came true, others did not. <\/p>\nFollowing this, Tim took us to Nakano Broadway, a nice little district with many shops catering to very specific needs, from BJDs to animation cell auctions and the legendary Mandarake chain stores. BJD means \u201cBall Jointed Doll.\u201d They\u2019re highly-detailed works of art mimicking the articulated joints of human beings. I own one myself, as seen here.<\/p>\n
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We all had a celebratory curry lunch. My table was shared with Daniel George, Darren Ashmore, and Minoru-san. We talked about everything from Gundam<\/em> to Star Wars,<\/em> our thoughts and theories about the ending of 2202<\/em>, and what was to come. <\/p>\nA short summary on my table-mates: Dan is a quick-witted, charming lad from Australia with an extensive passion and insight. I felt a strong connection that deepened over the subsequent days I\u2019d spend time with him. <\/p>\n
Darren is a larger-than life character whose extensive encyclopedic knowledge rivaled my own, and we had healthy discussions about the way Yasuhiko Yoshikazu portrayed the original Gundam<\/em> characters in Gundam the Origin<\/em>, as well as the origins of the 1990\u2019s anime series Legend of the Galactic Heroes<\/em>, directed by Noboru Ishiguro.<\/p>\nMinoru is an easy-going, kind-hearted, and very open Japanese man who was clearly having a great day despite his long trip. He had no trouble laying down interesting Japanese trivia and indulged in sharing the beautiful aspects of his countries to all of us.<\/p>\n
Finishing our afternoon in Nakano, I headed back to the Piccadilly for my second Yamato<\/em> screening (yes, on the same day as my first). This was going to be a \u201cstage greeting\u201d screening, meaning we\u2019d get to see Director Nobuyoshi Habara and Writer Harutoshi Fukui talk on-stage after the film. We met up with several more of P-san\u2019s friends and they all wanted to meet me! <\/p>\nAnother fun fact: All the fans I met so far were aware of the Cosmo DNA website and had great love and admiration for it!<\/span><\/p>\nMy first rewatch of 2202<\/em> Chapter 7 began. As spectacular as last time, but even more powerful. I ended up crying my eyes out at the end. Seeing Fukui & Habara talk about the making of Chapter 7 was the cherry on top! <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a33.JPG\")
<\/p>\n
We then headed to Hakatayaki-Yamato, the official Yamato<\/em> restaurant in Shibuya. I knew Tim and the rest of the Yamatour Gang had gone there a bit earlier, but I didn\u2019t expect them to still be there when we arrived. <\/p>\nTim saw me float by his table in my personal heaven. Indebted to the kind treatment of the Japanese, I did not wish to keep them waiting. Unfortunately, this was perceived as me brushing off the rest of the Yamatour guys, giving birth to an inside joke. \u201cAnton\u2019s already too cool for us with his new JAPANESE friends.\u201d Man, I love these people, I honestly do. <\/p>\n
During the course of the dinner I was given more Yamato<\/em> souvenirs (somehow) and they paid for my dinner out of the kindness of their hearts. This did not sit well with me, since I share their sentiment about fair trades. But to them it was a chance to show how happy they were to welcome me to their Yamato<\/em> family, which I heartily had to accept. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a37.JPG\")
<\/p>\n
After a while they started calling me “Mei hakase” [Professor Mei] because of my extensive knowledge of voice actors and obscure Yamato\/Galactic Heroes<\/em> trivia. Our tastes in Yamato<\/em> anime and music aligned pretty well. My ranking of 2202<\/em> songs perfectly mirrored theirs, and my naming of Farewell<\/em> as my favorite movie earned me praise for good taste. Before we left the restaurant I bought a bottle of Yuki sake and the staff gifted me with two free coasters and a pair of unopened Yuki Mori chopsticks.<\/p>\nI\u2019m telling you, this \u201cJapanese Hospitality\u201d gave my heart emotion-diabetes. To meet such like-minded, harmonious & kind-spirited individuals was the experience of a lifetime. I miss you all a whole bunch up here in the cold northern climate of Sweden. Take me back! On another note, the restaurant was bigger than I thought, serving all manner of things including Yamato<\/em>-style drinks served in Sado-sensei\u2019s measuring cups with cute Yamato<\/em> stirring sticks.<\/p>\nBefore we said our goodbyes for the night, P-san and I discussed the coming day, which was to begin with yet another Yamato<\/em> stage greeting at the Marunouchi Piccadilly, followed by a visit to the Galactic Heroes<\/em> \u201cIserlohn Fortress\u201d restaurant in Ueno. It would end with a City Hunter<\/em> screening in 4DX with Tim, Anton Kholodov and another member of the gang, Hiroshi Ban.<\/p>\nIt would be another early start, but it was going to be worth it. A fellow Twitter user called \u201cCosmotiger2199\u201d helped me navigate Shinjuku station following the restaurant visit. We talked for a bit to the best of my abilities, and I strolled home beyond satisfied with today\u2019s events. <\/p>\n
