Quick Update - Astral Pack 1 Content all revealed

Weeks without updates on Yu-Gi-oh news, and then suddenly everything comes at once! After a bit-by-bit revelation, we finally know the full content of the first Astral pack (the new Booster Packs).

Top about this pack: No jank rares, no ultra rares, only commons, supers and ultimate rares. Each pack has 2 Commons and a Super (or an Ultimate Rare if you're lucky). And each Astral Pack will have a "new" card like the good ol' Tournament & Champion packs.

Content of the pack

• Tsukuyomi - Ultimate rare (cool!)
• Debris Dragon - Ultimate Rare (very cool!)
• Photon Thrasher - Ultimate Rare (amazing!)
• Flamvell Firedog - Super Rare (that card deserves it!)
• Genex Undine - Super Rare (well-timed, Konami, well-timed)
• Kagemusha of the Six Samurai - Super Rare (Fanboys will love this)
• Inzektor Centipede - Super Rare (with Inzektors winning YCS Seattle, this has great timing)
• Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit - Super Rare (cool!)
• Terraforming - Super Rare (meh)
• Moray of Greed - Super Rare (cool)
• Mask Change - Super Rare (meh)
• Hidden Armory - Super Rare (Nice, this has become a rare find)
• The Gates of Dark World - Super Rare (again, fanboys will love this)
• Chain Dog (Good for that "Rabbit is a Beast deck of mine")
• Dragon Ice (first reprint of a Secret Rare)
• Cyber Shark (First reprint of a Secret Rare)
• Swift Scarecrow (reprint with problem solving card text! Hurrah!)
• Elemental HERO Ice Edge (meh, Hero fans will keep the Super Rare)
• Mystical Sand (This is the new card! The fusion of Giant Soldier of Stone & Ancient Elf! Cool!)
• Spiritual Forest (hmmm, might consider this now, in my beast deck)
• Closed Forest (a reprint I wanted for a while now)
• Shrine of Mist Valley (why?)
• Thunder of Ruler (was a hard-to-find common, I guess)
• Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan (again, why?)
• Astral Barrier (they had to make a reference to Astral, I guess :-P )

Note: if no rarity is noted, it's a common

Prophecy Destroyer destroys the weekly tease

In case you haven't been looking at the Yu-Gi-Oh! site yesterday, the content of the Prophecy Destroyer tin (tin 2.5) has been revealed (no weekly tease, all the cards immediately)!

And if the Hanzo tin was the best tin of the year and the Heliopolis the worst tin of the year, this one is a mix of both.

What's in it?

• Prophecy Destroyer (duh)
• Endless Decay (good zombie support and legal reprint for non-US TCG territories)
• Steelswarm Roach (yay!)
• Photon Strike Bounzer (yay!)
• Infernity Barrier (a little late, but I now people that will like this)

I've noticed some dissapointing looks amongst fans, since there's No Cardcar D (will be for next years tins, I guess) or Shooting Quasar Dragon in this tin, but I generally have no dislikes about this tin.

Until next time, V out.

Details and predictions for YCS Barcelona

It's been ages, but this weekend, there's finally another YCS in Europe (not counting Sheffield as that was a Battle Pack YCS). Prepare for: YCS Barcelona.

Me? I'm not going, I already used up all my days off :-P. But I'm posting this for all the people that might be interested in the YCS, or are going there.

The Event

YCS Barcelona will take place on December 1st + 2nd at the following address:

• Fira Barcelona – venue “Recinto Montjuic”
• Avinguda Reina Mª Cristina s/n
• 08004 Barcelona
• Spain
• Website of the venue is: www.firabcn.es
• Route description is available on: The firabcn site.

Also, if you pre-register at the venue on Friday, you get a limited promotional "item" (as its vaguely described on the Konami site).

Further details of the event can be found on On THIS Konami Page.

Side-Events

Sometimes more interesting than the main event, is the number of side-events.

Most surprisingly is that Konami Europe continues its "win a trip to the next YCS" event. At the beginning of the year, that event was the 100th YCS at Long Beach.

On Sunday during YCS Barcelona, the winner of this YCS Trial (as they've officially named it) will get a free trip to the next European YCS (free travel & accommodation). Now that is an exciting price to win, don't you think?

Other than the YCS Trial, the other side events are the usual ones (Giant Card, Battle Pack, regional qualifiers, win-a-mat and Dragon Duel).

