Other things to do in Tokyo…
December 16, 2012 17 Comments
Admittedly, three of the ‘things to do’ that I’ve listed can be done in other seasons too…but nevermind that: here are some other things people might like to do in Tokyo in any season:
Hit the second-hand stores.
Not for clothes, admittedly (I’d really go ‘new’ for that), but there is a wealth of goodies to be had at certain 2nd-hand joints, particularly if you’re after books and character goods. Of course, you won’t be able to find everything you want, but if you have time, patience, and a lust for things that you might not otherwise have known about, there are few better places to explore…
Of course, you might be the sort who’d rather go to one or other of the infamous cafés – depending on your tastes, of course – just remember to book them ahead of time.
edit: I should add, though, that most of the items below were purchased prior to my trip and delivered to a friend’s place. It was pretty much only the noitaminA stuff, and a couple of books from an hour or two spent at some second-hand book stores, that I picked up by myself. Let’s just say that I wasn’t in Japan (purely) for leisure…
Visit the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka
Something I regret I was unable to pull off this time. Nor had I been able to get to it when the adult-sized Cat Bus was there… But it’ll remain one of my favourite museums of all time.
Have a few 100-yen doughnuts at Mister Donut
And not just because of Shinobu… My own favourite happens to be the Old-fashioned one, though the Pon-de-ring is really growing on me. As a friend intoned, there’s just something nice and chewy about it, almost like mochi…
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And in summary: here’s my loot from this trip:
The Macross stuff…including the films on blu-ray and the guidebook for the 30th Anniversary Key Frames exhibition. Can’t wait to listen to the narration!
…the Psycho-Pass/noitaminA stuff…and yes, that’s Kou-chan’s jacket (^_^;; )…
And the rest…all up, that’s enough material to keep me occupied for a few good years!
About karice
HOT CHOCOLATE IN A BOWL 
The earring… I saw it in an online store but it was around 3000 yen, too much for one small item… though I might get it if it turns up next time, now that I have a size comparision.
Is that an Evangelion T-shirt?
Are you gonna wear the jacket? It looks pretty cool. I’ll be picking the show up once it finished airing.
Will you be doing any translating from the loads of material you got?
Hope you had fun!
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That was about how much it ended up costing me. Same for the bag charm. I think it’s still worth it, even if I’ll never use them! Most of the other stuff was also bought online way before I hit Japan, as many of them can’t be found in stores anymore… I’m lucky my friend was kind enough to agree to receive all those parcels!
Nope…that’s actually a sealed plastic bag containing a special edition of the movie pamphlet for Q, which you can get at the cinema when you go to see the film. It’s about 80 pages long, vs. the ~30 page normal version… I haven’t opened it yet… (^_^;; )
Well…maybe in winter. It’s pretty warm right now where I am… (^_^; )
Psycho-Pass is so dark and somewhat depressing…but a dang good show. I saw episode 10 twice when I was in Japan, and once more when I finally got back home. Right now, its new episodes are second on my list of ‘new episodes I want to watch’, and I expect they’ll hit #1 when we get to the real business end of the series ^^ (and the other series that’s grabbing my attention atm is finished…)
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Hm…maybe. I think I’m only going to get busier as time goes on, but I’m trying to implement some regular reading and translating time for myself…
On that note…re:
I’ve only skimmed this one thus far (way back when dark first posted it), and I do remember there being a few points of interest…so maybe one day. But I’d probably want to look through the entire series of interviews again once more. The Endou Aya and Inoue Kikuko ones from volumes 2 and 3 were really interesting too…
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I did have fun, thanks! Despite the earthquake and the North Korean missile flying over our heads… (^_^;; )
p.s. I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your last comment. Life has been somewhat crazy orz…
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I’m glad you were safe and had a nice time. Don’t worry about it, it was a long post and life was though these last few weeks to say the least, I’ve been reading most of the time to distract myself.
I’m interested in the KitG 4 interview mainly because it seemed like it dealt with the couples of the story (not just Sheryl and Alto), though I’m guessing Kawamori was talking about what if’s in it. The problem was with the chinese transcript, I could make a rough translation for myself if it was japanese. And only myself, I’ve seen one to many misquotations this last month to start spreading rumors and what not based on my crappy knowledge of the language. (^_^;) And I’m more interested in the new characters for the 30 game, even if I’ll never get a chance to play it.
