Higashi-Kouenji Station

Here’s Andy’s good buddy Gou on the platform at Higash-Kouenji, Andy’s station. I used to come here almost every day to play Sakura Taisen at his apartment. I even got myself a teikiken (monthly ticket thingo) that claimed I lived here, so that I could come to Andy’s place more cheaply. Gou hung out with us a lot during my trip this time. We played THE CHIKYUUBOUEIGUN, a part of the SIMPLE 2000 series. This company puts out very basic-quality games for 2000 yen; usually they’re board games or sports games or whatever, but this time it’s a defend-the-earth-from-50’s-style-monsters game. The game’s simplicity is charming and the crappy gameplay is addictive. Gou works at the One Piece store in Ikebukuro (I love that a comic/anime/game can have its own store; more on the Sakura Taisen store later) so for homework we watched One Piece anime episodes with him. It’s actually quite good stuff. Gou and Andy are movie buffs, so we also went to see acting/directing legend Beat Takeshi’s latest, Zatouichi, on its opening day. More on that later, too.