Meta

I expect a LOT of Mermail decks to be there. Abyss Rising is now officially out for something close to a month, so most players going to Barcelona will have picked up their Mermail deck by now.

Other than that, I guess we'll be seeing the same variety of decks that we see in the US YCS's: Geargia mixes, Chaos Dragons, Agents, Wind-ups and Inzektors.

I expect Mermails to win this, personally. The Mermail players now have a bit more experience playing it, while the others are not always used to playing against it in real life.

Card Legality

Since ROTD:SE and the November tins, the cards with the most impact that were exclusive to OCG and the US have been reprinted (Shock Master and Acid Golem). So now, the most notable differences between US & Non-US territories are gone (for now).

The only key cards we can't use right now are Gustav Max (Hieratic), Shooting Quasar Dragon (Junk Doppel/Plants), Slifer the Sky Dragon, Kachi Kochi Dragon and E-Hero Escuridao.

The other (less notable) cards we can't use can always be found on the Konami site.

Final Notes

From Friday evening / Saturday morning, coverage will be posted on: The Coverage Site of Konami.

For those going, good luck and have fun!

Until next time

V out.

Deck Tests - Rabbit is a Beast!

Ever since Rescue Rabbit came out, I wanted to do something with it; something that was no classical Dino Rabbit.

With Rabbit coming out in the tins and the release of Abyss Rising in the TCG, I came up with the following EARTH Rabbit deck (or Beast Rabbit, whatever floats your boat).

Deck Choices

There may be some weird choices in here, but each card has its purpose.

• Chain Dog: Ever since XYZ came out, this card has become a Beast (and not only literally). When you use Rabbit to get 2 Beasts out, you can revive Chain Dog and turn an XYZ with 2 materials into an XYZ with 3 materials (Shock Master, Vylon Disigma). And since his effect is unlimited, you can revive him as many times, as long as you have 2 Beasts (Daigusto Emeral helps with this).
• The Vanilla picks for this deck are Mad Dog of Darkness (DARK Beast) and Soul Tiger (EARTH Beast), together with Sabersaurus (EARTH Dino). Mad Dog can be overlayed for Evilswarm Nightmare if necessary; Sabersaurus needs no explanation and Soul Tiger has value because its attack is below 1000...
• Tannhauser Gate: 2 monsters with 1000 or less attack become pimped. 2 Tour Guides can be turned into Photon Strike Bounzer. 2 Soul Tigers are turned into Thunder End Dragon.
• Naturia Cherries: When popped by your opponent, you get two more! And if you follow that up with Rabbit, you can sync into either Mist Wurm, or a Hyper Librarian + Naturia Beast/Catastor. Both ways out give you an advantage.
• Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane: Nothing says surprise more than Kurogane. The moment you figure out what monster your opponent has, you can swap it with another monster from your grave. Did your rabbit get Solemn'd or veiler'd, swap it back, because it's EARTH!

Still playtesting with it, so the deck might end up changing a bit. But this is how I like it at the moment.

When I have more time, I'll give you some more deck tests :-)

Until then, V out.

Cards to look forward to in Cosmo Blazer

Now that Cosmo Blazer has been released in the OCG, let’s take a look at the cards worth looking forward to. I’m mostly ignoring archetype specific cards, unless they could be splashed into other decks.

And G-dammit, this set is amazing in terms of useful cards for everything (unlike the last two sets).

Effect monsters:

• Amarylease: Plants finally have another Lv. 1 monster to use (One for One). Its effect makes it easier for plant players to get Gigaplant or Tytannial on the field. Though its preferred use would be plants, it’s of course not limited to plants, but to all tribute style decks (Egyptian Gods, Steelswarm).
• Garbage Lord: This card is quite interesting. You can special summon this card (at the cost of 2000LP) and then use Inferno Reckless Summon on it to multiply. Or first summon Cyber Dragon/Ghost Ship and then this one. Enough fodder to get that Adreus or Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja on the field. And with its 0 attack, it’s a Sangan target.
• Aster Drawn: Hey, this looks a bit like Maxwell from Scribblenauts! Lol, Konami has gotten the license to release Scribblenauts in Japan and therefore releases the guy as a Yugioh Card! Its effect isn’t half bad either. It’s a lv. 4 spellcaster that can be treated as either a Rank 4 or Rank 5 material and gets you a plus-1 when used as xyz material. Combine this card with Garbage Lord or Photon Thrasher and you can get both an XYZ first turn + a free draw!

