Venus of the Desert Bloom

Speculation theory of the Day in Japanese Smash groups: the 7-11 pop up ads are just advertisements to help recover sales and interest in a dlc season that’s underperforming. The 10/4 date will pass without so much of an announcement of Fighter #7.

I personally don’t subscribe to this but I just felt like sharing it.

Finally got around to going to 7-11...

In Japan, you can send kids to a preschool midway through the year. Technically, preschool is classified as kindergarten in English and kids go to there from 3 years old to 1st grade. However, most preschools have room for so many students so if the nearest one is full, you have to go to a different one. At times, none are available so tough luck; your kid can’t go to school until first grade. Some families will commute more than an hour to go to an available preschool/kindergarten. Plus, the government is closing many of them for reasons unknown to me. In my city alone, we have ten schools and they are closing five of them within three years. We are trying to enroll my daughter in one so she can start in October but of the ten available to us, 8 rejected our applications and interviews either due to space or simply they won’t want her attending. So one of our last options is the Christian kindergarten that’s ran by a local church. As much as my wife and I are against organized religions, our options are limited. They were actually one of the more accepting and friendly of the kindergartens though which was nice. One of the principals at one of the places we tried earlier flat out said “we don’t accept foreign students” even though my daughter is technically half American/Japanese and was born in Japan. She said my daughter’s appearance and mannerisms wouldn’t suit the environment of the kindergarten and may upset the other students and parents.

Q: What characters and series would you like me to cover in future Smashboards News Articles? Please pick three from this list and reply back!

1. Master Chief (Halo)
2. Rex & Pyra (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
3. Geno (Super Mario RPG)
4. Dante (Devil May Cry)
5. Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
6. Kratos (God of War)
7. Steve? (Minecraft)
8. Morrigan (Darkstalkers)
9. Nightmare (SoulCaliber)
10. Dragonborn (Elder Scrolls)
11. Spyro (Spyro)
12. Katalina (Granblue Fantasy)
13. Tracer (Overwatch)
14. Bill Rizer (Contra)
15. Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)
16. Hunter (Monster Hunter)
17. Ahri (League of Legends)
18. Jibanyan (Yokai Watch)
19. 8th Gen Pokémon (Sword and Shield)
20. Rayman (Rayman)
21. Agumon (Digimon)
22. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
23. Monokuma (Dangaranpa) (sp?)
24. Ezio (Assassin’s Creed)
25. Professor Layton (Professor Layton)

Currently working on the census. The census is already a headache but, in Japanese, guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh. So much kanji.

So I found Xenoblade 2 used for ¥2,000 ($20). Is it worth buying and can you switch the languages?

Next Monday and Tuesday are national holidays in Japan (Respect for the Elderly and the Autumn Equinox). Historically, Nintendo doesn’t make announcements, reveals, shadowdrops, or anything of that nature on Japanese national holidays. If we get anything, it’ll be later in the week or sometime the week after next.

:sets money aside for Rise:

Im not much of a Monster Hunter fan but Rise looks amazing. I really like its style and atmosphere.

Playstation 5: Yep, we got a new FF game! Hope you guys like it! :trailer shines with fantastical goodness;

Partner Showcase: Well....we got....My Life as a King Switch Port! Boooyah!

If you ask someone in Japan if they like Cowboy Bebop/Sailor Moon/Outlaw Star/Trigun, half of them would say they have no idea what those are (well, maybe Sailor Moon) while the other half will say they know they are but only because what they were very popular in the West but virtually unknown in Japan.

Yes, I’ve been asked if is Dan Crenshaw. It is not, it’s Snake. Solid, Naked, or otherwise.

What’s your favorite new smiley?

This is a question I get a lot from Japanese people:

“In your country, do you eat bread for every three meals?”

This is because the Japanese tend to eat rice for every three meals and failing to have rice with a meal sort of doesn’t make it a meal. This is more traditional thinking of course and younger people are more likely to bend that thinking a bit. When my wife and I go to the States to visit and then come back, she is always relieved and “at home” to sit down to eat a bowl of rice. Back to the main point, since bread is kind of nutritionally similar to rice, theh tend to think that “bread” is to foreigners as “rice” is to the Japanese. So I often tell them that people in my country don’t eat bread for every meal but we do eat it often which surprises them. I then go on to say that I often eat rice for every meal which further surprises them.

Here’s my prediction: Nintendo is going to do another Byleth-like reveal. The lack of concrete leaks shows they cracking down on insider info and preferring to keeping people in the dark until the last possible second. I think from hear on out, it will be more like Joker/Byleth/Min-Min.

Well, the worse of the storm has passed and thankfully there wasn’t much damage to my in-laws. The bad part was my father-in-law fractured his arm trying to support a window when a gust of wind blew him down. There’s minor damage to the house but nothing tremendous. They are assessing the rest of the region. I hope Korea can manage to hold out too as the storm moves northward.

Gimme a custom title:
Chaotic Good

Sorry for posting so much about this but I’m very worried about my friends and family so perhaps this is a way to cope



My area is where the blue ring is. My in-laws, friends, and other family lives right in the path of this storm. Right where you see a huge blotch of yellow and red. This storm won’t finish until 6 pm tomorrow!

Umbrella as flying missiles...

Good news: we got the wife and kids in an earlier flight back home from visiting the grandparents. They are all safely back.

