I had the worst night sleep I had had for the entire trip. I woke up a number of times during the night for not explainable reason. So much for a good nights sleep! My body was getting used to the lack of rest, apparently!

We drove to Iversen Terrace to go through the changes we had made with Steve. He was happy with what was there, and picked it up quickly. We then drove to Hornby, where we had a few things to do – they had purchased a new computer so that needed configuring, and I also needed to install new drivers on their Player Login computers. This all went fairly smoothly.

Mark then drove us to the airport, where we paid for our excess baggage (6kg over between us) and managed to get exit row seats at no extra charge (on JetStar!!!). We went through immigration, and sat in the foot court, where we had brunch (at 1.45pm – so we were quite hungry). I’m looking forward to getting back in to a normal eating routine.

Eventually the plane arrived and it was boarding time. I had a fantastic time, saw some great sites, met some fantastic people, and would do it all again in a heartbeat….but I’m ready to go home, clean clothes, work from my desktop instead of laptop, and generally get things underway for my Japan trip in January.

The flight back to Oz was uneventful. A couple of drinks, and some more reflecting. We caught a taxi to Brett’s, where I picked up the van and drove home, with much unpacking to do, and some very happy memories.

We had the alarm set this morning. We got breakfast on our way to the stadium at Hornby at about 9.00. Once there, we did some tidying up and finished a couple of things off. Then it was off to the Iversen Terrace stadium. We commenced the Datascore / Sportskeep migration there, which took a couple of hours. There were a few rumbles that shook the whole building, from the train going past. Then there was one that felt a bit different – so we experienced a tremor while we were there! After about 15 minutes we were shown on line the details of it – a 3.9 quake not too far away. We had joked that we’re going to Japan and Christchurch which are both earthquake zones – and we did actually feel one in the trip.

Once finished it was back to Hornby to fluff around, and eventually do the presentation to the Action group, of the new Sportskeep, and also Datascore. It was received very well. We then had a sit in the bar for some more social discussion, where we think we managed to convince a couple of people to buy Datascore. We’re never going to make large amounts of money in New Zealand, so it won’t be our focal market, but if it gives us some cash flow while developing enhancements for the Japan market, then it’s worth pursuing a bit.

We eventually left the stadium and were both quite hungry, so we found a pizza place, got some drinks, and went back to the hotel room. There we started making a list of what we have to do in as far as promised installs and fixes at stadiums, and dates that we had to do them in. We also talked about some of the work that we have to do, which we really need to get in our tracking system to prioritise. Once I wrote out a calendar, it was quite overwhelming. It’s going to be a busy time ahead. But as Brett said – if getting rich was easy, everybody would be doing it! Now it will just be a matter of will it all pan out in the end, but we’re committed to give it our best efforts. We decided to do something different, and get to bed at a decent time – so we had crashed by about 12.30.

An early start – we met and had breakfast downstairs at about 5.30, and then finished packing, in time to catch a 6.00 shuttle bus to the airport. After checking in (exit row seats), we found somewhere to sit in Sydney airport, and catch up on emails. Eventually we boarded the plane to Christchurch.

I slept for a lot of the flight. Again, quite unusual, but not unexpected! Flying over the snow-capped mountains was beautiful. Every other time we had flown in it was dark so I hadn’t had the opportunity to see this before.

After immigration, we met Mark Cini, who took us out to the stadium in Hornby. Then it was all systems go. I started configuring the touch screens, and while doing the lengthy installation process, we went out for some lunch, and planned our afternoon. I got everything finished in time for the night to start.

We then went to Iversen Terrace (the stadium in Christchurch) to check on a couple of things there, and prepare for the updating we would have to do the next day. This was quite a drive. It is near the heart of Christchurch, so we were able to see the after effects of the earthquake. The devastation started to hit – you just can’t comprehend it until you see it. Just driving down the road was like surfing a wave – it was so un-even. Then it was time to check in to our hotel. Clare had had a hard time finding a hotel for us – and we could see why. As we were going down the street, there were 20 or so hotels / motels in a row, all saying No Vacancy. This is how the hotel industry has been, due to the number of workers that come in to Christchurch Monday to Friday to work on the clean-up. We *finally* got to dinner about 8.30. Clare met us at the restaurant (Mark was driving us), and we had a nice meal and catch up.

