Kept you waiting, huh?

     

          Ok, so this is probably going to be one hell of a rambling post. I don't know how long or short it will be, but it will almost certainly be a stream of consciousness that can only end well. Or... not.

Jeez, it's been 7 years since I wrote on this thing? Well, 6 and a bit if you want to get technical with months. Nonetheless that is an amazingly impressive term of absence. Anyone who followed this before will have rightfully decided that either the blog died or the writer did. I guess this post means that both are untrue?

I think it is certainly a testament of sorts to just how life changing a move to another country can be, the fact that it is basically that singular act that killed my writing. Either that or it just shows a lack of resolve in continuing to write anything at all. I guess this post means both are true?

I could write about everything that has happened in those seven years. Just how much my life has changed and how I've changed as a person. I probably will write about some things, since there are certain parts that are interesting enough for me to chronicle for the mass of nobodies watching this empty space with nonexistent breath. I won't write such tortured sentences though... or I'll try not to. Maybe the fact that I have finally decided to take up writing on this thing again at one of the happiest points in my life is indicative of something. I should probably stop trying to muse over everything so much though. I doubt I'd have read this far by now if it was someone else's blog I was reading.

In the long time since writing on here last I've successfully (debatably) lived in Japan for 4 years, returned home for one then returned back to Tokyo. I have gained new friends and acquaintances and I have lost pets and family members. I have had some of the best times in my life and without a doubt, some of the worst. I really do want to write about some of these things, but at the same time I'm torn between that and keeping this blog more as an avenue for more creative/academic writings like it was always intended to be.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be a little bit of both. Until I can single down a focus. Not that I ever intend this to be anything more than just an outlet for me to just mindlessly type like I am now. Regardless, it's 5:50 on a Friday and I'm basically just wasting time at work until I can leave at a more convenient time to go on out for an evening in Akihabara. That essentially means I think this post is probably coming to an end soon.

I can't work out whether this is the most poignant thing I've written in ages or the most pointless. I am getting rid of that exclamation mark I just typed though. I definitely want less of those on here if I'm going to keep writing on this thing.

Emigration time desu

So once again I return to this forsaken blog in the hopes of actually continuing to write in it once in a while with some purpose. I'm hoping the fact that I can potentially turn this blog into another expat blog about Japan will help kill this procrastination. That isn't to say, by the way, that I don't like expat blogs about Japan. Far from it. Just there is, y'know, quite a few to look at and I'm not going to kid myself that if I do the same that it will get any readers. I'm boring, capiche?

So, on this coming Wednesday my significant other and I will finally stop wasting money on visiting Japan and actually live there for a while. At least, as long as the plan goes well and we can both find work enough to sustain us. I have a job interview this next Monday coming, too, at a preschool in Tokyo! I wasn't expecting to potentially get a job with kids that small but I think I might actually like that a lot more!

Our apartment is in Adachi-ku in Tokyo, famous for Bunka fry and Takeshi Kitano. Yes, that does mean it is as rough as it sounds, apparently. Although, to me it looks like a wonderful suburb with a stunning river to potentially set up a jogging regieme next to. Oh, and a cinema and shops. Good times. No arcade, however, which may be a deal breaker, although knowing Japan this simply cannot be true.

Oh, and we haven't finished packing yet. Nope. At least, my other half has packed all his clothes and we're almost done with games, films and music... as for my clothes? I can do that all in a day, right?

Dissertation in the making and censorship in the wrong-doing.

Not the most interesting of updates, but it'll have to suffice for now. At least it shows promise that I'm not giving up on this thing in one week like I thought I would!

So, even though it is just a couple of months into the summer holidays I've made a start on my dissertation. Mainly out of boredom, also due to the fact that disturbingly I like academic research quite a bit. At the moment this has mainly consisted of reading up on my Video Game Theory Reader and taking a few notes whilst looking at Wikipedia on various Video Games adaptations. Yep, not the most academic of resources yet but considering I won't need to hand this in until next year I think it is a good start!

In the course of thinking about my dissertation I've come up with so many other threads of debate that I could talk about. Some less controversial than others. You see, discussing the idea that critics who review films nowadays come from an era when video games = levels, bosses, scores and violent beat 'em ups, not to mention that this was perpetuated by early films (Super Mario Bros 1993, Street Fighter 1994, Double Dragon 1994 et all) as to why they are usually panned; is far more acceptable than arguing that one day Video Games may one day surpass films as a dominant story-telling medium. Something I probably will leave to the end of the whole thing, if at all!

In other thoughts on future writings, I am rather disturbed by the story of censorship in doujin ero games in Japan are being censored and in some cases, banned. Now, I'm not about to get into a huge argument as I believe there have been many far more eloquent ones than mine. I'm not about to say that games simulating rape are necessarily good or worthwhile, but censorship is a whole different thing. Especially when that censorship came about because a Western country found a three year old game on Amazon that was passed in and only intended for Japan. I feel that, as someone who wished to study more into these games and their cultural effects, that the fact that international voices can have such an effect on something that should have been an internal affair, is somewhat wrong. By all means, if the Japanese government and governing bodies had decided that this was right for them, then that would be fine. However, because a game that was sold in the wrong place, to the wrong market caused so much fuss? I feel that it perhaps should have came around differently.

Well, I'd probably write more about this if it wasn't 1.30 am. I don't trust that I can use words correctly after around 1.20 am. Sooo. That's all for today. Fun, no?

A new beginning? For how long...

Alright, so I've decided that rather than talking and thinking about writing various things about Video Games, maybe I actually should. Easier said than done when I have as much self-confidence in my writing as I do in... well, something not entirely great.

To that end I've thought that if I can write about a game that I have recently completed, using all my filmic/video game knowledge, then maybe... just maybe I will learn something along the way. We shall see. Considering my recently discovered interest in Gender and Sexuality thanks to a mishap with Uni electives, I'd love to write about that but I don't know exactly how credable anything I write will be.

...I'll give it a shot. After all, like most of my ventures it will probably only last a week!