Robot Claw – Page 20 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

Zoffy

June 13, 2025

I started early with a walk through Shinjuku park. I did this to kill time because I’m waking well before any shops open, so since my first goal was Shinjuku I got off a station early and walked through the park. It was nice to see some nature, and the mosquitoes were happy to see me as well!

I was absolutely and utterly ruined. My muscles were in tatters and even the reserve tanks of my reserve tanks of energy were drained. In truth I couldn’t understand how I could even walk.!A quick early lunch helped, and I ventured into shinjuku to visit the usual shops.

Shinjuku is a bit of a maze, and I’m not even talking about the famously labyrinthine station. Coming from the park brought me into the city via it’s late-night district and while most establishments were closed it was still worth a walk through to see all the host/hostess clubs and unusual bars.

With my Shinjuku shipping complete I headed over to Shibuya (2 stops from Shinjuku), went to Mandarake and a few other shops, and made a few purchases that confirmed the need for a third suitcase. After returning to Akiba I took care of that. The selection was astonishing so it took me forever to pick and I hope I got a good one. I’ll fill it with more goodies to bring back to KLS!

My exhaustion had returned and in addition the heat and humidity had got to me again. I ate my spaghetti dinner quickly since my plan was to spend the evening playing games in Hirose Entertainment Yard (my favourite arcade of all time).

And then it happened. While searching for something at Yellow Submarine I happened to stop into the Lashinbang store in Radio Kaikan ‘just to see’ if they still had the massive Zoffy vinyl we saw back at Christmas time. They did.

I estimated the size of the box, legged it back to my room to see if it would fit in a suitcase (it didn’t seem likely), legged it back to Lashinbang so I could make a more accurate measure of the box and then return to my room again to confirm that no, it wouldn’t fit in my luggage.

Despite this, as I was heading back again to Lashinbang I texted KLS and urged her to talk me out of buying it. She did the opposite, probably because she knew I’d already made up my mind. And so I bought this:

It’s big. Very big. And I’ve wanted him since I saw him at Christmas!

The problem is he doesn’t fit into any of my luggage. He’s too big! I bought him well aware of this fact.

That will be a problem for me to tackle tomorrow since now it’s time for me to go to bed 🙂

Game Boys

June 12, 2025

Most of the games I sold last year were for various versions of the Game Boy, and the sale was very lucrative since this is a market which has been exploding in value. On this trip I’ve been keeping an eye on Game Boy hardware in particular, which is increasing in value much faster than other retro consoles.

Look at these GBAs for example. Nintendo sold over 80 million of these and you’d think the value would be low as a result. But finding good quality ones (with battery cover, no scratches etc.) isn’t easy and finding ones with rare colour schemes is very difficult. Even so, $500+ surprised me.

But look at these limited edition versions! I’d never even heard of the one on top (sold only at the NYC Pokemon store, which no longer exists) and the one on the bottom was a special version sold in Japan only when Mother 3 was released. As you can see, each were priced at well over $1000.

But even those prices are nothing compared to ¥660000 (about $4600) for this limited Pokémon Game Boy SP! And it’s not even in pristine condition! Surely this is the holy grail of SP collecting? I’ve still got two SPs, and I was intrigued to note that even unboxed common versions go for $200+ now.

The above is a Game Boy micro faceplate – just a little plastic thing that clips onto the front. At $200+ this is eye-opening so I did some research and this was a Japan-only Club Nintendo reward for cashing in Nintendo Points! You’d have to be a maniac collector to buy this one.

It always bothered me that the Game Boy Light was never sold outside Japan (because it was released just before the GBA) and I always wanted one since it’s the only GB model I don’t own. Like a fool I let the years pass without buying one and now even unboxed standard versions are $500+. Or you can get this Osamu Tezuka limited version for $1000…

Or this Pokémon one for $3200! What’s surprising about this particular item is I took the photo in a Bookoff used shop. Bookoff is a great chain and you can sometimes find rare items in them but I think this is by far the most expensive thing I’ve ever seen. I wonder if the person with pockets deep enough for this will find it?

