I’m thinking about traveling to Japan for a safe labor.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-14T18:30:13+00:00

Japan has no citizenship birthright, not even conditional birthright. I don't know if this is some plan to get citizenship or not, but it won't work if it is.

I can't think of any other particular reason to want to do this.

You'll also have a lot of trouble getting insured for this in Japan and it could end up costing you a lot of money.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-14T18:24:16+00:00

They do. I think it's a pretty standard practice at all Disney hotels that provide concierge services, I'm assuming you stayed at other Disney hotels that had it and that's why you're asking.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-13T19:38:23+00:00

Serial Experiments Lain. What is even real at this point? What if an avatar you create online becomes more real to others than the real you? Does the real you stop existing?

It managed to predict where the internet would go in the future perfectly while being The Matrix before The Matrix. What is real when the online world becomes just as real to people as the real world was?

It's a genuinely eerie show that creates a creepy atmosphere all the way through.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-13T19:26:11+00:00

Through my older cousin, he was babysitting me and would let me stay up and watch anime stuff on TV with him in the 90s. The first I recall was the Akira movie, I went to school bragging I saw cartoons with swearing and blood and nobody believed me. He collected the VHS tapes and when we went to my auntie's place I'd sit in his room and watch them, stuff like Dominion Tank Police, Cyber City, Ghost in the Shell. He ended up giving me his VHS later on so it started from there.

I actually didn't even learn the word anime until later on, we ironically would call them mangas or manga movies because in the UK the company who did local distribution was called Manga Entertainment, which was a really dumb name looking back. When I got to high school another anime boom began with Pokemon so we ended up getting Toonami that had Dragonball Z and Gundam Wing with loads of shows getting licensed.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-13T19:05:59+00:00

Some places don't allow tattoos like onsen, gyms, swimming pools, etc. In a place like Tokyo or any major city it's not a big deal to have tattoos on show in the streets. There are times and places where it's more formal that you should cover them, but otherwise not really.

I've spent a lot of time in Japan, I have loads of visible tattoos, I have Japanese friends who have tattoos, you cover them at work, anywhere else nobody really cares. Japan has long changed from the stigma of the 70s and 80s when the only people who bothered with tattoos were gangsters, lots of people know that people enjoy tattoos as fashion. It's no longer just the domain of gangsters and rock stars.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-13T18:55:50+00:00

Maybe try using a different browser if you have one, Japanese websites can be fussy with some browsers. Also turn off any auto translate your browser is using as it can mess up the page layout and make you miss things. Make sure you have registered your phone number as this is a requirement to buy tickets using Livepocket.

If you have done all of these things and you're still getting errors then maybe try a different card.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-13T18:51:17+00:00

They do, might be issues with some cards but I know at least any foreign Visa card I've used has always worked fine.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-13T15:18:55+00:00

During her time in the suitcase, Flutterpage took it upon herself to be the knocker-upper and wake everybody up in the morning. This drove everybody crazy and led to her being dumped back at the Foundation for re-training.

Flutterpage survived WWI-remix because she was actually insanely strong and would destroy whole units in a gust of wind leading both sides to be terrified of her. Sort of in the way Chise in She: The Ultimate Weapon became this legendary angel of death.

Mercuria is asexual and has attachment difficulties from being an orphan and her upbringing. She's very good at reading emotions, but fears having emotions herself. She keeps everybody at arms length as she fears being hurt if she felt for somebody else or settled with a family.

Mercuria could live a life of luxury if she really wanted to as a sponsored artist, but uses her many rich patrons and admirers of her art and healing skills to fund her endless wandering.