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\nThe bounty for days three and four<\/em><\/p>\nDay Four: Saturday, March 2nd – Omotenashi Chapter<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a02.JPG\")
<\/span><\/p>\nRising early, I met up with P-san near the Marunouchi Piccadilly Cinema in Yurakucho according to plan. We were both visibly tired, but very excited to witness another stage greeting – this time with the combined forces of Daisuke Ono (Kodai), Kenichi Suzumura (Shima), Houko Kuwashima (Yuki), Hiroshi Kamiya (Keyman), Koichi Yamadera (Desler), Hideaki Tezuka (Zordar), Eriko Nakamura (Kiryu), Harutoshi Fukui and Nobuyoshi Habara! Wow\u2026 that was a mouthful. Seeing some of the most renowned voice actors in the current anime scene just 20 meters in front of me was a surreal experience. <\/p>\n
Once inside the MaruPicca we met several Yamato<\/em> fans who greeted me with the same vigor and enthusiasm as the day before. We discussed the film, bought more movie merch and then headed in. Third time\u2019s the charm ain\u2019t it? Despite this being my last screening of 2202<\/em>, I would have happily seen it again. But the three screenings I went to were all more than worth the price of admission, and once that newly-announced sequel is ready, I\u2019ll do my best to return in full force! <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a42.JPG\")
<\/span><\/p>\nI then went to Akihabara to meet up with the Yamatour group and buy souvenirs for several friends back home as well as other parts of the world. I marveled at Japanese otaku culture in its full form, and we took our time talking over the last few day\u2019s events as we stood in line at Maru Go, which Tim and Dan deemed to be the best tonkatsu place around. It had to be worth it, since I had another appointment with P-san at the Iserlohn Fortress in an hour and hadn\u2019t eaten a proper breakfast yet.<\/p>\n
I may sound stressed out at this point, because I was. I didn\u2019t want to fail any of my benefactors and friends for this trip, so I was at a crossroads. Conveniently, Anton Kholodov took this opportunity to get to know me better as he took me to an Otaku shop for cool shirts.<\/p>\n
Anton Kholodov, who bears a striking resemblance to a certain benevolent dictator from 2199<\/em>\u2019s Garmillas *cough cough* is a man of outstanding moral character who is very easy to get along with. The conversations we had were smooth and warm. Later that night we\u2019d bond a bit more, but for now I was just having fun walking around with him. We saw LoGH<\/em> shirts and cool gizmos from every non-Yamato<\/em> series under the sun, but unfortunately no great catch. We rejoined the rest of the gang to see that the line was shortening, and hunger took over from rational thought. We went in, sat down and had our first bite. It was great! Admittedly it was the first tonkatsu I ever had, so my experience was insufficient, but it was good! Too bad I had to rush it to catch up with P-san for the Iserlohn Fortress visit. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a43.JPG\")
<\/p>\n
Right afterward, Tim and I failed to acquire the new 2202<\/em> CDs (the store we found had no clue about the clear file campaign), but Tim would make sure to find them later down the line. I then rushed over to meet P-san and Cosmotiger2199 in front of the Gundam<\/em> Caf\u00e9, and we took a taxi to Ueno to meet Meijin-san. And I finally got the chance to split the bill on something (the taxi fare). <\/p>\nOnce there, I had a eureka moment. You see, Legend of the Galactic Heroes<\/em> is so dear to me as a series that I had to force myself to buy the $800 American Blu-ray box last year, even if it cost me my entire soul. Subsequently I\u2019ve introduced the show to two friends, seeing it all the way through with both of them. And now, following the remake, this caf\u00e9 stood tall with a large menu of Gineiden-style food, drinks and desserts (my favorite being \u201cMarika\u2019s ice cream\u201d). It had its own souvenir shop and in-universe staff\/actors serving up piles of food as they quoted lines from the series.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a44.JPG\")
