2 posts tagged “book off”

Another Christmas has come and gone.  This is my favorite time of the year.  I love the lights and music of the season.  I love the chill in the air.  I get to see my family around the holidays.  And of course I was born in December. 

But to be honest, I am past the point in my life where I wake up with tons of stuff under the tree with my name on it.  I enjoy getting gifts for the important people in my life, and I have fun watching my young nieces get excited about the pending arrival of Santa Claus.  My brother and I have made a tradition of getting drunk while putting toys together late on Christmas Eve.  That's my Christmas fun!

What I really enjoy is getting presents for myself while holiday shopping.  This year my birthday present to myself was an Iphone.  I love it!  It's great having access to myblogs and IW on my phone, and I have already loaded the ipod with hundreds of J-pop songs.  My old Motorola Razr was totally on the fritz anyway!  And for Christmas?

If you read my Japan travelogue posts, you might remember me talking about all of the great stuff I found at Book Off, which is a major used book/CD/DVD chain in Japan.  I later learned that they have four locations in California.  [US Location Site]  Since I was making my annual trip to Newport Beach to spend Christmas, I figured I would stop at the three L.A. Area Book Off locations to see if I could find a few random gems...

                                                      (Book Off, Near Gotanda Station-Tokyo)

1st Stop: Rolling Hills Location (Pacific Coast Highway and Crenshaw)

First rule, never take Crenshaw Blvd to the coast.  the street was packed all the way.  It took forever!  This store is in a huge outdoor mall.  Luckily the shop was located near the driveway I pulled into.  Now forgive me for sounding jaded, but the selection was fractional compared to the stores in Tokyo.  I did figure it would be like that, but it was still a little disappointing.  No AKB48, a few Momusu CD's, but they did have a decent selection of photobooks.  I saw a few Maki Horikita books (didn't buy them, bad move) and three from H!P.  Abe Natsumi's "Cam On" was the only one I didn't have, so I bought it...for $19.

2nd Stop: Gardena Location (Redondo Beach Blvd. and Western)

In a little strip mall, this was the busiest of the three stores I visited.  Sadly, it had the worst H!P collection of all the locations I went to.  Ironically, it was the largest of the three stores!  I didn't see any PB's there at all.  The only H!P CD they had that I didn't own a copy of was Ongaku Gatas' 1st Goodsal, for $30!!!  Forget it, I left this store emptyhanded.

3rd Stop: Costa Mesa Location (Harbor and Baker)

This is a mile away from my brothers house, lucky bastard!  Also in a little strip mall.  It is right across the street from a Kinokuniya Book Store, which usually has plenty of H!P stuff, but at double the price of what you would pay online. (Try $70 for a Berryz Kobo concert DVD!)  Of the three locations, this one had the best selection.  There were around 20 H!P photobooks, although they were all old.  Quite a few CD singles, and a few concert DVD's.  If you are in Southern California, this is the Book Off I would recommend.  So what did I get myself for Christmas?  A whole bunch of Ayaya...

Matsuura Aya First Photobook (2001)
Matsuura Aya 2003 Haru ~Matsu Ringu Pink~ DVD
Matsuura Aya Concert Tour 2003 Aki ~Ayaya Hit Parade~ DVD
Aya no DNA, drama starring Matsuura Aya

They also had two copies of the Aijou Ippon Box Set, the TV series where Ayaya works in a dojo.  But it was pretty expensive, so I skipped it...for now!

I know it's pretty old stuff, but one can never have too much Ayaya.  So it was a decent haul.  By the way, the only AKB48 to be found at any of the stores was the Team B shirt I was wearing, which drew some curious looks from the staff!  I consoled myself by purchasing the History of AKB48 book online later that night!

Overall, not bad.  It just makes me look forward to my next trip to Japan.

CK in California

Remind me to kill Catch Five Bats from Obnoxious Wota when I get home...

Actually, I should be thanking him.  It is because I have spent so much time searching for PB's that he wants that I have found so many great used H!P and AKB48 things, and at such cheap prices too.  Most all of the old photobooks are less than $5.  Book Off is a used book/CD/DVD chain throughout Japan.  Their inventory is huge!  So chances are you will find most anything you want there.  Geez, I wish I had more room in my suitcase!  That said...

Can you believe the brand new Nacchi and Reina PB's were on sale there for $19.  Reina's just came out!  That old AKB48 Jump & Cry book was a few dollars more.  But the W book and Maeda Aki (from Battle Royale) were cheap!

