My first experience with Katsucon was last year while in Washington D.C. for another conference. I was heading up the escalator…

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, located in the Shinjuku ward, is one of the most easily recognizable buildings in Tokyo. The first time I saw it was outside my hotel window while staying across the street at the Keio Plaza Hotel on my first trip to Japan. I’ve since seen it innumerable times in different anime and it makes a brief appearance on the episode of The Simpsons where the family takes a vacation to Tokyo. The building is essentially Tokyo City Hall and houses the offices that govern all 23 wards, towns, and villages, that make up greater Tokyo.

So this will be kind of an odd post, normally I would have the name, location, hours, etc of the places I write So this will be kind of an odd post, normally I would have the name, location, hours, etc of the places I write about, but in this case it’s just the location and a suggestion to go get some great fruit.

Exploring the streets of Tokyo is going to make you hungry, and you’ll have plenty of options to sate that hunger. If you’re looking to take a break from Japanese fare you might want to try a Japanese take on the western burger joint. I’m talking about Freshness Burger.

Pocari Sweat is a popular Japanese sports drink that you could put in the same category as Gatorade or Powerade in the United States. You can find it in convenience stores, grocery stores, and of course, vending machines all over Tokyo. It’s been manufactured by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for nearly 30 years. Well, after 30 years, somebody must like it.

I caught the Fathom Events showing of “Sword of the Stranger” the other day. Man, there’s just nothing better than watching anime on the big screen. Also, the fact that you’re watching what is no doubt a quality “cinematic adventure” with a bunch of like-minded otaku makes the experience that much better.

I was talking to some co-workers about how I was excited to go to the movie and they had no idea it was going on, which made me realize there were a lot of people out there that hadn’t heard about Fathom Events. So here’s the skinny…