Incidentally Pokémon games continue to dominate the used GB/GBA markets. The guy I sell games to says he can’t keep them in, and when I sold him all mine last year he already had a buyer lined up! (Admittedly mine were in close to mint collection.) The used game stores here are full of old Pokémon games, and even loose cartridges these days go for many times their original retail price.

You’ll have noticed a distinct Pokémon subtheme on this post, as one of the driving forces behind GB collectibility is people still playing old Pokémon games on original hardware. Here’s a $1000+ Pokémon original DS (which I also didn’t know existed) and while I didn’t take photos the various Pokémon-branded DS models fetch predictably high prices as well.

And on the topic of DS’s, one of my game regrets is never buying a 2DS. I thought it was weird when it was released but in the back of my mind always planned on getting one for my collection. But I didn’t and they disappeared from stores very quickly. They’re rare in used shops, and as you can see even imperfect examples are expensive. One of the shops in Akiba has a sealed boxed version in a case, but it’s labeled ‘Not For Sale’!

If you’ve got a Game Boy or one of the many follow-ups be sure to keep it in good condition. It’s probably worth quite a bit more than you’d think 🙂

Gran Class To Tokyo

June 12, 2025

I caught the train back to Tokyo today, once again in Gran Class. Here’s the entire car:

And here’s my seat:

The seats are extremely adjustable, and can nearly full recline. They also have active suspension, so you don’t feel all the usual bumps of train travel. To say they are comfortable is understatement, and I’ll admit I slept a bit during the 4.5 hour journey from Hakodate to Ueno.

The friendly attendant kept offering me food and drink (there were only me and one other person in the car for most of the trip) and I kept saying I was ok, but eventually I asked for some juice and she gave me this very tiny can of apple 🙂

The view was like this for much of the way, which I’ve many times mentioned I love. Of course there’s also an undersea tunnel connecting Honshu and Hokkaido, and now I’ve gone through it in both directions! At its deepest the tunnel is 240 m below sea level, and it takes about 20 minutes to pass through. It’s the longest underwater tunnel in the world!

Interestingly the tunnel has two stations in it (yes, underwater) that are no longer used but remain for potential evacuation purposes. Before the Shinkansen ran the route and they sent ‘normal’ trains through the tunnel they used to stop at the stations for tourist purposes!

When we got to Ueno I noticed the train had gained a ‘friend’ at some point and where I originally had been in the last car there was now an entire additional train attached to the back 🙂

My final thoughts on Gran Class: the comfort level is astounding, and I’d love to be able to fly in such a seat all the way home. But it’s also true that Gran Class is very expensive. Converted to USD, the return fare from Tokyo to Hakodate was about $150, and the Gran Class upgrade was about $450 extra, which means I paid four times a normal ticket. It also takes longer and costs much more than flying! But for the experience, I’m absolutely happy I did it, and if you ever have the option I’d suggest considering it as well.

I’m staying in Akihabara now for the remainder of this vacation, and I’ve got a typically tiny room that I’ll be comfy in. I’ll be focusing on shopping and game centers anyway and only using the room for packing and sleeping!

Speaking of game centers, I finally got myself to Takadanobaba to visit the second Mikado retro arcade (the other is in Ikebukuro and I blogged about it last year). This one is smaller, with a basement full of pinball machines – a very rare sight in Japan – and a second floor full of mostly obscure shoot-em-ups. It’s rare I see an arcade shooter I’ve not heard of and today about half these games were new to me.

I played several games, and had a flip though one of their guest books. These are always fun, and sometimes I feel people spend more time drawing in them than actually playing games 🙂

Lunch was Kura, and I sat at the counter between two tiny Japanese women who each ate multiples of what I did. Their tempura shrimp nigiri is so good, although I need to return to Sushiro to have some hamburger sushi again before I leave.

Then it was back to Akihabara for a bit of night shopping. I bought stuff, saw more stuff I may buy, and saw even more stuff I’d love to buy but for various reasons can’t, like this cocktail Qix cab:

Isn’t it amazing that’s just sitting there in a shop and can be yours for only $3500! Sights like this is one of the reasons I love Akihabara so much 🙂