新しい自転車！！！

Hey all, just got into the office today. Michelle, Jason and I went to コーナン (Conan's is a large department store like K-mart) to buy some things for around the house. While we were there, the ETC gave us a 10,000 yen allowance on bicycles, so we all got one we liked. Thanks Don! I bought a 20 inch tall folding bike, with a light and lock, while Jason and Michelle got larger basket bikes. I want to see if there is anyway I can fold up my bike and sneak it onto a train, then when I get to my destination, ride it around and explore. We're still not entirely sure where we can lock the bikes up legally, so we left them at the apartment today.

Last night I stayed in the office pretty late putting together some lanyard designs for Michelle and ETC Japan branding. You have to be careful here at night because the last train leaves at about 11:52 PM! We don't have any place to crash here at the ATC yet, so getting stuck could be very uncomfortable. Not to mention all of the tentacle monsters wandering around... Getting to the office from our apartment takes almost the entirety of a tram line (the New Tram line; ニュートラム), so walking or even taking a bike is a non-option. In the near future, our office will have partitions in the lounge area and some comfortable furniture which should allow us to sleep here if the need arises. There are also showers on the upper floors.



I'd like to take a moment and thank Yoshi (Josh Seaver) and Laura Pliskin for helping us get this campus under way. ETC Osaka and all of us wouldn't be here if it wasn't for these guys, so ありがとうございます! (v_v)

Despite the cold weather--It snowed again today!--things are going well here. Michael just got our printers working, love is in the air after Valentines Day, and we're making some good progress with our project. Pretty soon Ross, Ray Ray and Senator Wiksy will be coming here to visit. That'll be a fun time, but things'll be quiet here with just Julie, Jason and myself while the others are at GDC. Warm weather and a full team are on the way. I can't wait.

- Bennosuke

In Japan Again!

I visited Japan as a student during the during the fall semester, of 2004, of my undergraduate degree. I studied at Kansai Gaidai and lived with a host family. Though the experience was most definitely invaluable, I always wanted another chance to revisit Japan. And, three and a half years later, here I am again! This time, I live in an apartment with Bennosuke, and the commute to school is much shorter than my previous time.

Waves of nostalgia washed over me during the past two weeks. Readjusting to living in a very tight and cramped space, having no central heating, riding the trains, and dealing with most businesses closing at 8pm hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be. I'm still ecstatic to be back in the land of the rising sun, though!

During our first week, Mike, Ben and I had a chance to visit Nipponbashi. This is the home of Den Den Town, the shopping district where I spent most of my money and time during my previous visit to Japan. I showed them to my favorite stores that sold video game and animé paraphernalia. I hope to be able to manage my money better this time around, which means fewer trips to this little chunk of my personal paradise.

I look forward to many fun and exciting adventures with my fellow students!

Tezuka Museum Video Tour

To follow up Julie's post, here is a video tour of the Tezuka Museum. I took these videos to document how awesome and cute the place was, because you can find Tezuka's work in books or on the internet but this place itself deserves it's own recognition. Check out the ETC-Osaka Picasa page for more photos by clicking the slideshow to the right.

The Third Floor of the Museum


Kimba Mural outside on the way to the Toilet


The Bottom Floor of the Museum


Close up of Timestamped Tezuka Works on the 1st floor


Video from Inside the Tezuka Animation Studio

- Bennosuke

Julie checking in

Thanks, Ben, for setting up this blog! I feel so official, and all cutting-edge-like.

Seems like I might as well tell an Osaka story while I'm here.... Yesterday was a holiday in Japan, and we spent the day soaking in some culture as part of our elective class. First we took the train out to Takarazuka, where we visited the Tezuka Manga museum. Apparently, he's sort of the Walt Disney of Japanese cartoons. I am now a BlackJack fangirl. He's soooo dreamy. They had a lot of original art and old comic books, and a very cool software lab where you could draw and animate your own characters, or play around with a coloring book animation program sort of like the Children's Hospital kiosks that an ETC team made a few years ago.


























Next, we went to a Takarazuka show. It was amazing. The first part was a play, the second part more like a crazy Vegas-style singing and dancing extravaganza. The really unique thing is that all the parts, male and female, are played by women.

Lastly, we shared some excellent Sichuan food for dinner. Oh, and watched the end of Clone High. All in all, a good holiday.

First Post!

Welcome to the blog for Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center Global - Osaka, Japan campus! The posts on this blog are usually made by and for students currently studying in Japan. The current, and first, class in Osaka is comprised of five people: Jason Glatz, Julie Charles, Chris Crone, Michael Herring and myself Benjamin Taylor. The current director of our program is Professor Michelle Macau. This location is, as of now, only for projects and not yet for BVW Boot Camps (a keystone of our graduate program). There is only one project currently going on here called SHARP Japan. More details on this project will be revealed in the future, but until then, there are a lot of other things for us to talk about our lives in Japan.

We'll be taking the time this semester to relay events of our travels to this website, so people can get a sense of what this place is. If you have any questions or if there is anything you'd like to know or see about ETC Osaka, please feel free to leave a comment and ask. Take care!

- Bennosuke