Yeah, OK, CDX was down a lot over the weekend. I never could nail down what the problem was, but it appears a temp directory that our image gallery writes to had exploded to 80gb in size. In the process of troubleshooting that I went in and added more Ram, and a PHP accelerator, so you should notice a huge improvement in speed.

Next week we're running a skeleton staff at CDX. I'll be on Vacation, with no internet, and Dan, Adam and Jeremy will be at San Diego Comic-Con. Look for a special announcement regarding that soon.

Speaking of Jeremy, I guest-hosted on Destroy All Podcasts DX. We talked about Takeshi Kitano's film "Getting Any". It was a lot of fun, so please check it out.

Thats about all.. Talk to you soon..

Josh

Here's a random YouTube find.

Tokyo. Japan. 1983. The Glen Miller Orchestra. With time to kill, band members Larry O'Brien, Mike Ruth and others Explore the streets of Japan.

Sunday was my last day in Tokyo, and as such, it was bittersweet. I had a full agenda, my feet were killing me, but I needed to persevere. On deck today was Sightseeing from the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Buildings, Yoyogi Park, Meiji Shrine and Harajuku.

I wanted to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Buildings because of their free observation decks on the 45th floor. You really get a great view of Tokyo from up here and it's all free. While I was up there I was playing with the super zoom on the camera, closing in on things that were otherwise unseen.

Todays excursion brings me out to Omiya, a town maybe 45 minutes outside of Tokyo. The primary purpose is to visit a toy store (of course) but I am far enough out of the city that I might as well find some things to do while I am out there. There's a big park in Tokyo, and it's supposed to be good Sakura blossoms there, so I will do that as well.

45 minutes outside of Tokyo it still looks like Tokyo. Crowded, congested, but its an organized chaos. The train ride is smooth, clean and quiet.

I find my destination with ease, a vintage toy store called Senshutei. You can read all about it here.

From there I grab lunch in a crowded McD's and then i'm back on the train to go up two stops to Omiya Koen.

Omiya Koen is a nice, large rural park, with lots of paths and ponds. As I enter the park I see a gaggle of girls huddled around a fence. Of course, I go see what the fuss is about, all the while trying not to look like a creepy foreigner. Luck would have it that there is a traditional Japanese Archery school here, and they were in the middle of some kind of competition. It was so graceful, and oddly enough, all girls.

Today's agenda is to go out and buy a new camera, so I walk over to Akihabara in the morning and go to the only logical choice - Yodobashi Camera. I mean its THE camera store in THE worlds greatest electronics district in THE most high-tech city in the world.

Yodobashi camera is like 7 floors of store. Just imagine 7 Target stores placed on top of each other, each devoted to one single thing. Its immense.

I get to the camera floor, and there are so many cameras here it boggles the mind. Normally when I go camera shopping I take my time and research whats the best camera for me. But this time I am flying blind, not only in a foreign country, but a whole different language.

I decided to play it safe and went with the just released Olympus SP-590UZ. I've owned two other olympus cameras, and they were awesome, and the 26x optical zoom was killer. So The salesman, who spoke little English hooked me up. Have you ever tried to ask a Japanese salesman that you want a Micro SD card instead of the SD card the camera comes with? I don't recommend it.

After we were done with Takeada's house, we started back to the train station and ended up stopping into Godzilla-Ya, one of the most venerable old toy stores in Tokyo. I didn't grab much, just a few beater chogokin and some Godzilla sofubi for the kids.

We stopped for lunch at a small shop - everyone got ramen but I got two plates of Gyoza. I kind of had buyers remorse here, but the Gyoza was great, so I didn't mind. The Ramen looked good though.

From here, most of the gang had to go to meetings and such, so Jordi and I decided to go do some sightseeing.

First place we hit up was the Bandai Corporate headquarters in Asakusa.

We thought we were going to get a tour, but actual work needed to be done, so we just hung out in the lobby. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but mostly its just displays of currently released Bandai product. There was one case with nostalgic items, in it was a MIB BLACK DALTANIOUS. Those of you who care know what a big deal this toy is.

Another day, another adventure.

This was Thursday.

At the end of Preview Night at Tamashii Nations, we agreed to meet the next day and take a trip out to the burbs again to visit SIC Sculptor Takeuki Takeya. I set off in the morning along my usual route, it's a beautiful day. I stop and take some shots along the way...

The only gas station I saw in metro Tokyo. Notice how the fuel is dispensed from above.

Lucky Cat (Maneki Neko)

Day three, Wednesday.

I slept in a bit, took my time getting ready, and headed out mid morning. I got a pastry for breakfast from an AM/PM convenience store. Outside this store I see my first, real blooming Sakura. They smelled sweet.

I know that if I take the train to Akihabara, its only one stop, but according to my map I can walk there just as easily. So I take a left instead of going straight and begin to wander the side streets of Ochanomizu.

Not but a few minutes into my walk do i discover a shrine, sandwiched between large construction sites. It's the Kanda Shrine, site of one of the three biggest Matsuri in Japan. Unfortunately, there was no festival that day, but I got to take a lot of pictures and enjoy the calm oasis within the city.

What the hell was I thinking, scheduling this trip the day after I got in? I guess it wouldn't have been so tiring had I not had the flight from hell that I did.