• Prominence Knight: Guess us complaining about Dust Knight and Shore Knight worked off. Here’s the fire variant of Armageddon Knight and at least this one is decent enough. Both when another fire monster or this card is destroyed (card effect or battle), you can dump another FIRE attribute monster from your deck to the graveyard.
• Valkyrie Knight: A great card for Warrior style decks. When destroyed, you can banish this card and another card from your grave to revive a high-level warrior (For example: Shi En or Colossal Fighter).
• Pyrorex the Elemental Lord: After The Earth lord & the Water lord, we get the Fire lord. Same as before, this requires exactly 5 FIRE attribute monsters in your grave (Laval anyone?) and is basically Ring of Destruction in monster form (eek).

XYZ monsters:

• Haze Beast Basilicock: A pyro chaos monster? My eyes went past this card because it’s an archetype card, but then I stopped to read its effect. This card is amazing! Once per turn, you can banish a monster your opponent controls (or in his grave) and then you can still attack!. This is also the first XYZ monster that allows you to use more than 2 xyz monsters (or use Spirit Convertor), with a maximum of five. Its basic effect is the banish effect, but the more monsters you use as XYZ material the better the effect becomes (attack boost, no effect target, destruction protection). The fire attribute makes it harder to summon, but mixing Haze beasts or Tyhone #2 in Hieratics will give the deck a boost!
• Terror Fang Wolf, Dire Wolf: They might as well have named this card Scrap wolf and admit it is Scrap support. Summoned by 2 level 4 monsters (Scrap Chimera/Beast/Orthros), allowing to destroy Beasts/Beast-Warriors or Winged Beasts (most Scrap Monsters fall under this category) and an opponent’s monster (similar to Scrap Dragon).

• Lightning Plover: This is the first Thunder XYZ and it’s amazing. Bouncing both a set card and a face-up card to the deck? That’s powerful. The wind attribute makes it a little harder, but there are enough decks that can use it (Harpie Ladies, Dragunities and Mist Valley decks).
• Shyneet Magician: A shy NEET? Lol, Even Konami’s laughing at neet’s now :-D. And look at that: The first Rank 1 monster that ONLY requires 2 materials. You’d start wondering if Konami would ever get the clue that its rank 1 monsters are f**king hard to summon. And it’s actually a good defender, so she’s not half bad!

Spells

• Zerozelock: It’s a rare sight to see Yuma use a decent spell. This is one of them and protects monsters with 0 attack. This can be handy in certain decks. Reptilliane decks focus around monsters with 0 attack, Hieratics spawn monsters with 0 attack and Fortune ladies have 0 attack when their effects are negated.
• Charging Emperor: Tribute summoned monsters cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects? That turns your Steelswarm or monarch deck (as the name/artwork suggests), or your Obelisk / Slifer basically immortal. I bet we’re going to see this card a lot in the future.

• Quick Booster: Quick-play Spell support: It’s a way of getting back a limited quick-play spell card (Book of Moon), or adding one from your deck to your hand when destroyed by your opponent. Enough targets out there, like MST, Book of Moon, Forbidden Lance or Chalice, etc.
• Vestige of the war: Oh, an aftermath card of the Hidden Arsenal war:-O. And it’s a good one too. it’s like The Warrior returning alive or Dark Eruption, but less limited. Think about its use in HERO decks (Returning Stratos or Bubbleman), Plant Synchro (Debris Dragon), Junk Doppel (Quickdraw Synchron), Dragunities (any card) or Mermail/Atlantean decks (any card). This card is good!

Traps:

• Dimension Gate: Good card is good. You can banish your key card when your opponent tries to get rid of it and you can special summon It when he declares a direct attack. Though being careful is a trick, because this card does not return the monster, it special summons the monster!
• Breakthrough skill: What’s better than a card that negates an effect once? A card that can do it twice! This card is good and makes your opponent worry about when you will use it. It is near impossible to stop a trap that activates in the grave, right?

Yeah, these are the cards to look out for if you’re not interested in the included archetypes.

Of the included archetypes, I’m kind of interested in Gogogo Ghost (going to try mixing Rocks and zombies together), Orbital 7 (for my Photon Lightray deck), the Prophecy cards (Fool, Reaper & Sepher) and the Haze beasts (due to their XYZ).