Most of the CD's and DVD's they had were already in my collection, but I did pick up that Morning Musume PV collection for $9, and the two AKB48 concert DVD's were $24 a piece.  They sell for almost $70 online!!!

The Search for Tokyo Koseinenkin Kaikan

Since neither Celestia from Bikkuri Project nor I have ever been to this venue.  I decided to take a ride to Shinjuku so I could map out the place.  Shinjuku is a major shopping area near Shibuya, and they have lots of musicand anime shops.  They also seem to have a few kinky stores too from what I noticed.  I finally found the venue, but I missed it the first time because the map shows it on a sidestreet.  But it is right on Yasukuni Dori, which is a major boulevard.  But my favorite thing about Shinjuku is this billboard just outside the East entrance of Shinjuku station.  Hello Ayaya!

Putting the Exclamation Point on AKB48

Now I am not completely finished with my AKB48 experience.  I am meeting some friends tonight after the last Team B show to exchange goods.  They had me buy them the new AKB48 calendar because they were afraid the "first press" versions would run out.  And in exchange they are giving me a free copy of the Theater Edition of Oogoe Diamond!  FYI, I did manage to get into see Team K on Thursday night with my Cancel Machi ticket.

I watched the first 45 minutes of K-4 from the cafe on Monday, but this time I actualy got into the Theater!.  The first set of songs prior to the introductions are great.  Total energy, with that cute song in the middle. And the 16 sisters song is adorable too.  I'm a Meetan fan, but my three fave girls of the night were Natsuki Sato, Risa Naruse, and Kana Kobayashi...all have great stage presence.  But hell, they were all awesome.  Tomomi Kasai was so cute, every time she talks the crowd screams "Kawaii". Do they always do that?  They end the show with Oogoe Diamond. I also liked the second to last song before the encore.

Last night I won a ticket to see Team A fifth stage, or I should say A/Kenkyuusei-5, as half of Team A was missing.  No Yukari Sato, Mai Oshima, Tomomi Itano, and no Mendol cast (Kojima, Takahashi, Minegishi).  So half of the group were girls I didnt recognize as I haven't followed the Research Students yet.  If I had never seen Team A before, I would've been really disappointed.  Plus this will definitely not be the last time I visit Japan (2nd time in 8 months, with plans to come back already).  I don't want to be too critical of the stage, would like to see it with all of Team A.  But the Kenkyuusei did a really good job.  It was awkward at times, some noticeable mistakes. But you could tell they were excited to be performing it.  The plus side is it forced some of the newer A members to step it up.  And I thought Fujie Reina (who I adore) was very good.  And Miyazaki Miho really impressed me!  There was a cute MC segment where they are asking Nozofisu about Halloween (It was Halloween night here) and she was totally confused.  Later they all started talking about the Gaijin in Roppongi dressed as monsters, and how scary they are (LOL)

 Half way through the stage I wasn't liking that much.  Keep in mind, I was blown away by K-4 last night, with everyone present but Oshima Yuko.  It wasnt until the last song before the second MC that I started getting into it. But the stage from that point forward was excellent.  The Christmas song was good, and there is a song where they wave flags (I bought a flag to wave along) that is great.  It was the second to last before the encore.  AKB Sanjou! was awesome, probably my favorite of the night.  My group got called 18th of 23 (uggh) so I had a really bad vantage point.  But I kept my eyes fixed on Acchan the entire night.  So I'm sure she cought my glance at least once. (I'm a gaijin, taller than most Japanese, so easy to spot)

 Overall, I'll take K-4 over A-5 any day, but props to the research students for giving their all.  And I am still hoping to win a ticket for Team B on Sunday!  Oh, and here's what I have purchased "so far" from the AKB48 Theater (oops, forgot to put Ohori Meshibe CD/poster in the pic)...

So now my focus switches to Hello! Project as I am seeing Berryz Kobo today.  They are playing in Fuji-shi, which is about an 80 minute ride via the Shinkansen (Bullet Train).  Jeez, I need to leave soon!  I know it isn't on the setlist at Wiki.theppn, but I really hope they perform their latest single Madayade!  Then I am seeing Morning Musume Sunday and Monday night.  It's going to be great!  I have tons more to talk about.  I will post my next report tonight!

Actually, for many of you that's tomorrow, or this morning...I'm confused!!!  Happy Halloween, Mata ne!

CK in California