After dinner, Brett and I took Clare’s car and went to the stadium at Hornby. They had finished games, so we were able to perform the upgrade of Datascore and Sportskeep in peace. By the time we had finished configuring and testing, it was about 1.30am. Having the open bar there helped the time pass! But we were tired, so we grabbed a couple of travellers and went back to the hotel. There we had a sit down and unwind, turned the TV on for a bit, and eventually went to bed.

Once again, the alarm went off way too early. The fact that I’m going until so late every night is the real killer. But we’re getting there…

I caught a 7.15 bus to the airport, where I met up with Brett, and we got checked in. His bag was way over, but mine was way under, so it all evened out with no excess baggage charges. So that was quite smooth. After a drink and an enjoyable sit down and rest at the airport, we finally boarded our plane about 25 minutes late (well, 15 hours late, really!). Exit row seats helped a lot. I fell asleep pretty quickly, and woke up while we were taxi-ing out to the runway – a process that takes about 15 minutes!

I ate food on the plane, and Brett and I had a couple of drinks to discuss Datascore plans some more. Don’t know if we remember what we discussed – hopefully it will come back to us when our minds are a bit clearer, and we have paper with us to write it down and plan things properly. Then it was back to sleep. I don’t think I’ve slept so much on a plane before.

I woke up and had a drink while watching “The Hangover II”. I think I slept some more, and then had a couple of drinks before landing. There we found details of what Qantas were doing to look after us after the inconvenience. We went through immigration and got on the shuttle bus to the hotel in Sydney. We each had great rooms. They were large, with king sized beds, and very clean. We dealt with a couple of Sportskeep issues that had been lingering for a while – as they were in Perth, we took advantage of the time difference. That was a relief.

We then wanted a drink, so went downstairs. Unfortunately the bar was closed. So it was back up to my room and raid the mini bar. We ate some pringles and had a few drinks and thought more about our week in Japan, and eventually called it a night.

I had an early start to the day, as I had a lot of packing to do. This included re-packing things to ensure I could fit everything in, and not get excess baggage charges. So I had a few piles – my stuff, stuff for the stadium, stuff for Brett to take in his bag, and stuff that we were leaving with Dy (????).

After breakfast I had to check out of the hotel before we could leave. We had decided that Brett would stay an extra 24 hours to ensure staff training at the new stadium was done thoroughly, and also gave him the opportunity to go back to Ginza and hopefully talk to the “right” person there. He wasn’t needed for the first day in New Zealand anyway, so this seemed like the best use of his time. So I had moved the things that I wanted him to take back to his room before checking out.

With my suitcase, backpack and laptop bag, as well as the large bag containing the new stadium’s laptop and tablet, and Brett’s backpack, we went to Shinigawa station. This was going to be tricky. I think it was the biggest crowd I had seen, and I had no idea how we would get all our stuff on the train. We couldn’t get on the first one so had to wait for the next. Being first on at a major station (where a lot of people got off) meant I was able to plant my suitcase on the floor just in the doors and stack my laptop and backpack on top, so it worked out.

It took us 3 trains to get to the station where Dy’s car was parked. I managed to get a bit of sleep on them (as we got seats on the 2nd and 3rd), which was needed. At the station, on the top floor, there was an outdoor futsal court. This was open air, in the middle of the car park. It was an amazing set up, and because Dy doesn’t speak much English, we didn’t know what sort of communication he had had with the owners of the court. But the potential for places like that just got Brett and I thinking more how good the Japanese market will be if we can talk to the right people. Dy then drove us to the stadium, where we commenced installation. This particular one went as smooth as clockwork. In about an hour the TV was mounted on the wall, the Datascore system was setup and configured on the internet, and Sportskeep 3 was installed. The only hiccup was that for some unknown reason, the games weren’t getting from Sportskeep to Datascore.