With all the interesting cards in here, I’m going to testplay a few decks (not telling yet, first need some time to put together a deck and try it on DN ;-).

Until next time, V out.

Note: These are the OCG names from the Yugioh Wiki. These names and the names on Duelingnetwork are subject to change when the cards become released in the TCG.

The hits and misses of Abyss Rising

The report about my trip to Japan is over, so back to Yu-Gi-Oh! Related content!

Just like with previous set, I’ll give you the hits and misses of the new TCG set, Abyss Rising (according to my own opinion).

Hits:

• Water attribute gets great support and it’s not limited to the included archetype (Mermails). There are many cards in here that generally support water archetypes like Penguins or Ice Counters. Together with the structure deck, this can give fruition to a few nice water-style decks.
• Gagaga Cowboy: This card was a sleeper hit in the OCG, making it one of the most wanted cards of the set. Cowboy’s burn effect can be a sudden surprise. Those last 800 lifepoints you held on to, might be gone faster than you think. And honestly, I’m glad this card did not become a Secret Rare (sigh of relief), or this would’ve become the money card of the set.
• Magic Deflector: I mentioned it in my last post about Abyss Rising(Click here to read it), but Magic Deflector is a hidden gem (and it’s a frigging common card). It’s virtually a spell stun card, that cancels the effect of field spells, continuous spells and (most importantly) quick-play spell cards. This is the first card that can jam an MST, Book of Moon, Forbidden Lance or Enemy Controller WITHOUT A COST!
• That Wacky alchemy!: Didn’t realize the potential of this card until the Konami Blog pointed it out for me. Click here to read the powers of this card.
• Interesting twist to old cards: Giant Soldier of Steel? Attack the moon? It’s like watching the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Cardgame anime all over again. Props to Konami for introducing old classics with a new twist.
• Slushy: Safe having a hilarious name (lol, a slush monster) this card is a hidden gem in this set. I strongly advice getting a playset of this card while nobody realizes the potential (the card is dirt cheap). Getting 3 of them in your grave is easy. And honestly, having 3 Monster Reborn cards that activate in your grave for Sea Serpents is a god’s gift. The only downside is that right now, there aren’t that many great targets to revive available right now (Poseidra, Abyssmegalo or Divine Dragon Aquabizarre). But if we get some more high-level Sea Serpents, this card will pop up a lot.
• Electromagnetic Bagworm: This is an old card and the only effect monster left of the old OCG boosters and expansions that wasn’t introduced in a TCG set. People started wondering if Konami would ever get to it. It’s not the greatest of cards, but still I’m glad it’s in our hands now.
• Bahamut Shark: I hoped this card would be in here and it is! This is the key card of Shark in the manga and god, it’s way better than Shark Drake Veiss (his key card in the anime). This card (A) is a 2600 beat stick that can get over most other XYZ monster and (B) can special summon other water XYZ. Preferred targets are Leviathan Dragon and Aero Shark (2 beaters) or the new Mermail Abysstrite (from the upcoming set Cosmo Blazer). Abysstrite is a mighty defender (2800 defense) and special summons a Mermail monster when destroyed (by any means) and sent to the grave (bringing back Spike or Megalo). Combo’s with sharks and mermaids has never been so advantageous.
• Thunder Seahorse: (Notice how he DOES get a T I his name) The card was absent from the last set, but its honor has been restored in this set with a secret foil. Thunder fans (Watt & Batteryman) will love this card, as it gives a much needed boost for this type of cards.
• Balance: For a few sets now, the full set is balanced. There are good cards, but there are no clear overpowered cards, only introducing the Mermails as the next tier-material archetype (like how last set introduced Geargia’s) and giving more support to Prophecies and Madolche’s.

