“Are you there IGOD, It’s me Aka…”


I have a dilemma and I can’t decide what the best solution would be…


An IPOD 160GB or an IPOD TOUCH


Let’s look at the stats:


CLASSIC:
160GB $249
Screen Size – 2.5 inch
40,000 songs, 200 hours of video, or 25,000 photos.


TOUCH:
Screen Size – 3.5-inch


32GB $299
Up to 7,000 songs
Up to 40 hours video


64GB $399
Up to 14,000 songs
Up to 80 hours video


I need my music badly right now and I’m getting antsy. I’m also leaving for Japan in May and I’m also thinking about the countless hours on the train. Being a DJ I also have a lot of music. I mean A LOT. Not just songs, sound effects, promo ids, music beds that I like to listen to every so often on shuffle because I forget I have them. I was already over my 30GB mark a couple of years ago and at that time I was having to pick and choose my what to go on my IPOD. (till it was stolen) So I suppose the 32GB TOUCH is already out of the question.


But I also think about the cool things I could do on an IPOD Touch, GPS Maps, Sushi ID’er, sing like TPAIN…


Yeaaaah, these are some of the “important” things I think about.


But again I’m thinking about the Skype and email capabilities that the Touch would allow me to do wirelessly. (Provided I have a hotspot in Japan.)


So then I think to myself, what about a just getting an IPHONE in Japan via Softbank?


*Breaks to look up IPHONE phone plan via Softbank.jp*


Ok, from what I can gather to do everything you’d want to do via an IPHONE, it’s going to cost about the same amount it cost in the states. (Which I always thought was insane that so many people would spend so much for the internet on there phone, but not at home.)


Currently my phone in America cost me about $50 a month tops and I have an unlimited data plan. (Sprint RANT)
My phone in Japan is a Slim black phone on a Softbank prepaid plan. Unlimited mail for $3 a month and voice calls for $1 a minute. (OUCH!!)


Nevertheless, I’m really at a bit of an issue here come May.


I certainly would like to have a nice phone, but certainly don’t need to break the bank.


Right now I’m leading toward a IPOD Classic as the Touch doesn’t even seem worth it at the moment…


But I certainly would like to know what you all think.


So what do you all think?


Aka


PS: Check out our new Facebook fanpage on Japanese Cell Phones!

So…

I’m going to Japan.

Not on a 1½ week pop cultured custom tour that Intermixi provides.

Nope. I’m relocating and completely moving for something completely different. But as I sit here plotting the next couple of months of change, I realize how intertwined “thee Intermixi” and myself can be.

In May of 2010 I’ll be completing my transferable AA degree from West Los Angeles College and jumping to Temple University in Tokyo, Japan.

Ironically, soon after I said goodbye to the returning TGS 09 tour that an ill-fated incident sparked this need and desire for change. From the old Edo city, to Hiroshima and then finally to the countryside of Yame, I started obtaining a new goal.

If I’m truly going to take Intermixi to the next level of Pop Japan tourism, what better way than to be in the heart of it all?

So to put all the wonderful supporters and future tour participants of Intermixi at ease,  Intermixi is not going away. Actually it’s about to get much better. If there was ever a challenge while attending school at West LA, it was taking the 2 weeks off each semester to do a tour.

Usually the absences were in the middle of midterms or finals. Fighting jetlag in Tokyo is one thing. Fighting jetlag and trying to digest the “Constitution of the United States” for a History final is another.

As I look to complete a major in International Business and minor in Economics, I feel I won’t have to worry about that… as much.

I’m certainly excited about the changes coming to Intermixi in the near future. When we first started, all I wanted was to give people the experience of traveling around Japan the same way I did.

Hip, fresh, unique and completely broke upon return!

Broke, but satisfied you have finally gotten a chance to see things in one trip others will never do in several. Yet… you are eager for the next time.

You are ready for more…

That’s where Intermixi is right now. We are ready for the next level and I am willing to do what is necessary to take it there. For the last couple of months myself and only few others in the office have been secretly working this out under the codename Project: Red Phoenix. Aka is Japanese for Red, and like the Phoenix known from coming out of the ashes, this concept, this project, is nothing short of a rebirth… Evangelion enough for you? ^_^

Blossoming in the background of ideas comes handy travel guides, a Kabukicho manga, the return of Intermixi radio, Aka’s video blog and perhaps a “request a Japan product” storefront if that’s what you need…

Though, I’m really gonna miss mexican food and pizza…

All my strength… for you,

-Akasan

Me in a bamboo forest

If there’s one thing I always have a problem explain without bias, it’s why every traveler needs to visit the Kansai area of Japan. While I don’t want to take anything away anything from Tokyo as there is so much to do, I have always felt a kinship from the laided back Los Angeles vibe of Osaka coupled together with the underlined serenity of Kyoto. Thus, making the Kansai area my secondary home.

Escape the metropolis and embraced the “essence of old Edo Japan”! You will feel a difference with a breathtaking view of Kyoto from the Kiyomizu Temple, retracing samurai steps at Nijo Castle and river rafting down the Hozugawa River in Kyoto.

When I used to live in Osaka, my deepest relationships emerged from places like the Rock Rock Bar, Club Pure (all you can drink) and Den Den Town (Anime, bootlegs and porno Central). You can walk down the alleys of Namba and immediately start up a conversation with the not so shy Osakans.

With Samurai X being my favorite story of all time, it is a guilty pleasure to run through the falling cherry blossoms in Kyoto. I want to believe I am retracing the steps of the battousai or zatoichi.

It was an honor to share my Kansai experiences with the first Intermixi tour group in 2007 and 2009. We’ll have a great time in 2009. I look forward to more memorable moments on the Tokyo Game Show tour 2009.

Penguins in Akihabara – Oct 29th 2008