I decided to wait until Psycho-Pass ends before I get into it, I had a huge backlog, though I’m almost done with catching up on all of the shows I’ve been watching lately.
My problem with the earring was that it cost a bit much to just have it in a display cabinet instead of using it. But if I damaged it, it would be even worse. That said, it looks lovely and the price is still alright, compared to the Birthday edition with the display stand. I think that was around 12000 yen.(o_o)
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Oh dear…hang in there!
Hm…yeah, the first sub-heading states that it’s about Sheryl and Alto’s married life (pft, Alto would be the ‘Mum’ ^___^ ), about Ranka’s love, about what would happen to Klan and Michel…there’s also a section where they touch on what might happen whilst Alto is away…
There are more misquotations than that one on AS…?
You’re diligent! Mine only keeps growing, year after year!
You know what…if I’d been in Japan at the time, I may well have ordered that Birthday edition! Too tempting!
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Yes, the Alto being the Mom was a part I understood, but I’d be interested about Ranka too. The MichaelxKlan part got me a bit confused.
On the misquotations, it’s not really the last month, more like the last few months where people take lines out of context. The last time was the same person with the same “canon not canon” bit in the Social group, that was just a few weeks ago and you wrote then, so when she brought it up again in the 30th topic, I went wide eyed for a few seconds.
I’m kind of scared that the new game is gonna stir up the shipping argument again with some already speculating just because of that one scene from the game. (^_^;) Ignoring the other picture where Hikaru and Minmay are reaching for each other… Oh dear. I’m really more interested in the new characters and don’t want their story to get lost between a battle of the shippers.
I had time to watch shows this year because I have more free time. My doctor had a total of 5 minutes for me this month and there’s nothing new, so I’m trying to distract myself from my health as much as I can.
Ordering the earring in Japan… yeah, that does sounds tempting. Not having to pay shipping is a bonus. The price is fair but the item is so small that I can’t help feeling like I could buy half the list of books I had to pass on up till now.
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Re: what you said on AS
Well…to be honest, one of the reasons I don’t like doing translations much anymore is that some people feel entitled to them without putting down money to buy anything. I personally don’t buy everything – but that often means I don’t get to read interviews in the books/magazines I don’t buy. However, if you would like something translated from anything that you already have, I’m happy to do that, time willing of course (^_^;; ) .
On the Sheryl manga interview though, there are comments in it by Kawamori that I know are completely true, and that I got a huge laugh out of, but I don’t want to post a translation because it may well spark off another round of flaming on AS.
Of the ‘safe’ things, there was a comment on how Ranka would probably be able to continue on as an idol even if she got married and had kids (because she actually knows how to cook and do housework). In abject contrast with Sheryl, who tries to put too much into everything she does…which doesn’t always give the best results…
About Ranka and Brera…apparently the idea of having Brera involved in a love quadrangle had been considered from the start – if the issue of their sibling/blood relationship could actually be cleared. But then again, whether they’d have a real husband/wife relationship is questionable, as he’d probably be more like a bodyguard/older brother, or like a father who just wants to prevent any guy from getting close to his daughter. (^____^)
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Oh, that one in the social group… I’d forgotten about it, to be honest…looking again now, I think it was about something a little bit different – back then, she was claiming that both pairings were canon, whereas this time she was saying that the series and movie are parallel universes (with the added caveat that the series had an open ending). I really can’t be bothered to argue about the open ending part anymore…but I can’t see things ending well if I stop pointing out that Kawamori hasn’t said things that some people keep thinking he has…
Or maybe we should just ignore the shippers…I’m half inclined to use the forum’s ‘ignore’ function on both of them!
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I know what you mean! That said…a small tiny earring weighs a lot less than all the books, which means a lot for someone traveling around a lot, like me! I’m going to have to work out a way to create a digital archive of all my books and magazines, and soon!
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The arguments on AS have gone into a direction I’d rather not comment on, I hope the boys settle down soon. (^_^;)
As for the translations, I can understand your point and why you might not want to post that interview on AS. Just from the Brera stuff, I would not post it anywhere. (^_^;;) Some people really hate/feel upset about that pairing and I… feel more comfortable with the overprotective big brother Brera.
