Jason here, reflecting on my recent pilgrimage to the land of rare non-album tracks tacked onto the end of CDs and Ebi Filets at McDonalds. I’m talking about Japan, of course; the land that birthed otaku (otaku is Japanese for geek.)

My reasons for making the trip were many: My wife and I were taking our belated honeymoon, now that we’ve moved into our new house. We’ve both been yearning for some exotic travel while we’re still childless and relatively free to go and do as we please. I’ve always wanted to explore Japan – blame it on everything from too many hours watching Battle of the Planets to a more recent obsession with Maschinen Krieger, a hobby virtually unknown outside of Japan (more on Maschinen Krieger in Part 3.) (more…)