After 20 minutes or so of playing around (with no success), we decided to take a lunch break. Dy took us to a “fast food” place (which wasn’t really fast in the end). We then had a look at a gymnasium, which had 3 courts of volleyball playing, for kids schools. I couldn’t believe how these 10 (or so) year olds were playing volleyball. Their spikes / blocks / saves were amazing – certainly putting me to shame – and I started playing before any of them were born! Through an iPhone app translator, Dy told us the gymnasium (government run) spend more on fixing scoreboarding problems than what it would cost them to install Datascore. He certainly knows a lot of people, and will make a great ambassador for us. Hopefully he can close deals as well as he can open opportunities, but if it means we get Mark Davis over to finalise it all (because he is “the finaliser”), as long as it looks promising, then it’s worthwhile.

Back at the stadium I had a bit more of a look at the Datascore / Sportskeep integration problems, but couldn’t see what the problem was. SMSing also had a problem in Japan (we hadn’t had the opportunity to test this before) so Brett and I decided we would just give them Datascore for now, and explain that Sportskeep integration would come in January when I come back. Hopefully I can replicate and resolve the problem by then!

While Brett was doing the training with the staff, the time came that I had to go to the airport. Dy drove me there, which took over an hour. We didn’t hit any freeways, but it was good to see a lot more of country. We were ahead of schedule so stopped for dinner at a Sushi Train. This was, again, mind blowing! I’ve seen Sushi trains in Australia where they have a conveyerbelt going around the shop. This had 3 of these, and could easily seat 200 people. Each table (which had access to the conveyerbelt) had a touch screen where you could place a custom order. When you did this, the machine would beep when your custom order arrived, which was in a different container so people didn’t pick it up thinking it was there for anybody to get. It was all very efficient.

After Dy dropped me at the airport, I walked in and my heart missed a beat. All I could see on a board was flight QF22 delayed until the next day. We had received a call the previous night from Mark and Ange, whose flight had been cancelled due to engine problems, and they had to wait until the next morning to leave. Now it looked like I was in the same situation, so Qantas still hadn’t managed to get planes caught up. So I had an extra night in Japan. The room wasn’t as nice as the Shinigawa Prince, but I put it to good use! I found out Brett was going to experience the same problem the next evening, so got on to him and explained the situation. Luckily he had finished everything during the day, so was able to catch the same flight as me.

I used the alarm this morning – I didn’t want to sleep in as Kauro had a big day planned for us. So after breakfast I tidied the room a bit and went downstairs to wait for her. She turned up with a big smile on her face – she had bumped in to a friend in the lobby of the hotel who had stayed there one night on their way through to somewhere – they were just checking out to leave. She hadn’t seen her in 2 years. Small world…

It was a perfect day – barely a cloud in the sky, low 20’s… couldn’t have asked for more. The first train we caught took us to Sensouji Temple in Asakusa. There was a walkway with lots of stalls on the side. There were also fortune “tickets”. I was shown how to pick my fortune, which I think had to be the worst one you could get. Words like “you will not be successful”, “a sick friend will not recover”…..I don’t really want to think of the others! I took a photo of it and tied it to the thing they get tied on (???) which is supposed to make the bad luck go away. Brett and I only hope!!!!

In the Temple at the far end I was shown how to pray in this place. The ritual was similar but had subtle differences. After this we walked a bit more and had some food from one of the food stalls. It was very different food to what you eat in hotels / restaurants, but as with all food over here, very enjoyable. After some more walking, we got to the train station for our next agenda item.

Because November is a very religious month, we went to see the Tori no Ich fair in Asakusa. Unfortunately it did not start until Monday. Regardless, we went to see what it would look like, but they were still setting up. This was good because we didn’t have the crowds, and still got to see what it would look like. I saw them putting up a Japanese lantern. I recalled having one back in my youth, which Dad picked up on one of his trips. I didn’t realise that even the full sized ones collapsed the same way! So this one was fully collapsed, with a diameter of about 2.5 metres! They were stringing it up with rope.