Ranka as a housewife sounds cute, but it brings back memories of a fight on AS about which girl can cook. Those were the days… I seem to recall that either the Sheryl blog or one of the books (Memories?) at the time was brought up stating that Sheryl can cook, so that’s a bit surprising. But Sheryl did say Alto would make a good wife so I can see something like that happening. Mama-Alto, oh dear. (^_^;)
When I buy the manga next year and get it, and if you have the time, can I ask you for a translation of the interview in PM on AnimeSuki? I’ll most likely buy all 4 volumes in February, Christmas already drained my wallet along with my medical bills…
I won’t post it anywhere naturally, nor will I use any of it as an argument since I don’t argue on shipping anyway and like you, I don’t want to spark a new war. I have a bad feeling the game will do that…
As for the ending of the TV series… I honestly don’t care, anyone can think of it what they want. Like I probably said before, I had my ups and downs with both that and Ranka/AruRan, but changed my mind and I am pretty content with what we got with Frontier and people shipping what they like. I still hope the fans calm down, I really like the AruRan, AruSheri and SheriRan fans I met on tumblr.
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Not that I’m any better…
Are Yot and I being a bit too particular though? To be frank, I just find it extremely annoying that the person in question keeps asking for scans in particular…
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Re: Brera
Really, they get that upset about it? Geez…just about all the cast seems to agree that Brera is better for Ranka! LOL.
Hm…was there something that said that Sheryl could cook? I seem to remember there being something about Nanase ranking at the top (amongst the girls) in terms of cooking skills, with Sheryl last…
Sure. Though I’ll leave it up to you if you want to post the translation (or parts thereof) anywhere for discussion. I may just withdraw myself from most of AS though…it’s simply not worth it when most of the discussions I’ve seen, both on the Macross sub-forum and elsewhere, just seem to suck my enjoyment out of this hobby.
I’m glad that fans elsewhere aren’t quite so partisan. I’ve been following the discussion about the reputation system’s retirement, and am willing to bet that what’s been happening on the Macross sub-forum is part of the problems that have led to this change…
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I don’t think you are. I used to translate for friends and still do if they ask, it’s fun, but it does take a lot of time and energy. I get where magnus is coming from too. I like buying manga I enjoyed, so I like to have scanlations or transcripts to know what I’ll be spending my money on. I can only afford to buy US DVD and BD releases because I have to support myself as best as I can in my current state. If it wasn’t for my medical bills, I would have gotten all the Macross F books by now…
Artbooks are filled with pictures and that’s why most of us get them, interviews are a nice bonus, and a summary for Kiss in the Galaxy was enough for me. I know the source material, so I get what’s going on, love the art, I will buy it. Books cost a lot less than other merchandise.
I don’t like it when people try to justify why they get everything via downloads, but magnus is just saying that some other hobbies come first for him and he would rather buy books he can read, which cost a lot too. If he plays games for the PC or a console, those are pricey as hell. Some of my friends buy games on a monthly basis and unless they still live at home, they can’t afford more than 1 or 2 at a time.
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The problem with discussions on AS seems to come from shipping. Some just can’t let it go. It scares people, I’ve talked to fans just a few days ago. I’m glad the old discussions are there, because they are informative, but also hard to read if one is easily offended. I was reading the original Romance in Macross thread recently and while the Sheryl fans can be rude, the Ranka fans were just as bad, I think I was reading through 15-25 and I remember facepalming every single time I read an ani_d post.
One of the Ranka fans I’ve talked to was upset that people kept rubbing in the movie’s ending which is why she can’t get over her dislike for Sheryl and her fans, and I did feel for her and a lot of the Ranka shippers. I’m pretty sure a big part of my dislike towards Ranka came from reading negative comments about her + a few of her fans hating on Sheryl, and while I’m over it, it took a long time, so I know where they are coming from.
I remember the ‘rubbing it in’ starting after someone came to AS to post crazy theories about the ending and people got pissed off. Before that AS shippers were just happy. I’m certain the same would have happened had Ranka ‘won’. Shippers tend to remember the worst arguments and label the other group according to those. Neither side is less guilty, Sheryl just had more support. And not every shipper hates the other ship.
tl;dr I can understand why the current discussions might ruin your enjoyment of Macross. It does for others too. I’m getting put off by it myself. I want to talk about the game and the new characters!
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As for Brera, a lot of people hate the pairing, at least amongst western fans, Ranka fans, AruRan shippers and… I don’t like it either. I don’t hate the idea, but Brera would need certain qualities for it to work for me. I think he is too much of a yes man, I see him more as a caring young brother to balance out Ozma’s more strict brotherly love. If Brera had been an actual romantic interest, I would have wanted him to be the kind of support who helps Ranka grow. Sheryl and Alto did that for her, Brera was just their to hold her when she fell.