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They had this crazy-cool hidden bathroom which Cosmotiger-san decided to show me, to see the shock on my face. And I was shocked. Hidden in plain sight behind a glass wall disguised as a wine cellar, you could see signs saying \u201cgentlemen\u201d and \u201cladies.” So cool.]\n
Extra stuff from this experience included one random coaster per drink, one coin of your choice if you were new (In-universe coins with options for the two different sides, either Galactic Empire or Free-Planets Alliance) and if you paid extra for your drink you got a souvenir glass to take home. Obviously, I seized this opportunity. Before leaving, we all took photos of the place, of our food and drinks, and a few of me dressed as Reinhard Von Lohengramm in his beautiful emperor\u2019s getup. Meijin-san wanted a picture of us together, so of course we took one!<\/p>\n
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Following this, those pesky friends of mine just had to show their Japanese omotenashi [hospitality] again and split the bill, then we headed off in our own directions. They went to rewatch 2202<\/em> and I went to meet Tim for a pre-planned City Hunter<\/em> screening in 4DX at Toho Cinema. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a54.JPG\")
<\/span><\/p>\nI went back to my hostel for a short packing session and rushed to meet up with Tim, Anton K, and a new face: Hiroshi Ban, a soft-spoken man unafraid to voice his opinion and to speak English with the rest of us. He provided more great company to an already wonderful group. We went inside the cinema to watch CITY HUNTAAAAH – Shinjuku Private Eyes!<\/em><\/p>\nIn preparation for this trip I had spent the last month trying to catch up with over 140 City Hunter<\/em> episodes. As one could guess, this did not go according to plan. Instead, I managed to get past the first two seasons (about 100 episodes), the first movie, and half of season 3 before saying to myself \u201cI can\u2019t rush this, it\u2019s too good. Sorry!\u201d Fortunately, I did not miss any musical references or connections with the original (with the exception of Season 3, episode 10 which was referenced at the end of the movie). Perfect!<\/span><\/p>\nThis movie was a complete blast! Nostalgia at its finest, fine-tuned to go along with the modern-day setting of Shinjuku but still maintaining the spirit and brevity of the original in all its unapologetic forms. I remember Anton K saying at the end, \u201cThis kind of movie makes me want something strong to drink.\u201d And he didn\u2019t mean it in a negative way. <\/p>\n
The 4DX experience was spectacular for me, but not for Tim or Anton. Tim got sprayed with funky-smelling water and the shaking chairs were too violent for Anton\u2019s tastes. I was fine, getting scented puffs at points when they were supposed to happen, and not getting sprayed in the face. I had the most immersive movie experience ever when the main character Ryo Saeba fell on a lady\u2019s chest after she exited the shower, smelling her shampoo. Brilliant use of the 4D gimmicks. Less so with the air-cannon gunshots, each time someone fired a gun. They could do well with a decrease in pressure.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/apr19\/385a55.JPG\")
<\/span><\/p>\nTim had to leave for the night since he was about to pass out from exhaustion, but I had a drink with Anton and Hiroshi where we talked Yamato<\/em>, City Hunter<\/em> and Macross<\/em> (which reminded me that I really have to see Macross<\/em>, considering it was directed by the legendary Noboru Ishiguro). The restaurant’s watered-down drinks worked against Anton K\u2019s desire to drink something strong, so we vowed to one day have another session for greater success. It would not come to pass for this trip, considering it was almost over for me. <\/p>\nClick here to continue to the second half<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yamatour-travelogues-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26494"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26582,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26494\/revisions\/26582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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