Misses:

• Some anime cards should better be left in the anime. Have you read the card text of Heroic gift? You must be really desperate for those draws, if you want to let your opponent gain 6000+ life points. Even in the Anime it wasn’t that much.
• The worst card in the set. Last set had the awfully bad card Cold Feet, this set has an equally bad card: The Humble Sentry (as opposed to the forbidden card “The Forceful Sentry”). This card forces one of your cards back in the deck. Why would anyone ever do this? Yeah, I know, there’s that combo with Mystic refpanel. But honestly, will you ever use that combo in real life? There are better ways to get rid of your opponent’s cards.
• Worst Armageddon Knight copy: Armageddon Knight > Dust Knight > Shore Knight. The usefulness of the carbon copies is decreasing with each set. Thank god, the fire one in Cosmo Blazer will be better again.
• The secret foil of Abyssmegalo & Spellbook Tower. Granted, they look pretty in that foil, but the prices for those two cards have gone up in a crazy way. And seriously, releasing a field spell in Secret Rare? This never happened before! Jeezes, they’re really turning Prophecies into a bling deck (like Lightsworns a few years back).
• This set might not be for you: If you’re not interested in the Mermails, Madolche’s, Prophecies or any of the included anime cards, there’s not really many cards in here for you. Outside of a few good cards (I think Gagaga Gunman, That wacky Alchemy and Magic deflector are about the only generic good card in this set), there’s not much to get in here. Thank god, this gets better in Cosmo Blazer.

That’s about it for this set. Next up, I’ll give you the cards to look out for in Cosmo Blazar.

Until then, V out.

V in Japan - The overview

This post serves as a clear line-up of my journey log. Click on one of the following links to see the post about the respective day

• Day 0 and Day 1: The Trip
• Day 2: Arrival in Narita, Visiting Kuramae en Harajuku
• Day 3: Visiting the Ghibli Museum & Shinjuku
• Day 4: Exploring Akihabara
• Day 5: Exploring Kamakura
• Day 6: Visiting the Senso-Ji and the trip to Takayama
• Day 7: Visit to Kamikochi
• Day 8: Exploring Takayama and the trip to Kanazawa
• Day 9: Exploring Kanazawa and the trip to Kyoto
• Day 10: Exploring Kyoto and experiencing the Kurama Fire Festival
• Day 11: Visiting Yodabashi and the Kurama Hot Springs
• Day 12: Exploring Nara
• Day 13: Kyoto Sightseeing
• Day 14: The Return to Tokyo, visiting Shibuya and Narita
• Day 15: The Return to Europe
• Day 16: The unexpected extra day

Note: Every link should work now! It's all written!

Update July 2014: I've updated all posts to fix several grammar issues, add links to everything we visited and upload pictures from Francis' share (still ongoing).

Enjoy the reading material.

V out.

V in Japan - Day 16

Day 16: The return

• Date: October 28
• Weather: Cold and clouded, with a bit of rain (look at that, real Belgian weather)
• Mood: Longing to go home

The early morning

Since my biorhythm was still set to Japan time, I woke up around 4 in the morning (which would already be noon in Japan) and couldn't sleep any further. I checked outside and see the taxi’s already lining up to bring the stranded tourists back to the airport.

Since it was still very early, I played some games on my phone (Triple Town, you should try it out as well), washed myself and got an early breakfast (buffet, yeah). Around 6.30, we got together, checked out of the hotel and got back to the airport by taxi.

We went through the same security procedures again (a necessary evil, I guess) and got a good cup of coffee in the check-in-zone (I wonder if Francis took a picture of that gigantic cup of coffee I got). We spotted our flight and saw that it was NOT cancelled this time (hurrah)! We waited around, as we spotted some delay in our flight, but in the end we were able to take off for Belgium.

After a rough flight (compared to the smooth A380 flight) we landed in Zaventem and got our luggage. I said goodbye to my friends as I took the train home instead of the car we took to get here (I needed to go to another place).

Japanese railways: order; Belgian railways: utter chaos

I quickly snapped back to reality with our "excellent" Belgian railway system (don't fall over the puddle of sarcasm here). The first train was a train that stopped at all stations on the road. But since it arrived at the first station with more than 10 minutes delay (the first station! At what time was it going to arrive in Ghent anyway?), I decided to jump off at the first stop.

The second train (and first one to Deinze, my destination) is cancelled since somebody committed suicide on the tracks between De Pinte and Deinze (seriously? Now of all times?).

And the third train (a fast one) leaves nearly an hour after I arrived in Zaventem only goes to Ghent (*grumbles*). I phoned my parents to pick me up in Ghent instead of Deinze. I arrived at Ghent at 12.30 (which was apparently before the arrival time of the first train) and quickly reunited with my parents.

After a half hour drive, I finally got home, ready to eat some good home-made cooking and then I could start to unpack everything.

After unpacking, I started to catch up to all kinds of news (I've been out of the loop for a while). News as in: local news (local elections and resulting conspiracies), national news (the big Ford factory closing in Belgium), Yugioh news (Abyss Rising revelations) and world news (the Sandy tornado).