I got up around 6am, to the sound of my alarm from my cell phone. I had set up international calling on my phone, so it wasn't useless, but I didn't have all the features I was used to. In the daylight I was able to survey the room and my surroundings.

The room is small, but serviceable. My window overlooks the intersection below, and it's a bit overcast.

I put on the TV and listen to Japanese local news as I gather my stuff and get dressed. The shower is hot, and strong enough to to the job, although the shower head is a bit low.

Yes, there is a mythical Japanese toilet with Bidet in here.

Shortly after 7 I am out on my adventure.

People have been asking me, on CDX and in real life, how was the trip to Tokyo. For posterity's sake, I'm going to write about it here.

I got the opportunity to go to Tokyo from a meeting with Bandai at the 2009 NYTF. They invited me to attend the Tamashii Expo, but of course I had to pay my own way. But money was not the only obstacle. My wife had said after my last Tokyo trip "You are not going to Tokyo again without me".

At the end of Toy Fair, I was waiting in the hotel lobby for our ride out to the airport, when my phone rang. My wife was out keeping busy with the kids, and they ended up at a pet store, looking at a puppy.

An idea sprung into my head. I said to her, you can get the puppy if I can go to Tokyo. Surprisingly she agreed, and I began to make my plans for a trip to the motherland.

The first thing in order was the flight. From the east coast, Tokyo is a LONG way away. Total air flight time is around 16 hours, so you want to make damn sure you pick a good seat. I always go with this travel agency out of California called Gateway LAX. They buy tickets to Japan wholesale, and they have blocks of them, so not only do you get the best price, but you also get to pick your seat. Now normally I fly on American Airlines, because being a fat American, I need the extra inch of seat room in economy. I highly recommend finding out what kind of plane you are flying in and visiting seatguru.com to figure out what kind of space you have. While flying AA to Tokyo is cheap, it is not fun. The planes are old, the flight attendants tired and jaded, the entertainment stupid. I heard that flying a Japanese airway was the way to go, so I took a chance and booked a flight on Japan Airlines. You have to be careful when booking a JAL flight, because often even though they say JAL, they are actually AA flights. The good thing though is that the two airlines share miles. After confirming the flight with the agency, the next stop was hotel.

So I am officially in freak-out mode, with only a few days left until I am off for the motherland.

This trip came together rather quickly, so I feel as though I am forgetting something, but man am I excited to go again. This will be my third trip to Tokyo. I'll be a big man in Japan once again.

Some cool things are going to be happening on this trip, only some of them I can tell you about now. For one, I'm going out to HobbyLink Japan for the day to check out the new warehouse and interview Scott Hards. Hmmm, i guess that means I need to write down some questions. Any questions for HLJ?

Then a few days later I will be covering the 2009 Tamashii Expo at UDX Akihabara... I can practically taste the metallic T-28. Of course, I'll have the HD camera on me, so I will do my best to make you feel as if you are there along with me.

I'll also be doing some insane toy shopping, hitting up all of the hot spots - some covered in Tokyo Underground, some that are super-secret and known only to the illuminati. I'm dying to check out the new 10-floor Mandarake in Akiba, and of course I will hit the usual haunts.

The old CDX office is getting full of junk and I need some cash to go to Tokyo, so out goes some stuff. Most items are priced to move at 0.99, many items have been reviewed here on CDX.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/quibx_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZQQ_sopZ14

Man, 2009 is starting off with a Bang! First we get an awesome new President, one Mr. Barak Obama (who is a bit of a geek), and also we have a great new batch of toys coming up soon on cdx, including the Beagle Mospeada, TWO Macross Fronteir Valks, the new Yamato Destroid, and even the Respect for Volt in Box.

We're also very excited for Toy Fair this year, although all indications point to a much scaled back event. Still, we get to go to NYC for a few days. If you want to get together with us, let us know! We'll be hitting the usual haunts - chinatown, Toy Tokyo, Image Anime and more...

Anime.CollectionDX.com is doing well, but the extra workload is killing us right now. We primarily need help with news. If you are interested in being part of the CDX family, let me know. We can't pay, but there are perks!

Thanks!

Josh

I made this book, "All About Joshua Bernard" in October of 1977.

Of course, I've left out a bunch of pages so as not to bore you.

I was six years old in 1979.

My favorite pet was a parakeet named Jack, and my favorite toy was something called the Sho-Gun Warriors.

I also liked to play Hotwheels with Andrea.

My Favorite TV shows in 1979 were Buck Rogers and Devlin

Apparently at the time I looked like a Roswell alien who wore a black t-shirt with dragsters on them.

So I'm sitting here at a friends house, leeching off of their internet connection. We're three days into our power outage at CDX HQ. We had an ice storm Thursday night that knocked out power to a good portion of New England. Over 300,000 homes in Massachusetts were without power. It's Sunday now, and they are now telling us that we may not have power back until Tuesday.

We've been keeping warm, we still have power, but we have no heat. We have a fireplace that has been keeping us warm, and we should have enough wood to last us the duration.

It's amazing how much we rely on technology. I went into laptop withdrawl while at the house, so we ended up folding a lot of laundry. Our cel phones worked, but thats about it. We went scrounging at local stores for batteries and candles...

We were really unprepared. Looking forward we may invest in a generator to keep the heat and lights on. Where we are in town is not exactly on the list of priority places to restore power.

Please bear with us if the site goes down, or news and content isnt updated much this week..