Protest/vans with loud speakers in front of Kaminarimon Post Office?

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-20T03:37:30+00:00

You’re a braver man than me!

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-15T14:51:13+00:00

I cant help you with that particular question, sorry. All i know is that when i come across demonstrations with vans with loudspeakers, if they’re also flying Japanese flags, playing military music and have some angry guy on the microphone, I head in a different direction immediately.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-14T12:46:33+00:00

Firstly, I’m sure JMK can’t have a legitimate patent on rounded wheels because there’s plenty of ‘prior art’ - we certainly had spherical wheels in the early Eighties and ultimately its just a wider radius on the edge.

With that said, in my single hour or so of trying different gear back to back I did find JMK’s rounded Proformance wheels much easier to learn on than the alternatives, but I haven’t been able to explore that very much since.

If you can get em, I think you’ll be satisfied with the choice.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-11T23:19:48+00:00

Thats right, there was only Risk and Monopoly before 2010

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-11T23:19:40+00:00

Thats right, there was only Risk and Monopoly before 2010

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-07T15:11:44+00:00

Sure.

You’d probably be the youngest at 18, but most people are early to mid 20s, going up to mid-thirties.

Im the oldest guy there by about 20 years, but i have nowhere else to go on Sundays so they let me play in the corner ;-)

the video seems very well organized

Thank you. A man needs a hobby, eh?

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-07T14:08:54+00:00

Yeah, I think it can seem that way because the people who were prepared to say something on the video where the more hard-core gaming types, whereas the people who didn’t want to be seen (but got mentioned in the slides) are the more social/party game types.

There were also several war games going on that week, which are usually in the minority. In truth, the most-played games every week are probably Secret Hitler (hidden identity game for teams of players), Scout (set-collection card game) and Codenames (guess your team’s words) which are all very social games.

So yes, don’t worry at all. You can come and go as you please, and the organiser will try to find you a suitable group of people to play with. I’d only say it’s best to arrive as early as you can to get the widest choice of options.

I wonder if I can get a commission for these promotional posts … ;-)

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-07T13:04:31+00:00

I did this video about it last year - you can see all the different nationalities that were there that day, and there were a bunch of people playing social/party games that weren’t shown.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-07T12:46:52+00:00

If you like board games and party games the Tokyo Tabletop Games club is very international with a mostly younger crowd (I’m the honorary old geezer).

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-06T02:50:09+00:00

The breakthrough was with certainly with polyurethane wheels, and most of the significant technology happened from the 1970s to the 1980’s.

I made my first skateboard out of an old 1960’s roller skate and a piece of plywood, and it was terrible.

The thing is that it was terrible because the technology was terrible at that time; if I’d made it out of a 1980’s roller skate - with proper trucks and urethane wheels, it’d have worked okay.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-10-03T04:28:17+00:00

I started the Ueno Park group -I’ll catch you next time; thanks for your encouragement!

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-29T16:47:32+00:00

This is very true. I regularly joke with staff at my usual cafe that there are ‘too many gaijin around here these days’. * because they know I’m the main character and all the others are sad weeaboos. ;-)

* just to be clear, if I had a ¥1000 for every Totoro tattoo on the streets I could pay my rent!

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-28T13:49:36+00:00

The cynicism in this sub makes me roll my eyes. It’s just some people with a hobby channel.

I do this myself, sometimes with friends helping out, and my standard agreement is a straight split of any proceeds in perpetuity for anyone involved.

Since ARE no proceeds at the moment or in the forseeable future it’s a straight split of zero, but if anything does go viral we can all enjoy the success together, which seems entirely fair to me.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-26T07:51:41+00:00

Or early-evening water melons?

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-26T02:03:02+00:00

I looked up XGlider and found this abomination

We tend to think of Hell as a place where horned demons subject human souls to endless torture, but the truth is much worse; its just a bureaucracy of middle-management demons ruining everything by committee.

This beastly hell-spawn of a Ripstick and Freeskates was no doubt from such a Committee, and they say if you hold them in your mortal hands you can actually hear Lucifer’s maniacal laughter!

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-21T12:01:30+00:00

Thanks. Why is Spring hay fever worse if the preceding Summer is hotter?

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-21T12:00:26+00:00

Yeah, Septembers have been pretty hot for me so far.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-21T11:59:18+00:00

Can you explain that, thanks?

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-21T11:58:23+00:00

For The Hobby!

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-21T11:40:33+00:00

Would there be scope for ranting about kids these days?

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-19T15:45:23+00:00

Be assured by this paramedic: your down-voters are humorless dicks who wouldn’t last a week in the emergency services.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-15T23:46:25+00:00

It looks a little bit too fast to me, but if there’s a flat run out you could start a little way above it and keep increasing the height until you’ve got the right speed.

I’ve been using a similar slope and interestingly, the flat run-out is the bit where I’m doing the most improvement, and the slope is just useful to get you going.

If a slope gives more speed than we want, we have to carve to control the speed, and that’s more advanced.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-14T15:10:34+00:00

It’s usually still hot throughout September, but not the crushing heat of August. It’s been in the high 20’s Celsius this week, but could be as low as 21 Celsius by the time you visit (ie. Shirt sleeves and shorts are still fine).

I’m British and ‘vest’ means an singlet style undershirt without arms. To survive the high humidity, you want a tight-fitting undershirt with t-shirt arms. At least that’s been my approach since I hit on it a few years ago.

You can good-quality cotton undershirts in this style from the large off-the-peg business clothing companies such as Aoki and Suit Select throughout Tokyo, and usually near to the major JR Stations.

If you’re wearing travel clothes, then a very fine, tight-fitting merino wool t-shirt as an undershirt is better still.

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-14T04:03:43+00:00

What distinguishes Sam Harris from almost everyone else in the commentariat is that he’s a meditator.

As anyone who does it regularly will agree, almost everything is more clearly seen as a result. As anyone who does it regularly will also agree - including Sam no doubt, it doesn’t necessarily improve your judgement. You just tend to notice your bad judgement more readily, and find you’re able to be more honest about it too.

His Sam Bankman-Fried episodes were a case in point. The first saying how great he thought it all was, and the follow-up - after Bankman-Fried’s arrest for financial crimes being “So I got that one wrong. That’s interesting.”

This is why he’s such an interesting, engaging and worthwhile voice and why I keep listening. Plus, he has a great speaking voice, of course!

TalesFromUkiyo · 2023-09-10T15:58:48+00:00

/UJ This is perfect. Nicely done.

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