Kaoru wanted to show me “Kiddy Land” in Omotesandou – basically a gigantic toy store where Hello Kitty, Peanuts, and everything else you can imagine can be found. So another train and more walking took us there. This was basically a 3 story “Toys R Us”. So we looked around there for a bit. But by now I was pretty worn out (from the whole week) so wanted to sit down and have a drink. We found a bar and ordered some food and a bourbon, and just relaxed for a while. Then it was back on our feet to go to a large shopping centre, which set up a Christmas theme every year. Because this is the 110th(?) anniversary of Disney, this was the selected theme. So there was a large crystal set up in the middle of the shopping centre, which we got a couple of photos of.

The plan Brett and I had made is that he would go to the Ginza stadium in the morning and check they were using Datascore, and I would pop in in the afternoon to ensure they weren’t having any problems. So we started walking to the train station to go there. On the way I gave Mikiko a call to touch base and see what I should expect. They had just left the stadium, and nobody was using the system because they hadn’t been told to. It was like India all over again (except this time Brett was facing the frustration – not me!). So basically it wasn’t worth us going there. Instead we decided to go back to Shinigawa, where I could touch base with Brett, and then we could go for dinner in that area. So it was back to the train station…

Back in Shinigawa we went to Brett’s room and I got a status update. We then decided to join him and Mikiko at dinner with the blind soccer federation guys. Brett had supplied uniforms for them a while ago, so they wanted to see him and thank him. So we thought it would be a fun night out at a Korean BBQ. I went back to my room to get changed, and we went downstairs.

At the train station we met up with the guys. There was one blind person (opening line to Brett – “Long time, no see”), his “guide”(?? For want of a better term) and one other guy. They spoke very broken English, but “Hello” and names were exchanged, and then we walked to the restaurant. This was at a very hidden area down a side street, and you would never find it if you didn’t know it existed.

At the hotel we were joined by a couple more people. The beers were flowing and it turned in to an extremely loud evening. Brett and I spoke afterwards and thought it was the best night out we had had the entire trip. As enjoyable as the expensive restaurants were, there was always a serious “shop” side to dinner. There was none of this tonight – it was just enjoyable. It was difficult communicating at times, but nobody took anything seriously. And with Mikiko on one table and Kaoru on the other to translate anything that wasn’t easily understood, it made things much easier.

After dinner we had a last drink upstairs at the hotel for a last birds eye view of Tokyo. It was about 10.30pm, and we were told they were closing. They let us in for one last drink though. Unfortunately they don’t make as good a Mojito as I had hoped. It was then time to call it a night.

I was woken up by the phone. I was very surprised when Brett said it was after 2.00! The curtains in the hotel do a FANTASTIC job, because it was pitch black in the room! So I showered and went downstairs for some “breakfast”. I bumped in to Ange in the elevator, who took one look at my face, laughed, and hid her head in her hands. Mikiko was downstairs talking to Brett and her reaction was much the same. Surprisingly I think I looked worse than I felt!

After getting some food, we decided to go to Akihabara in the afternoon. So we locked in to talk about 4.30 and plan that. Back in the room I sent a couple of emails, but then had to lay down for a while. Brett called about 4.15 which woke me up again, and it was off to Akihabara.

As the afternoon progressed, I started to sober up, and the hangover kicked in. So I was getting worse rather than better. We found a store that sold lots of second hand mobile phones and there were a couple in particular that would make good Datascore Remotes. The fact that they were ~$60AU each made them even more enticing! So we bought a couple to test.

We went and had a drink in “Pinky’s Place” – one of the…how can I describe it….”themed coffee shops”. It was all quite innocent, but to us Westerners, the girls were dressed quite provocatively. We didn’t know what to expect going in there, and they spoke pretty much no English so it was difficult. But we’ve experienced it now.

