Today was another great day, but also a bittersweet one, as it was our last full day together in Japan. We had two more events left to do, and then we would be officially done with our trip! I think the sky was also sad it was coming to a close, because it was a torrential downpour almost all day. There had been a Typhoon warning issued yesterday, and so the rains today were carry over from that. 

Our first event was Unreal Fest, and once we arrived we realized what we were in for. It was a medium sized venue room, full of tables and chairs where game demos sat waiting to be playtested. It gave off sort of club fair vibes, but in a cool way, since it was full of games all developed in Unreal Engine. There were mech games, rythym games, and a section of almost 12 games all made during a local game jam! I played one where you take control of various marine creatures and swim around, taking in the ocean atmosphere, as well as another that was very similar to cut the rope, but with a bit more physics. 

There were also talks being held, and so me and a few friends attended one for Hi-Fi Rush! Unfortunately for us, it was entirely in Japanese with no translations or anything, so we mostly just watched the slides go by and tried our best to pick things up with Google Translate’s camera. It seemed interesting though, covering the technical obstacles and pipeline the team worked with to get the stylized art style working in real time.

After the talk, the fest broke for lunch, and so did we. A few of us went to this beef place nearby that let you cook the meat yourself, and it was delicious! I luckily got a whole staton and platter for myself, and man the food was good! 

Afterwards, we still had an hour before we needed to head to our second and last event of the day, so I did some last minute shopping at Bic Camera to use up some of the last of my yen. I bought Fire Emblem Engage and Pokémon Legends Arceus for about $80 total, whch for me was a steal!

After that, we all met up at the hotel to head out, but first, we had to say goodbye to Toshi-sensee, which was really sad. He had been with us pretty much the entire trip, serving as a translator, guide, and just a cool guy to talk with. We were all sad saying goodbye, and he gave a really touching farewell speech. Once we all said our farewells for now, we all headed on the subway to our last event; a studio tour of CyberConnect 2!

They’re the company that makes the 3D Naruto fighting games, as well as a plethora of other anime fighting games. They actually said that this was their specialty, which was cool. The office was smaller, but it wasn’t their main office; they have 3, and we were in the Tokyo one. They have two more in Montreal and Fukuoka, the latter of which is their main base and the biggest of the 3. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about the visit, as we did have to sign an NDA, but I’ll try my best to describe what I can.

It was a pretty communal studio and space, and they had so much cool artwork and libraries of manga and anime for reference and study! They also have an animation team in house, which is really neat, and the library they keep serves as good reference for them. They were extremely nice, and honestly it was a really cool tour! There were employees in the office today as well, so we got to see them too. One member had a huge umbrella attachment at their desk that shielded their entire workspace, which was something I’d never seen before. 

Once the tour was over, we got a great group picture, and then we were let free. Unfortunately, there weren’t any dinner places that could fit a group of our size, so we had no more group events planned, and were on our own for dinner and whatnot. So we all headed back as the rain got even worse, and then split off for dinner. A few of us went to have rotating sushi, which worked out for me as I had been wanting to try it to see if the sushi was as good as people say, and also didn’t break the bank since I had only about 3000 yen left on me! I have to admit though, the sushi wasn’t all that great. Compared to the sushi we had when we arrived in Kyoto, this just couldn’t compare. The fish was a little too slimy and not as fresh, and many of the rolls just didn’t mesh well. It was still a good time though, and honestly it was nice to just share one last dinner with my friends in Japan! 

After that, we hit up an arcade for a bit, and then me and Pavel headed back to our room to finally start packing our stuff up in prep for our early morning flight tomorrow. Our group got together one last time though, and we finished watching the Dungeons & Dragons movie! It was a little sad, but also a lot of fun, and we all said our farewells there, since Pavel and I wouldn’t see the rest of them before we left.

After that, I finished up packing, and then went to bed in prep for our flight back!