What’s the deal with the NSB stuff? I’d quite like to go along and form a team maybe if anyone is interested. Any English details kicking about? I played at quite a high level in the UK (National championships top 16, SvB etc) but I’m a little rusty (was ranked top10 Ibuki on XBL but not played for a couple of months).
Any details would be more than welcomed, I’ll be at the loctest in Osaka saturday morning as well if anyone is about.
NSB - Nagoya Street Battle, 3on3, double elim style tourney.
I went to the last one, it was hype and the nomikai afterwards was awesome too despite being the only gaijin in the crowd.
Too bad cant make it to the next one. Id get you more info but im kinda busy at the moment… maybe those who are going can post more info regarding the event.
I know its on 23rd Sept and going to be held at the same place as before…
translate this page… lol… use rikaichan or summin
sorry wish id have the time to do more.
I think I’d prolly have less fun if i had to babysit a buncha 6-12 year old kids in Tokyo. 
Thanks hfz! I might just head along indeed. Will see if I run into any fellow gaijin at the loctest this weekend who are going.
elstob, Im still looking for teammates if you are interested.
I didnt know there was a nomikai afterwards! Now im even MORE hype to go! lol
lol the nomikai was between me and the ps3 irc people… its not part of nsb or anything lol
oh, well ill im sure ill find somewhere/someone to drink with anyway
oh cool. can you just sign up on the day? PM me your keitai if you like so we can liaise on the day 
- do you know where it is in Nagoya?
Az and I are probably teaming up, and will probably need a teammate as well!
You going to be at the loctest this weekend reno?
1000000% agree. It feels like it creates a barrier and that you can never feel accepted, even if it’s true (which seems so from some of you guys’ posts) it still feels like shit knowing it. I mean, I’ve lived in London all my life where there’s probably 50% white people and 50% other races so I’ve never felt that I haven’t belong before. But yeah, this is me and I’ll leave this discussion for some other time/place. Another awesome post, man, I can’t thank you enough for your quality posts.
How did you respond to that? Anger, confusion? Honestly, I can’t imagine what I would respond with if someone asked me that.
See you folks at the loketest. You’ll most likely see me playing Chun or Juri!
have fun waiting in line! lol
i came early for the loctest in tokyo and played 2 rounds and then bounce.
Ha, if it’s gonna be massively packed in the morning (which I’m guessing it will be) I’ll play a few rounds, get my ass beat into next week, then head to out to do some sightseeing and grab some okonomiyaki!
That or stick around and try to get some revenge on some players. I lost 9-0 to this Claw player today, most rounds were so close and I couldn’t just take my loss and walk away. Until I ran out of coins that is. xD
I plan on getting a card, waiting in line, playing once, picking Sakura for the card and then hanging out, playing other games, going to denden town etc. I see it more as a gathering for hanging out than for the sake of playing a lot.
Exactly. Anyways, I’ll be the 6ft+ white guy in the crowd. Come say hi! >_<
I’ll be at NSB; I’ll team with anyone, just going to have a good time and maybe win a game or two. Been in Nagoya for 2 months; haven’t found anywhere really cool yet, but I know the drinking spots + arcades.
Japan is one huge irrational, unpredictable multi-wrapped** paradox.
There are usually a few phases you go through being a foreigner in Japan.
The Honeymoon in Disneyland Phase
Everything is new, lots to see and do, Japanese are warm and inviting. You don’t know the language and don’t worry about it so there’s no problem. People who stay a while, go home, and spread myths about Japan being a magical utopia, full of genki people and easy money (and pussy).
The Welcome to the Wherdafaqarwi Tribe Phase
Japan is no longer paradise and you feel frustrated with the language, cultural differences are more prominent, social obstructions are discovered, you feel constant treatment of being an outsider, you get frustrated finding an apartment, trying to get a credit card, or functioning in society. You find some of the young Japanese have been really friendly more to practice their own English than to become genuine friends. You meet other foreigners who vent their stress by attacking nearly everything about Japan, making huge generalizations about Japanese people (esp. women), etc. and think they know everything about Japan because they just do the same things every day. Thinking they have all the answers to everything wrong with Japan and saying “why can’t they do it like this?”. These types who go home for good usually don’t have many nice things to say about Japan, spread misinformation on the internet and may permanently hold a grudge or three.