Well, that was my log about my two-week trip to Japan. I truly enjoyed it and I can’t wait to go back already. But first, I’m going to save some money and learn some Japanese. Because there’s so much more you can do if you can make yourself understandable in the native language.

We've seen many things on our trip, but there’s a lot of things we haven’t seen yet (Hiroshima, Osaka, manga museum in Kyoto, Odaiba & Ueno Park in Tokyo, etc…), so a second trip there is almost inevitable. But that will be for in a few years.

And from next post onward, it's back to Yugioh-related posts!

V out.

V in Japan - Day 15

Day 15: The trip back home

• Date: October 27
• Weather in Japan: Nice and sunny.
• Mood: “Wishing I could stay”-mood in Japan, frigging tired when in Frankfurt

The flight to Frankfurt

We woke up, checked out of the hotel and took the free shuttle bus to the airport. We went through the check-in procedure (dropped off luggage, went through immigration, got our hand luggage checked, etc.) and got on the plane (A380 again) for Frankfurt.

Our ride back home.

No screaming children on the plane, though we held our hearts when a family comes on board with a kid that cried. Luckily, the kid calmed down quickly afterwards and they sat on the other side of the plane.

We noticed quickly on the TV-screen that he plane had the same movies and TV-series as during the trip to Japan (gosh darn’ it). But we browsed through the menu to find some things we still didn’t see yet and keep us amused.

Time went by faster than we realized. We get two meals (lunch & dinner), snacks and drinks and tried to sleep a little (even though sleeping on a plane is not that great).

The Frankfurt weather report: snow

After a 12-hour flight (2 hours longer than on the flight to Japan), we landed in Frankfurt with a comment from the pilot that certain flights might have been cancelled due to snow in the sky (uh-oh). We went through customs and tried to find our flight for Zaventem (around 3.30 PM). And yes, we were screwed. Our flight was cancelled due to bad weather conditions. We found the service corner of Lufthansa and after a few minutes waiting in queue, we heard that we've been re-scheduled on the 5.30 PM flight. So we waited again.

When it’s 5 PM we heard that our flight has been cancelled again (oh, come on!), so we walked back to the service corner again. But we had to stand in line of a gigantic waiting line. I spotted lots of cancelled flights on the bulletin board and we quickly realized we’re not the only ones who were screwed. Dozens of flights had either been cancelled or delayed due to the bad weather.

After waiting in line for 2 hours (your read that correctly, TWO HOURS), we finally got to an office where we explained our situation. And it was about time, because we almost were dragged into a fight between people that waited in line and others that tried to skip the line and other fights with people that have 0 patience (some people are apparently really, really aggressive when they're tired).

At the counter we get a few options for rebooking our flight. The proposal of the 9.10 PM flight is rejected quickly, since the Lufthansa people could not ensure that the flight would be able to take off.

My “take the train, since we’re so close” alternative was quickly rejected after the Lufthansa lady mentioned that it would take 10-12 hours to get to Brussels (hell no!).

So we were instead booked at the 9.10 AM flight the next morning and got a free room in the Sheraton hotel (fancy). We also received vouchers for dinner and breakfast over there and a taxi to and from the hotel.

We quickly accepted it, since we were frigging tired at that point (it’s past 7 PM at this point, which equals to 3 in the morning in Japan).

After we walked away from the service desk, we saw that the waiting line behind us did not decrease. We feel that the poor guys/girls would still have to wait for hours.

We found a taxi that accepted the Lufthansa voucher (some of them only wanted cash, apparently) and we got checked into the hotel. We explained the situation at the guy behind the desk and I warned the poor sap that he’ll probably get a lot more customers this evening.

We ate some dinner and then saw an even longer line of tourists waiting to get checked in as well (as predicted). Honestly, at this point I didn't gave a f**k anymore to read into their situation. The three of us decided to check out at 6.30 AM. I got to my room and I quickly fell asleep.

V in Japan - Day 14

Day 14: Return to Tokyo, Shibuya & Narita

• Date: October 26
• Weather: Sunny & nice
• Mood: re-energized

Saying goodbye to Kyoto

I woke up, fully re-energized. I take a shower and pack my things. While the others have more trouble with packing, I finish mine quickly (I came with a bigger suitcase just to avoid this kind of trouble, lol). I go downstairs to have another breakfast at the Zen café.