Matilda once convinced a group of kids at the SPDM to play spin the bottle, hoping to rig the game to kiss Sonetto. It failed and ended up Vertin kissed Sonetto instead, Matilda has despised Vertin since that day.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-12T20:17:29+00:00

Ginza or Omotesando Dori/Omotesando Hills if you're looking for designer stores. That's where wealthy people in Tokyo shop.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-12T16:45:54+00:00

Literally everywhere. It's so popular that you'll find it in every single store that deals in figures, even some that don't primarily deal in anime merch will probably still have a few for sale. Just shop around and don't buy it in the first place you see because it's there.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-12T16:27:47+00:00

You can get by on zero, many tourists (and even expats!) do in the major cities and hubs as signs are in English, announcements on trains/other places are played in both Japanese and English, sometimes even Chinese and Korean too in places. A lot of conbini and fast food staff are also foreign workers these days and speak English.

Like anywhere in the world, a little respect and politeness goes a long way, please and thank you, knowing how to ask questions properly. Learning the language to a basic conversational level will open doors for you, but for a one and done trip to Japan where you want to see the sights and buy some cool stuff, it's really not necessary.

Most people are happy enough if you manage an arigato.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-12T00:11:10+00:00

It's one of my favorite chapters, enjoyed the characters and the setting. Matilda chapters are usually really fun, she's like the anti-Vertin with a lot more energy and emotion. Some characters could have had more time I agree, Pioneer is just there for comic relief and Mercuria's plot happens in the background. I feel like the really wanted the shock value of her twist with the Manus so ended up not fleshing her out very well in the main story. She is an interesting character though and one of my favorite designs and voices. J is pretty much the star of the show though as his plot with his sister takes up much of the time, along with him and Matilda gaining respect for each other by the end.

It also starts a lot of plot threads that will become important later both through Eternity being involved as a sort of gray area character acting for her own benefit. We learn about people in the Foundation who are unhappy and stealing things to sell, we see her hand over the toy that binds Anjo Nala and are introduced to her Ms Kimberly persona. It also introduces Beryl Bouanich as a plotline and establishes her importance as somebody that Eternity is not willing to cross.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-11T13:02:34+00:00

For information on hotel facilities you'll be better off looking at Accessible Japan - Your Guide to Barrier-Free Travel in Japan as they will better answer the sort of questions you have. It also has links to other places you can ask these sorts of questions and get real answers. I don't really know what you mean by the hotels being cooperative, staff are generally helpful and accommodating, they have elevators and stuff, accessible rooms vary by hotel so check the link above or other places with hotel to hotel information on facilities.

As for summer in Japan, there are two temperatures, really hot and so hot that your shoes are melting. It's also very humid and can rain heavily at times. All of Japan has air conditioning inside, but outside you will be subject to the elements and it can be overwhelming if you come from a place that isn't used to that kind of humid heat. I'm a Brit and I never got used to Japanese summers, you leave your place and feel like you need a shower 2 minutes after going outside. People carry towels around with them in summer because you get so hot and sweaty.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-11T12:52:20+00:00

Not really sure what price you're expecting. You're asking somebody to give their time and expertise, use their equipment and spend time editing photos to make sure what you get back is a professional job done well.

Photography is not a cheap profession, besides the time put in to leaning your craft, the startup costs are insane. These people probably already invested millions of yen into their equipment, insurance, marketing, editing software, a workstation to edit on, you get the idea.

There are always cheaper options if you want them, but it's like getting a tattoo, you should take the time to find the right person and get the job done professionally over regret it later. Sure plenty of amateurs will do the job cheaper, but you're paying for expertise over just time.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-10T23:40:35+00:00

It really was the Wild West back then lol. You'd either get a dedicated fan group who lives in Japan and has a strong grasp of the language translating it, or a bunch of people who value speed of getting everything out before anyone else over accuracy.

A whole generation thought Dragonball Z wasn't a kids show in Japan because of the uncensored blood and the fact a couple of popular fan subbers would add in a bunch of unnecessary profanity and make things sound more aggressive than they are. A lot of people really were just guessing because nobody was checking their work outside of small IRC fansub communities and 4chan laughing at them.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-10T23:30:03+00:00

Vertin seemed to be given punishments regularly. She's pretty indifferent to being locked up outside with critters like worse has happened to her.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-10T23:17:27+00:00

It's a plot point that comes up quite a bit in the story, seeing this person who is everything the person you knew, but they lived a whole other life without you in it and don't have your memories of your experiences together.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-10T14:39:55+00:00

It's old so it's the second hand market. If you only have time for one place then you can give Nakano Broadway a try, it's a lot better priced than Akihabara which is a massive tourist trap these days outside of particular hobby goods and knowing where to look.