The Wakatta Phase
If you stick it out and take a vacation once in a while, you see both the good and the bad of Japan and your own country, and appreciate the best of both worlds. It’s possible you might have a love-hate relationship with Japan, but generally speaking, you’ll have a thicker skin and greater tolerance than most people back home. (Yeah I realize I didn’t mention anything about Japan necessarily changing their views about you… =/)
I say just keep an open mind, learn about yourself as well as Japan and where you’re from, and don’t let negativity creep in. (If you’re SE Asian, I can’t tell you shit - you’ve got a much harder time here. Respect!!)
On the other side of the coin, many Japanese who’ve lived abroad are viewed supiciously. If their English is “too good”, they might be ostracized. For example. kikoku shijo (people who have spent time abroad and can speak English fluently) get some pretty nasty bullying at school. There in an exception to this rule – If one becomes a Japanese celebrity, all is forgiven. You are instead the pinnacle of Japanese achievement.
On the whole, the Japanese people ARE very warm, helpful, and gracious to the western visitor. One can attain a lot of personal growth as well as make a lot of good, genuine(!) friends in Japan. Only when you try to go deeper into the Japanese society does the resistance start. Like any culture, there are unwritten social rules people are expected to follow but are intuitive to the natives. Since Japan is not so forward in explaining these social rules and a lot of foreigners feel like they can’t “crack their shell”, and a lot of “second phase” people (as I explained above) go home pissed off and spread disinformation about Japan, a lot of these rules are not communicated or learned and so we keep going in circles.
**I’ll give you an easy way to remember all of this, by going back to what I said about Japan being a multi-wrapped paradox. Okay, you know how everything in Japan is wrapped up? Things you buy are put in wrapping paper, then into a box which is put into a bag then put into another bag type shit, blah blah blah? That’s Japan. In all aspects.
Physically, mentally, everything exists inside of something else, all with layers like an onion. Individually wrapped snacks. Houses with gates, front door, genkan, etc. all layered. The language has multiple layers of formality (keigo, etc.) You have layers like Tatemae/Honne and Uchi/Soto (explained earlier). So on and so forth.
It you are with a company and introducing yourself you would normally put the uchi first then your name - family name(another uchi) then first name. So instead of “Ben Dover” it would be something like ?Capcom no Dover Ben?.
Once you become part of the uchi and are no longer the soto you are basically given another set of uchi/soto rules, just on a more intimate and less formal level.
You’ll be an uchi with many groups and many levels within those groups. Likewise a soto with others.
hey im SE asian… japan aint so hard… sure theres a few cons, but it aint as hard as how most people make it out to be :shrugs:… maybe because i can speak japanese? (albeit far from perfect)
I meant in terms of institutional discrimination and anti-immigrant sentiment along with government, police and media portrayal of SE Asians as being likely to commit crime.
hmm i think maybe malaysia is sort of an exception? japan-malaysia ties is pretty good, a lot of japanese people come visit malaysia every year and many of them go there to retire too… plus, japan did horrible things to malaysians back then(WWII days?) somehow some of them still feel responsible or summin, ive met a few japanese who apologized to me for the atrocities of japanese soldiers back then. and i was like, thanks but its not like youre the one doing it, plus not to say that i dont care but thats history, things in the past done by people in the past, as far as im concerned we cool :). lol
i know a lot of malaysians in japan and i dont think ive heard any of them tell stories of harsh discrimination and stuff like that… maybe im not askin the right people… :shrugs:
in a way im glad i havent really get to experience such discrimination, to almost a point of curiousity about how true it is… i guess if im a syakai jin in japan, it might open some new perspective on this issue…