Walking back to the train station, Brett got a call from Mark. They had just finished a 4 hour meeting which had driven them insane (apparently). The good news…they want Datascore! They will be the first paying customers in Japan. The “let’s make life difficult” news – they want it *this trip*. Which basically means install Monday morning before flying out Monday evening. Doesn’t leave much room for training, but this just re-affirmed the importance of me coming back to Japan and increasing Datascore’s presence here. This was getting quite overwhelming, but like any good Aussie, we were there to go with the flow. So while we were in Akihabara we bought a W500 tablet, laptop, wireless router, and looked for a TV bracket (unsuccessfully). We got back to the hotel at 8.45, and bumped in to the others in the lift. So we got a brief update, and decided to meet at 9.15 for dinner.

Back to the “Code Cave” – it was tidy, but now cluttered again, as I had to get things going. The priority was getting any Windows updates installed, and configuring, the W500 and the laptop, as this can take hours. So I got that as underway as I could, and joined the guys about 9.25 for dinner. We ate at a little restaurant that was part of the hotel, which was another great meal. Brett, Mikiko, Jack and I shared a table (and food), while the others shared amongst themselves (it gets difficult sharing food with 10 people, which our numbers reached as Ange had a couple of friends come and join us). Our dinner consisted of a grill in the middle of the table, and full chest sized bibs, but it wasn’t as messy as I was expecting.

Not long after finishing eating, we had a “last drinks” call. This was bizzar – it was 10.30pm on a Saturday night, and they didn’t want to keep serving us! I excused myself anyway, as I had a lot of work ahead of me, while the guys stayed and finished their drinks. Back in the room I continued on the machines, as well as configured the new remote devices we had purchased. The big one of these, while harder to hold in your hand than the X2, was very nice. The screen was large, and the system was very responsive. So we were quite happy with that one. By about 2.30 I had finished everything, and packed it all in a bag to take to the stadium. It was then time for bed.

Today the weather had gone bad. It was raining as I went across for breakfast. I bumped in to Mark at the café so we had a chat over breakfast. We got back to the hotel about 9.45 and Kaoru was already there (15 minutes early). So she came up while I got myself organised for the day. The plan was to spend the morning with her, and then I had to go to Nishifunabashi for training with them – Brett was going to Ginza to spend some time with them. So I packed what I would need for the afternoon in my backpack (including my laptop), and we were off.

We caught the train to Shinjuku and walked around the business centre. We went up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office where we would have been treated with a fantastic view of Tokyo, were it not for the rain and clouds. We walked around mainly underground to keep out of the rain – the station was HUGE. We had some lunch, and then had to part again, as Kaoru went to work, and I went to Nishifunabashi.

The train trip took me about an hour, which gave me some time to collect my thoughts and write some of my blog. I got to the stadium and started work on things. This included updating their player login application, and getting their skmember file to the new laptop (which was another failure – the version they gave me was no good). I then went through the full process of the integration, which included touching on the new functionality. I spoke to the guys about my plans to go to Fuji tomorrow and they thought it would be no good due to the weather. So I opted against it, figuring it will be there next time.

I left the stadium around 6.00 and made my way back to the hotel. Once there I put on good clothes and joined the guys for drinks on the 39th floor. We left there about 9.15, by which time I was getting quite hungry, and the beer was going down too well. Brett and I discussed what we had experienced, and came to the conclusion that we need to eliminate any reasons the stadiums could have for NOT using Datascore. And one of their concerns (which I can sympathise with) is that nobody can help them if they have any problems. We decided that if we’re serious about the Japanese market, we were going to have to increase our investment, and send me to stay for 2-3 weeks; I can be at the stadiums whenever there are games and make them feel loved. We don’t want to look back and say “we were so close to cracking the market but just didn’t do enough”, so agreed to the investment.

