blakerson.com

OK, here's the truth behind why I learned Japanese, majored in it, and came to Japan:

Games.

I've usually said that's my reason for studying the language, but I'd try to mute it by saying it was my dream 10 years ago, when I was a pre-teen reading gaming magazines about Japanese design luminaries, and thinking I'd like to someday pick the language up, as if on a whim.

Truth is, that dream never faded. Not for a second. Games were my encouragement when Japanese studies got difficult. They were my primary motivation to come to Japan in the first place.

Over the last year, I've gotten to live the dream. And I don't mean by buying tons of games as if I were an anime collector fresh off the train to Akihabara. My dream from 10 years ago was to play a Shigeru Miyamoto game in its original form.

If you don't know that name, you certainly know his work. He's the guy behind Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, the Wiimote, and most of the other Nintendo classics.

A little over 6 months ago, the dream had become reality: I picked up a Wii and Super Mario Galaxy. And today, I finished it.

In those several months, I learned a lot about that dream and what it meant. The game's Japanese certainly gave me a few chuckles, but I learned that over the last 10 years game translation has come a long way. Whether you're playing Mario, Gran Turismo, or Metal Gear, English ain't all that bad. I'm holding off another month on this year's big game - Metal Gear Solid 4 - for that exact reason.

And sometimes, the Nintendo magic just ain't what it used to be. Super Mario Galaxy is a wonderful game, but it's a solid 9 out of 10 that should have been a perfect 10.

It may sound like 'so far, so jaded,' but today there was a big, big upswing. The credit roll.

As soon as I got that 60th star, killed Bowser, saved Peach, and saw the game's plot resolution with those cute little star characters, the credits came down the screen.

For the first time in my life, in Japanese.

The first name in the list: under Design Director, Shigeru Miyamoto. The guy who started it all for me. The inspiration to me, countless gamers, and even a few legendary modern designers.

But when it came across the screen, it read:

宮本　茂

and that's a good thing. That name may be hieroglyphics to you. Hell, this entire post may be Greek to you. But to tell you the truth, I'm getting an ever-increasing grin at the knowledge that today I accomplished one of my life's greatest dreams.

Last weekend in Tokyo was the JET Program Job Fair, an exercise in rounding up 300 socially awkward JET members in front 30 of the sleaziest people I've ever seen in Japan, promising employment to people desperate to stay in Japan for whatever reason.

Why did I go? Good question. Curiosity, I guess. Hint for future JET participants: don't go.

Square Enix was the only game company on hand, and I sat down at their booth to ask a question; something along the lines of, "Do you have openings in marketing? Do you do events?" This turned into a short conversation, which turned disdainful once my Square rep learned that I had only played Final Fantasy X. (Although in retrospect, I have also played 7, 8, 12, parts of Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG, but they didn't exactly spring to mind.)

Today I received a lovely little email from somebody in Square HR. Turns out I had interviewed with them and not known it. And been turned down for "a job" at Square. What job that would have been, I have no clue. While I generally disagree with posting private conversations or emails, this is just too good to pass up.

Dear Blake Ellison-san

Thank you for visiting the booth of SQUARE ENIX. in the finding JET employment fair for the other day.

Result of in-house examination,it became no interview to you as the next step.

I am very sorry for not rewarding your apply.

But,we are very pleased with your interest to SQUARE ENIX.

We hope that you get job worth doing.

Thank you.

SQUARE ENIX Co.,Ltd.

I'm really trying to avoid being one of those people who graduates from school and decides they've "grown out" of writing their own stuff. It's one thing to get too busy to do it, but 90% of people who shut down their accounts on Xanga/Blogger/Wordpress/etc. do it out of lack of interest.

Weak sauce, I say. If you want to bring down the number of entries, great, but I think few people have compelling enough reasons to stop being as expressive as they were before. It's cool that newer outlets are making people *more* expressive, too: my brother was never publicly read until he started writing Facebook notes and in just a few entries he's shown himself to be sophisticated, funny, and stylistically very talented. His stuff just screams "diamond in the rough," as if those same parts of his brain got used towards being a musician instead of honing his writing style.

I, on the other hand, have no excuse other than a job situation which is OK with me *reading* anything on a computer, but frowns upon me being communicative or expressive on work time, because that's a giveaway that I'm doing "private things" at work as far as my Japanese superiors are concerned. That alone makes me look forward to getting an American job in a certain respect.

Moral of the story: this blog ain't dead, and while I'm a bit short on epiphanies these days, I'm challenging myself to step up and be interesting.