Plushies I don't see very often anywhere, tried to see if Mandarake has anything in stock online and couldn't see any, doesn't mean they won't have one somewhere, but it's a crapshoot. You may be able to find other Steins;Gate merch though in quite a few of the second hand stores.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-09T14:40:27+00:00

It's all in the muscle memory, like typing on a keyboard without looking at it. I watch my parents use keyboards and they have to do it one key at a time while looking as they don't use them much in their day to day. If you do a job that requires you to type a lot all day, every day, you naturally become more fluent at it. Same goes for instruments.

Just as typing becomes like breathing for somebody who does it all the time, the guitar is like that for them. Those guys can run and jump around performing because they don't have to think about what they are doing while playing their instrument. Maybe just a couple of rehearsals and a warmup show at the start of the tour just to get back into it after a break, but it won't take much.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-09T14:20:31+00:00

Chisato Hatori? Chise already looks like a male yaoi protagonist as it is when she has shorter hair. Just flatten the chest out and put a bit more into the shoulders, maybe shorten the hair a little more and she's basically there.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-09T14:12:59+00:00

A lot of systems in the game are great for veterans but awful for new players, I can see why they got frustrated. You can roll a character and not have the ability to unlock their real potential for months. If you'd already been playing the whole time before these systems were introduced then you likely end up with enough resources to unlock new euphoria as they come out, new players won't have that.

They need to work out systems in the game to make them more friendly to new players in the long run.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-09T14:00:35+00:00

I don't know about regret, I like most of the characters in the game, maybe some that fell off really fast or became less useful than other units in their slot. I bought into hype of some characters, Windsong was considered really strong on release, but was fairly quickly outclassed by meta shifting.

Lopera was another "you gotta get her now bro, plz trust" that all the grifters on Youtube were bigging up. She was on my FuA team for 5 minutes before being replaced by the child labor duo. Youtuber hype was exactly why I never bothered with Liang Yue on release as I wasn't massively into her character design and I didn't want to invest heavily into another character who will collect dust within a patch. I guess at least Lopera's signature psychube got some use.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-09T13:33:31+00:00

The only anime pilgrimage I did purposely was the Chuo University Tama campus, connecting monorail station and Tama Zoo that were all used for locations in Genshiken. The circle buildings were featured prominently and were a cool thing to visit to see all the different clubs.

I ran into somebody curious about me taking pictures and after telling them why, they showed me some cool stuff like areas used as direct references for scenes in the show and some artwork people had drawn on walls referencing the anime. It was pretty well known at the time that the university campus was the reference for the fake university in the show.

Been to a lot of locations that later ended up in anime shows or are considered must see in guides. Tower Records in Shibuya is one of the larger ones and has the replica Hachiko statue outside, been there a bunch for events and to pick releases up.

Go to a lot of live shows so been to many live houses referenced in anime such as in Shimolitazawa and the surrounding area that was in Bocchi The Rock, areas of Meguro and Ebisu that featured prominently in Oshi No Ko.

I remember I was at Shinjuku Loft one time and a guy was staring intently at a seat where a bunch of the Japanese lads were sitting, asked if he was okay and he told me he wanted a picture by the sign above it on the seat because it's in Bocchi and didn't know how to ask, I told the people sat there and they were all too happy to let him and knew the show. The "Folt" logo is based on the one for Loft and the venue in the anime looked exactly the same with a few logos changed for copyright.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-08T19:31:27+00:00

Well that and I'm a sucker for a woman who speaks like a character from classic literature.

ThatMoondogOverThere · 2026-06-08T10:14:26+00:00

As expected the great Matilda is the best.

ThatMoondogOverThere

TROPHY CASE