After breakfast, I go up the elevator, meeting up with the other guys (who just finished packing and are going for breakfast themselves). Since I have a few moments, I decided to take a trip to the roof, for sightseeing. There’s a nice terrace on the roof of K's House, so I took some pictures of the environment.

After that I met up with the others downstairs, we grabbed our luggage, checked out of K’s House and walked to Kyoto station. There we took the Shinkansen to Tokyo.

Back in Tokyo - Shibuya Crossing and splitting up

In Tokyo Station, we tried to find some lockers for our luggage. But we noticed all the good ones (that are big enough for our luggage) were all taken. So we walked to the north entrance to get to the luggage delivery. First we asked the personel for a drop-off at hotel Nikko (our hotel for this evening), but they said that this would take at least one day (eek, that’s not an option!). Then we asked them to store our luggage until the evening, which is not a problem (500 yen per case).

Outside of the delivery service office, we took a good look at this wing of the station. This side of the station is very pretty and worth seeing it. A lot of people were taking pictures of it (including us).

We then took the train to Shibuya to spot the famous Shibuya Crossing. Again, it’s one of the things you have to see by yourself, even with pictures it’s just not enough to pass the feeling.

We walked down one of the shopping streets and ended up splitting with each other (we all wanted to do different things on our last afternoon, so…).

I found one more anime related shop and found some Persona 4 trading cards for a friend, some sake for my brother-in-law and for my father.

Then I took the train back to Kurama station and ran to that local pub I thought I forgot my vest in an attempt to get it back (without avail, I only realized at home that I left it at a totally different place). Then I went to Akihabara to buy some original art Yugioh cards for another friend.

I met up back with the others at 5 PM at Tokyo station (exactly at 5, I’m a master of timing if public transportation works along) to get our luggage back and take the Narita express to Narita.

Narita

After arriving in Narita, we walked out of the train station and easily found a shuttle bus that took us to hotel Nikko for free (seriously, top notch organization. If you would try this in Belgium, your best luck is to try a taxi :-S).

We checked in into the hotel and dropped our stuff in our room. I took a look around and realized: this really is a good hotel and an (amazingly) good bed for our last day.

After that, we took the elevator to go to the restaurant floor, but quickly traced back our steps when we spotted the overpriced menu (yeah, this hotel was a little more luxurious than the previous ones).

Instead, we got to the Lawson's on the first floor and bought some instant noodles, beer, snacks (and breakfast for the next morning) with our last yens. We went back to our room and chilled out for the last night and had some fun as well (the leftover 1-yen coins flew all around the room).

We fell asleep after setting our timer. Tomorrow, we would return to Europe.

V in Japan - Day 13

Day 13: Sightseeing in (and around) Kyoto

• Date: October 25
• Weather: Sunny and nice
• Mood: Okay, but getting quite tired near the evening

The Fushimi Inari Shrine and Torii Gates

We woke up, refreshed ourselves and walked to the Sukiya place we went two days ago to have some Japanese breakfast again. Since the Curry I had here last time wasn't that great, I search the 2 or 3 different meal cards and spot a cheap Japanese Breakfast menu, with rice, miso soup, an egg and some salmon (though no natto :-P).

After breakfast, we went to the station to get some cash. I tried my bank card again, but it still refused to work (I cursed at it) and thus I ended up borrowing some more cash.

We took the train to Inari (a 3-minute trip or so) to check the Fushimi Inari shrine and the many torii gates.

You can't really miss the gates, since you encounter by them the moment you leave the train station (together with one of the many fox statues).

First up is the walk to the shrine itself. Then once you get to the shrine, there is the walking course through all the gates. Quite a nice walking course.

Each gate is donated by somebody (their name is carved into the gate) and we spotted a sign saying you could buy a gate yourself. For about 193.000 yen (or about 1930€), you could buy a 5-meter gate (the bigger the gate, the more expensive it gets). We thought that was quite cheap, but didn't have enough money to actually buy one (lol).

And it goes on forever like this...

After walking a few kilometers through gates and stairs, we take another route down and walk back to the station.

Sanjusangendo - The temple with 1001 Buddha statues

Back in Kyoto itself, we all bought a bus pass (all buses for 500 yen a whole day) and we looked at the map we got in the bus company office. We ordered everything we wanted to visit today and then drove to the temple with 1001 Buddha statues (Sanjusangendo).