Bad news: There’s still a super typhoon barreling straight to where the grandparents live and it’s being billed a “once in a life time storm” which officials saying the death and destruction caused by it will be “Catastrophic”. We tried getting the in-laws to come stay with us but they seem pretty intent in staying put. Please keep the people of Kyushu, which includes tons of family and friends, as they will have to deal with a 8+ hour superstorm.

Hello there, Bloom of the Venus Desert.

Stay safe during those storms coming your way, yeah?

Japan is getting hit with a double typhoon this week. One today and one on the weekend. Good news is both aren’t going to be bad where I am at. Bad news is both typhoons are going to hit where my wife, kids, and in-laws are and, if projections are true, the weekend typhoon is going to hit the area hard. They fly back on Sunday and we can’t change or alter the tickets unless they are cancelled due to weather or COVID. Even if they are cancelled, we can’t move the flight up to like Thursday or Friday but have to postpone it sometime next week like Monday or Tuesday. Thankfully, my in-laws house is strong and sturdy and built in a protective area against wind, flooding, and landslides. It survived the devastating Kumamoto 2016 earthquakes but still makes me anxious.

Yes, it’s 2020 and I’m still jamming to this 2010 song. In fact, I think this song is needed far more now than back then. Wherever you are, Epic Sax Guy, keep being epic.

Far shorter video but an introduction of my dinner for tonight.

Sorry for the poor quality but not sure why it is. Here’s the video!

So I have the house to myself for a couple of days while the kids are visiting family. Hopefully soon, I can post a video tour I took of the house! It’s going to be a unlisted link and I am going to remove it after a couple of days due to privacy.

Currently watching a show called “Run for Money” in Japan. Basically, various popular tv personalities, singers, athletes, artists, models, etc must survive by being chased by “genetically modified agents”. They must complete tasks or some missions while trying to outrun and survive against 3 or more of these agents. It’s insanely popular and a lot of fun to watch. The agents right now all have hi-tech masks on.


This one was a 2 hour special back at the start of 2020. It starts off slow but they take time to explain the situation (it’s easy to understand based on graphics) and you also get to watch Japanese commercials.

Well, the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is officially stepping down from his office after being the longest serving PM in Japanese history. While not confirmed, it’s highly speculated due to illness. He will make an announcement at 5 pm today (in 2 hours). It’s unknown who will succeed him but it’s speculated to be the Deputy PM, Taro Aso, a conservative hardliner, who was PM previously during the early 2000’s. From my observations talking to people, they are blindsided by this news and fairly uncertain due to the nature of the world currently. For those unfamiliar with Japanese politics, PM Abe was the guy who wore a Mario outfit after the ending 2016 Olympic ceremony in Rio to accept the Olympic torch for the now-postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

I am beyond happy. Japanese Netflix finally got Community. Now, if they could get Scrubs, Futurama, Office, and Parks & Rec, I’ll be all set.

In my latest blog post, I discussed what future Pikmin types I would like to see happen. Please give it a read here and I always appreciate a like or comment if you are active on Wordpress.

On that topic, what kind of Pikmin do you want to see appear?

What Gen 1 Pokemon would you have chosen instead of ? I explored which Pokemon that I felt were possible choices among the 151 list. Please take a look at some of the Pokémon I considered and my ultimate choice!
https://specularama.wordpress.com/2...ypuff-wasnt-the-second-gen-1-rep-in-smash-64/

I love revisiting game soundtracks I love and I found a new appreciation for Killer Instinct 2013. Not only is the soundtrack amazing but the game is perfectly balanced with amazing and awesome characters. I loved the soundtrack from the beginning but after going back and listening to it again, I’m blown away. I love Doom music (both Mick Gordon) but the KI soundtrack is so diverse but still enough to rock your socks off. One of my favs is still the theme song for Omen/Shadow Jago (despite not even maining them)

I have a work-mandated health check today. This is something we have to do every year during summer vacation and just a general medical checkup but it’s obviously going be a bit more sensitive due to COVID19. I generally don’t mind these as it takes like an hour and I know some of the hospital staff. But one thing I can’t stand about it is that in order to get satisfactory results, we are not to drink alcohol the night before and have to skip out on breakfast and lunch. My appointment isn’t until 3 Pm so I’ll be forcibly fasting until dinner time lol. It’s 5:50 am now and I’m already hungry >_<. The more I think about it, I get hungry. Maybe I shouldn’t of made this profile post then...

It’s 4:30 am now. I hate being the type that can’t go back to sleep after waking up...

I always enjoy some good Japanese pop and have been listening to since like 1990’s circa Utada Hikaru and stuff. I don’t really listen to the newer music but this is immensely popular like....crazy popular. This band is really exploding. I know my wife likes them a lot and I actually like them as well.

We bought my daughter a hamster for her birthday. Now, I’m going to try and teach a 3 year old “Taking Care of a Hamster 101”.

Have you seen the new see through public toilets yet? Gotta love it lol

Japan has a lot of fun and interesting shows, commercials, and such. As you can expect, Japanese kids shows teaching Japanese kids about Japanese language and culture is...well...just watch this compilation.

That illustration of Garrus is stunning.

I finally published the first Smash Bros. character article on my blog! Please go check it out and leave a comment! This first articles goes to the finest Attorney in all of gaming, Mr. Phoenix Wright!