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Sheryl cooking, it’s from her blog, Ranka’s blog is printed in her Fanbook, dunno about Sheryl’s, I googled “Sheryl can cook AnimeSuki” (^_^;;) and I found the discussion, it still makes my head hurt:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=3578368#post3578368
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And Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays in advance! (^o^) Since I don’t know if you have time to answer my massive tl;dr post and Holidays are a busy time of the year anyway.
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Well, I understand what you’re saying, but only to a point. I’m fine with what most of the long-term Macross fans on AS do – buy a few things here and there (with an eye to their budget), whilst looking for scans and whatnot on the side because it’s just impossible to buy everything. To put it simply, you and the others who do this…do actually put your money where your mouth is.
I just can’t stand it when someone who doesn’t buy anything Macross keeps asking for pirated versions. And it simply is not an excuse to say that “this is only a secondary/tertiary interest”. The vast majority of us don’t have that kind of money, so we have to pick and choose what we spend our money on. If I can’t buy something because I want to buy another thing instead, I just suck it up and live with that decision!
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Agreed. It drove me crazy that people on AS only wanted to talk about shipping. After realising that, I started losing interest in going there for Macross discussions. Not that too many other series fare much better…and other areas have their own type of problem (e.g. the noitaminA elitists who have a very particular idea of what noitaminA should be). I don’t normally make new year’s resolutions anymore, but spending less time on AS might be one next year…
edit: pardon me for the rants. I think I’m good now… ちょっとすっきりした．．．
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LOL. True, looking at it objectively, Brera wouldn’t be particularly good for Ranka. It’s fun to joke about it, though.
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Oh, really? I’ll have to looking up that comment about cooking again…I know it’s in one of the books… (^_^;; )
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Merry Christmas to you too! It should be slightly more relaxing than the last, as I’m not working as much this year. And I’m really looking forward to seeing Les Misérables on Boxing Day! o(^_^)o
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Don’t worry about it, a blog is where you write your personal thoughts and are free to rant. I’m knid of scared of what the games will bring to the Frontier story, but if it gets out of hand I’ll just try to ignore it. Though I doubt anything big will happen, I hope they will focus on the new cast since the likelyhood of them appearing in a future anime adaptation is pretty much 0%.
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Ranka and Brera are very cute together so I get why people who like them. I love most of the fanart they get on pixiv even if I wouldn’t like the pairing without changing Brera’s character. And the siscon-brocon issue would bother me. (^_^;) It don’t always mind it, but here, for some reason, I do.
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I wonder if you’ll find that cooking bit, I just thought it was strange that it seemed to contradict the KitG 4 interview. Not that it really matters, that argument where it was brought up a long time ago was one of the low points of the fandom.
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Hope you had a nice Christmas, mine was so-so, but I got some lovely books so I’ll have something to read for the next month. Not sure if I can go see Les Mis because of my condition, but I’ll probably try in January.
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Well…looks like relentless decided to take most of those posts down. (And he’s even taken down the earlier debate about Kawamori’s view of Macross… (^_^;; ) ) I think I sort of understand why these pointless debates start – personally, I tend to respond to request posts privately, where warranted – otherwise, I just ignore them. However, Yot-chan tends to respond on the forum…which isn’t always the best idea given that magnus really likes having the last say in any debate. I suppose I should probably just ignore them both when it happens…but I don’t like the way in which some people seem to represent Yot-chan and myself as individuals who like ‘lording over everyone’…
New Years resolution #1: ignore certain people on AS…
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Anyways, it turns out that Kawamori answered the question of ‘who’s the best at cooking?’ in the Official Fan Book, p.120. Basically, Nanase is the most proficient at “home cooking”, with Sheryl being…er…incredibly unskillful. Of the guys, Alto is unexpectedly skilled, whilst Bobby is (also) a cut above the rest. And Zentra-Klan is really good at making (udon) noodles. (^_^; )
Now, if you’ve got the Nyan Dra manga, the last story in that, about Grace and her relationship with Sheryl, has Sheryl preparing dinner and making a huge mess out of the kitchen. She can cook, technically, and I’d guess that she can prepare something quite edible…but it wouldn’t be on the scale of what Nanase or Alto could do…
So, I think we can read between the lines regarding what Sheryl was writing about her cooking skills (if that’s indeed what the blog entry was about)…
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I did have a decent Christmas, thank you. Ate a bit too much for lunch and thus chose not to have a proper dinner (oh, but the prawns were just too delicious! I couldn’t resist!). Glad you got some nice presents! I really liked Les Mis: most of them were better than I expected…with one significant exception… I hope you are able to see it!!