There was a group of about 10 of us, and surprisingly we could not find a restaurant in the hotel that could take us all. So it was off go Gonpachi, as that turned out to be the only option open to us! Another fantastic meal, with lots of drinks. As it was my first trip to Japan, I was told I had to go out with Ishihara. Brett came along as well, but none of the others were game. The things we do when representing the company! It was a very long night, which concluded with Brett and I getting back to the hotel after the sun got up. So luckily I hadn’t booked our Fuji trip!

Well, the wall finally hit me and knocked me out. I was awoken at 8.45 by Brett on the phone! This was the first night I had (remembered to) close my curtains, and it obviously helps me sleep! I had a good 6 hours sleep, and my body needed it. So I had a quick shower and then we had breakfast. After Ange came down to help with some last minute setup stuff, we caught a taxi to the Ginza stadium. We could have gotten there by train (Katchitoke station), but it was a bit of a walk from the station, and with all we were carrying (and it’s not *too* far away) we thought we’d go taxi.

The setup here was a bit more complicated than it should have been. The problems were around configuring the wireless router (in Japanese). Eventually I got it, and Brett was able to drill through the 8mm steel girders we had decided to mount the tv to. We missed out on lunch as we felt behind with things, so after demonstrating the system to the people who were there, we caught a taxi at about 4.00, for our 4.00 meeting back at the hotel. We got there at 4.30, and Mark still wasn’t down at it, so we weren’t overly concerned. The meeting with was Ishihara, who Brett described as “The Godfather of indoor sport in Japan”. And he carried the look well!

The meeting wasn’t overly relevant to me – it was more Sportainment, and Datascore would benefit from it, but my knowledge wasn’t required for the conceptual level it was at. So I went back to the room, and investigated a couple of Mount Fuji trips. Then it was finally dinner time!

We ate at a restaurant in the hotel next door. The guys from Ginza were there, as well as a couple of others. Finally the food started coming. Jack, Brett and I were very disappointed by our second serving of Salad, and still no meat! All we were able to do was pick the bacon bits out of the Caesar!!! Finally some “non-rabbit food” came, which was all great. Again, the alcohol was flowing, and the food was going down well. After dinner it was back to the hotel room for a couple of hours of work, in preparation for the next day. Going to bed around 2.00 in the morning, and waking up early, was starting to take its toll, but I was going on adrenaline, so managing things. Although felt like I was missing a lot.

I woke up feeling quite refreshed at about 8.00 – surprising really. I went to the coffee shop for breakfast and went back to my room to tidy it up. I put boxes in the hallway for the cleaners to take, cleared clothes, and it actually looked quite clean! At 10.00 I went downstairs and met Kaoru. She spoke very good English (from her time in London) so communicating was very easy.

We caught a train to Shibuya, which she explained was where the young people go. We walked around a shopping centre there which was just full of girls clothing stores. The shopping centres are very different to what I’m used to – they were small and went up several stories. We then walked around for a while, before arriving at the Meiji Shrine – the largest shrine in Tokyo. It was in the middle of a large park ground, so we had a nice walk through the trees and away from the noise of the traffic. There was a flower exhibition, which included some Bonsai trees.

November is a religious month for the Japanese and girls aged 3 and 7, and boys aged 5, put on their traditional clothes to go to the Shrine. We saw many of these, and I was lucky enough to get some photos with them.

Once at the Shrine I was shown how to cleanse before praying. Travelling with a local really enhances the experience! Thanks Kaoru, and Sharky for putting me in touch with her! We then went and said a prayer – again with the proper ritual. Walking out we got a little lost, and had to ask for directions, which meant we had to go back through the park to get out the correct way. But it was a beautiful day for walking, and I was enjoying the location and fresh air.
Lunch was had near the train station. After that Kaoru had to go to work, and I needed to go shopping.

