Sensory Overload

Last weekend was a weekend of shattered expectations. My original plan had been to go to the Komatsu Airshow on Sunday, but then I was offered the opportunity to go to Gifu prefecture and see a world heritage site. I was thrilled at the chance. Sadly they had over-commited and there was no room for me. Could I go hiking in Nagano on Monday instead? Well that was Ok, I could still go to the airshow and I do love hiking, and haven't been at all this summer. Then it started raining all day Saturday and was forcast to do so all weekend. I felt very dininclined to go to an airshow, by myself, in the pouring rain. As well the hiking was called off and the Round 1 Sports Stadium was swapped into the picture instead as a typhoon was scheduled for Monday. Sunday dawned bright blue and beautiful. *sigh*. Monday was also sunny and hot, if a bit windy from they remains of the typhoon. *sigh* Two beautiful days, no outdoors for Grant. Well I made the best of it indoors, saw X-men 3 on Sunday and of course, went to Round 1 on Monday...



The first thing I noticed walking in was how utterly loud the place was, with dozens of arcade machines, slot machines, and those crazy UFO catcher machines. This does not count the general din of conversation or the large constantly playing TV screens. The group hung out for about an hour waiting for others to join us, and I took the opportunity to eat a hotdog for lunch. This was not a wise move, never before has so ghastly a dog passed my lips. Seriously, this thing was atrocious. Atrociously expensive too. The day was NOT off to a good start.



Things started to pick up soon though. I'm always up for bowling. Two totally non-competitive games later and I was in higher spirits. Though certainly not because of my score! (87 and 60 something? Bowling is not my strong point.) There were 38 lanes and every two lanes had their own giant TV screen, so if you do the math you get 19 screens looping the same inane j-pop videos. That was bad enough with just normal videos, but when they played Razer "HG" Ramon's YMCA cover, it was just horrifying.



Of course the girls were cute when they got all dressed up in the bowling pin costumes!



Now *this* is more like it! Pocket motorbike racing is one of many, many attractions and was certainly the most fun on hand. Speeds are naturally not very high, but when you are so close to the ground that is rather comforting. It was great fun, and I wouldn't mind trying it again. On the same rink they also offer rollerblading, which we didnt do this trip but has be interested for next time. Its been a looooong time since I strapped rollerblade to my feet, I wonder if I could still pull it off? After the bikes we killed some time in another arcade, but since you had to pay by the hour to get in to the top levels, it was all free. Yup, a huge arcade with stuff like Dance Dance Revolution, Soul Caliber 3 (on linked machines for Versus play no less), shooting games, driving games, drumming games, flying games, anything you can imagine it was there. I loved it.



There were plenty of other pursuits that we didn't have time to try. Like fishing. The disturbing thing with this is that you are fishing in that little pond for REAL FISH. The same fish get caught day in and day out catch and release. I've never felt terribly sorry for a fish before, but man that really seems a bit cruel. It's one thing if the carp has all of a lake to hide in, but that little pool seems a bit confined.

On a lighter note they also offered... mini-golf, archary, tennis, table tennis, mechanical bull riding, soccer, basketball, karaoke, pool and I'm sure a few other things I've fogotten. Well Round 1 Sports Stadium didn't quite make a good substitute for the Mountains, it was a fun day all the same. It will be a great place to go in the frigid depths of the Kanazawa winter, which is right around the corner.... *shudder*.

Next: Koya-San