I told Vojtech that I was thinking of trying to find the Cibico, a large department store in downtown Okazaki, with an arcade called "U.S. Land" on the 4th floor. The forecast told of rain, so I took my umbrella, backpack with bike registration and passport safely tucked inside, and a spare pair of clothes just in case I got too wet early on and needed to change into something more comfortable.
The trip was unexpectedly difficult, because at first I had absolutely no more than a basic clue as to where the Cibico was. I knew that it was near Okazaki Castle, because I saw that from the train a few weeks back. So I used my basic intuition and found the highest up and most easily accessible location, the top of the parking garage at the local train station. It was around where I had thought, but still impossible to exactly pinpoint. So I got on my bike and started looking for more easily accessible high-up locations.
The best place I found was a bridge, which gave me pretty much the exact location of the Cibico, only a block or two from where I was staring at it. The final leg of the journey was only about a minute or two, and no sooner did I see the building was I on the 4th floor staring at a DDR 4th mix cabinet.
Yes, a 4th mix cabinet, probably about 5 years old by now. I was both surprised at the fact that these still existed (and in how good of a condition the pads were in) and also surprised at the lack of features of early DDR mixes. Nevertheless, I spent an entire 350 yen getting my card so I could come back later, and that was pretty much it for roughly 30 minutes of DDR.
The trip back was easy, as I've now gone that way 3 or 4 times, and have the feeling that I'll be going back that way sometime soon. I also noticed plenty of set up happening for the festival that will be happening over the weekend, and realized that I probably won't get to sit at the area with the good view. Oh well, at least I'll be able to go.
More on the festival tomorrow, when it actually happens.
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