I got the train to Akihabara, where I had a frustrating shopping experience. I only had a few things to get – a 25 metre power extension cord, a universal power plug adapter, and some HDMI cables. The HDMI cables weren’t too hard to find. Unfortunately when it came to installing them at the stadium, they didn’t carry audio(????). The power lead, I was on the verge of buying a length of power lead and the plugs and making it myself! Instead I decided to give it a miss, and figured a local could find it for us tomorrow. The power plug adapter (to convert Australian to Japanese) I couldn’t find anywhere. When I had given up, I found it in the shop nearest the train station! So I got it in the end. For laughs, I went in to the Adult Megastore. What an experience *that* was! The less written about that, the better 🙂

I got back to the hotel and caught up with Brett to see what sort of success he had had. We had dinner at a small restaurant around the corner, and then caught the train out to NishiFunabishi. This was their first “live” night, and we had planned to be there for at least the first few games. So this is where we found the audio wasn’t going through the HDMI cable. Originally we had put in 2 metre cables, but shorter ones would have looked better, which is why I bought 1 metre ones.

Brett and I trained the umpires on how to use the remotes. They took to them like a duck to water. Given they spoke very little English, and we spoke no Japanese, we think this is a real testimony to the “ease of use” of the system. By pressing buttons and getting them to look at the scoreboards, we were able to teach them how to use it.

After 3 games we decided there isn’t much more we could do, so we left. Back at the hotel, we went up to the 39th floor for a drink (Top of Shinigawa). It was a fantastic view of Tokyo at night. But we were both pretty tired from a lot of long days, so we only had a couple and then called it a night. I still had things I wanted to do (like start writing my Japan blog!) so stayed up for a while. We had agreed I would call Brett about 8.30 for breakfast.

I woke up about 6.00. The curtains were still open, so the light must’ve gotten me started. I got back to work – last minute testing and finalising of things (installing Windows updates takes a *long* time). At 8.00 Brett and I went for breakfast at their usual meeting place – a coffee shop in the train station across the road from the hotel. After a Panini and some OJ I was ready to get the day going. We decided we would do a bit more at the hotel before going to the stadium – this would allow us to just put things in place, rather than have to do last minute configuring there. And given we were not going to have access to their network, I didn’t need to do the last minute jobs locally. So Ange came up to the “Code Cave” and helped with some interpretation, as I finished things off. The room was still a complete mess with boxes everywhere, so I put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door to save the cleaner coming in.

Our original plan was to catch a train to Nishifunabashi, but when we looked at how much equipment we had, and thought about carrying it up and down stairs, and through people at the stations, we opted for the $90 taxi fare instead. So we got to the stadium, unpacked boxes, and Brett got to work on the TV’s while I did the computers. Without too much trouble, we were set up and ready to start testing the system live. The people at the stadium were very impressed, particularly when they saw the animations (they loved the Red Card one). Of course we always know they will, but it still excites us to see their reaction every time!

Ange, Brett and I went out for a celebratory drink round the corner of the stadium, while we waited for Mark and Mikiko, along with the Konami contingent, to arrive (around 6.30). Once back at the stadium we showed Datascore off to the staff who were lingering around. We then did a more complete demo once everybody was there, and discussed how to proceed. We still had problems getting our hands on the SKMember database file to get it on to the new laptop we had bought them. Their old laptop was locked down so it is not possible to write to a USB memory stick. So we came up with a plan for me to go out there on Friday afternoon while the Sportainment guys were at their presentation (there was no need for me to be at that).

We caught the train back to the hotel to get changed. By coincidence Kaoru called me (in the room) in that 5 minute window! So we made plans to meet the next morning and then I had to run. We caught a taxi to Gonpachi restaurant, in the Roppongi area. This is the restaurant from a scene in “Kill Bill” (which I now need to see). There are photos up on the wall of Johnny Depp, Lady Gaga, and other such celebrities. The first course was the most beautiful meat I think I’ve had! It just melted in my mouth. The next course was a bit spicy for my liking. We were there for about an hour and were very satisfied with what we ate. And then we caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Back in the “Code Cave”, I caught up on a few emails and got some more work done. By about 2.00 I was spent, and managed to clear enough room on the bed to get some sleep.