As usual, no pictures allowed inside, so only a picture from the outside. The many statues are quite a nice sight to see. If you woukld go to Kyoto, you should visit this temple.

And for the fourth time on this trip, Steven tried another fortune note here and finally he got some good fortune (good for him!).

Ginkakuji - The Silver Pavilion

Afterwards, we took the bus to the Ginkakuji (the Silver Pavilion).

There’s a big walkway to the temple with (once again) lots of souvenir shops and lots of people. The Pavilion itself is not that great (you can’t enter it, but you pay for entering the garden), but the garden surrounding it is very beautiful. If you’re short on time, this is a place you can miss, but it’s a nice sight if you have some spare time on your trip in Kyoto.

Nijo-jo palace site

Next up, we went to the Nijo-jo palace site (which is apparently a site with 2 palaces, Ninomaru Palace en Honmaru palace).

Only the Ninomaru palace is open for visit, but you can walk around the other palace. Again, no pictures inside, you’re not even allowed to sketch it (lol, seriously?)! But it’s certainly worth a visit, although it takes a lot of time to see everything.

Kinkakuji - The golden Pavilion

Last on this day tour was the Kinkakuji (the golden pavilion).

The Kinkakuji is the original temple with gold coating (real gold, yes). And the Ginkakuji (the silver one) was inspired by this building. We saw the temple in the sunset, making it a very nice sight for the eyes (but not that great for the camera’s to take decent pictures)

When compared the two alloy temples; on this site the temple is a lot more beautiful... but the surrounding gardens here were a total mess.

Even Steven is not impressed by the temple "garden"

End of the trip - Let's have a drink!

After the long bus ride home (26 stops or so, it took an hour), we walked back to K’s House.

For our last night, we had some new guests in our room (3 Canadians: 2 girls and a guy). After meeting with them, we met with Colette one last time (she remained a bit longer in Japan, we had to leave the day afterwards).

First off, one last time to Manzo's for dinner (we all ordered special dishes. I had some fried potato (the sweet one) and a fried shrimp with mayonessa (which took long to prepare, but was very good).

After our visit to Manzo, we went back to the Zen cafe, where we drank some more Belgian beers and I ordered some more Takoyaki (it’s really good). Apparently, it was appreciated, if you spot the message in the photo.

After a while, I started to feel really tired (it's been a long day of touring). I went to bed, while the others had some more beers. This time, it was my time to crash early. I said my goodbyes to Colette and off I go.

Tips when traveling Japan - Experiment with unknown flavors

One thing you probably remember about Japan's culture is the variety of weird snacks and drinks. And yes, it IS true: Japan DOES have an enormous amount of weird snacks and drinks. And you can find them EVYERWHERE!

You probably heard of the awfully-named Pokari Sweat? It's almost a classic in Japanese vending machines and it's really not bad. It just tastes like other sport drinks, like Aquarius or Gatorade.

And next to weird names, Japan has also lots of variety in weird tastes. So much, that you often can not find snacks or drinks with classic tastes (like regular cola, salted potato chips, or regular peanuts).

Given brands like Coca Cola, Fanta or Minute Maid are often only available in weird, experimental flavors like: Strawberry Cream Fanta (I like strawberries, but this is horrible!) or Minute Maid with Aloe and White Grapes with actual pieces of real aloe inside (this was surprisingly good).

And certain snack brands experiment like you've never seen before. For example, Kitkat has dozens of different flavors in Japan, way more than here in Europe or in the States. And you should try some of them. Some taste weird, others are amazingly good.

This aloe and White Grape juice was surprisingly good.

My advice: think outside of the box and leave your classic tastes behind. Experiment! Pick some random potato chips, some random drinks, or some random snacks and see what happens.

Some will taste good, others will taste bloody awful.

But if I can give you one piece of advice: Beware of fish snacks!

Japan is a fisherman country and thus a LOT of their snacks are fish-related or have fish-taste. Don't be alarmed if your salami has an unexpected fish flavor, or if a random bag of potato chips appears to be anchovy-flavored. The easiest ones to spot are the dried fish snacks. They not only taste weird, they look disgusting as well. But you should try it (although I will forgive you if you don't like it).

On a side-note: If you are allergic to fish, I do advice you to analyze all snack wraps carefully for traces of fish.