So, in an homage to my older blogging days, here's what I'm consuming, and maybe you should be too:

What I'm listening to
Lots of hip-hop at the moment. In the last year we've had new albums from Common, Talib Kweli, and Lupe Fiasco, and they're collectively a bit darker, a bit funkier, a bit more grittier than their respective earlier records. But they're all good, so go get them.

What I'm reading
Wired.com is the best reading material I've come across in a while. It's a great mix of internet culture, tech news, and Silicon Valley Doings that's all written by a pretty accomplished collection of contributors. I especially recommend the Autopia, Gadget Lab, and Threat Level blogs within the site, and the online postings of magazine features each month.

What I'm playing
My game habits are thrown out of whack, since my multiplayer abilities are limited out here. If I were in the States, it'd be solid Super Smash Bros. Brawl. But instead, my Japanese Wii looks forlorn as I give more attention to my PS3 (and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue), and even more to my Xbox 360 (Halo 3 is still the multiplayer king). I'm looking forward to getting home so I can catch up on a lot of co-operative games and throw a gaming party or two.

In the meantime, I'm getting some rare single-player quality time. I finally finished the Halo 3 campaign. Call of Duty 4 was the best game of last year. Super Mario Galaxy is a 9 out of 10 - a massive improvement in recent Mario years, but it still doesn't outdo Super Mario 64.

Also, I did something I never do: I preordered a game. Grand Theft Auto 4, the American version, is to be delivered to my doorstep sometime in the near-ish future. I'm going to be massively sucked in.

Where I'm going
Mom's coming to visit me in Japan! It's going to be a whirlwind week and a half covering Tokyo and Kyoto, and long story short we'll basically be seeing everything that you can catch a glimpse of in Lost in Translation. We're even staying in the same hotel. At first, I was unspeakably excited about living like a rockstar with Mom for the trip. She hasn't had a vacation in something like 15 years, so it's all 5-star hotels and first-class tickets. If you know my mom, you get what's going on here. Then it hit me that it's pathetic to be excited for stuff that my mom's money is buying, and I should be much more excited that it's Mom and she's coming to see me. And I have gotten excited about it. I'm happy to be really sharing Japan with someone for once. Konnichiwhoa might be interesting to read once in a while, and the pictures might be cool, but it's a world apart from constantly having to explain things you see on the street, explaining random cultural idiosyncracies, translate everything from ads to restaurant menus to what shopkeepers say. And out of all the people who've had to put up with my Japan fascination, she's had to bear more of it than anyone - she paid for my degree in Japanese, and I had to fight for that. It's going to be an awesome, fun-filled, classy week and a half.

5 years ago, my best mates and I were hopelessly addicted to Super Smash Bros. Melee. In fact, everyone I knew played it. We once had a 64-player tournament at Aroon's with almost 64 human players.

4 years later, the lifestyle of Smash lived on - every holiday break begat night after night at Thomas's. He, the only one who never owned a Gamecube, schooled us over and over and taunted us from his beloved "ZONE OF PAIN!"

As soon as I read about the return of the Hyrule stage for the next Smash game, Thomas's words came straight back into my head.

It's on, Thomas.

We've hit a high point in gaming. Within two weeks of each other, Halo 3 and The Orange Box (which itself is a bundle of 3 very highly anticipated games) both made it to market after years of anticipation.

On top of that, I'm finally an Xbox 360 owner, which means my time is *also* being split on the Xbox Live Arcade greats - Geometry Wars, Catan, Pac-Man CE, and Lumines.

We haven't had a time like this for gaming in several years. It's the kind of thing that comes around once in a blue moon, and it's a great opportunity for long-estranged gaming buddies to suddenly reunite. Just yesterday, I played a round of Halo 3 with an old UT friend who I hadn't been in contact with since I was a Halo 2 player in my second year of college.

I spent my weekend like this, engaged in what gamers call anything from "the zone" to "the gamer's haze" to "ubergaming." And on Monday at lunch, I went and crossed a big, big barrier:

I officially became old.

It's a sensation that hits many college grads - the going to bed early, the lack of energy as the ennui of work sets in, the falling out of love with clubbing, the sudden eagerness to watch Grey's Anatomy as a form of bonding with the opposite sex. But there's one sign that beats all of those that you're officially old:

You get an injury when playing with your students.

When playing "indoor baseball" with my kids, I hit the ball with the very end of my fist instead of the center. This bent back my wrist so hard I thought it was broken for a split-second. It's actually just sprained and threw my carpals way out of whack, but it hurts like hell and it'll impact my ability to use the computer (and maybe play games) for a long time to come.