A New Land…

We arrived in Japan on time (6.00 am local time), and after showing immigration a “Datascore Scoreboard Demo Unit” that we were bringing in to the country, we were able to relax and wait for the bus to Shinigawa. After a 90 minute bus ride, we were at our hotel and checked in to Brett’s room (we had arranged early check in), where we were able to have a shower and freshen up. We met up with the rest of the team (which comprised of Mark, Mikiko, Ange, Jack, Brett and myself) and caught a couple of taxi’s to Konami for our first meeting.

I have never experienced a meeting like this before. They spoke no English, and we didn’t speak Japanese. The others had already had interactions with these guys but it was a first for me, and quite enjoyable. Each party had their own interpreter (I assumed to ensure the company was being represented by somebody they could blame for miscommunication!!!), and watching the dance was quite unique. Particularly when Mark gave them a piece of his mind, which Mikiko had to translate!

At 12.00, Brett and I took Ange (as our translator) and caught a taxi to the Ginza Futsal stadium in (???). There was one person who spoke English there, but that was it. We had a look around, and discussed how we were going to set up our demo unit there. Once we had a plan in place, we found a place to sit down and have some lunch, and then caught a train to Nishifunabashi, where the Konami stadium we were setting up is based. Again, we looked around and came up with a plan of attack.

We caught a train to Akihabara – the technology centre of Japan (“Electric City”), where Ange left us, and we were going to meet up with Mark and Mikiko. We had some hardware we knew we had to buy for the stadiums (even though we brought most over with us). However We found the Acer W500 tablets for sale (second hand) for ~$500AU, which was better than what I get them for. Given they are “demo” units (the stadium hasn’t purchased them), we decided to buy these instead. The real advantage to this was that they would be in Japanese. The disadvantage is that I now have a long night ahead of me to configure them.

We found a touch screen all in one (for the player login screen), and other things we had to buy. All up, I negotiated it down to 250,000 yen (~$3000 AU). It came to ~275,000 so I was pretty happy with that price. It took a few different people to serve us, and I couldn’t believe how long the whole process took. I was expecting from the first thing I grabbed to have a sales person following me around like a puppy dog with all I was buying. Eventually we got out of there though.

We caught the train back to the hotel, which took us about 20 minutes. We then went to the restaurant at the hotel for a bite to eat and a couple of drinks. I excused myself pretty soon after eating, given the amount of work I had ahead of me. Mikiko left as well, as I needed somebody to tell me what the screens were saying! So she came up and helped me configure them.

A bit later Brett came up with “supplies” – a bottle of Jack Daniels, some Coke, a few Asahi cans, and some Pringles. So we were in good shape for the night. Mikiko and I configured two tablets and the touch screen, the wireless router, and fixed her Sportskeep to operate in Japanese. We were working on several little things along the way too. After Brett fell asleep on my bed, I kicked him out to his own room (the snoring was distracting us ), and Mikiko left about 2.00. By 3.00 I had nothing left in me and had to clear some room on the bed to get some sleep.

The Next Adventure…

Well, after too long working my arse off, it’s time for another adventure. This trip had been on the cards for a while, and now it has started…JAPAN!!!

No point talking about the boring start to the day in Geelong (like packing), but it was off to Brett’s after lunch, and then to the airport. We met up with Jack, and after paying about $200 in excess baggage costs (I had 4 Datascore units packed, and Brett had tools and brackets because we didn’t know what we could get over there), we went through and had our first drink. A domestic flight got us to Sydney where we thought we’d have a nice meal during our 2 hour stop over. However at 9.15pm, the only store open in the entire international lounge was McDonalds!!?!?!??!? So that upset that plan 🙁

The plane from Sydney was about 3/4 full. We managed to get front row seats in a section, but they were in the middle. So we did have extra leg room, but still had the wall in front. Still, it was better than the standard seat. I watched “Red Dog” and we had a few drinks together, and then it was time to try to get some sleep. I think I managed about 3 hours (interrupted) sleep, so that was good.