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My talk with a couple of fans made me understand the ‘reaching’ a bit more, and how some relate to translations in general. One of the girls commented on that debate on the blog you had before and what I got from it is that some of them don’t care for source materials and want to have their opinion. No names were named by the way, neither you or the blogger.
I skimmed through an entry or two he made ‘recently’ after this, and I still have the same issue as I did before, but I didn’t post because he expressed he didn’t want Sheryl-fans there. Way to kill discussion… His posts were filled with information he picked at random, to suit his own theories, ranging from Kawamori interviews to Shaloom nonsense. And he makes it seem like what he is stating is the fact and the truth behind the scenes… So he does care about additional material, if he can twist it. This is my main issue with a couple of fans, be it there, AS, or other places. You had every right to ‘butt in’ because he is misusing what you and some other people in the fandom had worked on for so long, with no ill or ‘shipper’ intentions… and whenever something like this happens, you have a right to complain. It’s your work. This is why I said, when I get the books and if you have enough time to translate that interview for me, I’m not gonna post it. Extra information should add to the experience as a fan, it’s not there to inspire more hate.
Maybe it would be a good idea to just let the topic rest for a few more years, until people really calm down.
I think I’ll go back to just ignoring some people online, period. It’s really not worth the time.
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I’m not surprised Nanase, Alto and Bobby are good cooks. And Sheryl sounds like me, I’m not much of a cook, but it’s edible, most of the time. (^_^;)
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Was the exception Russell Crowe? (^_^;) I heard people complain about him in the role. I don’t dislike him as an actor, but I admit I was horrified that he was cast as Jor-El for the new Superman movie. I’ll be going in with an open mind though.
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Hm…I’m completely fine with people having their own opinion…but with a caveat, which has been well expressed by Patrick Stokes, a lecturer at Deakin University in Australia:
If it’s in the public sphere, which the internet really is, unless a blogger decides to limit access, anything he or she posts is open to debate if anyone else chances upon it and can be bothered, so he or she better be able to defend it. Avoiding that debate, avoiding counterarguments to one’s own reduces the legitimacy of one’s own argument. That said, there’s nothing I can do – or can be bothered to do – about it if they choose to avoid it; I can only hope that the untruths posed by such individuals are not perpetuated elsewhere.
That’s how I see things, anyway. If someone came here and challenged my arguments or translations, and provided a convincing argument, well, I’d accept that (and probably be really embarrassed). That is one of the dangers of me restricting access to what I translate. That said, I bet that anyone able to check my translations wouldn’t be interested in reading them, because they’d be able to read the originals themselves!
The first sounds like a great idea; the second is a fantastic idea ^^
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Really shows how tongue-in-cheek type content isn’t always understood, huh?
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Yes, Russell Crowe er…ruined one of the most famous soliloquies, amongst other things. I really wanted to cry. That said, another of my favourite songs was done really really well, so I’ll watch it again just for that ^^
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I love that quote and agree 100%. As I do with the rest that you wrote.
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I smiled when I read “one significant exception”, I immeditaley heard Russel Crowe singing. (^_^;;) I still hope my health will let me go see it while it’s still playing, it’s not the same on BD. Same for The Hobbit.
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I really wish I’d seen that blog post earlier! Then again, it’s probably a good thing that I hadn’t, as it might have made things a lot worse!
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btw, with regards to the Macross 30 game, the third part of the latest MW podcast has a pretty in depth discussion about what was known as of Dec 22 (when they recorded it).
The first part of the podcast was also interesting because Antibiotictab’s presence sparks a little discussion about which of the animated offerings Japanese Macross fans like most, and why. Part 2 was also good for the Musiculture and FB7 impressions…basically, it’s a good one, and I’m tempted to go back to listen to some of the podcasts I missed…
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I do hope you can see them both! I haven’t seen The Hobbit yet, but the word is that it’s long, but still worth watching, so お大事に！
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