I am such a child....
Allen and I hit up the mega HardOff near Uts on Saturday. He wanted- I don't even remember what he was originally looking for. GameCube controllers or a hard drive or something. HardOff is what is known as a "Recycle Shop" in Japan. A second-hand shop of ultimate proportions. There are several stores associated with it: BookOff (used books, manga, music, etc), HardOff (hardware, video games, PCs, instruments, etc.), GarageOff (car parts), HouseOff (clothes, accessories, sports equipment, toys and home goods). There might be a few others. The one we went to had all of these in one building and it is pure awesome.
So, we're walking down the aisles and decide to check out the Wii stuff. I'd already bought him Mario Kart for his birthday, and he's looking into modding, so we weren't really planning on buying anything. But then there it was, glistening under plastic wrap, begging us to take it home. What was it? A Wii Fit. A lone Wii Fit, out of the box and with the software and in seemingly great condition. A Wii Fit that we knew we would eventually buy- eventually. But this one was the most excellent price of 5,600 yen, as opposed to the usual 8,800 yen (approximately $56 vs. $88). That little darling was quickly picked up and clutched to my chest as we continued to shop.
Once we finally got home (after also finding a tennis racket I liked), we made dinner, had a few drinks and tried out the Wii Fit. Yea, so a balance-dependent game is not something you should really do while drinking. My balance age is 43! =(
I was surprised by the size of the Fit. It's just the right size for my feet, which works for the Japanese population in general, and it seemed fine for Allen, but a lot of westerners have large feet. We even researched it. We're those kind of people. Seems they had debated it and it became a matter of structural integrity to keep it that size. Then again, they were basing it on the idea of it fitting comfortably in a living room. A Japanese room is generally going to be a bit smaller on average to what you have in the average American home. Intriguing, but what really matters is that it works beautifully for us.
During our research I was surprised to realize that the Wii Fit came out very recently in the US. It's been out for nearly half a year here in Japan. Probably explains why we were able to get one used.
Allen also got my PDA up and running, so now it's a super awesome Japanese dictionary. To round off the weekend, tennis fun was had with several of our friends. My "new" used racket was nice, however I desperately need to change the grip. It was disintegrating in my hands as I played, leaving me with lovely black marks all over. Was rather disappointed in myself. I used to be pretty decent at tennis. At least, my serves were more than decent, helping me avoid volleys, which I'm less than decent at. Almost makes me want to take up tennis lessons again.
So, we're walking down the aisles and decide to check out the Wii stuff. I'd already bought him Mario Kart for his birthday, and he's looking into modding, so we weren't really planning on buying anything. But then there it was, glistening under plastic wrap, begging us to take it home. What was it? A Wii Fit. A lone Wii Fit, out of the box and with the software and in seemingly great condition. A Wii Fit that we knew we would eventually buy- eventually. But this one was the most excellent price of 5,600 yen, as opposed to the usual 8,800 yen (approximately $56 vs. $88). That little darling was quickly picked up and clutched to my chest as we continued to shop.
Once we finally got home (after also finding a tennis racket I liked), we made dinner, had a few drinks and tried out the Wii Fit. Yea, so a balance-dependent game is not something you should really do while drinking. My balance age is 43! =(
I was surprised by the size of the Fit. It's just the right size for my feet, which works for the Japanese population in general, and it seemed fine for Allen, but a lot of westerners have large feet. We even researched it. We're those kind of people. Seems they had debated it and it became a matter of structural integrity to keep it that size. Then again, they were basing it on the idea of it fitting comfortably in a living room. A Japanese room is generally going to be a bit smaller on average to what you have in the average American home. Intriguing, but what really matters is that it works beautifully for us.
During our research I was surprised to realize that the Wii Fit came out very recently in the US. It's been out for nearly half a year here in Japan. Probably explains why we were able to get one used.
Allen also got my PDA up and running, so now it's a super awesome Japanese dictionary. To round off the weekend, tennis fun was had with several of our friends. My "new" used racket was nice, however I desperately need to change the grip. It was disintegrating in my hands as I played, leaving me with lovely black marks all over. Was rather disappointed in myself. I used to be pretty decent at tennis. At least, my serves were more than decent, helping me avoid volleys, which I'm less than decent at. Almost makes me want to take up tennis lessons again.