User:AJSensei

AJSensei, or Aaron, is the only ALT for Fujisato.

Contact him at aakern3@gmail.com.

Aaron likes Magic: The Gathering a lot, so contact him especially about that.

PA Stuff

It looks like I've been chosen to be a PA for 2018-2019! This section is for things regarding to that.

• For non-emergencies, please contact me at the email above. For emergencies please contact me via LINE or my phone number at 080-8212-2323.
• I am not a counselor, and not trained to be one. I want to help you, but I can only go so far. Contacting your PAs is always a good idea, but we cannot provide more than the basic support of a friend.
• I own a car! If you are in very dire need of a ride to a conference or to buy essential items, feel free to contact me within reason.

Fun facts

• Aaron's favorite Japanese word is 横断歩道, or おうだんほどう, the Japanese word for crosswalk.
• His favorite foods are curry rice and hamburgers.
• His favorite instrument to play is the flexatone.

MTG

MTG or Magic The Gathering is a card game played by losers with nothing better to do with their time and money.

Local Game Stores in Akita Ordered from Best to Not As Good

• Iwaya, Akita City. Iwaya stands at first place in the local game stores in Akita. Iwaya has a little bit of everything; they branch out into multiple card games, have stationary, dice, and plenty of snacks. They host frequent MTG events, and have been pretty accommodating to me when I go to play. The store loses points from having a few questionable posters of young anime girls, but that is sadly just a part of Japanese TCG stores.

• R-Shop, Akita City. R-Shop finds itself in a weird place in my rankings. I honestly think Chinda is a better store, but by sole virtue of being a card game shop with Friday Night Magic and prereleases, I put R-Shop above Chinda. R-Shop was roughly the same size as Omoshiro Ichiba in Takanosu, but had a bit more of a fleshed out collection. On that note, the Magic stuff was just one small case and a few boxes of ancient commons at 30 yen each. The selection is not as impressive of Chinda's, but if I had to pick one to be closer to me, I'd rather have R-Shop closer so I could play Magic more. The store owner gave me a free box to hold my cards in, and invited me to the prerelease which I cannot attend. I pulled a Jace, The Mind Sculptor out of a pack I bought there, so that might be a point in its favor.

• Chinda, Noshiro. Chinda is an interesting experience; it feels like the place that used to be an active local game store that has suffered from the decline in population in Akita, and by extension a decline in MTG players. They have packs of MTG cards lasting years. The packs are faded in color and covered in dust. A bit more impressively, the walls are lined with boxes filled with MTG trash cards that have accumulated over the years. One day I just want to go digging here to see what I could find. They sell used video games too, but the prices were a bit high compared to like, Noshiro Book Off. Chinda gets points for having a wide selection, and just sheer appeal of digging through all of the trash cards, but holds no events or drafts and that is the one thing I want out of a LGS. I can now say, having dug through the store for a good 20 hours only, touching maybe not even a 20th of the boxes in the store, that I was able to make out a pretty good haul. (Of which there are maybe 10 or 20 for each set since... Mirrodin? So many years). There are boxes of commons and uncommons, and the boxes are filled to the top. Obvious searches like Lightning Bolt had been combed for, but if you're looking for a bit more obscure expensive card, you might be in luck. I found 3 copies of Aura Shards for 30 yen each, with the card having an average sell price of 10 dollars. Their rares are only available on Saturday, when the nice old man who runs the store is in. If you ask nicely, he will let you dig around!

• Mansaido, Akita City. Mansaido would be a great LGS if it didn't have two things; a loud store, and no longer offering MTG events. This is more of a personal gripe; but right after I arrived they decided to cut MTG. I imagine due to lack of interest. They stopped selling rares, and are now just trying to sell off their remaining stock. If you're into Yugioh, it might be a good place over the other two.

• Abyss, Odate. Abyss is a bit of a hole, but is a hole with character. Boxes lie filled with cards that seem hardly sorted. For the cards that ARE there, they aren't located together except for Pokemon which has a section which is also a mess. There are three small tables that seem to have no design sense to how they're placed, and the store is crowded. So why does this place rank above Omoshiro Ichiba? The store is clearly run by some dude in his 30s, who was super nice, and was just jamming out to video game music on his phone. While this place has 0 MTG stuff, this place sells basic supplies. There are binders there, and more importantly, sleeves that aren't covered in near naked children like Omoshiro Ichiba. The basic ultra-pro sleeves are also 40 yen cheaper than buying them online, and they sell perfect fit sleeves, which are a bit of a rarity in Akita. While it loses a lot of personal points for not doing MTG, Abyss has merits of its own.

• Omoshiro Ichiba, Takanosu. Omoshiro Ichiba is mainly a used goods store that runs a side card game store, which is what its parent store is. The fact that it is hidden in the corner of the store gives it a kind of cool aesthetic. The card game store as 3 tables or so, and suffers from being crowded. You can't walk around the tables due to clutter on the floor from the used goods store, or in my case one child on the floor. There are cool cases displaying cards, but most of them are either empty or for games that don't interest me. They sell Magic Cards at 370 yen a pack, which is 20 more than Iwaya and Chinda. The selection is also small, and they don't sell a lot of basic stuff like normal sleeves or boxes. Unlike Chinda they actually hold tournaments here, but not Magic. While it would be serviceable for the games it plays, I will be unlikely to return to it.

Tournaments

• LMC Akita is a monthly MTG tournament run in the Bunkakaikan in Akita City. LMC Akita runs a monthly standard tournament with varying prizes provided by Iwaya. They also usually run a draft of whatever set has come out recently. The community is mostly good, several of who have been quite welcoming to me after showing up a few times. The monthly attendance can range from 16 to 40 people, with the draft usually struggling to fire. Their website is here. Check for dates for tournaments, and more. The head judge is a really cool dude, who moved here from Chiba. He says foreigners make for good English practice for Grand Prixs, so he is quite happy to try his best to speak English, as noted on the website itself (which he started adding English to after I came for the first time).
• Sense of Wonder is a monthly MTG EDH tournament run in the Sunquest building in Omagari. The cost of entry is 1,500 yen. There is a limit of 24 players. I've never been to this tournament, but it seems pretty interesting. Their website is here, but it is pretty bare bones. It announces the dates of the tournaments, and that's it.